The Fanfiction Reader: Folk Tales for the Digital Age

by Francesca Coppa

Written originally as a fanfiction for the series Twilight , the popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey has made obvious what was always clear to fans and literary scholars that it is an essential human activity to read and retell epic stories of famous heroic characters. The Fanfiction Reader showcases the extent to which the archetypal storytelling exemplified by fanfiction has continuities with older the communal tale-telling cultures of the past and the remix cultures of the present have much in common. Short stories that draw on franchises such as Star Trek , Star Wars , Doctor Who , James Bond , and others are accompanied by short contextual and analytical essays wherein Coppa treats fanfiction—a genre primarily written by women and minorities—as a rich literary tradition in which non-mainstream themes and values can thrive.

 

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books, Fandom, Essays, Pop Culture, Fan Fiction, Romance

304 pages, Hardcover

First published March 2, 2017

About the author

Francesca Coppa is Professor of English at Muhlenberg College and a founding member of the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), the nonprofit which built and runs the Archive of Our Own. She writes in the fields of dramatic literature, performance studies, and fan studies, and is currently writing a book about fan music video. She is a passionate advocate of fair use.

Reviews

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Early on Francesca Coppa says, "This book is not per se for fandom: fandom doesn't need this book...You have the banquet, you can have anything and everything on the menu."

And she is right. We as fans ultimately don't need this book, because we have these stories and hundreds and thousands more in each pairing, each fandom, with each trope. Coppa's conceit in her introduction is "One Pringle, one Dorito, one Oreo," all things you really don't want to eat just one of, and yet that's what she offers: one Star Trek, one Star Wars, one Buffy. Or one het, one slash, one gen. Or one five things, one post-ep, one case file.

But as I was reading it, I began to think of it the opposite way. When I received the book last week, I read it through nearly in just one sitting. I had been in most of these fandoms or at least knew people who were. I knew pretty much all of the source texts (carefully curated by Francesca to be known to a wide audience). And so to me it was like a book full of Tapas (to continue the food metaphor). I got a little taste of Gaila and Nyota and a little taste of Faith and Buffy. There's a Five things story and here's a totally meta fic. And I know that I can go back to AO3 and find ALL the Nyota stories but for now I'm enjoying just this one.

As a fan, an acafan, and a fan studies teacher, I'm not the ideal/intended/imagined reader for this collection. And yet I am on another level its ultimate reader: I enjoy a story as much for its own sake of characterization and world immersion and plot as I do for its references and unconscious meaning and interpretive possibilities. And that's where the collection is at its best: the introductions to every single story situate the source text, the fandom, the story in ways that will make it a great teaching tool but also are just plain fun. So when she introduces Astolat's Queen of Spades, she gives and entire background about gender politics in James Bond, which are, of course, challenged in Daniel Craig's and Judi Dench's versions--both the genderbent M and the more vulnerable and sexualized Bond, who rises from the water like a Bond girl and gets sexually abused in ways male heroes rarely do on the big screen.

Much of the joy for fans will thus be a moment of recognition and repetition--feelings that are all too familiar from why we read fanfic in the first place. We revisit beloved characters, worlds, and authors. And we remember the moments of creation or when we first encountered the story. And there will always be one we missed, that we get to read for the first time, and that is its own pleasure!

So yes, this book is a smorgasboard of fanfic, a potlatch of brief contextualizing interpretations that ultimately isn't intended for *us*. But I have a feeling that fans may get as much if not more out of it than the students and fannish outsiders for whom it was created.

[Bluebelle-the-Inquisitive (Catherine) · Rating 5 out of 5]

But fanworks are like an Etch A Sketch: draw a picture, shake it up, start again with no constraints. Best of all, each story can be complete in itself: tell an entire story, have a real ending. - Francesca Coppa

“What do you think, Bond?”
“I think you’re a damned dangerous woman,” - M and James Bond, Queen of Spades, astolat

The first thing you need to know when looking at The Fanfiction Reader is that it is essentially a textbook. It is an introduction to the world of fandom and fanfiction for those uninitiated and who need to have an understanding. The intended audience is educators, librarians, professionals not the standard end consumer of fanfiction. The language is as one would expect for that audience though more readable than my standard academic text. The layout of the book is fairly basic. There are multiple fandoms included, largely the biggest fandoms of the time, the fandoms defining traits and importance are introduced. The fanfiction that concludes the section is introduced, its selection explained and further readings provided. These fully reproduced fanfics are from different genres of fanfic and the further readings are to direct readers to more on that genre of fic or that fandom. It is a simple yet effective layout.

I am going to list the fics included in the book. They were all good examples of the fic type introduced and while I didn't know all the originals (eg Teen Wolf) it wasn't a massive problem because the fic genre was the focus, not the fic itself. I was reading this for academic purposes, not personal pleasure, I used it in an assignment encouraging engagement in libraries. That said the stories are all high quality that I recommend them to fanfic readers.

The Communications Officer’s Tale and Lunch and Other Obscenities by Rheanna Introduce readers to the Star Trek universe with the fic from the 2009 reboot. It is noted in the book that Star Trek is the origins of modern fanfiction. It includes a look at the way builds up support characters and their worlds. It does discuss the mportance of realising the that not all cultures are the same.

The FBI Agent’s Tale and The Sad Ballad of Mary Sue’s Blues by Pares. The FBI Agent's of the title are Fox and Moulder, this is the X-Files, the term Mary Sue is introduced. The fic is clever.

The Slayer’s Tale and next by Jennet Smith. An introduction to femslash using the world of Buffy. Pairing Buffy and Faith post series.

The Super Man’s Tale and Three Fairy Tales of Smallville by Koi. An introduction to slash, core to the fandom experience since the dawn of fanfic. This slash occours in the world of Smallville, Smallville is essentially junior Superman. The slash pairing in question is Lex and Clark.

The Dwarf’s Tale and They Say of the Elves by Brancher. The Dwarf of the title is Gimli, Son of Gloin, the often surly dwarf from The Lord of The Rings, he is paired with Legolas in what is a common pairing, post the recent films. This is filling a gap in what is a canon relationship between the story and their deaths. It is a look at the different types of love that exist in fiction.

The Pop Star’s Tale and The Vacation by Kaneko. Is the chosen example of popslash. It is noted that popslash is common and that the common group at publication point was One Direction. The choice of NSYNC was because of the age of the group and their significance in the popslash genre.

The Spymaster’s Tale and Queen of Spades by astolat. astolat's fic was possibly my fave fic of the lot, and I'm not a Bond fan. The sexual power was fantastic, I loved reading the power dynamic between the traditionally alpha Bond and the gorgeous older M.This is Craig era Bond, the intro is a decent overview over why Craig and Dench's M are so important to the Bond fandom.

The Wizard’s Tales and Never Is a Promise by Yahtzee, Scars by Suitesamba and Once upon a Time by busaikko. The Wizard's Tales has three fics of very different forms.The introduction is a reasonable and brief overview of what is a seriously complex world of fanfic. It does focus on the idea of fans correcting the failings of epiloges. busaikko's fic is impressive, Dudley is made a member of the LGBTQIA+ community in a logical way.

The Companions’ Tale and The Pond Continuum by kaydee falls. The section introduces 5+1 fics following Amy and Rory after their run-in with the Weeping Angels. It is beautiful such a clever use of characters from the Who universe, not least of all Captain Jack Harkness. Doctor Who is introduced as well as possible for a show with such a complicated concept.

The Detective’s Tale and Subliminal by Speranza. The Detective of the title surprising no one is Sherlock Holmes. Subliminal is one of the stragest fics I've read in years. There is a decent overview of Sherlock Holmes as a character and a fandom, including a very basic history of Holmes and Doyles approach to transformative works.

The Demon Hunter’s Tales and Wolf Man’s Party by Mollyamory and Supernatural, aka The Boys in Arizona and Fanservice Sequel by Glockgal. Wolf Man's Party is the designated cross over fic. I was a little lost because I've never seen Teen Wolf, I know the characters due to a collegue calling her cat Stiles and an ensuing discussion but I don't know much. The cross overs are the focus of the introduction with a small section on race bending. Race bending is addresssed by the comics by Glockgal.

The Billionaire Superhero’s Tale and When they finally come to destroy the earth (they’ll have to go through you first) by AlchemyAlice. If you want an introduction to Batman and his history this is the one to read, Bruce Wayne is so missunderstood and his backstory has been manipulated to the point of ridiculousness. It also expains why Robin doesn't exist anymore. AlchemyAlice's fic is adorble. There are effective time jumps. And it is a cross overs done well. Esspecially a DC, Marvel cross over.

The Stormtrooper’s Tale and The Story of Finn by LullabyKnell. This is an introduction to the Star Wars universe and the importance of women and varied races.

My reading experience in a gif:

[Alžbětina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5* Katalog fandomu pro začátečníky. Francesca Coppa je jednou ze zakladatelek Archive of Our Own (a díky bohu za ty dary) a je to znát. Její náhled na fanfikci je pozitivní, fanouškovsky zaujatý a pro skeptiky pravděpodobně nepříliš přesvědčivý. Její soubor fandomů a ukázkových fanfikcí funguje tak napůl. Jste-li čtenář fanfikce, nic moc nového se nedozvíte (což ale Coppa píše hned v úvodu!). Coppa se historií zabývá jen okrajově, zato si můžete rozšířit obzory ukázkami prací z jiných fanouškovských zákoutí.
Její výběr je ale pozoruhodně kvalitní. Nejenže má jednu práci od Speranzy v rámci Sherlocka, jejíž Stucky 4 Minutes Window je má oblíbená, ale osciluje napříč fanouškovskými žánry a formami a plně vykresluje, jak dokonale rozmanitá fanfikce může být. Nenajdete zde jen slash (aka homosexuální pairing) a už vůbec ne nic explicitního. Pokud má někdo osypky z homoerotizace nějakého páru, prostě může daný kousek přeskočit (jejich mínus). Ráda bych ještě vypíchla astolat a její "Queen of Spades" z Jamese Bonda, která nabízí velmi zajímavý pohled na M.
Harry Potter fandom pak má nejširší zastoupení (3 ff) s jedním pairingem, ze kterého mívám osypky já (Snape v čemkoli) přesto jde ale o skvělé ukázky toho, co může vzniknout mimo kánon.
Je očividné, že Coppa si vybírá kvalitní a různorodé kousky, fandom samozřejmě produkuje i spousty průměrných a podrůměrných příběhů, ale to stejné platí i pro placené tvůrce.
Jen si bohužel nejsem jistá, nakolik je tenhle soubor k užitku někomu, kdo se s fanfikcí nikdy nesetkal. Samozřejmě, dostane plnou náruč beginner-friendly příběhů, ale o fungování fandomů jako takových se toho tolik nedozví. Coppa zmiňuje stylistické úzusy fanfikce okrajově - jmenovitě 5+1 příběhy. Pojmy jako Mary Sue se také dočkají vysvětlení, ale možná se mohla více zabývat i tagováním. Jako někdo, kdo si (bohužel) dokáže naprosto vklidu přeložit "ao3 mcu a:aou abo bdsm ot3 hs au pwp", myslím, že pochopením tagů se člověk dokáže vyhnout mnoha nepříjemnostem. Ale to by možná bylo na úplně jinou knihu.
Buď jak buď, The Fanfiction Reader pro mě zůstává trochu na půli cesty. Moc generalizující na to, aby byl k užitku "akademikům", a zároveň příliš povrchní i pro čtenáře ff. Je to ale bezpečné brouzdaliště pro ff nováčky. Berte nebo nechte být.

[Z Makila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall just an absolute blast to read. Such an in depth look at fanfiction, what it is, why it is what it is, and how it's come to be this way.

This book is structured like the Canterbury tales—each chapter a different short fic exemplifying a type of character or story; the communication officer, the detective, the demon hunter, the slayer, the wizard—because what is fanfiction if not folk stories reinvented under capitalism? Coppa reminds us of Rebecca Tushnet saying that "people who create with no hope of monetary reward make different things than people who want to participate in the money economy—and both are valuable," adding the important caveat; "although they may accomplish different things." Fanfiction writers are creating something for an audience that is different than the audience capitalism demands, and for that we are fortunate. The book also dances at the argument against corporations owning stories, but doesn't take a stand against it as strongly as it could have, especially given that Coppa has testified in Congress on behalf of the Organization for Transformative Works. I suppose one could argue that the entire book is a love letter to fandom and fanfiction and in a way takes that standpoint. Coppa does point out that "fans do creative work that one could get paid for—if one were willing to accept the limitations and restrictions that make it more like work and less like self expression."

I went into reading this book thinking "fanfiction has always existed" and while I still think that's true to some extent, I now understand that fanfiction is just a new label for something that only exists because we live in a world where someone can own a story. Dante's inferno wasn't fanfiction because it was publishable in its original form, whereas fanauthors today must change details to avoid copyright concerns before having any hope at making money off of their work, simply because it is derivative of something else.

People have always re-mixed stories and changed details and passed on myths and folk tales to be more interesting and personable to their audience. Fanfiction authors do the same today, just under very different circumstances.

I found myself intrigued with this book right away from the Communication Officer's Tale—a star trek fic. Not a fandom I've ever participated in nor source material I'm familiar with. The intro to the fic was really helpful in grounding my understanding of what it was functioning as in this anthology. Fic so often explores relationships where people talk through things and communicate (eventually!!) through their issues in ways real world people so rarely do. This first fic exemplifies this so wonderfully, by showing an example of two characters finding common ground and understanding through their own cultural taboos and conversation. It was an incredibly strong start for the book, though I felt like I needed to read through the lines of the introduction to get to that point of understanding why it had been included in the anthology to begin with. Coppa hints at it but refuses to give the reader all the information and instead asks you to think: Why is this story noteworthy? How is the way this author wrote this showing off something new or something specific to this trope/fandom/character type/etc.? Why is this important?

While I felt like most of the time I was able to make that realization and understand why each story was included, I found a few introductions lacking, and a couple of fics that were included seemed like incorrect choices shoved into the book for the sake of being the right length and in the right fandom. My gripes with this book are few and not enough to take my rating down from 5 to 4 stars, but I would be remiss to not mention them. This book was published in 2017, and so I understand that my mental trove of fics from some categories may not have even been conceived of when this book was published, I still found that I was disappointed in a few inclusions.

I will start with the Spymaster's Tale—fandom statistics alone reveal that James Bond is one of the few large fandoms where a single pairing makes up a majority percentage of works in that fandom (On AO3 specifically)— and that pairing? James Bond/Q, which is a queer relationship and a queer read of James Bond. One that to me, and to many fans of media that leans heavily on the "Babe of the Week" trope, should be no surprise. And yet Coppa argues that James Bond's story is "harder to queer," and included a het fic written by her friend, another co-founder of Ao3. I have nothing against cheering on and uplifting the work of one's talented friends, but this chapter truly felt like a square peg in a round hole. Q has "master" in his full job title- Quartermaster. He is a Spymaster, and there are plenty of tales about them. What could have been a chapter showing the ways that people make sense of Craig's portrayal of Bond as queer became a chapter with a boring and classic heterosexual read of the character, and one that is not subversive or characteristic of the fandom at all.

My next gripe is the Wizard's Tales—three stories from Harry Potter. I take issue with Coppa's insinuation that Snape is Harry's [one and only] obvious narrative foil, his obvious queer counterpart in the story, and then firms up with the inclusion of a Snape/Harry fic. I don't have issue with that being the pairing of the fic included, because for whatever reason, a lot of fandom DID see them as narrative foils and clear romantic and sexual companions for one another, but it is so stupid to pretend that that's the ONLY way fandom took it. Coppa briefly mentions that Harry Potter has so much fic from so many different time periods and focusing on many different characters and pairings, but she still chose to include three short stories all from the same generation, with a pretty homogenous attitude and approach to their writing. There is so much potential in this chapter and then it is lost.

For one of the Wizard's Tales, the story features Dudley, which I appreciate. Coppa describes how this specific pick exemplifies how fans who are members of minorities will see themselves and write themselves into stories, and I appreciated that. The story features a trans woman version of Harry's cousin, but I take Huge issue with Coppa describing it as "transvestism" and not mentioning JK Rowling's TERF identity and how important fanfiction and fan works has been as a method of reclaiming worlds, stories, and characters who have meant so much to us from authors who would rather have us dead. This book was published in 2017 which was not too early to know JK's true colors and to not mention them, and certainly far too late in the game to still use the word "transvestism."

Lastly, I felt as though this book just skimmed the surface on race and racism in popular media, and didn't even broach the issues of racism within fandom. It's a big topic, and one that should be dealt with with grace and a serious approach, and I understand if Coppa didn't want to try to address it and not get it right, but there were a few opportunities where she could have at the very least described the issue further. In The Stormtrooper's Tale, Coppa almost hints at it by juxtaposing Finn/Poe's popularity—the first big slash pairing where both members are not white, with Kylo Ren/Hux, but the comparison falls flat when she misses the opportunity to talk about the issues there and instead jokes about the kinkiness of the dark side. She could have taken two sentences to mention how Hux has literally less than 5 minutes of screentime in the first movie and yet an incredibly large fandom spurned around these two white men, a fandom that rivals the size of that surrounding the actual leads of the movie, but she neglected to do so. It is a question that begs asking, and even if she doesn't have an answer, she could have reminded us to think about it. Why does fandom crop up around white men where it does not around people (& characters) of color?

I'm looking forward to getting more into fanfiction studies and reading more about media in general because of this book, and I'm thankful it exists. I know it cannot cover every topic and every pairing I've ever loved, and I'm thrilled to have been exposed to so much more of fandom and fanfiction history.

Strongly recommend giving this a read if you're into fanfiction and fandom!

[Julie Bozza · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adored this book. It might seem redundant for an active fan to read, but I just leapt at the chance to explore an overview of fannish tropes and concerns, and enjoy carefully curated examples of peak fanfic - things I probably would never have found on my own. All that, and a cover by one of my favourite fan artists!

Loved it. Just loved it. Can we please have a Volume 2 some day?

P.S. The more I think about it, the more I enjoyed it! I love that the chosen fandoms were all the big, obvious ones. But the chosen fics demonstrated the awesome variety of works, with rare pairs, different characters, and "out of left field" ideas all being given their due. These are not only the OTPs and "business as usual" fics...

P.P.S. Actually, a Volume 0 would be great, too! To cover all those old / obscure fandoms listed on page viii. As a fannish oldie I was, like, "Mate, that was just yesterday...?!"

[Rt · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s nothing I don’t love about this book, including its reliance on fair use. The cover shows popular characters as modern archetypes—the Demon Hunter, the Billionaire, the Rock Star, the FBI Agent—and I love that we can recognize Mulder’s mouth and Dean Winchester’s jawline and Tony Stark’s jawline along with John Boyega and Benedict Cumberbach’s faces. Coppa provides introductory essays and further reading for each of the stories, which are chosen to illustrate specific types of fan fiction, tropes, and themes in responses to popular culture. The stories are both accessible and really good, which can be a hard trick to pull off. Among my favorites, Rheanna’s Lunch and Other Obscenities (ST:Reboot); Koi’s Three Fairy Tales of Smallville (SV); Astolat’s Queen of Spades (Bond), and Glockgal’s Supernatural, aka the Boys in Arizona (SPN). But those are just my favorites because of my own personal connections; even without that, the essays are illuminating and the stories powerful.

[kt m]

I can't believe I got to read a Star Trek fanfic (and James Bond, and LOTR, and more!) for a college class, life is so interesting sometimes

[chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say? This was amazing.

I'm already in love with fanfiction, but this book was so insightful and thought-provoking, with a stellar sampler of stories. It was so cool peering in on other fandoms I know very little about (I am very selective and then extremely thorough when it comes to my own) and getting a taste of what goes on in there, discerning what values and tropes reflect the culture, etc.

My favorite discussion was on the idea of the subjectification of erotica- the friendship-ization of sex. Fucking beautiful and on the nose.

And that LOTR fic was just- fucking incredible. It changed how my brain is arranged, I swear it. The Smallville short, Bleeding Kansas was absolutely devastating. I put the book down for a few seconds and just thought about it for a long time.

This was that special kind of book that I crawled through, savoring it, not wanting it to end and always feeling like there was so much to dwell on on every page.

This is going down as one of the books that I consider most precious to me.

[Zelda Sabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you for your service <3

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fanfiction is a rich and varied tapestry, drawing its inspirations from the myriad forms of entertainment out there. It ranges from the simple to the complex, the straightforward heterosexual romance to the downright weird sex (tentacles, anyone?). It stretches across many websites to touch on characters from television, big theatrical movies, literature and plays. You want Hercules sleeping with Iolaus? They’ve got you covered. You want Angel getting into a knock-down, drag-out fight with Voldemort? You got it. Want to read about Hedda Gabler running off with Xena? I don’t know; go looking. And if you don’t find it, you can write it yourself.

Ms. Coppa was faced with the monumental task of combing through millions of online stories to find these stories. They will not appeal to everyone. They may not land anywhere near your preferred stories (manga fans will be disappointed). Frankly, I would have been happy if the sex had been explicit.

But the chosen stories in this volume are well written, crafted with the various characters in mind. There’s little that’s OOC here and much that will tickle the fancy of many geeks, nerds, dweebs, bibliophiles and cinemaphiles whose love of fictional characters extends past what the original creators made of them.

[Orca_de_wils · Rating 4 out of 5]

Freilich ist dies nur ein Schnupperkurs. Aber Francesca Coppa gelingt in ihrer Auswahl eine gute Übersicht über die verschiedenen Spielarten von Fanfiction (Ob da wirklich auch RPS mit hat reinmüssen, darüber lässt es sich natürlich streiten. — Ich sag nein, aber sie argumentiert gut). Ihre Erklärungen sind nachvollziehbar und stimmig (auch wenn's mir manchmal ein klein bisschen zu sehr Internet-Frauenrechtlerin-ig ist, aber hey, it comes with the territory :-) und man fühlt einerseits ihre Liebe zur Materie, andererseits aber auch ihren professionellen, akademischen Blick, was wichtig ist um die Legitimierung von Fanfiction nicht nur zur fordern, sondern auch zu untermauern.
Auch interessant: drei der beinhalteten Fics hatte ich schon gelesen, drei weitere Autoren/Fanartists kenne ich von anderen Werken gut und mehr als eins der noch nicht gelesenen Fics warteten schon downgeloaded auf meiner Festplatte.
Auch wenn ich nie "laut" im Fandom unterwegs bin, ein wenig kenn ich mich aus :-)

[Dhove · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great, broad intro into the world of fan writing for academics and non-academics alike. The language is accessible and Coppa respects fans and doesn't try to "otherize" them (unlike many academics who take on the topic). I had gotten out of reading fan works for a while, but this has inspired me to go back and recover some of my favorites (if they still exist) and see what else those authors may have been up to in recent years.

[Babsidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely introduction to fanfiction at large, and gateway to the growing field of fan academia, which manages to inform and analyze without condescending or belittling fans. I wish this had existed when I was in school trying to write on fanfic. A recommendation for any fan who also happens to spend time in academia.

[Eri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This anthology starts and ends with such strong stories I'll be recommending it left and right.
Plus, while I know plenty of stuff about fandom, it was great to read even more about specific areas of fandoms and further literary analyses that served as teaser trailers for each story.
It's been a pleasure.

[Rikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I wanted to introduce the concept of fanfiction to someone, this would be an excellent start. As a reader already familiar with it (to the extent that I had already read some of the samples within) and who knows most of the terminology on sight, I still found the further analysis/theory reading sections full of helpful paths to follow deeper into the fanfic crevasse.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent content analysis on fanfiction as traditional and exemplary storytelling.

[Michelle Boyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview examples of different archetypes in the fanfiction world.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The idea is also behind my organization of this book as a modern Canterbury Tales. Then as now, we pass the time by telling stories to each other; fanfiction reminds us that storytelling isn't a professional activity, but a human one in which originality and publishability is rarely the point. As in the Canterbury Tales, storytelling in fandom is social, communal, responsive, a game of sorts."

❤️