That deepest, darkest part of the internet.

I have no idea what to write, my brain is dead since essays, I haven't read much recently, or at least not finished any books. And there's no way you could make me say another word on Homer and his flipping epic poetry for a long, long time So I'm going to go a bit off-kilter today and talk about the dreaded area of the internet that is Fanfiction. It’s certainly a guilty pleasure of mine: I don’t deny I would be a much better student had I never discovered the magical Archive of our Own (AO3) and all the angsty goodness it provides between actual episodes of Sherlock.

(My housemate asked to borrow my laptop while I had all my research for this up. It was the most tense 30 seconds of my time here)

Fanfiction is not a new concept, it existed before the internet did, though the internet, and sites such as AO3 and Fanfiction.net certainly helped to spread its popularity. Several large books series (James Bond, Hitchhikers, and Sherlock Holmes) have been continued following the Author’s death, when I worked in a bookshop last year one of the most popular books we were selling was William Boyd’s Solo which was a new James Bond book. Surely these can be considered a form of fanfiction? How about the novel ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’ or ‘The Hound of the D’Urbervilles’ which is a retelling of the Sherlock Holmes works from Moriarty’s side? Fanfiction is not just hidden in the deep dark corners of the internet, it’s out there, in bookshops and on bookshelves. You can’t hide. Though the numbers of these in no way compare to the (literally) millions of works on the internet. If I ask AO3 for Sherlock fanfiction, there are nearly 75,000 results. It’s insane.

I have no explanation for the internet’s obsession with slash fiction. It just is. I am (unashamedly) a part of this, though I only have one pairing I really fangirl over (My beautiful Sebastian Moran and James Moriarty), if you have a pairing you think ought to be, it will exist, I promise you. And it will have a name. Try ‘Spirk’ (Spock/Kirk) or ‘Johnlock’ (Figure it out…) Heck, for the purpose of this blog post I went looking for pairings and even (Horrifyingly) found graphic fanfiction about the Fourth Doctor getting John Watson pregnant (?!!!!!). I didn't say all fanfiction was good. There are words I will never look at in the same way again. *Shudders*. There is also a weird obsession with incest. Sam and Dean Winchester, Sebastian and Severin Moran, I don’t understand this. It’s so wrong, but sometimes it just works.

Some of it, however, is amazing. And we should certainly give the author’s credit for their achievements. As I mentioned, most of the fanfiction I look for is Sherlock (MorMor stuff) and there is a fic within this fandom that is revered; Pasiphile’s ‘These Violent Delights’. At 168,000 words (considering The Hunger Games is just over 101,000) this story has everything, it’s well written, creative, and quite honestly elicited more of an emotional response from me than many published stories. It’s amazing (and probably does a much better job of smutty goodness and manipulative relationships than that infamous Fifty Shades of Grey. Seriously.)

I want to say a brief word on AU fiction, because I find it quite fun. Most of my favourite fics are set in the canon universe and I never thought I’d like anything else, but I found an author on AO3 who does some amazing Moriarty/Moran AU fics. I’ve loved them as soldiers, rock stars, even ballet dancers. Its quite interesting to see the characters in different settings.

Is it wrong and damaging to the industry? Probably not. Some authors are very much against it, George R R Martin, for example and Anne Rice of Interview with a Vampire fame, claiming that it breaks copyright laws and undermines the author ect, ect… but in reality I think it’s pretty harmless. It might even evoke more of an interest in something. The stories found on AO3 rarely claim to be canonical, and will never be a part of the original. It’s just a bit of fun. An extension of the fiction written by and for the fans. Honestly, look me in the eye and tell me that JK Rowling is ever going to write her own story of the blossoming romance between Minerva McGonagall and Draco Malfoy. (It exists on AO3). And if she did, nobody would claim it was anything other than her creation.

In conclusion. Fanfiction, while often utterly filthy, sometimes awful and nearly always plain weird, is ultimately just a bit of fun. It’s not harmful to an author’s reputation, it might actually be a compliment. And if you come from a fandom that gets just three episodes every 18 months, sometimes fanfiction is all we have. It fills the gaps, expands the fandom, explores the characters, and is often just as well written as many of the best books.

To prove my point, watch this (Very amusing) video of the cast of X-Men on Graham Norton talking about fanart and Fanfiction. 

I cannot believe I just wrote so much on fanfiction. Please don’t judge me. 

Emily

Links:
Pasiphile – These Violent Delights

AU Author: Bakerstreetashtray
The Barre (Ballet AU)

Rust Red Skies (Military AU)

After The High (Rockstar AU)