The point is, these students began as tremendously skeptical, but by reading the works, interacting with the authors (who were generous with their time), and above all taking these writers seriously enough to read them in conjunction with other writers who took themselves seriously—like, say, Immanuel Kant—the class developed a tremendous respect for the Twific writing community. And whether they liked all the individual stories or not, everyone found something to like they wouldn’t otherwise have imagined existed.
To which many of the fic writers responded: “You’re so funny, we were just writing smut.”
Fic is of necessity a kind of survey-like volume, but this section examines one fandom in a little more depth. I wanted to give a firsthand sense of fic community motivations, dynamics, and experiences—good and bad. Although I haven’t known it the longest, I probably know the Twilight fandom the best, as a result of my course and the research that went into developing it, and so it was the natural choice for this more in-depth treatment. It’s a good fandom to focus on, though, for reasons independent of my scholarship. Certainly, it’s been the most widely represented and misrepresented in the media since the commercial publication of Fifty Shades of Grey and the growing list of Twilight fanfictions that have followed suit. Many of those media articles were very hurriedly researched, and while others were much more thorough, a number of both kinds were quoting me. My perspective on my fifteen minutes as the press’ fanfiction professor is just that. It was me. It isn’t them—the actual contentious, articulate writers in question. So here they are—at least some of them—including some who probably disagree with a lot of what I’ve just said.
Jolie Fontenot has been tracking trends and motivations in the Twilight fandom as part of an academic study in communication. In her essay, she explains how even Twilight fanfiction that stayed as close as possible to Meyer’s series was sometimes written to protest elements of the original people found disappointing or distasteful. She also shows how this kind of anger toward the object of fan love, when combined with cultural negativity about fan culture and (in the case of the Twilight fandom) its beloved object, can both splinter a community and bind it more closely together.
Twilight’s True Believers
Jolie Fontenot
I’ve studied the Twilight fandom for several years. What initially started out as curiosity about fan uproar over the series finale, Breaking Dawn, transformed into a long-term study of a community and, more important, how they portrayed themselves and their work.
There is no such thing as “the average Twilight fanfiction writer.” I’ve seen ages from teenagers to senior citizens. College students, stay-at-home moms, husbands, lawyers, medical professionals—I’ve seen stories written by people who claimed to hold all of those roles. No short essay could describe all of these people and their motivations. But there are a few broad observations we can make about the responses of the community as a whole, especially to Breaking Dawn.
While there are those who wrote fanfiction as a way of expressing their love for the Twilight Saga, a considerably vocal element of the Twilight fanfiction community composed stories as a means of expressing discontent with its ending. These works of Twilight fanfiction and the websites that hosted them functioned like counterinstitutional websites—sites started to protest particular organizations. Radio Shack, for example, ran into problems with a website that an irate customer started called RadioShackSucks.com. A counterinstitutional website can act as a lightning rod, offending some, representing the voice of alienated others. In the case of Twilight, the organization to be protested was the final book of the series itself.
Breaking Dawn was released in 2008 to incredible sales—it sold 1.3 million copies in the first twenty-four hours, and over 6 million by year’s end—but to poor reviews in the book critic community. Elizabeth Hand, for instance, wrote a review of the 700-plus-page book for The Washington Post that called it “frankly, dreadful,” citing Bella’s passivity, infantilization, and failure as a role model, as well as the book’s general “ick factor.” Twilight fandom, on the other hand, was split between two very vocal communities—those who loved the book and those who loathed it.
Of the latter group, some readers returned their books. Others took to blogs and message boards to vent their ire. Critics’ negative reviews functioned as “evidence” for their hatred of the book. They would post them online in forums or email the articles to like-minded readers. One reader started an online petition asking Meyer to explain the inconsistencies in Breaking Dawn that seemed to contradict the universe that she had created;93 over 2,500 people signed it. Another fan created a LiveJournal titled “Twilight Sucks” to express her discontent. A rather vocal community began posting on the Amazon forum for the Breaking Dawn book. They began calling themselves “The Dark Side,” because of how they felt they were being painted by Twilight fans who loved the final book. Because of conflict on the Amazon boards, a few members of this group formed their own forum so they could exchange opinions about the story in peace. However, each side felt that they were marginalized and mocked by the other. Others who loved the final book in the series felt they were no longer welcome at the Amazon forum for the final book, and took their discussions over to the Goodreads site.
Emotions were high, and when you throw in the way that the internet had evolved with social media and resources like Twitter, it was a recipe for controversy. When you can use only 140 characters to send a message, the odds of that message being misunderstood rise exponentially. Also, the lack of nonverbal cues, which is a hallmark of email and other electronic communication, occasionally makes it difficult for people to understand one another. Sometimes such incidents sparked nasty exchanges via forums, email, or blogs. For a while, this controversy split the Twilight fandom.
Reader reaction to Breaking Dawn represents an especially interesting occurrence from a fanfiction perspective. With the publication of Breaking Dawn, combined with the news that the first book would be turned into a major motion picture, the popularity of Twilight fanfiction grew. Fanfiction gave all those who mourned the end of the series a way to return to that reimagined universe. They could, in effect, almost go home. But many also turned to fanfiction in an attempt to rid themselves of the bad taste of the book’s finale, or because in fanfiction, they found stories that reminded them of the reasons they fell in love with the series in the first place. One FanFiction.Net reader, who self-identified as a teacher named Kelly Hardy, posted the following comment about the story “Sacrifices” by Enthralled:
I honestly think I enjoyed reading your chapters as much (if not a little bit more) than Stephanie’s. Mainly because yours were full of emotion that evoked tears from me. I missed that in Stephanie’s books. Although I did still cry through her Twilight series, reading yours made me feel so intuned with them, Edward and Bella.94
Others wanted to read the story minus elements that they disliked. A reviewer of the story “Waiting for Dawn” by Alice laughed wrote:
Did I read somewhere that you wrote this before Breaking Dawn? If so, you’re psychic. It followed the storyline so well without including Renesmee. Actually, it was exactly what I was expecting of the book, and I didn’t even factor in a half species baby.
If you wrote this after the book was published, again, it was great how you made the story your own. Whether or not you wrote the story before or after, you stuck so well to the characters. Everything they did, every little decision they made, was believable. There was not one moment where I thought that something was out of character. That’s a momentous thing to achieve and I congratulate you on that immensely.95
In fanfiction, then, as well as on message boards and protest sites, Meyer’s fans resisted the changes that she had made to her own canon. Sometimes called “true believers,” these readers, acting like fundamentalists, believed they and they alone understood the original canon of the series, insisting that Meyer be held accountable to their perception of her canon universe and
protesting that the franchise had gone in a different direction. One vociferous group opposed the inclusion of a child in the story, because they perceived that Meyer had established vampires as sterile. Many felt she changed the rules in order to complete her story. A close reading of Meyer’s letters posted on the site Twilight Lexicon, however, as well as comments she made in interviews, indicates that she intended to include the baby from the very beginning. This did not stop many fans from referring to the baby as “venom spawn.” Others posted on their profiles that as far as they were concerned, the Twilight Saga was only three books. One way of organizing Twilight fanfiction so that fans can find the stories they like is by connecting the events to a particular book. The anger became so great in some sectors that authors of stories that retold or took place during Breaking Dawn wanted to reclassify their stories—removing the Breaking Dawn categorization from them—because of a perceived boycott by readers of “pro” Breaking Dawn stories. Many also observed that, ironically, once they removed that classification to the story, their readership increased remarkably.
Some of this anger and negativity was fueled by factors such as the stories’ online medium, the perceived anonymity of the writers, and even the stigma often applied to writers of Twilight fanfiction, which many, in turn, internalized. Because of the way the franchise was mocked by some, as well as the general stigma of writing fanfiction, many writers worked hard to keep their Real Lives separate from their pen names and online identities. In some cases, this backfired, as there were several cases in which writers felt forced to leave the fandom when the attention became too intrusive, such as when their family members stumbled upon their stories—especially if they contained content that contradicted the author’s religious norms. There were rumors of a few writers, members of the Mormon Church, who had to tear down their stories out of fear of religious reprisals from people in their real lives. Several women also claimed they had to give up writing because their husbands resented the time that they devoted to it. Other people felt threatened because the criticism directed at their stories was interpersonally hurtful. I’ve worked with authors who received hate mail when their story took a direction that reader(s) objected to. I’ve interviewed authors who were so upset by the “drama” that they sought medication and counseling, or took breaks from participating in the fandom. The anonymity of fandom and the negative feelings produced by both internal pressures and external stigma—the frequent belittling of both fanfiction and Twilight fans—only fed and fueled this negativity further.
This phenomenon also led to the close ties that many of the fandom felt to other members: a fortress mentality, if you will. They felt that only other Twilight fans could appreciate the lengths they went to in writing fanfiction for a book series they loved (even when it made them mad). In addition to attending national conferences like San Diego Comic-Con, the fandom threw several get-togethers where authors and readers could mingle with one another face to face. I’d see cases on forums or Twitter where writers would mention having lunch with one another, or calling each other’s cell phones, or attending premieres of movies together. This community developed into something that went beyond an online phenomenon and became an interpersonal one. In this way, fandom became a safe place for members. Importantly, my research has shown that for some writers, posting fanfiction offered a means for dealing with painful and traumatic issues. I read the work of several writers who composed stories about sexual assault and/or physical and emotional abuse. Almost all claimed that telling the story served a therapeutic purpose.
It’s this kind of positive experience, perhaps, that is responsible for the continuation of Twilight fandom among both Breaking Dawn fans and detractors; despite the widespread fan discontent and the controversy, the fan community and its fic writers still appear to be going strong. Even the 2012 movie adaptation of the last half of Breaking Dawn was a success, which may seem surprising in light of how the book was initially received. (It is ironic to note that many individuals in online communities such as A Different Forest insisted they would boycott the Breaking Dawn movies; if they did, Twilight’s other fans more than made up for them, with the film earning $240 million in the United States and $577 million internationally in its first two weeks.) Times may have changed, but the effect of counterinstitutional websites appears to have retained a hold in the Twilight fandom, and perhaps made it even stronger.
Twilight fic writers, as many of them will tell you, came out of reading the Twilight Saga with an itch to scratch. Some scratched by reading; others, like LolaShoes, by writing. And writing. And writing.
Now better known as the Lauren Billings half of the Christina Lauren writing partnership, LolaShoes—by day a neuroscientist with a serious research program—wrote enormous canon-verse sagas detailing Bella and Edward’s relationship as it matured, emotionally and sexually. For LolaShoes, as for many adult fic writers, writing erotica marked a return to an adolescent pastime once enjoyed behind locked doors and in the privacy of hidden notebooks. Sharing it online turned it not only public, but communal. It also introduced her to the possibilities of collaborative writing with her coauthor tby789 (Christina Hobbs)—possibilities they’ve pursued to the bestseller list and a movie deal.
A Million Words
Lauren Billings (LolaShoes)
When I left for college, I packed up some clothes, drove across the country, and completely forgot about the stack of notebooks full of “stories” I had left in the drawer under my bed.
Of course I remembered them a few months later when my mom mentioned cleaning out my room and getting rid of my bed. I went into immediate, full-on, fight-or-flight mode with adrenaline flooding my system so fast I actually sat down on my dorm room floor because I was so shaky. OMG DID MY MOM FIND THE PORN I STARTED WRITING WHEN I WAS FOURTEEN?
DID SHE READ IT?
She totally would have, that stinker. She loves me so much she would want to read anything I wrote unless I’d explicitly written DO NOT READ. Which I hadn’t, of course. Sweet Baby Jesus, my poor mother probably laughed herself unconscious.
I mean, it was horrible. I don’t remember much, other than the main character was Kayla (hello, it was the eighties! PATCH AND KAYLA 4EVA). I’m guessing Kayla and her boyfriend basically went from place to place, kissing with a lot of tongue and then having passionate humping sex that made her scream his name and him shout hers. I’d actually love to see it now. I’m sure it was totally lulzy.
Sadly, when I started writing smut just into my thirties, the porn was only marginally better. This isn’t to knock anyone who liked it, but let’s be honest, you guys: I used the words bottom (ass), center (vagina), core (ditto), hardness (erection), and anus. Just let the sexiness of that last one sink in for a minute. I’ll be over here cringing.
Not only did I write smut, but I wrote fanfic smut based on the YA novel Twilight. It’s a fantastic story, actually: I’d just finished Jane Eyre, which I’d hated in high school and decided to give another shot. And I fell in mad, obsessed love with Edward Rochester. I had a Rochangover, as it were. I needed something fluffy to get my mind off the fact that we never got to see the epic Rochester/Jane bangfest. (Oh the irony. If only I’d known about fanfic then.)
So I picked up Twilight as my distraction. I won’t lie: I judged myself a little.
After I finished the first book, my dad came home from the hospital, and I went up to Berkeley to help Mom with his transition. The Berkeley part is significant because have you ever been to an independent bookstore there and asked for “the next book in the Twilight series”? I swear the look I got would have melted the skin off my face if I’d cared enough to be deterred from my New Moon mission. I glared back, and he stroked his gross beard, sighed, and told me to try Barnes & Noble. That was even better, because at B&N there were handwritten letters lining the Twilight shelf, written by some adorable baby goth begging vampire lovers everywhere not to buy this series. I made an “awwww, so cute” noise, then moved the let
ter aside and bought the rest of the series. No shame.
But then: Breaking Dawn. Like most, I got to the honeymoon and had to check to make sure pages in my book weren’t missing. I put it down and walked away and counted to ten. He carried her to deeper water? REALLY STEPHENIE? As I established, I’m a total piglet so even though the book is YA I was like, “Why isn’t there any bottom or core or hardness in here? We’ve read four books on how hard Edward is, let’s see it! Clearly I must write it.”
So I did. I sat down after my kid was asleep and wrote really smutty fanfic about a YA novel.
The best part is how naïve I was. I wasn’t on Twitter. I didn’t read blogs. I was a total internet virgin, and it’s a miracle I managed to figure out how to upload my story to FanFiction.Net. Beta readers? What’s that? I didn’t really think anyone would read the first chapter. I just had this thing inside me, clawing its way out. For some people that thing is a need to understand the neutrino, or solve the global warming mess. So glad those people exist, because for me, that thing was describing the moment Edward took Bella into deeper water. AND THEN WHAT? Type type type. Bottom, core, center, hardness. Again, no shame.
Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World Page 22