In Defense of Published Fanfiction

Riddle me this: What do the books Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James, The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, and The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon have in common?

Answer: All three of them used to be fanfiction before they were picked up by a publisher (the first was Twilight fanfiction; the other two were Star Wars). And they’re not alone — there has been an uptick in republished fanfiction lately, with several more of these works publishing this year.

It is illegal to publish fanfiction for profit if the source material is still within copyright. To avoid incurring lawsuits, authors who seek to turn their fanfiction into a published book go through a process of “filing the serial numbers off” — that is, changing enough details about the story and stripping out copyrightable content to make it an original work.

This practice is often derided by critics and the book community at large, but is it really all that bad? Here’s my hot take …

Republishing Fanfiction Is Fine, Actually

All authors take inspiration from works that they enjoy, and that’s not a bad thing. Fanfiction can also be surprisingly imaginative. Many fanfics are set in alternate worlds and contain storylines that never existed in the original property, meaning that they often contain a similar amount of originality to fiction that began as an original creation.

What’s more, the process of filing the serial numbers off forces the author to make the work truly original. Take The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon, for example. The original fanfiction was set in the world of Star Wars, featuring the characters Rey and Kylo Ren. The published work, however, is set in a fantasy world inspired by Southeast Asia, and features a magic system that a Jedi would barely recognize. The only hint of the book’s Reylo roots is that the love interest bears a striking resemblance to Adam Driver — and human’s appearances are hardly copyrightable.

In addition, building a story on the roots of an older one has a long and distinguished history …

There’s More Published Fanfiction Than You Think

Plenty of beloved stories are openly retellings of another work. Gregory Maguire’s Wicked, Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles series, and the metric ton of Greek mythology-inspired stories, for starters. Really, the only difference between these works and fanfiction is that the original work’s copyright has expired.

This practice goes back to antiquity. Most of Shakespeare’s plays were based on other, existing works, and we still revere him as a literary great. Hell, John Milton’s 1667 epic poem Paradise Lost is basically Bible fanfiction.

Not every book that originated as fanfiction is a de facto literary masterpiece. However, the fact of a book’s fanfic origins should not be a reason to dismiss it wholesale. All books should be judged on their merits as a story, not judged based on a knee-jerk reaction about the author’s process.

The Counterargument

As passionately as I just argued that republished fanfic is no big deal, I have heard some convincing arguments for the other side. One that I especially resonate with goes like this: Fanfiction is most effective and interesting within the context of its original fandom. Therefore, filing off the serial numbers actually removes some of its artistic value.

I have a hard time rebutting this argument. After all, as I just mentioned, retellings are a form of fanfiction — but the retelling’s connection to the original is part of what makes it interesting. Wicked or The Lunar Chronicles or Song of Achilles would be much less interesting if they were scrubbed of all mention of their literary inspirations.

While I maintain that there’s no moral or artistic issue with a book that originated as fanfiction, I concede that part of the story’s interest could be lost when it’s taken out of the fandom where it originated. I wonder what revered works of literature might come along when Star Wars is in the public domain, and authors can publish Reylo retellings to their heart’s content.

What do you think of republished fanfiction? Are there any retellings or books that originated as fanfic that you enjoy? Share in the comments!

Watch It Early!

My latest YouTube video will be up in three days’ time, but you get to see it before anyone else!

A common line of thinking about book-to-movie adaptations is that they’re good if the film sticks closely to the source material. However, one of my favorite book-to-movie adaptations begs to differ: the 2016 film Arrival, which was based on my favorite short story (Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang). My latest video essay explores the differences between Story of Your Life and Arrival, and why both pieces of media work so well!

What I Read This Month

I started the year off right by discovering two new favorites — one that warmed my heart, and one that stomped it into the ground!

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

In re-reading Story of Your Life for this month’s YouTube video, I figured I would finish the entire collection. While Story of Your Life remains the pinnacle of sheer perfection in my view, the other stories in Chiang’s collection cemented him as one of my favorite writers! Each story flexed my brain and punched me in the gut with its emotional resonance.

For my full thoughts, read my full review of Stories of Your Life and Others on Storygraph.

Brewed With Love by Shelly Page

As I have written before, Romantasy can be a bit hit-or-miss for me, because I often find that the romance gets in the way of the fantasy elements I crave. However, Brewed With Love by Shelly Page was a smashing hit for me — it’s a cozy YA romantasy with a healthy dose of mystery that blended all its genres seamlessly into a warm and delicious story! I also hosted a live stream with the author, which gave me an even greater appreciation for what went into creating this story.

For my full thoughts, read my full review of Brewed With Love on Storygraph.

In Case You Missed It …

In which I round up my other favorite fun posts that I made this past month!

On Instagram, I posted my full round-up of my favorite books I read in 2024:

On Instagram, as I mentioned earlier, I hosted a live stream with author Shelly Page to chat about her new book Brewed With Love, as well as her writing process, recommendations for mystery shows, her thoughts on why cozy fantasy is having a moment, and more:

On Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok, I shared the books that I would want to be viral if I could recreate BookTok from scratch:

You may be aware that in mid-January, there was a brief scare where TikTok was taken offline in the U.S. and then restored after the ban deadline was extended into April. The future of the app is still uncertain in the U.S., but shortly before the ban was initially set to take effect, I posted a video reminiscing on the wildest things that have happened to me on Doctor Who TikTok:

@looseleafellie

If someone wants to take the new crown for my funniest hate comment, it’s now or never! #DoctorWho #WhoTok

Additionally, the day the ban took effect, I made a parody of a Doctor Who regeneration speech as a bit of a laugh, which I also posted to YouTube Shorts for posterity:

On Instagram and TikTok, I posted a short preview version of last month’s video essay about the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler:

Due to the possible impending demise of TikTok, I’ve been posting several of my old TikTok videos to Instagram. This month, I shared my analysis of how the character of the Darkling changed between the Shadow and Bone book and Netflix TV show:

And finally, I shared my video about Doctor Who behind-the-scenes “facts” that are actually fake internet rumors:

Thank you so much for reading! Until next time, bookish friends.

Love,

Ellie