From Consumers to Creators: A Critical Assessment of Fanfiction as a Transformative Power in Modern Narrative

Abstract

Fanfiction is an emerging genre of literature that has been gaining a strong hold on mainstream literature, emerging from the periphery. Fanfiction fosters a participatory culture where readers actively contribute to meaning-making, rather than passively consuming content. In the contemporary literary horizon, fanfiction is making its way from passive consumption to active production. This genre has achieved a place as a literary and cultural form, drawing the attention of both audience and critics. Till now date, the enthusiasm and acceptance of the audience and readers have made the commercialization of fanfiction possible by launching the careers of fanfiction authors like E.L. James, Cassandra Clare, and Anna Todd. This paper intends to discuss the transformative power of fanfiction and trace its journey of claiming agency by giving voices to the marginalised. Online fan fiction platforms such as Archive of Our Own (AO3), Wattpad, and FanFiction.net function as a space for literary creation and create digital communities where users support, critique, and collaborate on each other’s work as participatory communities.