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The
Fan Fiction Phenomena
How
many people out here in the fandom world know about fan fiction? Some are
familiar, some even never heard about it, some are its lovers, or maybe some
are the writers. Fan fiction, usually called fanfic, is a term for stories or
fictions which are made by the fans of novels, movies, actors, or bands. The
characters in it is based on their idols or the character in the novel or
movies. For me myself, the first time I knew about fanfic was when I became a
fan of kpop 4 years ago. I believe that fanfics have been around for quite long
time, but it becomes popular in the recent 3-4 years. They are spread through
the internet and has its own loyal readers. This phenomena currently raise a
question, can fan fiction become a new genre of literature or just remain as a
fans hobby?
There
are many ways fans can express or deliver their love to their idols. Especially
for young people who have different lifestyle and still in the phase of
searching identity. They tend to search the right way to express their love. It
also can be distinguished by social class. For the middle-upper class, they tend
to support their idols through buying something related to , such as the novels
and the original CDs or DVDs. Then some are like to following their idols
around, such as the concerts, the fan meetings, and the novels fan signs. And
nowadays, the fandom world have the new way which is fan fiction, reading or
writing. The gender difference is also matter here. 95% of fanfics’ writers and
reader are fan girls while fan boys are more fond of spend their money. Through
fanfic, fans can make many stories as weird, as wrong, as wild, as happy, as
sad as they wanted it to happen to their idols. They put their wildest
imagination there. From my own experience writing a fan fiction, making my own
story about my idol, Super Junior, always brings joy. The feeling when I wrote
it, finished it, and when the readers who also the fans praised my fanfic, are
the best feeling. Not only the writers, the readers also will feel the same. Reading
fanfic can make the fans happy because it makes them feel close to their idols,
knowing something that other people don’t know, or having some extended stories
from their favorite movies or novels. In my opinion, the pleasure they have
when they are reading and writing fanfic is the one that make them addicted to
it.
Writing
fan fiction is actually the same like writing other fictions. The different is
just on the characters. Sometimes the story is based on true stories, sometimes
it is inspired by other stories, or it is pure from the imagination from the
author. Clearly that fan fiction are made for fun purposes. Therefore, there
are no legitimate copyrights for them. The fans just likely to publish it in
the internet. According to my research, Indonesian fan fiction writers like to
publish their fan fiction in their own blog or Facebook. However, there are
also fan fiction communities in Indonesia, for example Indohogwarts.com for
Harry Potter lovers, fanficskpopindo.com for kpop lovers, and
snsdfanfictionindonesia.com for SNSD(Girls’ Generation) lovers. Foreign
websites are also really popular. A bit different with Indonesia, they prefer
to have one big website that any fan communities can join, such as fanfiction.net and asianfanfics.com. There are
also some specific websites like Indonesia has, like harrypotterfanfiction.com
and onedirectionfanfiction.com. from those example, we can conclude that
internet is the “playground” of fan fiction’s lovers. They consume and produce
fanfics there. However, there is a change of place where they publish their
work from the KPOP fanfic writers. If before always published kpop fanfic in
the internet, now some of them are moving to wider market, which is book store,
like Gramedia. They sell their fan fiction to the publisher and making money
from it. In my opinion, there is a change of perspective that they can actually
earn money from making fan fiction. It has something to do with the booming of
kpop in Indonesia.
In
conclusion, fans become more creative day by day. They are not only spending
their money for their pleasure sake, but they tend to be make something that
really useful for them. By writing fan fiction, they still get their pleasure,
plus they can sharpen their writing skill. Even, they can make money from it.
As for the readers, maybe someday they are not only consuming, but also can
producing.
