TA TALKS BACK: ‘FAN FICTION: THE ADDICTION’
In today’s edition of TA Talks Back, TAer LJ Summers is back with the third part of her Fanficking series! In this third part, she discusses a survey she took of fanfickers, how she got into the Twilight saga and its fan fiction, and the overall addiction of fan fiction in the Twilight world.
(Part three in my sporadic Fanficking Series)
by LJ Summers
for Twilighters Anonymous
There’s a funny thing about the Twilight Fandom. It’s obsessed. Screen names like “Robsessed†come to mind almost immediately. So many people identify with the Cullens or the Wolfpack that fandom is its own phenomenon.Fanficking fans are included, of course! I’ve mentioned before that fanficking is a verb and it applies to engaging in any and all aspects of fan fiction, whether as a writer of it or as a reader. I did an informal survey, entirely non-scientific but amusing nonetheless, and here is what I found:
No one surveyed thought fan fiction was a waste of time. This came as no surprise to me, since the majority of the responses were made in a fanficking atmosphere. People who read this stuff do not believe they are wasting their time. And certainly writers of fan fiction believe we get something from our endeavors, even if it is just the “read and review rush.â€
Hey, rushes are addicting, too!
Back to my surveys…
An average of 33% of people who did take my survey (and I imagine read fan fiction) read it almost every day. Some of them, I am absolutely certain, do so on laptops in their cars in front of the office. Some do so during lunch breaks at work or between classes at school. One third of all readers are this obsessed with fan fiction. Think about it!
A whopping 23% (average) of the overall readers exhibit physical manifestations of their addiction. They get edgy. I know that feeling because I am in this category. (Okay, I’m in the almost-daily category, too…) I twitch if my favorites haven’t been recently updated. If I’ve read through my “must read†list and nothing is new.
This is not to snark at any of the authors of fan fiction, not to nag the purveyors of my addiction in any way. No, I want to keep you happy, my fellow fanficking authors. I like being happy, too. It’s just that – really – I thought I was the only one who felt twitchy and annoyed and anxious when my reading list was dwindling.
That was silly. I’m not that unique of an individual!
Read the complete article here.
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