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.

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.”

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!

Now, another interesting statistic is that approximately 21% of fan fiction readers – well, those that participated in my surveys – admitted to reading the fan fiction that is available more than they read the canon novels themselves. At first, I read Twilight over and over. First, to find flaws and gripe about it. Then, I read New Moon. And I wanted to kick Bella’s backside (Yes, I’m one of THOSE writers.) for letting herself waste away. And then…

Then I read Midnight Sun on Stephenie Meyer’s website and I had an epiphany. I did. The whole Saga made sense to me and I read Twilight again, over and over. With Midnight Sun on my Kindle electronic book reader on one hand and Twilight right next to it, I read them both and was enthralled. I got my Kindle in the mail and immediately ordered Eclipse and Breaking Dawn within twenty-four hours and read them within the following twenty-four hours.

Yes, I was addicted. And I hadn’t even met the marvelous domain of fan fiction yet!

It’s a hundred times worse, now. I have fan fiction pieces on my Kindle reader (with the full knowledge and consent of the writers thereof) and I read it there. I read it on my laptop. I read it on my desktop. Each device has different stories bookmarked, so I am not repeating my reads.

It’s bizarre, I know, but I was so relieved to find I was not alone! And if you fit in this category, you’re not alone, either!

There’s more to fanficking than just reading. The true addiction for many of us lies in writing fan fiction.

Now granted, only 8% of the respondents to my surveys said they wrote fan fiction regularly or frequently. My analysis of the numbers at one site upholds the concept that writers of fanfic are rather a small percentage compared to the numbers that read it. But still, there is that percentage – which climbs to 10% when you take in people who have written “some” fan fiction, but do not do so regularly – who contribute to this addiction.

Good thing it’s not illegal!

Even though it is not illegal, not every fanficker admits to indulging in this particular addiction. Fully 19% of the respondents to a survey I held said that they do not share how much fan fiction they read.

I know that for me, my addiction is a secret. Only my husband, children and a couple of most trusted friends know of my fanficking addiction. And few of them know exactly how many pieces of fan fiction I read. And even though I am an insomniac and should try to sleep more, I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve watched the hours on my computers’ clocks move forward to dawn as I devoured story after story. Even to my own detriment.

No, it’s not illegal, but it can be habit-forming!

Are you a fanficking addict? Do you stay up late reading story after story about Bella and Edward or Jasper and Alice or even Sam and Emily? Do you tell anyone?

Remember, this is Twilighters Anonymous. We don’t want to cure you, we just want you to know you’re not alone!

What do you think, TAers? Do you have an addiction to fan fiction? Talk back to us…