Presentation on “Fanfiction: Generic Genesis and Evolution”

On February 14th, 2019, Steele Douris, Laura McGrath, J.D. Porter, and Quinn Dombrowski presented present their project, "Fanfiction: Generic Genesis and Evolution."

Fan fiction has become a massively productive region of the literary landscape, generating thousands of new readerly and textual communities that share fictional universes and critical feedback. We examine one subset of this scene—novel-length Harry Potter fan fiction from fanfiction.net—with respect to genre and character tags to determine how the plots and characters that preoccupy the fandom differ from those that receive the most attention in the 7 canonical books. Using some of the most common tropes, characterizations and plot devices utilized in fanfiction, we offer a method for categorizing and tracking the ways in which fanfiction authors (impressive close readers in their own right) interact with and deviate from the Harry Potter canon and each other.