One Direction Fanfiction Is Big
Fanfiction is big -- bigger than you think. For the uninitiated, fanfiction is when fans write their own versions of their favorite TV shows, movies, or books.
Some of the most popular fanfiction franchises (published on fanfiction.net) are Harry Potter, Twilight, Lord of the Rings, Glee, Doctor Who, and Sherlock. Many of these stories revolve around “pairings” or two characters from the original story with whom the fan wants to get together. For example, Harry Potter fans want Harry to marry Draco Malfoy, Twilight fans want Bella to marry the werewolf instead of the vampire, and so on. Some fans rewrite a season finale or book chapter they didn’t like. One of the more famous fanfiction writers is E.L James, who took her BDSM Twilight fanfiction “Master of The Universe” and turned it into the best-selling novel Fifty Shades of Grey.
So fanfiction is a thing. Fans and writers use it to express themselves and develop their voices. There are even fans of fanfics. Some authors like George R.R. Martin don’t like fans to write about their stuff. Other writers, such as Meg Cabot and J.K. Rowling, have given it their blessing.
It is not uncommon to write fiction about fiction. What is weird -- at least in my opinion -- is writing elaborate fantasy stories about real people. Wattpad.com, one of the more popular fanfiction websites, features over a hundred thousand fanfictions about One Direction. On Wattpad, the search results are automatically filtered based on the number of hits (meaning number of readers). Each writer has also customized a book-cover for their individual story. When I typed "One Direction" into the Wattpad search bar, I immediately got 124,000 stories. There was an option to refine my search by clicking on buttons labeled One Direction, Harry, Niall, Louis, or Liam, Zayn, Styles, or Horan. I clicked on the One Direction button which narrowed the list down to 26.9K stories, which were specific to the band, and not a particular member. The first story to come up is called “The Mentor” written by the user called "pizzaluver".
“The Mentor” is about Rosemarie, a teenager who was selected among other youths to live with One Direction on a reality TV show. It consists of 64 chapters (all with different titles) and an epilogue. This seems excessive, cheesy and more than a little weird, but it boasts a whopping 13.4 million reads and 213k votes (favorites). Another story called “One Direction Bit Me!” is about a 17-year-old girl named Amberia Purt who is bitten by a vampire version of One Direction. This story has 33 chapters, 5.5 million hits, and 118k votes.It's not just Wattpad and fanfiction.net. Fuse.com posted a list of “11 MUST-READ ONE DIRECTION FANFICTION STORIES.” There is also a website, onedirectionfanfiction.net dedicated entirely to all forms of One Direction-themed fiction. Most of them are about fictional characters falling in love with individual members of One Direction (usually Harry Styles) Some are “slash fiction” (same-sex pairings) which are about romances between the One Direction band members ( “Larry” or Liam and Harry is the most popular one).
These fanfics are categorized by genre, ratings, and popularity. Ratings distinguish the more sexually explicit stories from the others. Some are rated "M" for mature, as opposed to "T" for teen. Viewers can also narrow their search according to which band members they want.
Within these categories there are other sub-genres: Horror, Mystery, Romance, Sci-Fi, you name it. In other words, people are going crazy with this stuff. It’s one thing to like George Clooney. It’s another to want him to turn into a vampire and suck your blood. So what does this say about young girls and pop culture? What does it say when a teenage girl develops detailed fantasies (not all of them "PG") about her favorite singer? Why doesn’t she just invent her character to use in her story?
According to an article in the Guardian, “fan fiction allows teenagers to explore their sexuality freely” and hence can be a healthy form of self-expression. Maybe it is. And as we saw with Fifty Shades of Grey, fanfiction can lead to a successful writing career.
Anna Todd, a Wattpad writer Anna Todd published her One Direction fanfic as a series of novels in 2014. So boy-band obsession can prove useful. Another fanfiction writer, Emily Baker, signed a book deal with Penguin to write a book about One Direction titled Loving the Band.
Personally I see nothing wrong with One Direction. When I was younger it was the Backstreet Boys, for my parents it was the Beatles, and now it's One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer. Boy bands are cute, talented, and write fun songs. It's cool. I get it. But it’s different this time -- and much more complex. These girls are not just writing in their diaries about how much they love Liam’s hair, or how cool Niall’s voice is. They are taking real life people and using them as a canvas for creative writing. One Direction has gone from being a pop icon to a pop-platform for storytelling and self-expression.
