Data from a fan fiction archive reveals that the fanfic community largely favors familiar content, consistently choosing it over newer, innovative works. Despite a penchant for sameness, readers report higher enjoyment levels when they engage with novelty. Historically, authors have borrowed characters and plots, evolving into modern fan fiction, which began with Star Trek's Spockanalia in 1967. The internet revolutionized access to fanfic, resulting in a vast array of works based on diverse franchises, solidifying its cultural significance.
The fanfic community overwhelmingly prefers familiarity, consistently choosing it over novelty, though they report greater enjoyment when reading something more novel.
Authors have always copied characters and plots from other works, but modern fan fiction as we think of it emerged with the 1967 publication of Spockanalia.
The advent of the World Wide Web brought fan fiction to the masses, leading to an explosion of fanfic across various franchises and genres.
While consumers traditionally crave a balance of novelty and familiarity, the fanfic community seeks more of the former while enjoying the latter.
Collection
[
|
...
]