Modern-day periodicals: Fan-fiction and the platforms where they are hosted

Abstract

Fan-fiction has a decades-long history of existence, with its debut preceding the invention of the internet. However, nowadays, fan-fiction in the form of writing has moved almost exclusively to designated platforms for hosting fanfiction as well as social media, where the terms and conditions permit it. The present paper aims to analyse the social media sites where fan-fiction creations were or are currently hosted within their selected communities and the ways in which the platforms are influencing the form of the text themselves. Wattpad, and AO3, as fanfiction hosting platforms, as well LiveJournal, Tumblr, and Twitter have been used as places to disseminate fan-fictional content, be it images or in textual form. The analysis will include the requirements of the content creators with regards to the platform prerequisites for publishing new content, as well as the limitations of the platforms and the effect they have on the fan-fiction itself, from shortened tags for ship names all the way to its structure. The paper aims to be a brief cataloguing of aspects of each platform in itself as well as the "unspoken rules" devised by individual fandoms for the purpose of making the content more accessible to readers and also to abide by the requirement for content warnings and tags with respect to the matters contained within the creation.

Keywords

• f fan-fiction
• fan-fiction platforms
• cultural studies
• wattpad
• ao3