The Writing Difficulty and Creativity in Writing Fanfiction
Start Date
April 2026
Location
2nd floor - Library
Abstract
There are many forms of literature that people know about. From novels to poetry, people have written in many different forms to express their creativity, with fanfiction being one of them. There have been multiple studies in the past that have looked at different aspects of fanfiction. They have found that fanfiction is popular because of its familiarity while still holding novelty, and that it is a great learning tool for people learning the language. Even though fanfiction has become more prevalent these days, there is a gap in the literature about the similarities and differences between fanfiction and original fiction. This is significant as people are polarized on whether fanfiction is a valid type of literature or not. This study will try to look for some of those comparisons in terms of writing difficulty and creative freedom. This will be done with a quasi-experiment, where participants will take a survey where they will either have to write an original fiction or a fanfiction. After that, they will take a quiz about their difficulty in writing, their creative freedom, and their opinions about fanfiction. From this data, the study will show if fanfiction is more difficult to write and limits creative freedom compared to writing original fiction, while also seeing if attitudes about fanfiction change any of the results. Overall, this research contributes to understanding whether writing fanfiction is fundamentally different from writing original fiction.
The Writing Difficulty and Creativity in Writing Fanfiction
2nd floor - Library
There are many forms of literature that people know about. From novels to poetry, people have written in many different forms to express their creativity, with fanfiction being one of them. There have been multiple studies in the past that have looked at different aspects of fanfiction. They have found that fanfiction is popular because of its familiarity while still holding novelty, and that it is a great learning tool for people learning the language. Even though fanfiction has become more prevalent these days, there is a gap in the literature about the similarities and differences between fanfiction and original fiction. This is significant as people are polarized on whether fanfiction is a valid type of literature or not. This study will try to look for some of those comparisons in terms of writing difficulty and creative freedom. This will be done with a quasi-experiment, where participants will take a survey where they will either have to write an original fiction or a fanfiction. After that, they will take a quiz about their difficulty in writing, their creative freedom, and their opinions about fanfiction. From this data, the study will show if fanfiction is more difficult to write and limits creative freedom compared to writing original fiction, while also seeing if attitudes about fanfiction change any of the results. Overall, this research contributes to understanding whether writing fanfiction is fundamentally different from writing original fiction.
