FanFiction.Net (often abbreviated as FF.net or FFN) is an

automated Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...

fan fiction Fan fiction or fanfiction (also abbreviated to fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF) is fictional writing written in an amateur capacity by fans, unauthorized by, but based on an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, setti ...

archive site. It was founded on October 15, 1998, by

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

computer

programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

Xing Li, who also runs the site. It has over 12 million registered users and hosts stories in over 40 languages. The site is split into many main categories:

Anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

Manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

Book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical ...

Cartoons A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

Games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (suc ...

Comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

Movies A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

Plays Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

Musicals Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

TV Shows A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed bet ...

, and Miscellaneous. The site also includes the

Crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

category, added on March 27, 2009. Users who complete the free registration process can submit their fan fiction, maintain a

user profile A user profile is a collection of settings and information associated with a user. It contains critical information that is used to identify an individual, such as their name, age, portrait photograph and individual characteristics such as ...

, review other stories, apply for a

beta reader A beta reader is a test reader of an unreleased work of literature or other writing (similar to beta testing in software), who gives feedback from the point of view of an average reader to the author. A beta reader provides advice and comments in t ...

position, contact each other via private messages, and maintain a list of favorite stories and authors. There are centralized communities and forums. In lieu of signing up with a new account, the website allows users to use their

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

, or

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

accounts. The site also owns a Twitter account called FictionPress where users of the website are updated on changes and improvements made.

Creation

In 1998, Xing Li, a software designer, created FanFiction.Net.Berman, A.S.
Lame TV season? Write your own episodes online
" ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

''. August 20, 2001. Retrieved on May 19, 2011. The site was created as a repository for fan-created stories that revolved around characters from popular literature, television, comics, or real-world celebrities. Unlike other fan fiction sites, FanFiction.Net allowed stories about any characters rather than revolving around a specific set of characters, such as those from ''

Naruto ''Naruto'' is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. T ...

'', ''

Twilight Twilight is light produced by sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere, when the Sun is below the horizon, which illuminates the lower atmosphere and the Earth's surface. The word twilight can also refer to the periods of time when this i ...

'', or ''

Kingdom Hearts is a series of action role-playing games developed and published by Square Enix (originally by Square). It is a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company and is under the leadership of Tetsuya Nomura, a longtime Square ...

''. Registration was open to all people who claimed to be over 18, and by 2002 over 118,000 people were registered. (The age limit has since been moved down to 13.) At that time, one-third of the registrants self-identified as 18 or younger, and 80% were female.

Site content

, FanFiction.Net has had a total of just over 14 million stories published. The stories published to the site can be about new and old existing works. By 2001, almost 100,000 stories were posted on the website. Steven Savage, a programmer who operated a column on FanFiction.Net, described it as "the adult version of when kids play at being TV characters" and that the content posted on the website serves as examples for "when people really care about something". A. S. Berman of ''

'' said in 2001 that FanFiction.Net "reads like the 21st century successor to the

poetry slam A poetry slam is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges. While formats can vary, slams are often loud and lively, with audience participation, cheering and dramatic delivery. ...

s of the

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Genera ...

Story publishing

FanFiction.Net has nine categories for the various fandoms/sub-categories on the site:

Books A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physic ...

, Miscellaneous,

, and

. Stories on the site can be published as either "Fanfiction" with only one assigned sub-category, or as a "

" with only two sub-categories. Excluding crossovers, the top fandoms on the site are

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at ...

, and

. Writers may upload their stories to the site and must assign them a sub-category, language, and content rating. FanFiction.Net uses the content rating system from FictionRatings.com. This system contains the ratings of K, K+, T, M and MA. The MA rating and explicit violent and/or sexual themes are forbidden. The ratings are no longer done on the MPAA system, due to cease-and-desist demands from the

Motion Picture Association of America The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distrib ...

in 2005. A list of explanations for the rating system currently employed is available from the drop-down rating menu in each of the individual archives on the site. The MA (18+) rating is not permitted on this site. A short K-rated summary is also required for a story to be published. While not required, the website recommends authors upload a cover image to their story.

Reader feedback

Readers can interact with the FanFiction.Net content in various ways. If the reader likes a story and/or its author, they can favorite both the story and its author. Favorites are similar to likes, hearts or

Archive of Our Own Archive of Our Own (often shortened to AO3) is a nonprofit open source repository for fanfiction and other fanworks contributed by users. The site was created in 2008 by the Organization for Transformative Works and went into open beta in 2009. ...

's kudos. Favorite stories and authors are displayed on a user's public profile page at the very bottom. A reader can also follow a story and/or its author. When a reader follows a story, they receive email notifications whenever that story is updated. When a reader follows an author, they receive email updates whenever the author updates any of their stories or publishes a new one. Readers can also leave reviews after reading stories, most of which are positive. While reviews can be left by those without accounts, it is an option for all writers on the site to moderate "anonymous reviews", made by those who are not signed into an account. FanFiction.Net does not operate a screening or editorial board.

Most popular sections

As of October 8, 2022, the top 20 fandoms (i.e., the fandoms with the most stories submitted) on FanFiction.Net are (the figures are rounded to nearest thousand): The top fandom for each category on the site are:

Notable long fan fiction works

FanFiction.Net also hosts one of the longest works of fiction ever written. ''The Subspace Emissary's Worlds Conquest'', a '' Super Smash Bros.'' fan fiction written by FanFiction.Net user AuraChannelerChris, gained media attention for its length of over four million words at the time of notice, more than three times as long as ''

In Search of Lost Time ''In Search of Lost Time'' (french: À la recherche du temps perdu), first translated into English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'', and sometimes referred to in French as ''La Recherche'' (''The Search''), is a novel in seven volumes by French ...

'' written by

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel '' In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous ...

, and is still being written. The longest fan fiction on the site is ''The Loud House: Revamped'', a crossover fan fiction of ''

The Loud House ''The Loud House'' is an American animated television series created by Chris Savino that premiered on Nickelodeon on May 2, 2016. The series revolves around the chaotic everyday life of a boy named Lincoln Loud, who is the middle child and only s ...

'' which is over 16,000,000 words long .

Disallowed fan fiction

Copyright and trademark issues

FanFiction.Net instituted several policy changes as it grew in size and popularity. These policies frequently led to the deletion of fan fiction based on the copyrighted works of certain published authors or containing specifically targeted content. Since the site's founding, several professional authors and producers have asked that stories based on their

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...

ed or

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from ot ...

ed works be removed, including

Anne Rice Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien; October 4, 1941 – December 11, 2021) was an American author of gothic fiction, erotic literature, and Christian literature. She was best known for her series of novels '' The Vampire Chronicles'' ...

, P. N. Elrod,

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.Dennis L. McKiernan, Irene Radford, J.R. Ward, Laurell K. Hamilton,

Nora Roberts Nora Roberts (born Eleanor Marie Robertson on October 10, 1950) is an American author of more than 225 romance novels. She writes as J. D. Robb for the '' in Death'' series and has also written under the pseudonyms Jill March and for publicatio ...

/J.D. Robb,

Raymond Feist Raymond Elias Feist (; born Raymond Elias Gonzales III; December 21, 1945) is an American fantasy fiction author who wrote ''The Riftwar Cycle'', a series of novels and short stories. His books have been translated into multiple languages and ha ...

Robin Hobb Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden (born March 5, 1952), known by her pen names Robin Hobb and Megan Lindholm, is an American writer of speculative fiction. As Hobb, she is best known for her fantasy novels set in the ''Realm of the Elderlings'', w ...

, Robin McKinley, and

Terry Goodkind Terry Lee Goodkind (January 11, 1948September 17, 2020) was an American writer. He was known for the epic fantasy series ''The Sword of Truth'' as well as the contemporary suspense novel ''The Law of Nines'' (2009), which has ties to his fantasy ...

. In addition, stories based on real-life celebrities were disallowed around 2003. Fan fiction based on professional wrestling, however, is still allowed, being the number one fandom in the "Miscellaneous" category.

NC-17 ratings

On September 12, 2002, FanFiction.Net banned and removed material that was rated

NC-17 The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion pictures ...

. Prior to the new policy, the site would use a pop-up to prompt readers to say whether they were over 17 or not, but since then, the site has relied on its users to report stories that are inappropriately rated. Some NC-17 material was moved to Adult-FanFiction.org (previously AdultFanFiction.Net), a similar site which was created to serve the adults who write R and NC-17 rated fan fiction. However, many stories containing explicit material still exist and have yet to be removed. Story titles and summaries must be rated K.

CYOA (choose-your-own-adventure) or reader-insertion fiction

Choose-your-own-adventure and reader-insertion fanfiction have both been banned since 2005, and the site removed all material that had the potential of inserting the reader into a fanfiction. Under the heading of "Entries not allowed", item #5 says: "Any form of interactive entry: choose your adventure, second person/you based, Q&As, etc."

Songfics

In 2005, FanFiction.Net banned songfics which contain copyrighted lyrics.

Public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired ...

lyrics (such as those to "

Amazing Grace "Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn published in 1779 with words written in 1772 by English Anglican clergyman and poet John Newton (1725–1807). It is an immensely popular hymn, particularly in the United States, where it is used for both ...

") or lyrics written by the author of the fan fiction are allowed, however.

Lists

Until April 21, 2002, in addition to fiction stories based on existing characters, the site had a section devoted to lists, generally humor-related, for example "20 Ways to Dump Your Girlfriend".

Globalization

At first, FanFiction.Net's server was accessible mainly only in the West; and worked poorly, if at all, in other parts of the world. In late 2006, announcements were made of special web links designed for Europe and Asia. These were supposed to give other areas of the world a significant boost in server speed on the website. In 2007, all three web links were combined under one worldwide link. In an announcement on the home page, it was stated that the site would go global that year. Prior to the reorganizations of 2002, FanFiction.Net contained approximately 20% of English-language fan fiction. According to

Hitwise Hitwise is a division of Connexity, that measures behavior across desktop, tablet and smartphone devices. Hitwise provides marketers with online insights to help them understand, track and grow market share. Using Hitwise, marketers can define ...

, as of August 2007 FanFiction.Net comprised 34.7% of all traffic directed to sites in the Entertainment, Books and Writing category. For the week ending August 25, 2007, the site was ranked 159 out of over in terms of hits.

Archiving

FanFiction.Net is a widely popular site for text-only content that can be deleted at any time by either the author of the story or the site administration. Because of these factors the website has attracted a wide array of archival projects to save these works, though most are not widely known. Large-scale projects include the ff2ebook project, fichub, and an independent project hosted on archive.org.

FictionPress.com

FanFiction.Net's sister site, FictionPress.com, contains over 1 million original stories, poems, and plays. The site has a similar format and rules to FanFiction.Net, except that no fan fiction is allowed. Currently, there are more poems than prose.

References

External links

*
FictionPress.comMobile
{{DEFAULTSORT:FanFiction.Net Ebook sources Fan fiction Internet properties established in 1998 1998 establishments in California