Fan Fiction as a Scenic Community: Text and Meaning Productions and Their Negotiations

The media practice of fan fiction is interpreted as a form of scenic communalisation, which today is realised primarily by means of network-based infrastructures. The writing of fan fiction is further discussed in the context of youth scene research, media fan studies and selected media sociological approaches. Based on problem-centred interviews with fan fiction authors, the empirical part of the article first deals with the process of creating fan fiction and then reflects on how fan fiction can be interpreted as a practice of resistance. The findings show that the practices of telling and publishing one’s own stories often aim at the continuous development of one’s own style and that writing also fulfils socially integrative functions. Forms of resistance are expressed in various transgressions, such as the breaking of narrative conventions and the creation of new pop-cultural horizons of meaning.