Fandom Culture
A Fanworks Ecumenopolis: Tolkien Fanfiction Archives and the Implications of Consolidation
Published on 14 October 2022 | Conference Paper
Presented at the Fan Studies Network North America conference in 2022, this presentation uses the concept of the "world city" or ecumenopolis as a metaphor for the infrastructure for archiving fanworks in the early 2020s, taking Tolkien fanfiction as a case study. As the extreme archival fragmentation of the Tolkien fandom gave way to growing consolidation onto the Archive of Our Own, questions arise concerning the future of fandom archiving and whether this consolidation poses risks of not just data loss but cultural loss as well.
More about this work
Genre: No genre listed.
Characters: No characters listed.
Pairing: No pairing listed.
Affirmational and Transformational Values and Practices in the Tolkien Fanfiction Community
Published on 19 January 2020 | Article
Using survey data, primary historical sources, and existing scholarship, this article makes the case that writers of Tolkien-based fanfiction value elements of both affirmational and transformational fandom. The navigation of canon, authority, criticism, and reparation is complex and shapes not only the stories authors tell but the communities they build. Published in the Journal of Tolkien Research.
More about this work
Genre: No genre listed.
Characters: No characters listed.
Pairing: No pairing listed.
Fanfiction’s Hidden City: Affirmational and Transformational Practices in the Tolkien Fanfiction Community
Published on 18 April 2019 | Conference Paper
Despite more than six decades in existence and nearly two as one of the most consistently dominant fic fandoms, Tolkien-based fanfiction is under-studied in the scholarship and often does not fit how scholarship by fans and academics alike describe "fic fandom." This paper, presented at the 2019 Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference, pushes for recognition of Tolkien-based fanfiction as containing both tranformational elements (as typically associated with fanfiction by scholars) and affirmational elements generally associated with male "curative" fandom.
More about this work
Genre: No genre listed.
Characters: No characters listed.
Pairing: No pairing listed.
Data on Tolkien Fanfiction Culture and Practices (1st Edition)
Published on 15 April 2019 | Research
This document contains data for all items from the Tolkien Fan Fiction Survey, as well as some commentary and analysis.
More about this work
Genre: No genre listed.
Characters: No characters listed.
Pairing: No pairing listed.
Take Pity upon Him: Did Maedhros Really Threaten to Kill Elrond and Elros at the Third Kinslaying?
Published on 17 November 2008 | | Award Winner
I challenge the once-popular fanon that Maedhros threatened to kill Elrond and Elros at Sirion, only to have Maglor stay his hand.
More about this work
Genre: No genre listed.
Characters: No characters listed.
Pairing: No pairing listed.
Transformative Works as a Means to Develop Critical Perspectives in the Tolkien Fan Community
Published on 10 January 2015 | Conference Paper
This paper discusses how unique features of the Tolkien fanfiction community prepare its authors to function at a high level in critically discussing Tolkien's texts.
More about this work
Genre: No genre listed.
Characters: No characters listed.
Pairing: No pairing listed.
The Loremasters of Fëanor: Historical Bias in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien and Transformative Works
Published on 13 June 2015 | Conference Paper
Tolkien's Silmarillion contains a pseudohistorical narrator who brings his bias to bear on much of the Quenta Silmarillion. Tolkienfic writers often prefer the characters disfavored by the narrator, using their fanworks to construct an alternate and sometimes corrective narrative from the points of view of characters subject to negative bias.
More about this work
Genre: No genre listed.
Characters: No characters listed.
Pairing: No pairing listed.
The Borders of the (Fictional) World: Fan Fiction Archives, Ideological Approaches, and Fan Identity
Published on 16 July 2016 | Conference Paper
This paper, cowritten and co-presented at the 2016 New York Tolkien Conference with Janet McCullough John, looks at how the various archives used by Tolkienfic writers created both fragmentation in the fandom and also allowed for distinct cultures to develop within those archives. We explore cultural differences within the various archives and the historical context of the wider Tolkien fandom in which these cultures arose.
More about this work
Genre: No genre listed.
Characters: No characters listed.
Pairing: No pairing listed.
Fictional Scholarship: How the Peter Jackson Films and Fandom Archives Make Tolkien Fan Fiction Writers into Competent Critics
Published on 21 March 2015 | Article
Fanfiction functions critically for its writers, and two features of the Tolkienfic fandom--the predominance of Peter Jackson's movies and its variety of Tolkien-specific archives--have helped to hone these critical faculties. Published in Mythprint.
More about this work
Genre: No genre listed.
Characters: No characters listed.
Pairing: No pairing listed.
Attainable Vistas: Historical Bias in Tolkien's Legendarium as a Motive for Transformative Fanworks
Published on 1 September 2016 | Article
The Silmarillion was constructed as a pseudohistorical text and contains evident biases. Motivated as they often are by a desire to correct their source texts, Tolkien fanfiction authors use this bias as a motive for creating fanworks. However, this is not a universal impulse, and survey data coupled with data from Tolkienfic archives illustrates key cultural differences between Tolkienfic communities. Published in the Journal of Tolkien Research.
More about this work
Genre: No genre listed.
Characters: No characters listed.
Pairing: No pairing listed.
101 Comment Starters
Published on 7 February 2018 | Essay
My research has shown that readers often don't comment on fanfiction because they lack the specific skill in writing that this requires. This resource uses an evidence-based pedagogical method used to teach writing--sentence starters--to scaffold commenting as a writing skill.
More about this work
Genre: No genre listed.
Characters: No characters listed.
Pairing: No pairing listed.
Why People Don't Comment: Data and History From the Tolkienfic Community
Published on 24 February 2018 | Essay
Data from the Tolkienfic community shows that a lack of commenting on fanfiction is less about a lack of desire to comment and more about a lack of skill, confidence, and community, all of which empower readers to comment more on what they read.
More about this work
Genre: No genre listed.
Characters: No characters listed.
Pairing: No pairing listed.
A Woman in Few Words: The Character of Nerdanel and Her Treatment in Canon and Fandom
Published on 15 January 2008 | Essay | Award Winner
A review of the canon facts available on Nerdanel and discussion of why she remains so popular with fans despite her scarce appearances in the texts.
More about this work
Genre: No genre listed.
Characters: Nerdanel
Pairing: No pairing listed.