filing off the seriAl nuMbers
75
has in the print market and in traditional literary studies generally been
credited with a lower cultural status than that of solitary authorship. The
cliché of the fan as a fanatic who is too emotionally attached and in the worst
case even unable to distinguish between reality and fiction adds another
layer to the low status of fanfiction writing. On fan sites, many authors use
pseudonyms or pen names and make little reference to their lives outside
of fandom. The anonymity renders fan sites a safe space, where women
can write freely about sexually explicit topics and do not have to fear the
ridicule often directed at emotionally attached female fans. At the same
time, fandom is a space for “insiders” where fans share knowledge about,
and appreciation or love for, media texts and the practices of fanfiction
writing, and friendships are fostered in private messages.
By moving outside of fanfiction writing and into the public sphere of the
market, Clare and James have not simply come to inhabit their “real” author
identities as names became attached to physical bodies. Rather, and this is
stressed by their usage of a new set of pen names, they have created another
authorship performance. “E.L. James” and “Cassandra Clare” neither continue
their fan authorship nor break completely with former practices. While both
authors marginalize their history as fan authors, they both adapt practices
of the fan context. As argued before, the adaptation of these practices are
here considered as part of layered adaptations that include authorship
performance as well as the interaction with fans and readers but also the
practices of writing and serialization that are common in fan communities.
James and Clare have created online outlets that provide a space for
the staging of their authorship identities, and they have also repeatedly
appeared in TV and print interviews and at public events during which
specific narratives about themselves as authors are circulated. Both have
short versions of an author narrative or “bio(graphy)” on their websites
built on select personal information that then tend to be repeated in different contexts, often with small anecdotes or details as embellishments.
James stresses on her homepage that she lives in London as a mother and
wife. She states that she used to work in TV and always wanted to be a
writer. 48 In the FAQ list on the site, James explains that, before it was
picked up by Vintage, “[a]n earlier version of this story began as Twilight
fanfiction which was posted on the internet.” 49 In an ABC interview from
2012, which is exemplary for her performance, she recounts her own
pleasures in the reception of the Twilight series (“I just sat on my sofa and
48 See James, E.L. “About Me.” E.L. James. Accessed Sept. 15, 2015.
49 E.L. James, “Frequently Asked Questions.” E.L. James. Accessed Sept. 15, 2015.
75
has in the print market and in traditional literary studies generally been
credited with a lower cultural status than that of solitary authorship. The
cliché of the fan as a fanatic who is too emotionally attached and in the worst
case even unable to distinguish between reality and fiction adds another
layer to the low status of fanfiction writing. On fan sites, many authors use
pseudonyms or pen names and make little reference to their lives outside
of fandom. The anonymity renders fan sites a safe space, where women
can write freely about sexually explicit topics and do not have to fear the
ridicule often directed at emotionally attached female fans. At the same
time, fandom is a space for “insiders” where fans share knowledge about,
and appreciation or love for, media texts and the practices of fanfiction
writing, and friendships are fostered in private messages.
By moving outside of fanfiction writing and into the public sphere of the
market, Clare and James have not simply come to inhabit their “real” author
identities as names became attached to physical bodies. Rather, and this is
stressed by their usage of a new set of pen names, they have created another
authorship performance. “E.L. James” and “Cassandra Clare” neither continue
their fan authorship nor break completely with former practices. While both
authors marginalize their history as fan authors, they both adapt practices
of the fan context. As argued before, the adaptation of these practices are
here considered as part of layered adaptations that include authorship
performance as well as the interaction with fans and readers but also the
practices of writing and serialization that are common in fan communities.
James and Clare have created online outlets that provide a space for
the staging of their authorship identities, and they have also repeatedly
appeared in TV and print interviews and at public events during which
specific narratives about themselves as authors are circulated. Both have
short versions of an author narrative or “bio(graphy)” on their websites
built on select personal information that then tend to be repeated in different contexts, often with small anecdotes or details as embellishments.
James stresses on her homepage that she lives in London as a mother and
wife. She states that she used to work in TV and always wanted to be a
writer. 48 In the FAQ list on the site, James explains that, before it was
picked up by Vintage, “[a]n earlier version of this story began as Twilight
fanfiction which was posted on the internet.” 49 In an ABC interview from
2012, which is exemplary for her performance, she recounts her own
pleasures in the reception of the Twilight series (“I just sat on my sofa and
48 See James, E.L. “About Me.” E.L. James. Accessed Sept. 15, 2015.
49 E.L. James, “Frequently Asked Questions.” E.L. James. Accessed Sept. 15, 2015.