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AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
transformed in her own series to prevent any form of copyright infringement and to create her own brand. While both James and Clare indicate
the personal inspiration for their novels, Clare specifically points at the
work and artisanship that is involved in the writing process and talks a lot
about the writing group that she works with, which also makes repeated
appearances in TV features about her. Despite the attempts at distancing
herself from all things fanfiction, the foregrounding of artisanship, the
way she weaves intertextual references into the text and the communal
practice of writing with her writing group, all provide similarities to her
history as a fan author.
Despite their prominence as fanfiction authors, and their interest in
keeping their fan readers as a readership for their professional writing, James
and Clare provide an “official” performance of authorship that does not
quite deny their previous writing but, to say the least, lessens its importance
and impact on their succeeding texts and success. Yet, beyond the layer of
adaptation identified here that accounts for the material that transitioned
from one habitat to the other, which also affects reception practices that
understand these texts as adaptations, on another layer, both James and
Clare adapted practices of communication and writing from fanfiction
processes. Clare, in particular, extensively employs social media channels
to engage with her fans in feedback loops that resemble the conversations
between authors and readers in the fan community and the communication among fans about the text at the center of a fandom. She extensively
reposts and answers her fans’ questions about the universe and specific
characters in a back and forth conversation with her audience. Her posts
include content, like pictures of her with the actors of the TV adaptation
of The Mortal Instruments, that function both as part of her authorship
performance and as a fan practice. Like fans, she discusses her emotional
connection to the characters and provides information that dives deeper into
the constituency of the imaginary world the narrative is set in, and answers
questions that are left open by the text, e.g. speculations about what happens
to the characters after the end of specific series, specifically on her Tumblr
blog The World of the Shadowhunters. She posts fan art, or art inspired by the
franchise and clips and photos related to it. Her Twitter and Tumblr feeds
are embedded on the official website for the series, advertising a reception
practice that includes the ongoing communication with and interpretation
by the author. Unlike on fanfiction sites, the exchanges between her and
her readers and fans are not part of a fantext but are selected so that Clare
remains in control of what appears on her blog. However, because she uses
hashtags and retweets posts by other Twitter users, she also points at the
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
transformed in her own series to prevent any form of copyright infringement and to create her own brand. While both James and Clare indicate
the personal inspiration for their novels, Clare specifically points at the
work and artisanship that is involved in the writing process and talks a lot
about the writing group that she works with, which also makes repeated
appearances in TV features about her. Despite the attempts at distancing
herself from all things fanfiction, the foregrounding of artisanship, the
way she weaves intertextual references into the text and the communal
practice of writing with her writing group, all provide similarities to her
history as a fan author.
Despite their prominence as fanfiction authors, and their interest in
keeping their fan readers as a readership for their professional writing, James
and Clare provide an “official” performance of authorship that does not
quite deny their previous writing but, to say the least, lessens its importance
and impact on their succeeding texts and success. Yet, beyond the layer of
adaptation identified here that accounts for the material that transitioned
from one habitat to the other, which also affects reception practices that
understand these texts as adaptations, on another layer, both James and
Clare adapted practices of communication and writing from fanfiction
processes. Clare, in particular, extensively employs social media channels
to engage with her fans in feedback loops that resemble the conversations
between authors and readers in the fan community and the communication among fans about the text at the center of a fandom. She extensively
reposts and answers her fans’ questions about the universe and specific
characters in a back and forth conversation with her audience. Her posts
include content, like pictures of her with the actors of the TV adaptation
of The Mortal Instruments, that function both as part of her authorship
performance and as a fan practice. Like fans, she discusses her emotional
connection to the characters and provides information that dives deeper into
the constituency of the imaginary world the narrative is set in, and answers
questions that are left open by the text, e.g. speculations about what happens
to the characters after the end of specific series, specifically on her Tumblr
blog The World of the Shadowhunters. She posts fan art, or art inspired by the
franchise and clips and photos related to it. Her Twitter and Tumblr feeds
are embedded on the official website for the series, advertising a reception
practice that includes the ongoing communication with and interpretation
by the author. Unlike on fanfiction sites, the exchanges between her and
her readers and fans are not part of a fantext but are selected so that Clare
remains in control of what appears on her blog. However, because she uses
hashtags and retweets posts by other Twitter users, she also points at the