filing off the seriAl nuMbers
81
By now, the authors of the pre-texts for Fifty Shades of Grey and The Mortal
Instruments are also extensively invested in convergence strategies that are
again part of fan writing strategies and are even taking on writing practices
that are specific to fanfiction conventions. J.K. Rowling (and Sony, one might
add) has been invested in keeping fans constantly on the low boil, as Barnes
says, with the online platform Pottermore. On the site, fans can engage with
the universe and the stories by being sorted into one of the houses of the
Hogwarts School, playing interactive games, or joining conversations on
message boards. The site has also been used to promote Rowling’s renewed
engagement with the franchise. She wrote a play about Harry Potter’s life
before the first book of the series and investigates the imaginary world
further through the script of the movie prequel Fantastic Beasts and Where
to Find Them which opened in 2016, and will form part of a new trilogy. Yet
Stephenie Meyer has come even closer to emulating and cashing in on fan
practices by writing Life and Death, a novel that retells the Twilight events
centering on a female vampire and a male love interest for the occasion of the
10th anniversary of the first book of the series. Already in 2008, Meyer, like
James did with Grey and like many fans before them, had released a version
of Twilight retold from the perspective of Edward instead of Bella on her
webpage. Fan practices are therefore not only adapted by fan authors who
transition into professional writing but they have proven to be so successful for
specific fandoms that the authors of the pre-texts are adapting them as well.
Conclusion
Fifty Shades of Grey and The Mortal Instruments are two examples of a
larger phenomenon in which authors and texts transition from the realm
of fanfiction writing to the professional and commercial book market. This
chapter argues that this process involves forms of “layered adaptations,”
adaptations and appropriations of narratives or stories as well as practices
of writing, reception, communication, and authorship performance. These
processes take place at times in consecutive steps, when we consider Master
of the Universe as an adaptation of Twilight, which is then transposed to
the book market as Fifty Shades of Grey, as well as simultaneously on different levels of textuality and practices in the adaptation of authorship
performances and subgenres. The fanfictions Master of the Universe and The
Draco Trilogy are both adaptations of pre-texts that transpose a narrative
or parts of it to the context of fanfiction writing, functioning as announced
adaptations (all fanfictions are understood by their readers to be a form of
81
By now, the authors of the pre-texts for Fifty Shades of Grey and The Mortal
Instruments are also extensively invested in convergence strategies that are
again part of fan writing strategies and are even taking on writing practices
that are specific to fanfiction conventions. J.K. Rowling (and Sony, one might
add) has been invested in keeping fans constantly on the low boil, as Barnes
says, with the online platform Pottermore. On the site, fans can engage with
the universe and the stories by being sorted into one of the houses of the
Hogwarts School, playing interactive games, or joining conversations on
message boards. The site has also been used to promote Rowling’s renewed
engagement with the franchise. She wrote a play about Harry Potter’s life
before the first book of the series and investigates the imaginary world
further through the script of the movie prequel Fantastic Beasts and Where
to Find Them which opened in 2016, and will form part of a new trilogy. Yet
Stephenie Meyer has come even closer to emulating and cashing in on fan
practices by writing Life and Death, a novel that retells the Twilight events
centering on a female vampire and a male love interest for the occasion of the
10th anniversary of the first book of the series. Already in 2008, Meyer, like
James did with Grey and like many fans before them, had released a version
of Twilight retold from the perspective of Edward instead of Bella on her
webpage. Fan practices are therefore not only adapted by fan authors who
transition into professional writing but they have proven to be so successful for
specific fandoms that the authors of the pre-texts are adapting them as well.
Conclusion
Fifty Shades of Grey and The Mortal Instruments are two examples of a
larger phenomenon in which authors and texts transition from the realm
of fanfiction writing to the professional and commercial book market. This
chapter argues that this process involves forms of “layered adaptations,”
adaptations and appropriations of narratives or stories as well as practices
of writing, reception, communication, and authorship performance. These
processes take place at times in consecutive steps, when we consider Master
of the Universe as an adaptation of Twilight, which is then transposed to
the book market as Fifty Shades of Grey, as well as simultaneously on different levels of textuality and practices in the adaptation of authorship
performances and subgenres. The fanfictions Master of the Universe and The
Draco Trilogy are both adaptations of pre-texts that transpose a narrative
or parts of it to the context of fanfiction writing, functioning as announced
adaptations (all fanfictions are understood by their readers to be a form of