Girls who like Boys who like Boys – Ethnography of ... - Yuuyami.com

enough, let's go!”
Canon is, without a doubt, the source for all that is fanfiction. Yet, the degree
to which it is used as frame of reference or as base on which the author can
base her/his interpretation is widely variant. For the production of a fanfic, the
author does not necessarily have to consume the source text, but may exercise
a second-degree interpretation by using existing fanfics as a source text. A fan
does not necessarily have to be a fan of the source text either, but can be a fan
of fanon, as will be further demonstrated in sections 5 and 6.
It is this formation of fanon, and its interaction with canon which gives
rise to many debates within fandom. Darkkitten defines fanon as “ideas
related to a canon universe, such as details of character background or
behavior, which are not part of the canon universe, but which multiple authors
incorporate into their fanfiction.” She explains that fanon comes most often
“from widely read fics, but it doesn’t have to.” It may come from discussions,
debates, or challenges issued by one fan for other fans to write a certain kind
of fanfic. Very honestly, she manages to sidestep and level out possible
debates of which has more validity, canon or fanon, by demonstrating the
reasons for liking both: canon, as can be seen in the excerpt above, is essential
to the game of fanfiction, while fanon is somewhat akin to a communal
consensus, a group effort to fill possible holes within the canon of the source
text, and, most importantly to Darkkitten, an indicator of widely preferred and
widely read stories:
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