Delving into Fan Fiction with Fan girl by Rainbow Rowell: Guest Post by Shalini Baisiwala

Have you heard of fan fiction?

If no, you have something interesting to read on. We have our guest blogger, Shalini Baisiwala, on my blog today to talk about this intriguing genre of writing. She will also take us through one of her recent fan fiction reads, Fan Girl by Rainbow Rowell.

This post is part of the December bloghop #mymojo with Shalzmojo. Shalini and I exchanged guest posts on each other’s blogs. You can read my guest post for Shalzmojo, 6 Kids’ Books Series for a great Family Reading Time, here.

Thanks to Shalini for this exciting bloghop series. My wishes to Shalzmojo for the rest of the blogging years!

A big welcome to our guest blogger, Shalini!

Hello readers. I am Shalini from Shalzmojo blog and am delighted to be on Nandhini’s blog today to talk about a book related topic. I have chosen to talk about Fan Fiction – a concept that has gained much ground in the recent times than any and I think I would give authors like JK Rowling much credit for it.

Simply speaking Fan Fiction means a parallel writing by a fan based on the book or series by an established writer. The fan simply takes off from where the author left the tale and spins newer tales with the same set of characters and settings. It’s a way of expressing adulation towards the author and his creations.

It’s rarely commissioned or authorised by the publisher or the author, often infringing on the copyright issues. It can be based on a book, movie, TV series, drama, etc. With the advent of internet, this form of writing gained popularity and it remains largely an online writing forum. Some fan fiction writers have ended up getting publishing deals for their creations too.

I was quite intrigued by this concept as there are some books that I definitely didn’t want to end, like Harry Potter. If I had my way, this book would have gone on and on and on. This fascination is what drives a fan fiction writer. They create leading stories about the fictional work and start altering the ending or playing on scenarios.

There are internet communities where fans of the same fictional works meet to discuss it. They also read each other’s fan fiction and build up on it. Some even garner a fan following as devout as of the original writer.

Fan Girl by Rainbow Rowell is a book based on this very premise.Cath and Wren are twins who have just started college. As children, both of them burrowed into the YA books on Simon Snow series which got them through their mother leaving them. They built up a private world of their own with Simon Snow and his heroics. Cath got so good at writing about it that she develops a major online fan following for her fan fiction. She is under pressure from her fans to complete her fan fiction book before the last one of the original series is published.

Writing fan fiction is her safe place to deal with all her social and emotional issues. She had always had Wren to watch her back and she was in for a rude shock when she realises they are not sharing a room in the college hostel.Cath had stocked up on protein bars to avoid being social at the lunch room and now she had to deal with living with a complete stranger. Her world is rocked so hard that she doesn’t know how to deal with it.

Wren is the more outgoing sister and is actually glad to be in college to be able to ditch her sister. She was tired of keeping her company and wanted friends of her own. Wren soon develops a drinking problem and eventually lands in the hospital with a case of alcohol poisoning.

Cath has a hard time figuring out her roomie Reagan who takes her under her wings and helps her navigate the social part of college life with ease. Her ex-boyfriend Levi loves to hang around their room and they both end up falling for each other.

But Cath has a tough time dealing with Wren’s abandonment, falling in love with her roomie’s ex who she sees kissing another girl and her writing partner from class for whom she develops feelings. It turned out he was using her to better his writings. Her writing class professor is not too thrilled with her fan fiction and lands Cath a major blow with her critique of it.

On top of it, their estranged mother now wants to reconnect with both of them. Cath is not willing to but is shocked to discover the ease with which Wren accepts her back in her life.

Distraught, she turns to her novel and pours out her heart and soul into it, borrowing situations and characters from her real life. She manages to finish it before the last novel comes out.

Their father suffers from bi-polar disorder and when he falls ill, Cath leaves college to look after him. And it’s Levi who slowly persuades her not only to fall back in love with him but also to come back to college. Wren recovers her health and is on the road to being herself again.

This book ends on some happy notes and is basically a coming of age novel with some very real characters. I loved the concept of Fan Fiction and how it was used to develop the storyline. Though it seems to be a boy meets girl and they fall in love kind of book, it’s got some very powerful relationship cues interwoven in the tale. Do give this one a read if like me you are fascinated by Fan fiction.

I hope I entertained you with this review and would love to hear your thoughts on it. I will leave you with my book review of The Wildings by Nilanjana Roy– a story of the cats of Nizammudin, told by them and all about their past, present and future.

About Shalzmojo

An interior designer by profession, writing is a passion which coupled with travel love blossomed into this blog where I love to just “do my thing”! Be it recipes, food events, travel jaunts, fiction dreaming or even meditative musings; all of it’s taken up quite passionately on my blog. I am a serious wine guzzler and love to chase butterflies in my free time.

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Do you have book reviews or book recommendations of fan fiction?

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