As I Say and As I Do: Negotiating Transformational Impulses in Tolkien-Based Fanfiction by Dawn Walls-Thumma

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Fan studies have typically regarded fanfiction as a means by which fans expand the readings and interpretations of a text, generating new meanings beyond those intended by the text's original creator. This relocates the authority to interpret and expand a text from its original creator to the reader, foregrounding the fan's experiences and preferences ahead of the "canon": here, a set of details and sanctioned meanings intended by the original creator.

This idea, which has itself become nearly canonical in fanfiction studies, aligns with a 2009 theory proposed by the Dreamwidth user obsession_inc, who proposed that fandom participation occurs along a continuum. At the one end is transformational fandom, which I just described: the authority to make meaning and manipulate a text lies with the reader. This type of fandom is democratic, often resistant, and often irreverent. At the other extreme is affirmational fandom, where fans locate the authority within the original creator and other sanctioned parties, such as editors and the producers of licensed spinoffs. Affirmational fans are interested in gaining more of this sanctioned knowledge, of collecting, preserving, and showcasing it.

In studying Tolkien-based fanfiction and the fandom communities that have arisen around it, I've long asserted that the tendency to view fanfiction as flying headlong toward the transformational end of the continuum is not an accurate description of how writers construct fanfiction based on Tolkien's works. Rather, authors navigate a complex balance between affirmational and transformational tendencies, simultaneously studying and collecting a sometimes prodigious amount of canon knowledge, which they use to interpret and expand the stories beyond the boundaries Tolkien drew.

As I've studied how Tolkien fans construct fanfiction, what I've learned can be summed up by saying that how different fans navigate these often contrary motives is rarely simple. For example, a group of fans might highly value mastery of Tolkien's canon while using that knowledge to create fanfiction that defies Tolkien's moral values, showing a high level of both affirmational and transformational tendencies. Motives are also complex. One fan might write fanfiction that can be read as resistant, as a form of literary criticism. The same narrative premise, used by another fan, may be done with no critical or resistant motive whatsoever but simply because the author enjoys reworking details from the canon in ways she finds personally appealing.

These conclusions derive in a large part from my analysis of the data from the Tolkien Fanfiction Survey. Run first in 2015 and again in 2020, this survey asks writers and readers of Tolkien-based fanfiction to self-report their beliefs and behaviors on topics such as motives, interests, and use of canon texts. One area I surveyed concerned participants' beliefs in how much influence Tolkien's authority should be given when writing fanfiction. Should fanfiction authors stick strictly to the facts as presented in the books? Should authors consider Tolkien's morality and perceived intentions when making creative choices? To what extent should authors use fanfiction to speculate about, expand upon, and critique the stories as Tolkien wrote them?

The handout shows specific survey items concerned with authority. In short, Tolkien fanfiction authors express comfort with all sorts of practices that are aligned with transformational fandom. A strong majority of authors indicated that they use their fanfiction to form opinions about the canon, analyze the texts, and express the resulting views and interpretations. A strong majority of readers stated that they enjoy stories with "unusual and thought-provoking interpretation(s)" of Tolkien's world. In the data, I've called this set of survey items Critical Lite: Authors are engaging in the processes of literary criticism but where these processes are described in terms that are neutral or positive—using words like express or wish, for example—and that centralize analysis and changes to the text in terms of their impact on the fan-author rather than on Tolkien or his canon.

Likewise, there is a set of survey items that I've grouped together as Inferential. In these, authors share their comfort level with building beyond Tolkien's canon in terms of characterization, character relationships, and cultural worldbuilding. I've ordered these survey items on the handout based on the amount of manipulation and expansion of the canon authors are expected to engage in. In the first items, authors see and learn, a practice heavily rooted in affirmational fandom. Next, they understand and explore, and finally, they develop new details based on their inferences about the canon, ending on the transformational end of the spectrum. Again, for most of these survey items, a strong majority of authors identify these as motives, and a majority of readers identify these as elements that they enjoy reading in stories. While there is a slight decrease in agreement as the items shift from affirmational to transformational use of the texts, it is minimal, and a significant majority of authors are just as comfortable developing new details as they are using fanfiction as a means to master the canon.

Furthermore, for most of the Critical Lite and Inferential motives, there is relatively little change between the 2015 and 2020 data sets. The practices described by these items have been well established among most Tolkien fanfiction authors—at the least the authors who participated in the survey—for the past five years at least.

On the surface, this is not surprising. After all, fanfiction has been long accepted by fan studies scholars as a vehicle of criticism, and endemic to the genre is the need to color beyond, however slightly, the canonical lines drawn by the original creator. Even in the most "purist" of fanfiction I've encountered—that which lifts lines of dialogue or even entire passages from Tolkien's texts—must embroider however slightly between those passages, and the vast majority of fanfiction extends considerably beyond such limited bounds.

However, the data set titled simply "Critical" complicates the picture. I first noticed with the 2015 data set that, when the critical processes inherent in fanfiction are described using terms that foreground that criticism in opposition to Tolkien, authors and readers both back away considerably from expressing comfort with those practices, even when they are similar to processes described in survey items in the Critical Lite category. For example, about 57 and 56% of authors, respectively, in 2015 and 2020 agreed with the statement, "Writing fanfiction lets me tell the story how I wish it had been told." The same process, described in the statement, "Writing fanfiction lets me fix parts of the story that I think Tolkien did wrong," receives less agreement: 41 and 46% in 2015 and 2020, respectively. The same is true when comparing two items that both describe the critical process. 78% of authors in both years agreed that their fanfiction served to "interpret and analyze" Tolkien's world. Change the language to "criticize Tolkien's world"—a word with more negative connotations, though describing similar processes—and agreement with the statement drops to 50% in 2015 and 62% in 2020.

Here is also a good time to note that, unlike the Critical Lite and Inferential motives, the data on Critical motives do differ between 2015 and 2020. Across the board, both authors and readers of Tolkien-based fanfiction express more comfort with critical motives—even when phrased in more confrontational language—in 2020 than they did in 2015. Paired with the Authority data set, I suspect this will be one of the biggest takeaways in how the Tolkien fanfiction community has evolved in the past five years: Readers and writers both see fanfiction that interacts critically with the canon as an appropriate use of the medium.

However, the gap still remains between what Tolkien fanfiction authors do and what they say they do, at least when those terms emphasize fanfiction as an inherently counter-canonical act. This ties in to the complex negotiation Tolkien fanfiction writers make between the affirmational and transformational components of their fandom. Far from the freewheeling expansion of the texts into ever more and ever wilder readings, as fanfiction is described by many fan studies scholars, Tolkien fanfiction writers often do circumscribe possible readings of the texts based on the canon, which some extend to include Tolkien's moral and religious beliefs, presumed intent, and writing style. There is a constant tension between adhering to the canon and building beyond it, and while Tolkien fanfiction authors and readers appear to be increasingly comfortable with challenging Tolkien's authority, many still see the works they write and read as confined within the bounds prescribed by that authority.

Presentation Handout