Tolkien's lecture and essay On Fairy-Stories presents a theory of fantasy literature, including the idea of a Cauldron of Story. Here, Tolkien draws an analogy between a pot of soup, with all its ingredients boiling in the same broth, and the construction of a story, drawing "ingredients" from the "cauldron" in combinations unique and flavorful.

This month's Cultus Dispatches column, which focuses on Tolkien fandom history and culture, began with the question: How do fanfiction authors use Jackson's films in their stories? A previous column had shown the world of Tolkien fanfic is very much a book-based one, yet the films are undoubtedly influential. What did navigating the sometimes contradictory film and book texts look like for authors who chose to challenge themselves in this way?

The result of my research—which relied on Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data and interviews with fanfiction authors who wrote movieverse fic—brought the Cauldron of Story immediately to mind. Although the ways authors used the films were diverse—no single person I interviewed used them in quite the same way—the pattern that emerged was one of selection and critique. Authors were both selective and purposeful in their choices, which they made with a blend of story, commentary, and personal preference in mind.

And so we end up with a Cauldron of Fanfic, and just like Tolkien's cooks in the original metaphor, they do not dip their ladle blindly. To read more about what I learned from my research, check out Cauldron of Fanfic: The Use of Jackson's Films in Constructing Tolkien-Based.