Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion
2021 Read Harder Challenge
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Task 6: Read a fanfic
Love the rec post. Instead of choosing between them, I'm thinking I'll be reading the Schitt's Creek, Red White and Royal Blue, and Good Omens ones.
ProfBen10 wrote: "Would "Carry On" by Rainbow Rowell count for this one?"There is an argument that it is counted as a fanfiction. So in Fan Girl, the Simon Snow books are written by an author named Gemma T. Leslie. So with Carry On being a book about the Simon Snow characters but the author on the book being Rainbow Rowell, I have seen people say before that Carry On and the follow ups aren't the actual Simon Snow books and they're fanfiction written by Rainbow Rowell.
Of course, there is then the argument that because Rainbow Rowell wrote all of Fangirl, including the bits by Gemma T. Leslie, and they're all characters of her own imagination, that it isn't fanfiction. But that would mean what Cath writes in Fangirl as fanfiction isn't fanfiction either. And considering that Simon Snow has a lot of similarities to another English wizard, maybe it does strengthen the argument that Carry On is fanfiction.
Of course, the whole idea of Read Harder is your own interpretation so if you feel that it does fit for you, go for it!
You can always try fanfiction.net. There are a ton of stories there.
Not sure if it’s already been mentioned but would “Rodham” count? Curtis Sittenfield’s latest book reimagining Hillary Clinton’s life if she had dumped Bill.
Ashley wrote: "Not sure if it’s already been mentioned but would “Rodham” count? Curtis Sittenfield’s latest book reimagining Hillary Clinton’s life if she had dumped Bill."That would definitely count as RPF (real person fanfic)
If The Song of Achilles counts I would make the case that The Silence of the Girls would also count. (Which I read this month and would recommend)
Would Firefly: Big Damn Hero by James Lovegrove count?
I personally will never read it, but if this task is daunting to you and you just arent sure what is fanfiction, go read 50 Shades of Grey (its Twilight fanfic)
Tiffany wrote: "Would Firefly: Big Damn Hero by James Lovegrove count?"if you decide to count it I recommend!! I read this one recently and it was so fun to be back on the Firefly! I want to read the rest of them!
I think read a fanfic didn't specify book because it's challenging you to read something specifically characterized as a fanfic. So I'd say it should come from an online fanfiction source. In terms of finding fanfictions The Archive of our own (AO3) archiveofourown.org is the most comprehensive source. You can filter things in pretty much any way you can think of so as long as you have an idea of what you want to read you can find something. I do believe you have to sign up and wait to be approved to be able to create an account and access the full site, but that process only takes a few days if I remember correctly.I love the site and use it regularly. I would recommend you pick a fandom (that is a book/movie/comic/etc you loved that you'd be interested in reading about) and narrowing down from there.
If you've never read fanfiction before you'll want to check the box for completed only fanfics (so you don't end up reading something that got abandonned 3 yrs ago lol) and I prefer to sort by Bookmarks or Comments rather than kudus because people usually bookmark works that are in progress, so if it's still got lots of bookmarks and it's already complete it's because it's a fan favorite and comments mean people took the time to tell the author how much they enjoyed the story, whereas kudos are equivalent to tapping like on a post on social media.
So I’ll be curious to see what Book Riot recommends for this challenge. I was always under the impression that anything professionally published doesn’t count as fanfic (I’ve seen some retellings and pastiches listed above. I would’ve considered those “profic” personally.)AO3 is a major source for fanfic. My suggestion is to look up a media entity you like and set the filter to kudos so you’ll see the highest “rated” fics. AO3 also offers filters so you can both filter into stuff you like (pairings etc.) and filter out what you don’t.
CJ wrote: "So I’ll be curious to see what Book Riot recommends for this challenge. I was always under the impression that anything professionally published doesn’t count as fanfic (I’ve seen some retellings a..."They already made their rec post (see the last page of the comments), and it's all from AO3.
As someone who's never read fanfic, how do people actually do the reading on AO3? Like sitting at a computer or on a phone, or can you download them somehow? (Sorry, real newbie question...)
Jessica wrote: "CJ wrote: "So I’ll be curious to see what Book Riot recommends for this challenge. I was always under the impression that anything professionally published doesn’t count as fanfic (I’ve seen some r..."You can read on the site (either through desktop or mobile) or download the fics to add to your ereader/reading app. There's a "Download" button on the top right with the option for multiple formats, depending on your need
Yeah, I saw the post after writing the comment.I love sideloading fanfic to my Nook. For this assignment I’ll be reading the DS9 Garak/Bashir fic Under the Blind Moon by Syaunei.
Though to be honest I’ll probably read dozens of fanfics next year.
Btw, for Harry Potter fans perhaps try: http://www.sugarquill.net/. People tend to forget about that site but the archive still works and since they were pretty selective in the stories they selected it may be easier to find a quality fanfic there for new readers.
This is perfect because I actually own a fanfiction in book form. I'll be tackling Cat Dandy by Murderlight If you're interested in reading a Bleach (manga/anime) fanfic, you can find that here; https://archiveofourown.org/works/139...
"Star Wars: from a certain point of view" is a lot of fun. It's a collection of retellings of "A New Hope" from the other characters' perspectives. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...Anthony Horowitz's Susan Ryeland series is Agatha Christie fanfic, and he's also got a Sherlock line.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/2789...
https://www.goodreads.com/series/1358...
I'm not understanding a03 ? are they books ? some I'm getting are very short...sorry new to this
Stef wrote: "I'm not understanding a03 ? are they books ? some I'm getting are very short...sorry new to this"You can filter by length if you want something book length, but they are “published” online rather than on paper.
Stef wrote: "I'm not understanding a03 ? are they books ? some I'm getting are very short...sorry new to this"They aren't books in the classical sense. AO3 is an online archive where fans can publish their own stuff in fandoms they love. And it's not just stories, it's art and even podcasts. Some fanwriters can write book length works, but a lot of people write short works too. The length can be anywhere from 1 word to millions. I read one fic that was near 2 million words. It was a monster of a work.
So it's really up to you. You can read a short 1,000 word fic for the prompt or do a classic novel length of 40-50,000 words, or a monster 100,000+ thing, or anything inbetween. You could also get lucky and find a podcast version of someone's fic if you're more of an audiobook fan. It's entirely up to you.
And like Chrissy mentioned above there is a way to filter so you can get a specific length you want.
I think I'm going to try March by Geraldine Brooks. A character is based on the father in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and he was based on Alcott's father. It's legit, yes? Plus I have it. I also have Wide Sargasso Sea but I've read it a bunch of times.
I see some people have already commented that Fifty Shades of Grey would count. But would you count her spin off books from that as well (Don't Judge.)
Two people I know who write wonderful fanfic are Victoria Kincaid and Sare Liz Anuszkiewicz I've read almost every book Victoria Kincaid has written - awesome Pride and Prejudice novels that are definitely fanfic. I've also read many of the things Sare Liz Anuszkiewicz has read, including her new Loki of Midgard: How to get lost and found in one week, a love story. You can find links to many of Sare's more traditional fanfics here: https://sareliz.com/writing/
I'm going to read The Angel of the Crows which started as Sherlock Holmes fanfiction, and which I've been meaning to get around to for a while.
Does anyone know of fanfics that have been published as audiobooks?
Holly wrote: "Does anyone know of fanfics that have been published as audiobooks?"Yes, many! If you're looking on AO3, the term is Podfic! :)
Stephen wrote: "A few pieces of fanfic that are now part of classical literature:Virgil's The Aeneid - This is absolutely Homeric fanfic.
Dante's Inferno and Milton's [book:Paradise Los..."
Thanks for reminding me of Wide Sargasso Sea - I had wanted to read that for a couple of years already!
Viggo wrote: "Fanfic is probably half of what I read in a year tbh. Just jump on AO3, find your favorite piece of media or character, and see what's there. There are some incredibly talented fanfic authors out t..."OMG they have a fanfic of one of my favorite books "Alan Mendelsohn and the Boy from Mars" by Daniel Pinkwater! So happy you shared this database (not that I wasn't there before to see your fanfic, right?)
I think I’ll read Star Wars: A Crash of Fate by Zoraida Córdova for this one.
I highly recommend The Ballad of Black Tom. It's a retelling of a Lovecraftian tale that addresses Lovecraft's racism
I like AO3 and read a lot of ongoing fanfics on there. I’ve also read a lot of fanfictions on fanfiction.net.
Most of the recs in this thread sound like retellings more than fan-fic. Are those the same thing? Right now, I have How Crowley Saved Christmas on my list, but retellings open things up a lot more and I might change my mind.
Ady wrote: "Most of the recs in this thread sound like retellings more than fan-fic. Are those the same thing? Right now, I have How Crowley Saved Christmas on my list, but retellings open thin..."Retellings are not the same as fanfic (neither are tie-in novels, to be honest). Wikipedia has a good distinction: "Fan fiction is rarely commissioned or authorized by the original work's creator or publisher and is rarely professionally published."
Retellings and tie-in novels are usually one or both of these. This is why all of Book Riot's recs in their post are of stories on Archive of Our Own.
Erika wrote: "Ady wrote: "Most of the recs in this thread sound like retellings more than fan-fic. Are those the same thing? Right now, I have How Crowley Saved Christmas on my list, but retellin..."I think fanfic is pretty flexible. The more traditional ones keep to the same tone, characters and setting, but the Wikipedia entry on fanfiction also considers "alternate universe" fanfic (for example, Clueless being Emma, but set in a high school) or crossover fanfic, where characters from different works meet each other, as well as time travel forwards or backwards. Some things that started out as fanfic eventually got published too - I recommend Pamela Aidan's Fitzwilliam Darcy trilogy if you're looking for something like this; it was really well done.
I'm going to tackle Audrey Thomas's Tattycoram, because I read Little Dorrit some years ago, and thought that Tattie Coram got the worst treatment in the book, and had every right to be pissy about it.
Emma wrote: For anyone looking for some options:Wide Sargasso Sea is Jane Eyre through the crazy wife's POV
I'm pretty sure that's been on my to-read list for some time, so I'll probably go with that.
Just a recommendation here for people who like Buffy and Harry Potter: There's a hilarious fanfic called "The Eighth Weasley" which follows the idea that Willow is Ginny's long-lost twin sister. It's a bit raunchy at times, so please be aware of that. You can find it on fanfiction.net. It's pretty long but really worth a read if you're into the two fandoms.
I don't know if these will count but the Star Wars books like Ahsoka or Queen's Peril would definitely be on the top of my list for this prompt if they do. Otherwise definitely going on ao3 or tumblr.
Rudenotginger wrote: "Just a recommendation here for people who like Buffy and Harry Potter: There's a hilarious fanfic called "The Eighth Weasley" which follows the idea that Willow is Ginny's long-lost twin sister. It..."Thanks for the recommendation. Started it today. I'm really enjoying it.
If reading a strictly online work, does anyone know how I can add it to my Goodreads shelves so it will count toward my yearly reading goal?I saw how to add one, but it seems to only apply to works that have an ISBN that just hasn't been added to the database yet.
Thanks
Robin wrote: "If reading a strictly online work, does anyone know how I can add it to my Goodreads shelves so it will count toward my yearly reading goal?I saw how to add one, but it seems to only apply to work..."
You can add it, an ISBN is optional. You'd list the format as "eBook" (especially if you're choosing one on AO3, since you can actually download the story in various eBook formats).
I added the story I'm reading for this task: Peaks and Valleys
Would “The Mystery of Mrs. Christie” by Marie Benedict qualify as fanfiction?
Kassidy wrote: "I thought I had a fic picked for this one but then I saw that it is 2000+ pages long!I think I'll read All Our Secrets Laid Bare but I'm still figuring things out. I've never read..."
Thank you for the recommendation, Kassidy! I was intimidated by most of the recommendations since I haven't read a lot of the authors mentioned here, but when I saw something Harry Potter related, I relaxed. :) Happy reading!
Viggo wrote: "Fanfic is probably half of what I read in a year tbh. Just jump on AO3, find your favorite piece of media or character, and see what's there. There are some incredibly talented fanfic authors out t..."Thank you for the link! :)
Elizabeth wrote: "Viggo wrote: "Fanfic is probably half of what I read in a year tbh. Just jump on AO3, find your favorite piece of media or character, and see what's there. There are some incredibly talented fanfic..."Wait... do you mean log fanfiction reading on Goodreads? Is that possible? Or just keep a list? I would live it if it were possible to log on GR without creating a new entry for each book...
Katie wrote: "I'm going to choose Gaiman's Sherlock/Lovecraft fanfic A Study in Emerald found in his collection of stories Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders.[bookcover:Fragile Things: Shor..."
Oh thank you! i am a big fan of Neil Gaiman, so will definitely add it :)
Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Puffs (other topics)Star Trek: The New Voyages (other topics)
The Jane Austen Book Club (other topics)
Pestilence (other topics)
Redshirts (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Matt Cox (other topics)T.J. Klune (other topics)
Sare Liz Anuszkiewicz (other topics)
Victoria Kincaid (other topics)
John Gardner (other topics)
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That's sort of how I define fanfiction too. And while I do read a lot of AO3 works in a given year, I do think for this challenge I'm going to go with a Supernatural book.