There is a reason for this though!
The original tweet summarizes it pretty well. Fanfic tends to be popular among certain types of neurodivergent people (aka people most likely to read excessively as a child, and have burnout as an adult) for the same reasons that we tend to hyperfixateâneurochemical signaling (I hope Iâm using that phrase correctly). What I mean is, for people who are really dependent on changes in dopamine/serotonin/neurotransmitter levels, who have low levels or wonky neural reward systems (perhaps the most common types of neurodivergence)âŚpeople like us rely on dependable external sources of those neurochemicals. In order to function, we spend a lot of our free time trying to level out our brain chemistry using things that can reliably bring us a steady stream of joyful moments (rewards) without costing too much of the mental effort that is already in short supply.Â
significantly:Â the investment of reading has to be balanced with a steady âreturn on investmentââand this return has to start fairly quickly. because again, we donât have a lot of attention/energy to invest on tiring things. we have perpetual âlow batteriesâ in that regard.
that doesnât mean these stories are âsimple,â or that they lack complexity or valueâonly that the reward has to come in short regular intervals, and it has to have a low âupfront cost.â these stories are only âeasyâ to read in the sense that the effort we put into them is rewarded in a timely manner. which is why fanfic stories are so perfectly formulated for neurodivergent readersâthey are often beautifully written, but skip a lot of the upfront costs (of introducing new characters, of world-building, of getting the audience emotionally connected to the story elements).
the nature of fanfiction is that the reader has a pre-existing relationship with this world and these characters. thatâcombined with the shorter average length of ficsâmeans that fan fics very quickly start rewarding the reader in a way that traditional fiction struggles to. thatâs not a bad thing! and maybe itâs something more traditionally published writers should be paying attention to.
Fanfic, as a genre, has been uniquely helpful and accessible to many neurodivergent readers who would otherwise struggle to immerse themselves in stories. Iâm glad so many of you have found a way to love and enjoy reading again! The important thing is that you are spending time inside stories you loveâthe way those stories are published or presented to the world is just one detail. The fact that you find joy in the process of reading (or listening!) to storiesâthat is what matters.
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