Expanding Storyworld through Cyberspace: A Study of Harry Potter Online Fanfiction

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to examine contemporary narratives in the form of fan
fictions to explore the ways digital users engage with digital spaces to build a more diverse
storyworld of Harry Potter by J.K Rowling. This paper focuses on a well-known fan fiction
which utilizes preexisting canonical characters, Eclipse by Mijan. The conceptual
frameworks employed in this research include Structuralism, Reception Theory, Fanfiction
Studies and theories concerning Transmedia Storytelling. The principal conclusion of this
research suggests that fan authors are critical readers who are able pinpoint the gaps left
by source texts to later expand it in their own constructed narratives. Additionally, this
Harry Potter fanfiction build storyworld by establishing a new plot taken from canon
narratives, by establishing new setting which is still in the Harry Potter topos, by exploring
minor characters’ psychological depth, and also by challenging normative sexuality
representation. The result also underlines that cyberspace helps readers to participate in
an open culture, where fans are not limited by conventional restrictive literary production.