Young women and fan fiction: Motives, reading practices, and reader types

Abstract

An investigation of the motives and reading practices of fan fiction among female university students aged eighteen to twenty-five in Moscow was conducted via a quantitative survey of 178 participants. The research examined sociodemographic characteristics, reading habits, and motivational drivers, offering an expanded classification of motives informed by existing literature and participant responses. Key motives included fandom engagement, hobby/entertainment, emotional escapism, imagination development, and skill improvement in writing fan fiction. Reading practices encompassed frequency, text length, content rating, category preferences, and community engagement levels. Notably, although respondents demonstrated high consumption rates—favoring fandom-based maxi-length texts with mature themes—their interaction with fan fiction communities remained limited. The study also identified novel motives such as aesthetic appreciation of writing styles and language acquisition through fan fiction. Findings revealed nuanced connections between reading motives, practices, and sociodemographics, contributing to a deeper understanding of fan fiction as both a cultural phenomenon and a digital literacy tool. The results challenge universal assumptions about fan fiction consumption by highlighting culturally specific patterns among Russian readers.