Many established authors don’t like fanfiction because it ruins the original concept of their books. However, many writers have gotten their start by retooling their fanfics into original stories.
We’ve heard of a lot of authors doing this, so we thought we’d establish a list of books you might not have been aware started as fanfiction.
1. Fifty Shades Of Grey Trilogy – E.L. James – Started As Twilight Fanfiction
One of the most famous fanfiction pieces traditionally published as an original is The Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy.
Fifty Shades started as an erotic all-human Twilight fanfiction called Masters of the Universe. This was confirmed in a Business Insider article in 2015 when the trilogy became a bestseller.
There are a lot of references within the series even now where it’s clear where the inspiration came from. For example, Christian’s adoptive parents are remastered from Edward’s adoptive parents, Carlisle and Esme.
Also, Christian is the human version of Edward while Ana is Bella and so on.
2. After – Anna Todd – Started Out As One Direction Fanfiction
One of the biggest success stories to have come out of WattPad was Anna Todd’s After, which originally was fanfiction based on the British boyband One Direction. The lead male character in After, Hardin Scott, is based on Harry Styles.
Anna has since written other books and has started her own Imprint with WattPad.
3. Fangirl – Rainbow Rowell – Inspired By Harry Potter And Twilight Fanfiction
One of Rainbow Rowell’s (yes, this is her real name)’s biggest inspirations is Harry Potter and Twilight. In her novel, Fangirl, she writes about two sisters who love writing fanfiction about Simon Snow, who is paired in her story “Carry On, Simon” with Baz, a vampire.
Many of Rainbow’s other books are inspired by Harry Potter and Twilight fanfiction.
4. Throne Of Glass – Sarah J. Maas – Cinderella
Sarah J. Maas’ first book, Throne of Glass, is technically fanfiction as it is a What If story of what if Cinderella had gone to the ball to assassin the prince. According to Good Reading Magazine, Maas was inspired by a piece of score from Disney’s Cinderella.
A Court Of Thorns And Roses – Sarah J. Maas – Beauty And The Beast
Another book Sarah J. Maas wrote that is technically considered fanfiction is A Court of Thorns and Roses. This is a Beauty and the Beast retelling. This was referenced in the same Good Reading Magazine article as above.
The Love Hypothesis – Ali Hazelwood – Rey and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo Fanfiction
Now, this next one we didn’t expect to be fanfiction. Ali Hazelwood who is best known for writing books on STEM, wrote The Love Hypothesis. At first glance, it’s about science. But there’s more to the characters. The two lead characters are Olive and Adam, who are based on Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo (Adam Driver). In fact, the lead male character was likely named after Adam Driver. Also, the characters on the front cover are a dead ringer for Rey and Kylo Ren in the Star Wars Sequels.
The Lunar Chronicles – Marissa Meyer – Sailor Moon/Fairytales
This next series of books, we had no idea were based on fanfiction. Though we did know they were based on fairytales. So, the Luna Chronicles, according to a Romance books Reddit comment, is based on Sailor Moon fanfiction, written by the author. However, the commenter did stress that Marissa Meyer expanded upon the story, so there is a lack of a resemblance between the fanfic.
Beautiful Bastard – Christina Lauren – Twilight Fanfiction
We’ve never read Christina Lauren’s books, so we had no idea that Beautiful Bastard was a Twilight fanfiction.
Apparently, the lead male character was based off Edward Cullen.
Red, White And Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston – The Social Network And The British Royal Family?
Okay, this one is a bit of a debate. Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston allegedly started as a Social Network fanfiction, involving Jesse Eisenberg’s Mark Zuckerberg and Andrew Garfield’s Eduardo Saverin.
As per Paste magazine, the fanfic aspect was allegedly not true. Whatever the truth is, there is another aspect we could examine and that’s the royal family. The book is about a gay British Prince named Henry who has to play nice with his arch-rival, the First Son of the United States, named Alex. They end up falling in love.
Is This Royal Fan Fiction?
What makes us believe that this story might have been Royal Family fanfiction is the choice of the British Royal Family and various other aspects. One of the biggest is the British Prince falling in love with an American thing. Where have we heard that before? Oh, right, Prince Harry (whose real name is Henry as an FYI) and Meghan Markle.
Also, there are other names in Red, White and Royal Blue that share striking similarities to real-life royals. We have, outside of Henry, we have Beatrice, Philip, Catherine, Zahra, and Mary.
So, with Beatrice, in the book she is the middle sibling with an older brother and a younger brother. The older brother is Philip (like the late Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh). Henry is the younger brother. In real life, Princess Beatrice is a niece of King Charles III.
Henry, as we stated is the actual first name of Prince Harry. Also, he is the spare to the British throne like the real Prince Harry was before the births of his nephews and niece.
Then we have Catherine, who is the mother of Princes Philip and Henry and Princess Beatrice. There have been multiple Catherines in British royal history.
Next, we have Queen Mary. Like with Catherine, there have been many Marys within British royal history.
Zahra is another one. There is a Zahra in the British Family in Zara Tindall, the daughter of Princess Anne and another niece to the current King.
The Movie Changes
The monarch in the film was changed to King James III rather than Queen Mary as in the book. Also, the heir to the throne, Princess Catherine, the mother of Philip, Henry and Beatrice, is not present.
