Today I'll be discussing something quite phenomenal and particularly close to home for young writers on the Internet like myself. We're going to talk about fan fiction. But more importantly we're going to talk about Anna Todd, and her story that tore apart every boundary set by the upper hand.
So, let's begin! Does the title After ring a bell? How about After 2 or After 3? Well unless you've been living under a rock or avoiding the Internet for the past few months (if this applies to you, welcome back to the dark side, old friend) this should all sound pretty familiar. If you are still a little confused on what is going on here, allow me to enlighten you.
After is a fan fiction, which is basically a story written by a fan and based on someone or something that the author is a fan of. Anna's story is about Harry Styles, a singer in the insanely popular band One Direction. In the world of After, Harry is basically the baddest boy of all time who gets himself involved with goodie-good girl Tessa Young. Essentially, it's a love story. If this alone sparks an interest within you, wait until you read the actual content that lies within the virtual pages of this lengthy tale. It will blow your mind, to say the least. Some chapters are pretty twisted and leave me open-mouthed and others are literally so heart-shattering that I find myself crying in the shower hours after I have read them. I don't want to get into the nitty-gritty details of the book (just to prevent myself from getting off track and spoiling it all for people who haven't read it yet) so if you want a full synopsis of what the stories entail, pay a visit to Google.The book has extended into a trilogy, which has six chapters remaining in After 3 before the series is officially completed. But never fear, there is still so much more to come with the After books!
Now, let's have a little chat about Anna Todd, who is responsible for this online book phenomenon. Anna is a 25 year old (mastermind) living in Texas with her husband, and has a passion for all things literature-related. Anna started writing After a little while back, and let's just say it's become pretty popular. Wattpad was the source that she utilized in order to get her work out to the public. Each week, Anna sits and writes on this website and then shares her production with her hungry readers. These readers, but the way, are extremely devoted. They provide supportive feedback to Anna, edit photos of Harry Styles and Indiana Evans (who was the inspiration for the character Tessa), and even make YouTube "trailers" for the books! The popularity of her three stories has become so immense that a lot of professional people are beginning to pay attention to it, the team at Wattpad included. It's quite insane to think about it; a young woman with a fan base of over one hundred thousand people, and a diverse fan base too! It's no longer just One Direction fans reading Anna's work, it's also people who thirst for epic love stories. As a response to the overwhelming popularity, Wattpad teamed up with Anna to see what they could do with all of the attention. She now has fancy new website for her three books (linked below), giving easy access to her stories along with providing background about Anna herself. Along with this, major newspapers such as the New York Times have written about her success. And now for the crazy part, the fan fiction has recently acquired the potential to be created into a movie. I know what you're all thinking, WHAT THE HECK!? Well yes, it's all true! Anna has cultivated so much success from what started out as a small project, success that is now giving her the opportunity to see her writing come to life on the big screen!
Okay, so now that I have provided a sufficient amount of background, what I really want to focus on is the success of Anna and her stories. As previously mentioned, After has some pretty humble beginnings. As soon as people started reading the stories, they were immediately enthralled by them (myself included). Everything was appealing about it, especially the plot that forms itself around a damaged boy with an abundance of tattoos and the girl who wanted to fix him but ended up breaking herself in the process. Every aspect of the story oozes passion, love, and intensity. Readers are constantly on edge, wondering what the future holds for Harry and Tessa. As you know, After is now insanely popular, with over 600 million reads on books 1, 2, and 3. Please excuse my French but holy shit, that is extraordinary. It is also known as "The most talked about story online"
This is the good part, the part where I take all of this information and turn it into something that inspires YOU. Do you see what this woman has done?! Only in her very early 20's and she has shaken the world with her writing. She started with only a few readers, which became a few hundred, which became a few thousands, which then became a few (hundred) million! She now has a website, hundreds of thousands of followers on twitter, and a possible movie in store. All of this, all from the power of Wattpad, social media, and her own self-determination and talent. This is extremely inspiring, to say the least. The people who spend their time on the Internet are told that they are amateurs, that the passions that they express on websites will never amount to anything, that it's a waste of time. I myself have been a told this many times! But hey, here I am starting my own blog and working for success. Now, disregard anyone who has ever put down your hopes and ambitions, and let me tell you something. If you really put your whole heart and soul into something, and work for it tirelessly, then anything is possible. Anna started her project because of her passion for writing, and look at where she has come. Mountains have been moved because of her. She can do it, and so can you. Take her story and use it to fuel a fire to create your own story. She created this life for herself by doing what she loved! You have the same shot of insane success that Anna had! She put herself out there, and now her life is changed forever.
So, screw the system. If you love makeup, make YouTube videos! If you love writing, start a Wattpad account! If you like to sing, set up a SoundCloud profile! The Internet is your greatest resource, so use it to the best of your ability. In the words of Ellie Goulding, "Anything can happen". So I applaud you Anna, for being living proof that the kids on the Internet can amount to great things.
Check Anna out on twitter! And if you haven't read her books yet, check those out too on Wattpad!
Anna on Twitter
The After Website
Wattpad
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