In this paper, I posit that narrative theories on storyworlds, and particularly on fictional situations, can help us chart the worldmaking practices that shape online fan fiction - that is, the ways in which fan writers use narrative resources to evoke storyworlds. I illustrate this with a discussion of immersion in fan fiction. First, fictional situations are examined through the lens of immersion theory, and redefined as mental constructs that result from the interaction between text and reader. In light of this, fan writing can be reinterpreted as a form of worldmaking.
Worldmaking practices are very difficult to chart, however, because fan fiction is radically intertextual, transmedial, and (inter)subjective. A fan writer’s idea of the source world may be based on a whole range of texts, just as readers may rely on a wide range of texts when they work to comprehend a fan fiction text. The communication between fan readers and writers does not break down, however, because fans share a basic idea of the fictional universe. I argue that this is also true for ‘narrative frames,’ or the remembered counterparts of fictional situations.
This is supported by Umberto Eco’s work on intertextuality, and Lisbeth Klastrup and Susana Tosca’s research into transmedia storytelling. Finally, I demonstrate one use of the narrative frame concept in a small case study about emotional immersion, for which I will analyse Wendi’s ‘A Lesson Hard Learned.
