Explore the world of fan fiction

Fan fiction relies on tropes and subgenres

Fan fiction sites often appear to be littered with inscrutable codewords, with stories labeled as "AU," "drabble," or "PWP." These alert readers to elements of a fan fiction: "AU" is an alternative universe narrative; "drabble" is a very short story; "PWP" stands for "plot? What plot?"

Fan fiction is now studied at universities, including Princeton and Harvard

Some professors approach the genre as a unique form of literature that expands the boundaries of art. Comparative literature courses read the source material as well as its fan fiction byproducts, asking students to analyze the conditions that might've produced such dramatic reinterpretations.

If a publisher wants to sell fan fiction, they encourage writers to change key details

Historically, companies that publish popular fan fiction have their authors change a few details—like character names, settings, or other details—to avoid potential copyright violations. Many believe the risk is worth the reward, though the legality remains murky. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Fanfiction proliferated on fan-made sites in the 1990s

As the internet became more accessible in the '90s, fanfiction writers created websites dedicated to publishing stories about their favorite characters. Still, the hobby was far from mainstream. As one writer from that time said, "Going to Star Trek/comic book conventions in the '80s and '90s was something nerds did. Telling people you read or wrote fan fiction put you in the super geek category."

A guide to the romance genre's major tropes

This guide breaks down romance's most prominent tropes, or narrative patterns, used by romance writers and adored by their fans. After you learn about "friends to lovers," "marriage of convenience," and "forced proximity," you'll start to see your favorite romance reads in an entirely new light.

Romantasy fans explain why they think the genre is so maligned

Romantasy grows more popular every year, but that doesn't mean it's taken seriously as literature. Hosts from KPBS' "The Finest" attended Comic Con 2025 to get romantasy fans' takes on the genre's unserious reputation.

A beginner's guide to Toni Morrison

The legendary American writer died in 2019, but her fiction is still as relevant as ever. This primer walks aspiring Morrison fans through her body of work, outlining the ideal starting point for several different kinds of readers. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

An introduction to becoming a K-pop superfan

K-pop is not a genre but rather an ever-evolving industry. This resource breaks down the different eras of K-pop. Learn how the first generation, with bands like H.O.T., evolved into today’s fourth generation, where idols can train and debut outside South Korea. Find new groups to listen to, and appreciate the diversity of the different groups’ sounds.

Tips for writing time travel stories

Are you thinking of writing a story that involves time travel? You might want to read this guide first. It offers questions to consider, mistakes to avoid and strategies to employ to ensure you avoid paradoxes, plot holes and implausibilities.

Classifying the 'first novel' is tricky

The question of what counts as the "first novel" doesn't have a simple answer. This explainer looks at early contenders—from ancient Roman satire to Japan's "Tale of Genji"—and how different cultures shaped the rise of long-form fiction.

A guide to what you need to get started in VR

From Oculus Rift to Google Daydream, VR is getting plenty of hype. But what system should you buy? And what should you play?

Imagine thousands of alternate histories of the world

AlternateHistory.com has hosted fan-written "what if" timelines, discussions, and speculative fiction since 2000, making it the largest online gathering of alternate history enthusiasts, with over 10,000 active members and a wiki cataloging hundreds of user-created scenarios. Two highlights to pique your interest: what if the Vikings had settled North America? What would have had to happen for the storyline of George Orwell's "1984" to come true?

What is the Fediverse?

The "fediverse" is a league of like-minded apps looking to make our digital identities—including posts, followers, activity—move seamlessly between networks. It's a decentralized approach, making various social networks interoperable in contrast to Facebook and Twitter, where content is platform-specific. The fediverse provides stability and control to users. Learn more here.

MuggleNet became the internet's largest 'Harry Potter' fan community

Launched in 1999, MuggleNet attracted millions of readers with news, theories, and fan-fiction. It helped define early online fandom, later expanding into podcasts, books and events.

A deep dive into A24's top ten films

The film studio has released over 100 films since it's founding in 2012, so where should a newcomer begin? This extended video breaks down ten of the best of the studio's productions, showcasing its quality and variety. (Note: The video contains...

View a guide to Prince's discography

Staring down Prince's catalog, which includes over 40 studio albums alone, can be intimidating for listeners looking to explore the Purple One's work. (It can also be intimidating for fans looking to dive into its depths!) This guide from the AV Club provides a framework for your Prince studies, with entry points for newcomers, casual fans, and more serious listeners alike.

Wikipedia's sister sites include directories of travel guides, species, and media

Like Wikipedia, volunteers around the world contribute to Wikivoyage, Wikispecies, and Wikimedia Commons to create freely accessible repositories of knowledge. Other projects include Wikibooks, a collection of e-books and annotated texts; Wikisource, which features source documents and historical texts; and Wiktionary, a dictionary covering over 170 languages.

Explore the countries with a federal system—and see how they work

This resource from the Forum of Federations catalogs the world's federal countries. It provides background information on each, including the emergence of federalism, the division of power, and the practical interaction between national and regional governments.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

'Games That Weren't' preserves lost video game history

Since 1999, this large, online, nonprofit archive has saved the stories of cancelled and unreleased video games. See prototypes, developer history, and assets for various computers and consoles of all ages, including gems like Cartoon Network's "Toon Jam!"

An overview of a dozen distros—operating systems running on the Linux kernel

While Ubuntu and Linux Mint are among the most beginner-friendly general-use operating systems, Arch Linux is a more advanced option, with a dedicated Arch Wiki available for support. Many Linux distros are optimized for specific use cases, such as Kali Linux for security work and Pop!_OS for high-performance gaming and software development.

Youtube, explained

YouTube began as a quirky site where users uploaded funny, random videos—a do-it-yourself television service. Today, it’s a global media powerhouse and home to everything from movie trailers to video podcasts, livestreams, and much more. Want to learn more about the streaming giant? Check out our 5-minute explainer here.

Learn how to read a prospectus, the juicy document that any company must file with the SEC before going public.

The 300 best fantasy football players ever

Fantasy leagues (and their corresponding group chats) are no strangers to arguments, and this list will likely inspire a few spirited ones. Ten ESPN writers were asked to pick 30 of the undisputed greats of fantasy football, making for a fascinating look back at the all-stars of the digital gridiron

A brief guide to espionage

Spies have one of the most challenging and dangerous jobs in the world, risking their lives and legacy to extract secrets in the interest of their country. This in-depth explainer breaks down one of the profession's oft-ignored aspects: The...

A guide to sabermetrics, the empirical analysis of baseball statistics

The science of baseball overturned a century of assumptions about which metrics matter most. The approach originated key categories like WAR (wins above replacement, which tries to summarize a player's total contribution by estimating how many more wins this player generated compared to a replacement-level player) and wOBA (or weight on-base average, which measures not only hits but also walks and their outcomes in the score).

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

How to prevent a worst-case scenario with synbio

Author and entrepreneur Rob Reid reviews the risks of a world where more and more people have access to the technology needed to create a doomsday bug that could wipe out humanity.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

This site reaches millions of visitors who are tired of AI chatbots and seeking human connection. Pretend to be an AI chatbot and ask questions, provide answers, and draw for people in real time.

How fusion—which releases energy when two lighter atoms combine to form a heavier atom—differs from fission

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

Explore our favorite visualization of the immense scale of space, from an astronaut to the size of the observable universe

Watch this video that uses Lego bricks to explain how venture capital works.

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, but became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.

How the most famous Ebola book, The Hot Zone, which sold 3.5 million copies and was translated into 30 languages, got aspects of the disease so wrong.

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

The Dracula character, now seen as the vampire archetype, was inspired by a seafood-induced nightmare its creator experienced.

Some Pokémon have been named after real and fictional organisms, while some real-world species have been named after Pokémon, such as Chilicola charizard and Binburrum zapdos.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Explore the archaeological treasures of Pompeii, the city buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.