The Commodification of Dramione Fanfiction
The Downfall of Fandom
[I’m taking a little break this week from talking about horror to discuss a topic that’s near and dear to my heart. This post is inspired by a few things. One: I saw a Substacker recently post about their Dramione recommendations and I felt compelled to share my own. However, I felt it would be careless of me to give my recommendations without a preliminary educational session on fandom and how to engage in fandom responsibly. Yup, there’s a way to do that, and it is necessary. Two: The fandom is reeling after the publication of this article in Cosmopolitan online: This audio porn series is basically Dramione fanfiction come to life. The following is some background on why.]
The Downfall of Fandom.
A little dramatic, I know. But that’s the general sentiment of the Dramione community.
If you’re new to that term – Dramione – let me back up.
Dramione refers to the romantic pairing (or shipping) of Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series – a prime example of the enemies to lovers trope. There are many dynamics at play when it comes to Dramione. How will Hermione forgive Draco for bullying her? How will Draco overcome his prejudice against muggleborns? Will their loved ones ever accept their relationship?1
TikTok - The Beginning of the End
Oooo, another dramatic header.
I (re)discovered fanfiction at the start of 2021, in the prime of the pandemic and some other personal/home life difficulties. I had read a little fanfiction back in high school, though I primarily engaged with fandom through RPG. I do remember reading at least two Dramione fanfictions back in the day and it being a revelation – though, I remained a Romione (Ron/Hermione) stan.
Then, in 2021, I was minding my own business scrolling TikTok, when a video popped up on my feed titled “The Best Dramione Fanfiction” or something like that. The images were of Wattpad publications of the following: Clean by olivieblake, Breath Mints / Battle Scars by Onyx_and_Elm, Isolation by Bexchan, The Right Thing to Do by LovesBitca8, Manacled by Senlinyu, and The Erised Effect by Ada_P_Rix.
What a treasure trove of fics to start with – all very different from one another. And so different from the fics I’d read back in 2007. It dawned on me – the maybe teen writers of that period were now grown. So many of these stories were complex and filled with adult themes of trauma and healing. Or in The Right Thing to Do, navigating your first job out of school. I could go on about how invigorating these and stories I read after were – and I will – in a future post.
But my main point was just to say, there was something in the air at that time. TikTok wrought Booktok and while this isn’t a Booktok post, there are plenty of Substack posts that go into the dark side of Booktok.
But as I began to engage in the Dramione fandom – reading, joining the Dramione discord / facebook groups, audiobook editing, and then finally writing – my feed began to fill with other Dramione readers. From talking about their favorite fics and ranking them to…dressing up like Hermione in a red dress a la The Auction (also by Lovesbitca8).
Centreoftheselights (bless them) has been tracking fandom stats on Archive of Our Own since 2013. If you’re unfamiliar with Archive of Our Own, or A03, it’s a non-profit archive for transformative works, including fanfiction, fan art, and other forms of fan work.
In centreoflights’s first statistics post, they go into notable data limitations, including that their stats are based in A03 posts and not fully representative of all fandom work websites like fanfiction.net or wattpad. So, just keep that in mind.
But in their listing of top relationships in a03 for 2013, Dramione was #56 with 1,845 total fanfiction works.
Cut to 2024, Dramione was #20 with 29,032 total fanfiction works on A03.
This chart shows the number of works of Dramione fanfiction on A03 by year with data points labeled as Dramione’s placement on the “Top 100 Fanfiction Ships of the Year” (i.e., In 2023, Dramione was #12 of the top ships in the year with 24,827 total works).
This sharp uptick in Dramione works post-2020 was largely due to the rise in popularity on TikTok, and more importantly its popularity in the BookTok community. Because no longer were recommendations relegated to the fandom spaces, but BookTok influencers were now mixing in Dramione / other ship recommendations in with their regular hauls.
TikToker kenzzeamanreads discusses her top 3 Dramione works
And while the increasing success of Dramione in mainstream social media was exciting – validating, even, it also brought a rush of new members into the community and reckless practices that eventually drove many Dramione writers to flee the fandom (said with dramatic flourish).
Copyright Issues
Saturnovem on Instagram summarizes the long-standing copyright concerns in the Harry Potter fanfiction world at large.
graphic from saturnovem on Instagram
It’s the reason why on some old fanfiction.net works, you’ll find the disclaimer: “This story is a work of fan fiction and does not belong to J.K. Rowling or any other entity. The characters, settings, and events are inspired by the Harry Potter series but are not part of the official canon.”
I mean, obviously.
But A03 and other sites make clear that these works are transformative in nature – they use the source work to produce something new and original. If quotes are ever used from the original Harry Potter books, a citation should follow.
The Organization of Transformative Works (OTW), which runs A03 as well as other volunteer-based ventures, seeks to protect fanworks: “We envision a future in which all fannish works are recognized as legal and transformative and are accepted as a legitimate creative activity. We are proactive and innovative in protecting and defending our work from commercial exploitation and legal challenge.”
But what happens when that work is threatened by the greed or ignorance of others?
Bookbinding and Merchandise
With the popularity of Dramione came a demand to consume the ship in any way imaginable.
Art has always been abundant in fandom spaces. I recall the days of deviantart and awkward photoshopped Drarry (Draco + Harry) pictures before background layers became advanced. But it seemed that art got greater steam with artist commissions becoming a regular occurrence. Want to envision a specific scene from a fic you wrote or love? Pay an artist.
Merchandise became readily available, primarily through Etsy. You could now get your very own “In My Dramione Era” t-shirt with paper cranes flying about, or an embroidered university-style crew neck sweatshirt with “Dramione” in great block letters.
The stock of legally-suspect Dramione merchandise is staggering. Let’s remember the OTW mission statement: fanworks are able to remain transformative if they build upon the source material enough and that work is protected from commercial exploitation. The thought of J.K. Rowling / Warner Bros hammering down on these ventures for copyright isn’t the only threat, but why is it that “MaveryCreation” on the Etsy shop (pictured above) should profit from Dramione using a Manacled quote when that quotation was written by Senlinyu, the writer of that fanfiction?
I’m not going to say I’m perfect in this regard. I get it. I desperately wanted Dramione merch as well. And I have a few pieces that were purchased in this way, I’m sure. Before I learned. Thankfully, most of my Dramione merch has been gifted or paid for through reimbursements of materials and costs and remaining profits donated to non-profit organizations. And I created my “Saturday Girl” tote bag myself through a “Custom-Make-Your-Own” service.
And that’s the key.
You can have stickers, decorated tumblers, and t-shirts if it’s produced for yourself or given in a gift/trade exchange.
Capitalism hates to see fandom coming.
Fandom, built on a communal system, in which I give you this 100k (word count) story of these two barbies kissing for nothing. For fun!
And while merchandise created the need for better protections for these fanworks, bookbinding took it to a whole new level.
Bookbinding flooded my TikTok and Instagram feed. The idea of being able to hold in your hand a story that had moved you and that you loved was enticing.
hrhleemorgan on TikTok
And many of these bookbinds were lavish – gorgeous covers, illustrated endpapers, and intricate chapter designs. Some notable bookbinders began to commission bookbinds or raffle them out in exchange for a Patreon subscription. And while for the most part, those participants were trying to uphold fandom rules by only charging for materials cost and shipping, there was a huge question about the legitimacy of what they were doing and the permissibility of their margin profits (through subscriptions, etc.). In some cases, bookbinders would create beautiful templates behind paywalls that could be downloaded and used for the purpose of creating your own bookbind.
But when we get to actors outside of “fandom spaces,” the blurred lines completely disappear.
Let’s be clear that buying and selling fanfiction is illegal. And yet, these actions are pervasive and exhausting – for the fandom, but of course, to the writer who is unable to profit from their work and has limited ability to take down these bad sellers.
It’s one of the main reasons why Senlinyu made the decision to rework Manacled into an original fiction and pull it from A03.
An excerpt from her Substack announcement:
As of December 31, 2024, Manacled has been deleted from the archive. It had over a billion hits in its last few days. Alchemised, her original work, is set to release on September 30, 2025.
The fandom is lucky to be able to still hold Manacled in new form, but we’ve lost other works and writers to the pervasive exploitation of their works. Onyx and Elm, well known for writing the classic Battle Scars/Breath Mints and a work-in-progress werewolf fic, Don’t Look Back, has deleted all of her works off of A03 save for one: a Krampus-inspired Dramione fic from 2022. People are still leaving comments begging her to come back to the fandom – the last comment posted today (March 27, 2025).
The Quinn Situation
From The Dramione Archives on Instagram
So, perhaps that provides you with enough context to understand why the Dramione fandom is upset by this article and Quinn’s actions. Quinn, a subscription-based app for audio erotica, began publishing a story that in their own words was “dramione-inspired.”
Add to that, the series, titled “The Trials,” features the main love interests, Theo and Jane, with Theo voiced by Jamie Campbell Bower. There are layers to this. In the fandom, Theo is known as Theodore Nott, Draco’s best friend and often a pairing to Hermione/Draco as well. Jane is very similar to “Jean,” Hermione’s middle name. For even added fanlore understanding, Jamie Campbell Bower was the male lead in the awful Mortal Instruments movie that was based off of books which originated as Harry Potter fanfiction.
So yeah, the fandom feels baited a bit. And they’re right. Quinn is most definitely trying to use that rise in popularity to sell more subscriptions – remember, over 1 billion hits on Manacled. There’s quite a listenership to gain.
And while I can’t fault a brand for doing what they do (like yeah, their PR person is “on it”), the problem is that fandom is meant to stay outside the confines of the brand’s inherent capitalist regime. And by using Dramione in their advertising, aren’t they in fact profiting off of fanworks?
Other Forms of Commodification
I’m somewhat annoyed by the whole Quinn situation, but to be honest, what pisses me off more than anything is when fanfic readers treat fanfics and writers poorly. I’m not going to fully blame all new members of the community, but there is a general sense that these are the individuals who have joined the fandom without regard to proper etiquette.
The theme of this piece really is education. Like I mentioned, I did things that I shouldn’t have, like assigned ratings to fanfiction. But when I learned I shouldn’t do that, I stopped immediately.
So, here are things not to do.
Concrit (Constructive Criticism)
I write fanfiction for fun. I’m typically writing it at 5 AM before the baby wakes up, or on my phone in my notes app periodically throughout the day.2 I’m not looking for any type of constructive criticism whether that be on my spelling and grammar, or the use of plot devices. And that goes the same for any other fanfiction writer. Unless they explicitly state in their author’s notes that they would like feedback of any sort, don’t offer it.
Of course, there may be some exceptions such as a request for additional tagging if it’s dealing with triggering material. But don’t get crazy with it – Romione is not a valid TW.
There are roles for these sorts of things in fandom spaces. Alphas who assist with developmental editing from plotting to planning, and betas who assist with spelling, grammar, and other proofreading checks. If you’re interested in being an alpha/beta, join a fanfiction space like a discord server. There are oftentimes roles specific for those interested in offering alpha/beta services.
Comments and kudos though are so very important for the writer. And if you’re unsure how to leave a good comment, here are some good tips from bettsfic on Tumblr:
Answer some or all of the following questions in your comment:
What did you like about the fic?
How did you connect with the fic?
Did the fic teach you anything? If so, what?
Did the fic change or widen your perception of something?
What was your favorite line from the fic and why?
What was your favorite small detail about the fic?
How did the fic affect you? Emotionally? Intellectually?
Or, you can always just go “OMG I LOVED THIS SO MUCH LADJFKJADFJ.”
Both, very effective methods at making the writer feel great.
One note I’ll make is that bookmarks are a great way to save some of your favorite works on A03 or sort them for later reading, but any note you make on a bookmark can be read by everyone including the writer.
Here’s one of my favorites left on one of my works:
“Abandoned” Fics
There’s an obsession with a lot of these new members of the community to only read completed fics, because they just can’t bear to wait for a new chapter OR because they have a great fear of an author abandoning a work.
This mindset also completely goes against fandom tenets. The whole point of posting as you go is for the engagement and camaraderie with readers and other writers. There’s something electric to posting chapter-by-chapter and getting feedback that spurns new and more exciting ideas. My first story was supposed to be eight chapters long originally, but I got such inspiration from the discussions in the comment thread that I extended my story to 15 chapters.
But what’s even more worrying is the constant pressure on writers to update. In that said fic, I received a comment 5 days after posting that first chapter asking if the fic was abandoned. Abandoned? No, of course not.
Myself and other writers have received so many similar comments. And it’s exhausting.
Life gets in the way. Again, writers do this for free, so oftentimes the schedule for posting is set by the realities of the real world or just lack of inspiration.
If you really want to encourage another writer to come back to their work, leave them a comment saying how much you love that story and why. They’ll get it and maybe they’ll pick it up. Or maybe they won’t.
But by all accounts don’t do this:
Going in and finishing another person’s story is completely disrespectful. Even if it was last updated over 10 years ago.
Just last month, Dramione writer galfoy, came back after a nearly 10-year hiatus to post a 12k one-shot.
So yeah, don’t finish someone else’s work. You can be inspired by someone’s work (Note: transformative works), and as long as you mention it and tag them in your notes, that’s fine!
Fic Ratings
In the publishing world, Goodreads is oftentimes a determinant of success for a book. Many readers use it to share what they liked and didn’t like in a book, and often use the rating scale (1-5) to determine whether they should give a book a go or not.
Fanfiction works are meant to rely on a different system - of sharing and recommending among the fandom spaces based off of tropes, plot elements, and tags. It should be mentioned that there is no algorithm with A03. A03 is a database, an archive. You’re meant to properly search for what you want to read instead of being spoonfed suggestions.
But because of the concrit issues mentioned before, you shouldn’t be assigning a rating to fanfics (in a public space) and you definitely should not be adding them to Goodreads. If you want to rate a fanfiction in your own personal notes, that’s fine. And if you want to criticize a fic in a private setting, that’s fine as well.
However, the key is that this should not be done in a public forum such as social media or Goodreads, or within fandom spaces. Remember, writers are readers also. They interact with the fandom as well. I’ve long disassociated myself from certain spaces because those participants seem to forget that writers are also a part of them.
AI
This post is already so long, and I don’t need to belabor the point here. Don’t use AI – to write or create art. It’s bad.
If you’re concerned that you’re a bad writer, nobody cares. Write the story! Post your fic! As long as it makes you happy, then it’s worthwhile to write. If you still feel like you need AI to write, then maybe you just shouldn’t. There are plenty of other ways to engage in fandom.
Reminders
Don’t buy or sell fanfiction or fanfiction-inspired merchandise – it’s illegal!
Don’t provide unsolicited constructive criticism
Don’t rate fanfictions or use language like “X is better written than Y”) – instead focus on your likes as in “I liked X more because it included this trope”
Don’t ask writers 1) to update their fic, or 2) if their fic is abandoned
Don’t finish another writer’s fic
Don’t add fics to Goodreads
Don’t use AI for writing or art - we can all tell
Lastly, be very aware that writers are also readers and are also part of fandom
[Eventually I’ll post my favorite fanfiction recommendations, but next week I’ll be back discussing horror again. Thanks for reading!]3
I cut out a big chunk of this Substack post, which went into depth on the “Why Dramione” question. I’ll include that in my future post, but if you would like to know more, I did talk about it on this episode of the Finding Favorites podcast. Note: That was very early in my (re)discovery of fanfiction, so I may have some differing opinions on how to speak about fanfiction or recommendations. Also note: I’m very annoying to listen to.
My favorite fun fact is that Senlinyu wrote Manacled on her phone while her kids were toddlers.
No beta we die like men