For this FandomFirstFriday, let’s talk about time travel and how it might – if – it relates to fannishness. I was actually surprised to find literature on this relationship so I definitely have learned something new thanks to this month’s topic. It is interesting to see that even though the timeline and events are fixed in Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveller’s Wife, fans have found that time travel created space for their fannishness.
Moreover, in talking about why she thinks The Time Traveller’s Wife is good canon, Bobcat Moran believed that the story’s jumping back and forth in time allows her the freedoms to insert additional events, and also facilitates futuristic writings that continue and/or expand the canon. (…) Nevertheless, it appears that the way Niffenegger deals with time travel, the very nature of all the ’gaps’ int he chronology of the narrative, is one central element that is appreciated and celebrated int he fandom of The Time Traveller’s Wife. – The desire, as well as ease, to ’fill in the gaps’.
Lee, Angela 2011. Time Travelling with fanfic writers: Understanding fan culture through repeated online interviews. Participations 8 (1)