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Busting bad dish!

One Direction Fan Fiction Loving the Band, By 16-Year-Old Author, Becoming Book

Truth rating: 10

(GettyImages.com)

A British teen has landed a deal with Penguin to publish her One Direction fan fiction about a girl in a love triangle with two members of a pop group based on the boy band.

16-year-old Emily Bakers “Loving the Band” has enjoyed huge popularity on Moveallas, the online youth writing community where it was first published, drawing the attention of a Penguin editor.

Now her fanfic is going legit — although the names will be changed so as to avoid copyright issues.

“We at Penguin’s Children’s are delighted to be publishing ‘Loving the Band,’” announced editor Lindsey Heaven in a press release. “Emily’s novel is fresh, romantic, current and completely taps into today’s pop culture.”

She adds, “Her love of a certain boy band is heartfelt and her passion feeds into every bit of her writing.”

Baker’s book will debut in an electronic format on November 1.

Speaking with the Daily Mail, the author described her work as a “typical girl-meets-boy love story, except it’s girl-meets-band.”

“It’s about a girl who lives in Scotland and comes down to London to visit her best friend,” explains Baker. “When she gets there she bumps into a boy band and hangs out with them, and eventually she finds out two of them — Shaq and Reily — have fallen for her.”

While it’s unlikely that Baker will achieve the same success as E L James — whose massive hit “50 Shades of Grey” series has its origins as Twilight fan fiction — it’s obvious that publishers are beginning to look at passionate fans as potential best-selling authors.

Are you curious to read “Loving the Band”?

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  • guest

    Jesus…has it really come to this?

  • Janna

    Jesus H Christ in a twinkling tutu… What is happening to the literary world?!

  • http://twitter.com/Londonlipton Kelly

    Novels being published from Fan Fiction is nothing more than stealing.

  • Yaritza

    I don’t wanna live in this planet anymore

  • Regina1180

    I can’t agree with that in this instance. Unless she’s using something that someone else has already created (aka Twilight or anything else that someone wrote), I don’t think it’s stealing.

    I DO think its crazy that someone is getting a publishing deal based on fan fiction, while legitimate authors struggle thier whole careers to get something published. That’s a travesty.

  • Camille

    If this is what’s going to be considered literature now, I don’t want to live anymore.

  • diana_22

    If people wont want to live in this world anymore because of something they don’t have to see or read, then, “I don’t want to live in this world”
    what ever happened to ignore, live, and be happy?

  • luliaitsoundsliketrulia

    I can’t wait to get it!!!! YESSSSSSS!!!!!!! So excited right now! When is it coming out because this is now on my “must read” list.

  • Ghett

    GTFO. Charles Dickens is rolling in his grave right now.

  • Holly

    What is a legitimate author exactly? Suddenly the thousands (possibly millions) of people who write Fan Fictions aren’t authors? I’m sorry, but that’s just bullshit. Fan Fiction authors write just as many stories as published authors and many of them have the same quality as published authors.

    Authors get publishing deals based on the quality of their story. It doesn’t matter if it started as a fan fiction or just an idea in their head. Quality is quality.

  • Emmy

    Just because a story originates as a fan fiction doesn’t make it any less real then Harry Potter or A Walk to Remember or any other story. You haven’t read the book yet–you probably wouldn’t anyways–so I suggest everyone who is complaining about it shut up and sit down. Had the origin of the story stay hidden, nobody would be saying, “I don’t want to live on this planet anymore” or “Has it really come to this?” You would have thought it’s just another book on the shelf.

    Unless you are a fellow fan fiction writer, your input is irrelevant. You don’t understand that world. Don’t act like you do.

  • Regina1180

    Most fan fiction is garbage.

  • redemption2

    As a writer and reader of fanfiction, the fact that something like this happens is a miracle. Most fanfiction sites, you have to sift through a lot of crap to find a gem, and most people who think they can write probably shouldn’t. However, the fact that a publisher recognized the potential, and agreed to publish it, essentially as-is, is an incredible feat. It’s a dream that most fanfiction writers never get to realize.

  • Holly

    Most? You’ve really read MOST of the fan fictions out there? That’s impossible. You may have read MANY but you have not read MOST

  • redemption2

    And I think the entire romance novel section at Barnes and Noble is garbage. And I’m sure you can point out a few to me that are absolute masterpieces of the genre. The exact reverse is also true. Yes, you do have to slog through a lot of muck to find good fanfiction, however, to judge it as such without giving ONE example of a piece of fanfiction you liked even slightly, is an insult to anyone who has put a pen to paper.

  • Abi

    Just remember. People who know nothing are always quick to give their opinion…

  • Abi

    And that came out wrong. I meant to say that I’m agreeing with you and that everyone else on here just doesn’t understand anything about the fan fiction world.

  • redemption2

    I agree and disagree both. I would have never known 50 Shades was based on Twilight Fanfiction if this article hadn’t mentioned it. And if you wander around your local bookstore, you’ll find published fanfiction everywhere. See those Star Wars novels on the shelf?

    However to say that no one knows that world and the input is irrelevant is kind of elitist. If you think back to when you wrote a story as a child, chances are, it was based on something you either read or heard about. If you loved Elmo, you drew Elmo, that’s called fanart. I seriously doubt there are people in this world who created all original ideas in every creative work they’ve done throughout their lives.

  • Regina1180

    The gems are definitely few and VERY far between. They usually can stand on their own. Most fan fiction that is based on other stories, with other people’s characters and backgrounds, have no business being published. Even if the names are changed, the circumstances and backgrounds are not theirs.

  • http://twitter.com/Windswept333 Windswept Girl

    Wow. So sad to see the reaction here. Not every fanfiction thats been published was noticed by a publisher like this one. Nor do all fanfiction authors “borrow” storylines from published works. My fanfiction was recently published and I didn’t steal anything from anyone. It is an original story that I wrote from scratch. Unless you’ve actually read it, how can you just decide it’s garbage or not worthy of publication? I went through the same process to be published as every other published author out there. I wrote my query letter, and a synopsis and sent it for submission to over 20 publishers. Eventually I received a contract. I have another book releasing February and also two short stories and my third novel is in the works. Not all of them were fanfiction. I’m not sure why you think a fanfiction author is not like or equal to any other author. I worked my butt off to write my stories and get them published.

  • Kelly

    All fan fictions are based on other stories…that’s the reason they are called fan fictions. The thing that I don’t think you’re really grasping is the fact that clearly they do have a business being published, otherwise they wouldn’t be getting published. The publishers aren’t just sitting behind their desks, goofing off, letting just anybody get published. They know what they’re doing. Maybe you should read this story before you scoff and write it off as just another piece of fan fiction garbage.

  • Genina

    shes so lucky!oh god!well ummm actually ive been writing too but well…..*sighs* forget it

  • AnnieOakley

    First a Twilight fan fic turned BDSM novel…now a 1 Direction novel. What’s next, a Justin Bieber fan fic turned novel? This has got to stop.

  • Hailey

    …I don’t want to live on this planet anymore. -_-

  • melissa

    Where can you read this fanfiction????

  • sitlali Gomez

    okay peoples if you dont like this at all then don’t weast your time reading it or comment it at all!

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