Fan fiction has become a premiere art form in the literary sphere, with authors tapping into their fantasies to create some of recent history’s best-selling books. While some take inspiration from other art forms to create actual ‘fan fiction’, others use real-life celebrities to form the basis of their main characters. From One Direction fan-fic to the Hollywood muses of Taylor Jenkins Reid, here are some of the best fiction reads that are based on celebrities—or their famous art.
Big Fan by Alexandra Romanoff
The latest in One Direction-inspired fiction is Alexandra Romanoff’s Big Fan. The 2024 read follows Maya, a political advisor whose ex-husband had a high-profile sex scandal that nearly ruined her career. She’s looking to get her career back on track and leave the marriage behind when she receives an email from Charlie, the lead singer of her teenage boy band obsession, Mischief. He’s staging a comeback and wants Maya to run the ‘campaign’. While not direct fan-fic, the central band, Mischief, is thought to be based on One Direction, with Charlie being loosely based on Harry Styles. Having said that, Romanoff has confessed her favourite 1D member was always Louis…
The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
American author Taylor Jenkins Reid has a habit of basing her novels on celebrities, with a few following semi-journalistic formats. The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo (2017) is structured as an interview with an Old Hollywood star, Evelyn Hugo, who at 79 is telling the tales of her seven husbands to a journalist, Monique. The character of Evelyn is loosely based on several actresses from Hollywood’s golden age, including Elizabeth Taylor—who did indeed have seven husbands; Ava Gardner—whose life story was told via conversation with a journalist in the biography Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations, and Rita Hayworth—whose early life was mirrored by Evelyn’s.
The Idea Of You by Robinne Lee
Now a major streaming hit with Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine, The Idea Of You by Robinne Lee (2017) reportedly started as Harry Styles fan fiction. Although the author was reluctant to cite Styles as a direct muse, Lee did acknowledge she made Galitzine’s character, Hayes, an amalgam of her dream guy, which was a mix of Prince Harry, Harry Styles and Eddie Redmayne. The plot follows 40-year-old single mum, Solène, who meets the lead singer of a boy band, Hayes, when she takes her 16-year-old daughter to Coachella. She and Hayes hit it off and the rest is history.
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld takes a lot of inspiration from glittering celebrity life. The novel follows Sally, a sketch comedy writer employed on a Saturday Night Live-esque series called The Night Owls, whose co-writer is a daggy dude (Danny) who manages to win the heart of a glamorous A-list actress. Despite being cynical about Danny’s relationship with someone objectively hotter than he is, Sally finds the shoe on the other foot when she meets the attractive and famous musician, Noah Brewster. While not confirmed by the author, many believe the character of Danny was based on Pete Davidson, who had high-profile relationships with Kim Kardashian and Ariana Grande (among others). However, Davidson is one of many male SNL writers who have dated far more famous and glamorous people than themselves, including Colin Jost and Scarlett Johansson, Jason Sudeikis and Olivia Wilde, and Dave McCary and Emma Stone.
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins
The runaway hit Daisy Jones & The Six (2019) is told in a series of interviews with one of the biggest rock bands of the 1970s, reflecting on their entangled romances, friendships and politics that eventually led to their downfall. Although the storytelling is so life-like, many thought the central band was real, it is in fact based on Fleetwood Mac. Jenkins Reid has said she was inspired by the dynamic between Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham after seeing them perform in the 90s. She “wanted to write a story about that, about how the lines between real life and performance can get blurred, about how singing about old wounds might keep them fresh.” While the main characters, Daisy Jones and Billy, are loosely based on Nicks and Buckingham, other members of ‘The Six’ were based on other members of the band, i.e. Graham and Karen bear similarities to Fleetwood Mac’s other couple, John and Christine McVie.
50 Shades Of Grey E L James
Most of us are familiar with the raunchy romance that is 50 Shades Of Grey. However, fewer people know the series started as erotic fan fiction modelled on the romance in Twilight. The trilogy was originally published on fanfiction.net under the title Master Of The Universe. After it was picked up by publishers, the Twilight references were removed and we have 50 Shades. The main characters, Christian and Anastasia, who embark on a dom-sub relationship, were based on Twlight‘s Edward and Bella.
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
This YA hit was originally published online as Star Wars fan fiction, focused particularly on a fantasy relationship between Kylo Ren and Rey. The story follows Olive, who tries to convince her friend that her dating life is going well by pretending to date her professor, Adam. The character Adam reportedly earned his name from the actor who played Kylo Ren—Adam Driver. Meanwhile, the book’s cover illustration modelled Adam and Olive on Driver and actress Daisy Ridley.
After by Anna Todd
It seems Harry Styles has served as a muse to many adoring fans, including Anna Todd, who based her lead character in After on the singer. The basic plot is about Tessa, who moves away to college and meets the mean but dreamy Hardin (based on Styles). Todd’s writings were inspired by the songs of One Direction.
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Read the original article in ELLE Australia.
