Harry Styles Fan Fiction Gains Buzz

By Nicole Horton

The One Direction fan fiction -based novel After is the first of three installments by 25-year-old Texan Anna Todd. Wattpad, a popular fan fiction blog, claims 1 billion reads total for the three books in the series. The release of this series by Simon & Schuster’s Gallery Books occurs over the course of three months, combining the immediacy of the Internet and the print literature. Paramount Pictures has acquired the screen rights for After in the hopes that it will become the next guilty romance pleasure for both women and One Direction fans.

The best way to describe After is that it is pretty much the One Direction fanfic version of Fifty Shades of Grey. If you have a deep desire to be seduced by Harry Styles, well, this is a fitting literary selection for you.

Our heroine, virtuous good girl Tessa, departs for college, leaving her very sweet boyfriend Noah behind. He wears Gap cardigans, texts Tessa’s mother regularly and Noah and Tessa have agreed to wait until marriage. She is on campus approximately 15 minutes before meeting Hardin (not much of a name change). Imagine Heath Ledger’s character from 10 Things I Hate About You, but strip him of everything charming and his dimpled smile. Despite the fact that he is a bad boy with tattoos who “doesn’t date” and is almost always surly, Tessa always ends up in his company and, predictably, cannot stay away.

After echoes the troubling dynamics of Fifty Shades of Grey. Their rocky romance progresses in the following fashion: Hardin is standoffish or insults Tessa, Tessa is attracted but determined to stay away, Hardin gets drunk and lets his guard down, they become intimate and then repeat. Hardin is at best a jerk and at worst an abusive boyfriend in the making.

However, he goes on to idealize her and, not surprisingly, regains her trust in several dramatic monologues, “You make me want to date, you make me want to be better. I want you to think I am worthy of you.”

Readers will be left wondering how this is an interpretation of a 21st century boy band heartthrob. In addition, like the mogul Christian Grey from Fifty Shades of Grey, Hardin is considerably wealthier than Tessa and she becomes financially dependent upon him.

If you enjoy the occasional or frequent guilty pleasure of the romance genre and archetypal “bad boy, good girl” story, this may be a page turner for you.

In addition, After draws numerous comparisons to Victorian literature because Tessa and Hardin are in the same English class. They get into heated debates about Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice, but the quality of Todd’s writing may have Shakespeare rolling in his grave.

After all, in a self-interview for fans, Todd said, “I barely ever reread the chapter before posting because I overthink things and I feel like overediting or trying to use too many words can ruin the story.”

There are a few takeaways from this fan fiction novel. After, although lacking in numerous areas, will certainly have a built-in fan base. Compared to other romance novels, it only slightly pales in comparison. One thing is for sure, Todd’s success is an inspiration for teenagers, One Direction fans and young aspiring writers.

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Nicole Horton is the Culture Editor for The Fordham Ram.