Rainbow Rowell Carry On: New Book Inspired by Fan Fic

As long time fans of Rainbow Rowell, every time she announces a new novel we pull out the glitter cupcake liners, the stemless wine glasses and the Target Deluxe version of 1989. In other words, we party, #normal-style. We have been fangirling over Rainbow’s books for awhile. Here. And here. And here. But her latest book announcement calls for the big guns; she’s taking bookish fangirling to a whole new level. META level.

Sidenote: A word about META-

I won’t go into the etymology of this Greek prefix if you don’t care (you don’t) but basically, stuff is meta when it’s an abstraction about itself. A discussion about discussions. A sermon about sermons. Data about data. Or in the case of Rainbow Rowell’s upcoming novel, as she put it, “fiction inspired by fictional fanfiction of a fictional series.” I can’t even quantify the levels of meta in that.

But WHAT?

In Rainbow’s novel, Fangirl, the main character, Cath is a popular fanfiction writer for a fictional fandom based on a fictional set of novels written by (the fictional author) Gemma T. Leslie in the vein of the Harry Potter series. Cath’s fanfic is entitled Carry On, Simon. Rainbow’s new novel based on the characters she created for the fictional series that Cath writes her fanfic about: Carry On. Confused yet?

That’s the beauty! It’s all so wonderfully circular. On her tumblr, Rainbow cleared up some of the confusion. You won’t have to have read Fangirl to understand or read Carry On, the same way you never had to read Gemma T Leslie’s fictional novels to understand Fangirl. They are both stand alone novels, set in a totally different worlds. And she won’t be writing as Gemma T. Leslie or as her character Cath either … she’s exploring Simon and Baz and their world as SHE would.

After I finished writing Fangirl, I kept thinking about Simon and Baz and the World of Mages … I wanted to write more about them, but I didn’t want to write the full series GTL-style. And I also didn’t want to write through Cath’s hands and brain.

I wanted to explore what I would do with this world and these characters.

So, even though I’m writing a book that was inspired by fictional fanfiction of a fictional series …

… I think what I’m writing now is canon.

Heck yes you are, RR.

And WHY?

Writers and readers of fanfiction, who’ve seen their works get granted mainstream status and success over the past few years have just had their brains broken. We used to think that Rainbow simply writing a novel about fanfiction, its culture, and its impact was revolutionary … and in many ways it was. Cath helped give a narrative voice to something that non-fanfic readers have trouble understanding. But now she’s taking it a step further and making that fanfiction a canon novel. It’s literally the most meta thing I’ve ever seen in fandom. LITERALLY.

And I love it. Also, I love Rainbow.

Mutual, I’m sure.

Carry On will be out in 2015!

Simon Snow just wants to relax and savor his last year at the Watford School of Magicks, but no one will let him. His girlfriend broke up with him, his best friend is a pest, and his mentor keeps trying to hide him away in the mountains where maybe he’ll be safe. Simon can’t even enjoy the fact that his roommate and longtime nemesis is missing, because he can’t stop worrying about the evil git. Plus there are ghosts. And vampires. And actual evil things trying to shut Simon down. When you’re the most powerful magician the world has ever known, you never get to relax and savor anything. Carry On is a ghost story, a love story, a mystery and a melodrama. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story — but far, far more monsters.