New York, New York - New York Comic Con 2023 welcomed several of today's biggest authors in the romance genre, where some of the most popular writers weighed in on how fanfiction has paved the way for many of today's best-selling books.

On Day 1 of the convention, Ali Hazelwood, author of Love, Theoretically, led the Pop Culture & Romance panel featuring Adriana Herrera, Alexis Daria, Julie Soto, Kate Goldbeck, and Katie Shepherd.

It's no secret that many of today's authors got their start writing fan fiction in the heyday of LiveJournal, Tumblr, FanFiction.net, and even today's Archive of Our Own.

Thursday's panel saw the authors dive deep into the debate surrounding the value of novels that got their start as fan fiction before being transformed into original novels.

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Though the stories have largely been rid of the original fandom's distinctive elements, some argue that the alterations aren't enough.

Hazelwood, whose BookTok-favorite romance The Love Hypothesis was originally published as "Reylo" Star Wars fan fiction, brought up the criticism that the transition from fan fiction to original novel is merely "filing off the serial number" and removing the proprietary elements, thus leaving the new book without much originality.

Goldbeck hit back at the criticisms, saying, "It's really taking what is essentially the first draft of a novel that you published in a different way and revising it many, many, many times, which is something that all people do who write books." She continued on to note that many of the fan fictions that went on to be published were "alternate universe" pieces, meaning they weren't set in the universe of the original fandom despite using its characters.

Soto also dismissed the idea, describing the fan fiction-to-original novel pipeline as "planting the seed of an idea and watching it grow in another garden."

"That's what I would prefer to think of it as because you're not getting rid of something on the surface that defines it. You are going into the root and finding what you love about what was written," she said.

Alexis Daria revealed her frustrations at the stigma surrounding fan fiction, considering its immense value in developing foundational writing skills for novice authors.

"To me, it felt like it was the best writing class I could have had," she said. "I just couldn't understand why you can't say you have all this experience, but it was supposed to be this dirty little secret if you participated in fandoms this way."

"Just the fact that we're all here, on a panel, talking about this out in the open is a really wonderful shift."

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Friday's Rise of Romantasy panel echoed many of the ideas presented by Thursday's romance authors, instead noting the key role of platforms like Wattpad in strengthening writers today and providing a space for previously minimized genres.

The popularity of romance stories on Wattpad, in many regards, paved the way for the open appreciation of such tales in traditional publishing, according to panelist Shelby Mahurin, author of Serpent & Dove.

She praised the newfound acceptance of romantic fantasy novels in the mainstream, pivoting away from the dismissal of such books, which was often driven by a broader devaluation of media primarily consumed by women.

It was through online spaces that writers and readers could connect over their interests in these genres, thus creating a force powerful enough to shake up the mainstream publishing world.