The Immortality of the Harry Styles Fanfic
It’s the middle of the night in 2013. A new chapter has just been uploaded, and this is the first time you have been able to open Wattpad to read it. It’s dark, the only light in the room coming from the phone in front of your face. Hidden under the covers, you quickly tap the screen to go to the next page, devouring the story unfolding before you. The night escapes you as you fall deep into the story, picturing yourself as Tessa falling in love with Hardin. Then, the chapter ends, and the next one does not come out for another week.
It’s a warm summer night in 2024. You finished all your homework for the day, ate dinner, and showered. Now it’s time to sit down with a good movie before bed. After remembering a new movie starring Anne Hathaway, you throw it on. Midway through and sucked in, you can’t help but feel like the main character, a tatted singer in a boy band, reminds you of someone. Flashbacks to nights spent up too late and deep in a book, no, a fanfiction. Hardin Scott comes to mind, but even he reminds you of someone. Are they both based on the same person?
The age of Wattpad fanfiction was a pivotal moment in the history of all pre-teens and teens in the 2010s. Combine that with it being One Direction's peak and introducing them to the idea that they could have a little more of the ultimate “bad boy,” Harry Styles.
When the well-known story After by Anna Todd was released on Wattpad in 2013, it became a sensation—inspired by Harry Styles, circa One Direction (RIP). Fans were enamored by Styles’s “bad boy” aesthetic, emphasized with long hair and tattoos. He was described as the flirt of the group. Following the instant fame of the band, and therefore, Harry Styles, stories inspired by Styles began to surface. Most follow the same format: the bad boy falling for the good girl, creating a whirlwind romance that fans absolutely love. After was the biggest story at the time, attracting so much attention that it became a published book series and later a movie franchise.
Image Courtesy: Aviron Picture
It follows the story of Hardin and Tessa, college students who do not like each other when they meet but eventually fall in love, leading to endless drama and toxic cycles. Hardin was based on Styles, mimicking the style of his tattoos and clothing and even having a similar appearance once the movie was cast.
After remains the most well-known Harry Styles fanfiction for years following its publication and movie release. However, a new film starring Anne Hathaway debuted, creating some competition. The Idea Of You by Robinne Lee was a novel that premiered as a film in March. It follows the love story of Solène, a single mother, and Hayes, the lead singer of a famous boy band, August Moon.
The main character in The Idea of You was compared to Styles even more. He holds similar traits as Hardin from After, serving as the primary inspiration from Styles. The tattoos, dark clothing, and hair were all part of Hayes’s character, but his role in the fictional band “August Moon” took the comparisons further. Many people found his performance style similar to Styles's performance during One Direction shows. Fans even compared promotional pictures for August Moon to the pictures of One Direction, stating that Hayes was posing the same way as Styles.
Image Courtesy: Amazon Prime Video; PA/BBC Wire
It’s not surprising that Styles refuses to give substantial responses when he is asked about the stories because he has grown into more than just the boy band bad boy that he is made out to be. Harry Styles fanfiction will always be around but hopefully it can grow into something more fitting of who he is rather than who people want him to be.
All this to say, Harry Styles fanfiction has always had a way of dominating both the literary and cinematic universes, and from the way it's looking, that is not going to change. The decline of Wattpad today will not stop fans from continuing to write main characters inspired by Harry Styles, so keep an eye out for the next one that hits movie theater screens.
Strike Out,
Madi Denizard
Boca Raton
Madi Denizard is a content writer for Strike Magazine Boca. In typical Leo fashion, she is a social butterfly and loves self-expression of all kinds. When she’s not writing, you can find her with her nose stuck in a book, mermaiding in the ocean or crocheting her newest masterpiece. You can reach her by email at madison.denizard@gmail.com or on Instagram @mpaigee_
