Among other criticisms that have been lobbied at the inexplicably popular erotic novel Fifty Shades of Gray, many have complained about the book’s origins; namely, that it was envisioned as an alternate reality Twilight fan fiction, and the author, E.L. James, merely replaced all the names of the characters in order to make it marketable.

Fan fiction gets an incredibly bad rap in the publishing and book-writing world; Anne Rice, George R.R. Martin, and Diana Gabaldon have all spoken out against potential fan fiction writers using their characters for their own stories. And “real life” fic, where writers create stories about their favorite celebrities (and often pair them together romantically), are even more vilified. We don’t get where all the hate comes from, though — sure, reading about members of One Direction making out with each other can get kind of creepy, but lots of your favorite books, movies, and even musicals are technically borrowed from other sources! Here’s a roundup of some of our favorites, as well as some we can’t believe exist at all — let us know what you think! … Read More