Fiction writers and fiction readers as participants of the literary process: to the creation of a social psychological portrait

At the current stage, the definition of the specifics of fandom participants’ activity in composing and reading fan fiction is of particular importance for reading infrastructure institutions. The study contains data from a survey of 74 authors (fiction writers) and 153 active readers of fan fiction (fiction readers), as a result of which a relationship between the socio-demographic characteristics of participants in popular fandoms and their reading preferences has been established. The reasons for the interest in reading and writing fan fiction, as well as the features of the plots and characters of literary works significant for the participants in fandoms have been revealed. This enables the institutions, constituting the reading infrastructure, primarily educational institutions and libraries, to find the most effective practices to stimulate the reading activity of young people.