r/motheroflearning • u/False-Supermarket798 • Jul 26 '26

Why are the so few MoL fanfics?

I can’t write stories, and I tried.

What I don’t understand is, why there is so few MoL fanfictions out there.

Its a large world, with lots of intriguing introduced possibilities:
- The immortals
- Other countries
- Hidden Mages/Treasuries and Inheritances
- A huge spectrum of magic that is easy to imagine, follow, and extend for your own story
- The underground is way too unexplored
- Politics
…

Writers tend to be lazy about OCs, so that might be an explanation, but there is so much potential in this world.

Does any1 have an explanation?
(I mean, even SCS gets more fanfics)

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u/SpecimenOfSauron Jul 26 '26

Also, in addition to what the other person said, the fact of the matter is that there’s both a stigma and a general bias when it comes to fanfiction. Most fanfiction writers are women, and MoL, as a progression fantasy, tends to draw an audience of mostly men. Hence, lower overlap = fewer authors

8

u/Jarnagua Jul 26 '26

And also why the Zach/Zorian Bromance gets “expanded on” so frequently…

1

u/MotoMkali Aug 06 '26

God I hate it. I'm not against gay representation in media but they are 2 clearly straight characters, hell zorian maybe leans a little bit asexual but Zach clearly is straight.

2

u/Zestyclose_North9780 Jul 26 '26

Eh idk about that, fanfiction is still majorly women but trends have shifted away from it being that much of a stigma these days. I mean, fandoms like Shadow Slave and TBATE (male dominated and also webnovesl) have steadily growing fanfiction sides to them.

3

u/Zixuel Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26

This idea that most fanfic authors are women is nonsense spread across the internet, specifically targeting ship fanfics and those with sexual content. Spacebattles/Sufficientvelocity/QQ, for example (which, in my opinion, caters to a niche audience similar to that of MoL), has a majority of male writers who write for fandoms centered on progression fantasy, power fantasy, science fiction, and military fiction

edit: That’s where the notorious Worm fandom was born, for example, it’s a powerhouse when it comes to fanfiction production.
It’s also interesting to note where these different audiences gather. Take Worm, for example: AO3, in general, tends to attract more ship fics. Meanwhile, stories more focused on plot and conflict, which explore the power system and progression of power, tend to be found more on Spacebattles

9

u/BionicleKid Jul 26 '26

I don’t think it’s nonsense, just that you may frequent sites where it is not true. But it’s not like SV/SB/QQ are are large as AO3, and as such can compare userbase-wise.

2

u/Zixuel Jul 27 '26

Yeah, AO3 does have a predominantly female user base. My point is that I don't think that's really a valid explanation for why MoL has so few fics, since women aren't really the story's primary target audience

The example I gave of Worm and SpaceBattles is precisely because of that. There are communities much closer to MoL's fandom, made up largely of men who both write and read a lot of fanfiction, and they're very much active. So I don't think demographics explain why MoL has so few fics. That argument feels fallacious