Zain Butt knew from the start what kind of community he was looking for at U of T. 

“I came to U of T, and I was just getting into fanfiction, really — I’d only been writing fanfiction for a year or two, and I wanted to find a new fanfiction club on campus, or some sort of fandom thing,” Butt said to The Varsity in an interview.

“I thought, ‘Oh, surely, because it’s U of T — 60,000 students, 1,000 clubs — there’s gotta be a club like that on campus already.’ No, there isn’t a club like that. I was like, ‘Huh, well, I guess I’ll make the club.’ ”

That’s how Butt, now a fourth-year philosophy major, became the Founder and President of the U of T Fanfiction Club (UTFFC). 

Despite the obvious gap in the market, the club — started in the fall of 2023  — initially struggled to attract new members.

“It was very slow, because I really didn’t have any way to reach out to people. I made a quick [announcement] during the creative writing course — only one person showed up for that, and she still comes to our meetings,” Butt said.

“The big breakthrough was in winter 2024,” he added, when the club began advertising with posters around campus. “That was really what put us on the map. The rest is history, really.”

Club attendance skyrocketed from a few people to 40–50 students at weekly events. 

“We have a lot of game-related meetings [and events],” said Esther Yoo, a second-year chemical engineering student and the club’s social media manager. Last Friday, the club hosted a “Fic or Fiction?” event, where attendees guessed whether excerpts were from a fanfiction or published fiction. 

“We’ve had a fandom potluck, and karaoke where people sing fandom songs,” Yoo added, “One of our big events this semester so far has been gambling,” in which participants gambled tokens that could then be exchanged for fandom merchandise. 

As president, Butt has also been working on more collaborative events. Recently, the club partnered with the Literature and Critical Theory Students’ Union to host a murder mystery event. While the union handled logistics, UTFFC wrote the scenario — personifying different U of T buildings.

“We were, like, well, what if we had it be U of T buildings, with different relationships and drama?”

“There was a lot of Catholic guilt,” Butt added thoughtfully. 

Does it go that deep for you?

“I don’t think fanfiction is just fetish,” Butt reflected, “I think there is more to fanfiction than that. There is real literary merit in this unique form of storytelling. I think fanfiction is a really good, important space for writers to practice their craft.”

Butt got his start writing Deltarune fanfiction. “I was a moderator for a Deltarune Discord server. We used to do contests there, [and] someone started a writing contest. We didn’t even call it a fanfiction writing contest. I started doing my own writing for that. That was when I really started writing fanfiction — I didn’t really consider it fanfiction at the time.”

One thing led to another, and Butt started writing on Wattpad. He has since moved to publishing his work on Archive of Our Own (AO3); “It was really peer pressure,” Butt joked.

For readers, Butt believes that fanfiction occupies an important space in the way people engage with art and culture. “[Readers] have the things they really like. People are really attached to certain works and certain characters and certain pairings. And I think that’s been true well before fanfiction — they always have had their favourites.”

Yoo, who creates fanart, sees a similar appeal. “[Fanart] is pretty much the same thing, but in visual form. Sometimes you just want to see your favourite characters in a certain scenario.”

Yet, even as Butt and Yoo spoke enthusiastically about fandom, they acknowledged some stigma around fanfiction, often relegated to anonymous corners of the internet. 

“Sometimes we do get haters,” Butt revealed, “but we just ignore them,” Yoo added. 

“A lot of us [club members] don’t tell people about [being in the club],” Butt said, “I have one Exec who is, like, ‘Oh, I say this is a gaming club.’” 

“Me personally? I really don’t have much shame.”

Legacy and community

“Everyone [in the club] says this too — it really is a big family,” Yoo said. “Of course, we’re gonna talk about fan fiction, but most of the time we just talk about our personal life, or non-fandom-related stuff.”

“The community is really what made this club,” Butt said. “It wouldn’t be possible without people. The community really is something special. And there’s the fact that it’s so diverse: we have so many different people. Oftentimes, [they’re] completely different, personality-wise, but they bond over their shared fandom, or their shared trope. That’s what I really love.”

As Butt’s time at U of T draws to a close, his vision for the club is clear. “My dream for this club is for it to go on without me. We need to find someone to step up — [to] be the new Zain.”

“That’s really my future dream for the fanfiction club — not just something that I’ll be there to enjoy, but something I know be there always, self-sustaining.”

The UTFFC is hosting a fandom convention on April 30 at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). More information can be found on the UTFFC Instagram.