Jing et al., "Sameness Entices, but Novelty Enchants in Fanfiction Online" (2025)

Elise Jing, Simon DeDeo, Devin R. Wright, and Yong-Yeol Ahn, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 12, 1018 (2025)
DOI | arXiv | Data | Code

@article{jing2025fanfic,
    author = {Elise Jing and Simon DeDeo and Devin Wright and Yong-Yeol Ahn},
    title = {Sameness entices, but novelty enchants in fanfiction online},
    journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences Communications},
    volume = {12},
    pages = {1018},
    year = {2025},
}

Do cultural artifacts succeed by balancing novelty with familiarity? Using fanfiction data, we find a surprising pattern: recognition declines almost monotonically with novelty. Two competing forces are at play—sameness attracts broad audiences while novelty generates enjoyment. Despite expressed preference for novelty, overall success is dominated by appetite for familiar content. Cultural change may therefore operate against this inertia through occasional leaps resembling punctuated equilibrium.