Real Person Fiction, or RPF as it’s colloquially known online, is the term given to fictionalized works created about real people. The most common form is written fanfiction—the RPF tag on Archive of Our Own, the largest fanfic repository on the web, has been used on over 560,000 works. While debates around the ethics of writing fanfiction about real people have been taking place in fandom spaces for a long time, the question of which RPF is afforded legitimacy and which is not remains a complicated one.

RFP is a modern acronym for a literary device that’s been around nearly forever. Shakespeare wrote countless dramatizations loosely based on the lives of various English monarchs; the Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love tells the story of a fictional romance involving said playwright; Disney’s 1995 animated film Pocahontas was so popular that the version of events presented therein are accepted as fact by many; Baz Luhrmann’s recent Elvis movie isn’t so much about an accurate representation of Presley’s life story as it is an accurate representation of the enduring legend surrounding the star; Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton is another example of vibes being prioritized over historical accuracy; Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and Inglourious Basterds present alternative histories where Sharon Tate isn’t murdered and Adolf Hitler is, respectively. 

The bestselling book Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid (adapted as a TV series on Amazon Prime), which chronicles the rise and fall of a 1970s rock band, draws more than a few similarities to the real story of Fleetwood Mac. The relationship between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham in particular has become legendary in the years since Fleetwood’s heyday, and Reid’s fictionalized retelling has introduced a whole new generation to their story. Google results for “Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham” skyrocketed following the show’s premiere on March 3, and a 1997 performance of the band's song "Silver Springs" has gone so viral on TikTok that Lindsey Buckingham himself acknowledged the performance’s newfound popularity.

While Nicks and Buckingham have openly discussed their complicated relationship over the years—and are unlikely to be surprised or bothered by this fictional retelling of it—other  RPF has had outsize, negative impact on the subjects of these fictionalized stories. Harry Styles, formerly of the band One Direction, is a very popular RPF subject. One fanfic of him originally published on Wattpad was first turned into a series of books, then became the basis for the After movie series. There’s also a tongue-in-cheek TikTok account that celebrates a relationship between Styles and former president of the United States Barack Obama (their ship name is Hobama). 

Then there was the subgenre of RPF that fictionalized a sexual relationship between Styles and former bandmate Louis Tomlinson. Fans have become so invested in the so-called “Larry Stylinson” or “Larry” relationship that they’ve devoted hours to finding evidence of a conspiracy to keep the pair’s relationship a secret. The fanfic eventually took on a life of its own, bleeding into pop culture: In its first season, HBO’s Euphoria featured a scene where one character wrote Larry fanfiction, complete with an animated sex scene between Styles and Tomlinson. 

And that’s one key difference that separates a Shakespearean RPF from a modern-day one: the speed with which the story spreads beyond fandom spaces, eventually finding its way to the people being written about. Tomlinson has said that the conspiracy theories around his friendship with Styles ultimately damaged their relationship, and in a 2015 interview with Fader, fellow bandmate Zayn Malik said, “There’s no secret relationships going on with any of the band members. It’s not funny, and it still continues to be quite hard for them. They won’t naturally go put their arm around each other because they’re conscious of this thing that’s going on.”

Across fandom spaces online, there’s much debate about the ethics of RPF. For Teen Vogue, fandom writer Stitch outlines the value of RPF in providing people with “a way to see and write themselves into their ideal narrative while unpacking parts of their identities and experiences in a safe space,” and others point at historical examples of RPF in an attempt to give the genre more legitimacy. 

But while Alexander Hamilton is no longer around to take issue with a fictionalized re-telling of his life’s story, Harry Styles, Stevie Nicks, and Lindsey Buckingham very much are. Whether the subject of the RPF is alive or dead is another key factor that determines whether RPF is seen as intrusive or profound. For a deceased subject, there is no possibility of their actions being scrutinized and used to fuel further rumors or fictional creations; for Styles and Tomlinson, that appeared to be an ongoing concern.

Anne Jamison, author of Fic: Why Fan Fiction is Taking Over the World, believes the key difference is what people see as the focus on sexual relationships, and the issue of consent that it raises. In an interview with writer Tonya Riley for Medium, she says, “If they were just writing about sending Chris Evans to Hogwarts to teach Harry Potter about being a superhero, it wouldn’t cause the same reaction. It raises issues of consent to people.”

In her article, Riley suggests that in a culture where celebrity gossip is so ubiquitous, RPF is simply a reflection of how we already view celebrities.“Given our celebrity-driven culture, it’s almost unavoidable not to be guilty of stanning (being a stalker and a fan) too hard for someone or peering a bit too deeply into a private life we haven’t been granted permission to access,” she writes. 

Riley may have a point, but it’s still useful to examine how our actions as fans impact the public figures  we claim to care about. While much of fandom culture is joyful and harmless, if idle speculation veers so far into conspiracy theory-style thinking that the subjects feel uncomfortable or forced to alter their behavior so as to not encourage further speculation, we must ask ourselves if our hobby is worth causing someone else pain.