Carry On (book)

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Name: Carry On
Abbreviation(s): CO, CO/WS
Creator: Rainbow Rowell
Date(s): Oct 6, 2015 - onwards
Medium: book
Country of Origin: UK/USA
External Links: www.rainbowrowell.com/carry-on/
Any Way The Wind Blows cover re-draw by banjjakbanjjak
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Carry On is a novel by Rainbow Rowell, strongly influenced by Harry Potter, with the two main characters, Simon Snow and Baz, having a relationship with strong similarities to Drarry. Rowell's previous novel, Fangirl, heavily featured the fictional Simon Snow series by fictional author Gemma T. Leslie, which Fangirl's main character Cath wrote fanfiction of. Cath's magnum opus was titled 'Carry On, Simon'. However, the novel on this page is neither the fictional series nor the fanfiction by Cath, but another work which shares the same characters; AO3 covers all three 'Carry On' novels and the Fangirl era with the meta tag Simon Snow and Related Fandoms, though this is generally less used than the Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell tag.

Carry On is the first in a series of three books: Carry On, Wayward Son (September 2019) and Any Way the Wind Blows (July 2021). The term 'Simon Snow series' (not to be confused with the fictional series mentioned below) is sometimes applied to mean all three books, but generally the fandom calls itself 'Carry On fandom'.

The three Carry On books are written in different styles. Carry On is written in 1st person with pov shifts, usually every chapter. Fangirl's features numerous exerpts of the Simon Snow books by Gemma T. Leslie and Cath's fic. A small amount of fic has been written with the Fangirl-era versions of the characters. This was largely before the publication of Carry On, but some has been published afterwards. Most Carry On era fic is written in the first person present tense, like that book. Fangirl-era fic is more likely to be in third person.

Carry On and Related Texts

Spoiler Warning: This article or section may contain spoilers. If this bothers you, proceed with caution.

Fangirl

Fangirl features two different versions of Simon, Baz, etc and the events of Simon's eighth year at Watford (the 'canonical' version and Cath's fanfiction). Carry On features another version of events. Rowell has said of these different versions:

The most common question I’ve been asked is whether I’m writing as Cath or as Gemma T. Leslie … The answer is, I’m writing as me.

After I finished writing Fangirl, I kept thinking about Simon and Baz and the World of Mages … I wanted to write more about them, but I didn’t want to write the full series GTL-style. And I also didn’t want to write through Cath’s hands and brain.

I wanted to explore what I would do with this world and these characters.

So, even though I’m writing a book that was inspired by fictional fanfiction of a fictional series …

… I think what I’m writing now is canon.[1]

These things are true in Carry On, but not necessarily in either of the Fangirl versions:

  • Simon and Baz are definitely in love and dating (not true in GTL canon)
  • Baz's mother was killed in the nursery/vampire attack (not true in GTL canon, referred to in one of Cath's fics)
  • Simon and Baz first meet when the Crucible draws them together as roommates, not when Simon goes to his room for the first time
  • Penny is half-Indian (although she's drawn as Indian in the new Fangirl manga) and her red-hair is not natural
  • Agatha has a wand, rather than a magic mirror as her instrument
  • Simon is the worst "Chosen One to ever be chosen"
  • The Mage isn't necessarily evil, we don't know where the Humdrum comes from, etc

A more complete list (including facts learned throughout canon) can be found in this Google Doc (author unknown, needs to be fact checked)[2].

Fangirl-era fic is also mainly SnowBaz, but has slightly more Penny/Agatha.

For more information about Fangirl-era fic see that page.

Harry Potter

The Carry On universe is heavily inspired by Harry Potter, since it needed to fill a similar role in Cath's life in Fangirl. Some of the most obvious parallels include:

  • Neither Harry Potter nor Simon know their parents. They had rough childhoods and are at odds with the magical world. They spend most of their school year heroically chasing after a villain that will probably kill them. They are both sent back to the real world during the summer.
  • Baz and Draco Malfoy both come from old magical aristocracy and spend their early years plotting to bring down the hero.
  • Penelope and Hermione Granger are the clever sidekicks/best female friends.
  • The Mage and Dumbledore are authority figures who mentor the hero and groom him to take on the villain.

However, the novel is just as obviously trying to address some of the criticism directed at the series:

  • Lack of on-the-page diversity: While JK Rowling has been criticized for after-the-fact inclusion of diversity (Dumbledore being gay, the existence of LGBT or Muslim students at Hogwarts), Carry On features, amongst others, explicit racial and sexual diversity (Penelope Bunce is British-Indian, Baz's mother was of Egyptian descent and he identifies as gay, Penelope's roommate Trixie has a girlfriend), as well as disabled characters (Rhys and his wheelchair).
  • The Mage's storyline addresses some of the criticism aimed at Dumbledore (authoritarian and irresponsible attitude).
  • Euro-centricism of spells in Harry Potter (derived from Greek & Latin) vs spells based on the popularity of a certain phrase in any language in Carry On.
  • Carry On's World of Mages isn't as isolated and anachronistic as the Harry Potter world: Mages integrate in Normal society and are aware of Normal culture (for example know how to drive and use cellphones.) Agatha's character in particular gripes about the Mages' inability to recognize the usefulness of technology over magic in certain occasions:

There is some evidence that the success of Carry On caused an increase in Drarry content, either because Carry On reminding HP fans of their old fandom or because it introduced frustrated SnowBaz fans looking for lots of quality fic to an acceptable substitute. See for example the author's notes to waspabi's story Stately Homes of Wiltshire, posted from March to May 2016:

Thanks to Catie and Serena, who have both been angelic and encouraging. Also thanks to Carry On, which pulled them unwittingly into HP fandom in this the year of our Lorde 2k16.

Even though many fans like both SnowBaz and Drarry, a relatively small number of tropes crossed over from Drarry into Carry On-era's SnowBaz. Drarry's biggest influence was mostly on Fangirl-era works.


Characters

Agatha, Penny, Simon, Baz, Shepard by palimpsessed, 2020[3]

Main Characters

Minor Characters who often appear in fic

  • The Mage, the Headmaster of the Watford School of Magicks, whose relationship to Simon is more complicated than it first appears
  • The Insidious Humdrum, the villain (or is he)
  • Natasha Grimm-Pitch, the ghost of Baz's mother who sets things in motion by asking Simon to help Baz find her murderer
  • Baz's other family: Fiona Pitch (Baz's aunt), Malcolm Grimm (Baz's dad), Daphne Grimm (Baz's stepmum), Mordelia Grimm (younger sister), 3 additional siblings including twins and a baby
  • Lucy, the ghost of Simon's mother
  • Dev and Niall, Baz's friends (often shipped together)
  • Lamb, introduced in Wayward Son. An older, more experienced vampire who helps/betrays Baz
  • Niamh, introduced in Any Way the Wind Blows. A trainee magical vet who works for Agatha's father, three years ahead of Agatha at Watford

Main Ships

Simon/Baz aka SnowBaz massively dominates fanfiction. As of January 2021, there were 6217 works on AO3 of which 5704 identified as SnowBaz. Fanart is slightly more likely to be focused on other characters than fic, but is still overwhelmingly SnowBaz. This is likely to be because SnowBaz is a canon slash pairing.

Other ships are most likely to be written as side-ships of a SnowBaz-centric fic. Such ships include:

There are also a relatively small number of Deniall-centric fics. For example:

A small number of fans have also started creating Simpard (Simon/Shepard) works, although these are mostly humorous/sometimes a bro ship.

Gen that doesn't include SnowBaz is very rare. Fic that includes the relationship but doesn't focus on it is also rare.

Simon and Agatha canonically dated and then broke up before Simon and Baz get together. For this reason, many fics (particularly AUs set at Watford) include Simon/Agatha as the default start condition before she breaks up with him for some reason. There are almost no fics that suggest writers seriously shipping Simon and Agatha, and after the advent of Any Way the Wind Blows, some fans joke that they made each other gay due to Simon ending up with Baz and Agatha with Niamh.

After Any Way the Wind Blows, the pairing of Agatha/Niamh gained some traction. It's a smaller ship on its own, but is often included as a background or side ship in bigger stories.

Rainbow Rowell and Fandom

As might be expected of the author of Fangirl, author Rainbow Rowell is relatively active in fannish-adjacent spaces, particularly on her Twitter (deleted in 2021), and Tumblr. Rowell has stated she never reads fanfiction of her own characters and doesn't enjoy reading fans headcanons, however she frequently likes or reblogs fanart of her characters and memes - which can often bring artists significant exposure.

She also answers some non-spoilery questions (previously mostly on Twitter, from 2021 mostly on Tumblr) from fans. This can affect fanworks, see Baz body hair discourse below as well as Skin Deep by TBazzSnow, inspired by a tweet about how SnowBaz had acne. She stated Baz was not a smoker in canon in June 2020. Rowell shared Carry On main character birthdays via Twitter in December 2019, although states these may change in later books.

Rowell shared her inspiration for Baz’s race and Egyptian heritage (Andrew Ridgeley from Wham!). She has also stated that Simon looks like a young 'homelier' Colin Firth[4]/Matt Damon, and Lamb looks like young Hugh Grant[5]. Some (but not all) art references these descriptions.

Carry On Fandom

The fandom is most active on Tumblr, Instagram, Archive of Our Own and, as of 2019, several Discord servers. It's likely the founding of the Discords encouraged fandom to be more organised (creating additional fests and zines) and also aided the increased number of explicit works, which were were relatively uncommon until 2019. (More information on the growth of explicit works on the SnowBaz page).

Before this time (between November 2015 and December 2016, the Tumblr Snowflakefaces "was sort of a community hub."[6]. This Tumblr asked fans to post "selfies and/or a picture of anything related to carry on, with whatever information [they] wanted to share about [themselves] then."[7]. Other Tumblrs used to disseminate works more widely included SnowBaz Fanfiction Library (2016-2019), which aimed to create masterlists of certain tropes, and later Carry On Find-a-Fic (Jan 2020-onwards). Before 2016 a lot of fics were reputedly posted to Tumblr as opposed to AO3, so a lot of fics that were popular aren't on AO3 and are now difficult to locate. There were also several ask blogs. Fan artist Milo states "One of the ways we had a sense of community was all the bizarre ask blogs. There was also a lot of crack fics and posts that people came out with, that we all had a laugh about."

Carry On Countdown (COC, more below) began in 2016 and was also extremely influential in building the fandom. It also brought a wave of new people to the fandom because a lot of content was made.

Probably because canon text is a queer Young Adult (YA) book, a significant proportion of the fandom is under 18. Particularly since 2020, older members of the fandom have actively sought to make inclusive spaces for younger fans while ensuring that explicit works are kept in adult-only spaces.

Art of Simon and Agatha by writer and artist knitbelove, created for the Art Book, 2017. knitbelove is one of the few fans from 2016 still active in fandom in 2021.

A large proportion of both younger and older fans appear to have come to Carry On as their first fandom. As new books were being published between 2019 and 2021 (including the Fangirl manga), the fandom has a steady influx of new fans. As of 2021, relatively few of those who made fanworks between 2016 and 2018 are still visible in fandom. The fandom make-up also changed significantly after the publication of Wayward Son (see #Impact of Wayward Son on Fandom and Fanworks). Despite new canon content and regular fannish output, casual engagement (hits, kudos, likes on Tumblr) decreased.

In general, the fandom continues to be small-medium sized, with only a few hundred visible fans interacting with each other. However, there are over 6,000 published works on AO3, and popular fanworks may get several thousand notes/hits.

Some fans likely to be widely considered BNFs, due not only to the popularity of the work they produce but also the high-level of interaction with other fans, include Venessa Kelley (writer and artist), Basic Banshee (writer), KrisRix (writer and artist), TBazzSnow (writer). All were active in this fandom from 2018 onwards. Popular fics/writers from earlier in the fandom don't seem have the same level of interaction with other fans, due to the lack of community organisation, although likely contenders for early BNFs might incude magicathstewart, thepessimisticasshole, wewerestars, snowdragon23, tyrannosaurusbazgrimmpitch, simonsnoe and (still relatively active in 2021) @sncwbaz and @absolute-nightmare.[8].

Fans have created several digital fanzines, including: Carry On Fanzine (2016), Golden Days (2020), Let It Snow! (2020), Simon Snow Coloring Book (2020). The Carry On Art Book (2017), which aimed to be a piece of art for every 1-3 chapters, seems never to have been published, though some works were produced and re-blogged by the Tumblr account.

Most of the above describes Tumblr/AO3/Discord fandom. Some fans also post fic on Instagram. Such fic is mainly created via images (chat/social media), etc and is highly influenced by Gen Z culture. Sometimes Baz is an exchange student from France. There seems to be relatively little crossover between these fans and those producing fic on AO3. Some popular accounts as of 2021 include:

Events and Fests

Simon and Baz first kiss is in Chapter 61 of Carry On, and happens on Christmas Eve (24th December) - this is sometimes called 'SnowBaz Day'[9]. Fans also produce works celebrating the main character's birthdays, although (apart from Simon's) these have only been known about since December 2019 (see above).

There are several long-running and popular events on Tumblr, including:

  • Carry On Countdown: "Every day of the countdown has it’s own prompt for which people then create fan art/ memes/ write a fic for"[10], running once a year since 2016. It's counting down to the first kiss
  • Carry On Exchange: a gift-exchange including fic, art, playlist, headcanons etc, running since May 2020 with several rounds each year
  • Carry On Big Bang (aka COBB), a big bang fic/art fest, running since August 2018 with several rounds per year

Fans also often participate in Inktober or other one-work-a-day October events.

Some of the earliest event were a celebration of SnowBaz Day (Christmas Eve 2015)-

you know how we celebrated chapter 61 happening in real time on Christmas Eve? everybody made art and wrote fanfiction based around that scene and it was just such an incredible experience to celebrate snowbaz like it was happening at that moment. everyone was freaking out at 3am (even though we had that little mishap where we celebrated a day early) and then we all fell asleep knowing snowbaz was canon.[11]

This was followed by the Leaver's Ball (Saturday, June 25th, 2016), where fans were encouraged to post "fanfiction, fanart, cosplays, playlists or anything else you want related to the Leaver’s ceremony and ball scene in Carry On, as well as the rest of the epilogue" as well as images of themselves dressed for the leavers ball.[12] Show Love With No Remorse by knitbelove was one of the fics produced for this event.

Other fests/exchanges include Carry On Remix (June 2020, mod: Aralias), Carry On Through the Ages (November 2020, mod: BazzyBelle), Snowbaz Sweethearts Exchange (February 2021, mod: flammable-grimm-pitch).

Fanon and Inside Jokes

Dolphin Baz by SubparSelkie[13]

Rebel Rebel, written by Basic Banshee, is such a popular fic that many of the character names and tropes created for that fic find their way into other fanworks. These include but are not limited to:

  • Surnames for characters where these are unknown in canon: the Mage - Llewelyn, Dev - Grimm, Niall - Kelly
  • Names for Baz's siblings - Acantha and Ophelia for the twins, Magnus for the baby (created with the help of TBazzSnow
  • Arguably the popularisation of Deniall as a side-pairing
  • Arguably the semi-popularisation of possible Agatha&Baz friendship

Other fanon/memes:

  • Because the first kiss is in Chapter 61, this number may appear in fanart, fic, usernames etc
  • Penny's hair is purple in eighth year - Rainbow Rowell specifically included mentions of Penny's brown hair in Wayward Son to debunk this fanon, but lots of art and fic produced before (and after this) features it. This might be inspired by her purple ring although Tumblr user @srirachafilledbees believes it dates from one particular post, which may have been about how red and blue make purple. "There had been no mentions on tumblr of Penny having purple hair before that one post, and then directly after it there was a small influx of fan art of that idea, all of which were a direct response to the post. As far as I can tell the current popularity of this headcanon came as a response to those few works of art made in that period."[14]
  • Simon loves baking or cooking after Watford, which may or may not help him with his trauma; and/or is a baker in an AU
  • (Mostly pre-AWTWB/in Normal!AUs) - Simon studies social work at university and/or works as a social worker. Baz is often a teacher, a linguist, or occasionally something in the banking sector.
  • (Generally) post Watford, Baz discovers he can drink blood from a butchers, rather than going out hunting, allowing him to manage his vampirism. May also have been popularised by 'rebel rebel'.
  • Simon and Agatha have an on-again-off-again relationship and are constantly breaking up. (This is unlikely to be true in canon but is useful to get Simon together with Baz.)
  • Baz likes scalding hot showers


Other fanon/memes that can be traced directly to one of the main fandom Discords in 2020:

  • Dolphin Baz / the chest hair debate (Rainbow Rowell was asked on Twitter whether Baz had chest hair and stated that he did - a sad loss for those who believed that he waxed, leading to the creation of a dolphin-like hairless baz. KrisRix wrote this meta before the definitive ruling.)
  • Shep (carnally) loves all monsters
  • MalMage - a joke (?) ship between The Mage and Baz's dad Malcolm

As the majority of fic is SnowBaz, other popular fic tropes can be found on the SnowBaz page as well as in the Wayward Son section of this page.

Impact of Wayward Son on Fandom and Fanworks

Venessa Kelley, one of the fandoms BNFs shared this art in October 2019[15]

Many Carry On fanworks were written before a second book in the series had even been announced. The announcement happened in June 2018 (publication date updated in November 2018) on Rowell's Twitter and included new art by cover artist Kevin Wada depicting Baz in a floral suit (which appeared in a lot of fanart from this time onwards) and Simon[16]

The US cover and summary were released in March 2019[17]. Before this Rowell also released the first line of the book: "Simon Snow is lying on the sofa." This began to influence fanworks before the book publication in a minimal way, as it became clear to fans that Simon's trauma (mentioned at the end of Carry On) would be a major theme for the next book.

Impact on Fanworks

Meme made by Sharkmartini September 2019[18]

Fanworks changed significantly following the release of Wayward Son (WS) in September 2019, most notably:

  • Micah's surname was revealed, but he broke up with Penny. They had previously been written together as a side-ship in almost all SnowBaz fics. Many writers assumed Simon had been correct that Penny would move to America to live with Micah. This was disproved by WS.
  • Shepard (last name unknown) was introduced as a character. It's not confirmed whether he and Penny are romantically interested in each other in the book, though many fans have concluded they will and write them together, again usually as a side-ship in SnowBaz.
  • Simon's depression and continuing trauma is a major plot point/theme of WS. At the end of Carry On, he says that he's started therapy and many fans had concluded he would get better as a result, whereas in fact he stopped going to therapy and regressed. Fans concluded he had a touch-aversion that affected his ability to have sex with Baz. Before WS, there had been a whole genre of relatively fluffy first time fics set after Watford - this slowed down, being replaced by fics where Simon got over trauma. (More information on the SnowBaz page.)
  • Similarly, Simon considers breaking up with Baz in WS, leading some post-WS fics where they either have broken up (extremely rare before WS) and now need to get back together, or fics where they have to deal with this possibility. There are still close to 0 fics where Simon and Baz do break up and don't get back together.
  • Fans had assumed that Agatha would be happy in America and would largely live the rest of her life without the rest of the CO gang. After WS, she is usually shown returning to the fold in some way.
  • Simon is shown to be able to fly in WS, which is almost unknown in pre-WS fanworks. A dragon mistakes (?) him for a dragon kitten and the idea of him actually being a dragon is a relatively popular fan theory as of January 2021 and sometimes appears in post-WS fanworks.

Fics set at Watford remained relatively unchanged as remarkably little new information was given about this period of time in WS.

(More examples on the SnowBaz page.)

Impact on Fandom

In addition to works that were being produced changing, the fandom also changed in relatively subtle ways. Up until Wayward Son's release, the fandom had had (essentially) a single book, which all fans had relatively similar views on i.e. they liked it enough to join the fandom, all shipped SnowBaz, etc. Wayward Son was different than what most fans had expected, in that it answered few of the questions Carry On had raised, and dealt heavily with Simon's trauma and showed his relationship with Baz in a less favourable light than had been hoped for.

This caused the first discord within the fandom, as some fans really liked the book while others didn't. However, even then, discussions remained largely civil. Many found the theme of depression resonated strongly with them, although whether they liked or disliked this varied.

Some fans withdrew from the fandom as a result; others became aware of the fandom for the first time and joined the fandom.

New fan creators joined and fannish creative output remained high, perhaps even higher than before Wayward Son - but casual engagement with fics from (for example) readers who weren't writers seemed to drop off, reaching a particular low just before the launch of Any Way the Wind Blows in 2021. Some key figures from the fandom, most notably writer Basic Banshee, also withdrew from the fandom. Some possible explanations for this change include loss of interest after Wayward Son, changes in personal life due to the pandemic, several relatively typical fandom dramas (centred around fan age; the age of characters in explicit fics; and some fans feeling left out), and perhaps the departure of BNFs like Ban whose work had drawn people to this fandom.

Impact of Any Way the Wind Blows on Fandom and Fanworks

The third instalment in the series was published in July 2021. Before publication, fanartists had re-drawn the cover, and fans had written their own continuations of the series based on officially revealed information, particularly the idea that the characters would be dealing with "trouble at Watford" and Simon and Baz might break up.

New information revealed in AWTWB about the characters includes:

  • Shepard's surname is now canonically 'Love', and his the origin of his curse was revealed
  • Shepard/Penny is now canon, as is the idea of Shepard having slept with a lot of magical creatures ("he mostly dates girls")
  • The names of Baz's siblings were revealed
  • Agatha had previously been written as aro/ace in many fics, as a result of some lines in Wayward Son where she thinks about being broken and wanting to want to kiss Ginger. This characterisation was so pervasive that many fans didn't even tag it when posting, as it was just accepted as canon characterisation. In AWTWB, Agatha fell in love with new character, Niamh. She does not label herself a lesbian, however.
  • The touch aversion that fans had been writing for Simon since Wayward Son was strongly disproved. Instead, Simon's inability to have sex with Baz previously was explained by him getting overwhelmed by how much he wanted him.
  • Simon and Baz canonically had sex in AWTWB and their first time is shown. Baz asks Simon to be 'gentle' with him.
  • Fiona's characterisation also shifted subtly, as many of the cooler things about her were shown to be Baz's slightly unreliable narration. In AWTWB we learned she wasn't considered a good vampire hunter and her flat was full of rats. She also has a canonical relationship with Nicodemus Petty.
  • Baz's friend Dev (but not Niall) has proper dialogue for the first time and while his surname wasn't confirmed, it was confirmed he was Baz's cousin on the Pitch side, not the Grimm. Fans had created a wide range of personalities for this character in fic. In AWTWB he was shown to be a 'bit of a ponce' who teased Baz about being gay, kept objectifying women, but still wanted to go to the pub

In the first month after publication of AWTWB, the biggest change to fanworks was an increase in explicit fic. Such fic was usually canon-compliant and set after AWTWB, exploring the new dynamic of Simon being extremely proactive and Baz wanting to be treated gently (or not). Several of these fics were written by new writers who had been attracted to the fandom by this dynamic.

Example Fanworks

Art

Popular subjects for fanart include key shippy scenes from Carry On, particularly Chapter 61 (first kiss), Chapter 48 (where they share magic and see stars), scenes in Pitch Manor over Christmas, and the Leavers Ball (epilogue).

Other popular imagery includes Baz in the floral suit from Wayward Son, Simon and Baz standing together or kissing, Simon with wings and tail, Simon holding the Sword of Mage's and/or wearing his cross, Baz with his mother's scarf from Wayward Son, Simon lying on the sofa from Wayward Son (sometimes with Baz and Penny). In 2020, several artists re-drew one or more of the book covers in response to a prompt by SubparSelkie.

Generally, Carry On fandom is strongly against re-posting art without creator permission. The artists shown in the gallery have given their permission for their work to be replicated on Fanlore. A lot of art in the fandom is SnowBaz, but this is shown in the gallery in that page, including several examples of Chapter 61 art.

  • One of Venessa Kelley's oldest Carry On pieces, showing Penny with purple hair[19]

    One of Venessa Kelley's oldest Carry On pieces, showing Penny with purple hair[19]

  • Baz in Wayward Son by penpanoply, 2019. Part of a set of the major characters[20]

    Baz in Wayward Son by penpanoply, 2019. Part of a set of the major characters[20]

  • Lettering on the Watford gates by penpanoply, 2019<ref>Tumblr, Apr 27th, 2019

    Lettering on the Watford gates by penpanoply, 2019<ref>Tumblr, Apr 27th, 2019

  • cynopoe art of Baz after the family dog disappeared, 2020[21]

    cynopoe art of Baz after the family dog disappeared, 2020[21]

  • Cynopoe art of MalMage, 2020[22]

    Cynopoe art of MalMage, 2020[22]

  • I Do by banjjakbanjjak for Carry On Countdown, 2020[23]

    I Do by banjjakbanjjak for Carry On Countdown, 2020[23]

  • 5 year anniversary post by KrisRix, 2020[24]

    5 year anniversary post by KrisRix, 2020[24]

  • Simon Snow by KrisRix, 2020[25]

    Simon Snow by KrisRix, 2020[25]

  • Baz Pitch in sunflower vest by hufflepunky, 2020[26]

    Baz Pitch in sunflower vest by hufflepunky, 2020[26]

  • Baz by super-duper-twelve, 2020[27]

    Baz by super-duper-twelve, 2020[27]

  • Page 4 of a comic written and illustrated by Venessa Kelley for Golden Days, 2020[28]

    Page 4 of a comic written and illustrated by Venessa Kelley for Golden Days, 2020[28]

  • Simon and Blue from Wayward Son, by Venessa Kelley, 2020[29]

    Simon and Blue from Wayward Son, by Venessa Kelley, 2020[29]

  • Medieval 'illuminated manuscript' for Carry On Through the Ages, by palimpsessed, 2020[30]

    Medieval 'illuminated manuscript' for Carry On Through the Ages, by palimpsessed, 2020[30]

  • Baz by laeveleve, 2020[31]

    Baz by laeveleve, 2020[31]

  • Fiona by laeveleve, 202[32]

    Fiona by laeveleve, 202[32]

  • Agatha with short hair by hufflepunky, 2021[33]

    Agatha with short hair by hufflepunky, 2021[33]

  • Penny in Wayward Son by Parijg, 2019[34]

    Penny in Wayward Son by Parijg, 2019[34]

The following art is by artists who haven't agreed to be on Fanlore/may have left the fandom by 2020. It was probably reblogged by Rainbow Rowell on Tumblr:

Fic

As of October 2021 on AO3:

  • Most hits: Rebel Rebel by Basic Banshee (SnowBaz, 183k, Teen) - the most popular and influential fic writer in the fandom
  • Most kudos: network connectivity problems, also by Basic Banshee (Snowbaz, 35k, text fic/Normal AU). This fic finally eclipsed its nearest rival in kudos after the launch of AWTWB in July 2021: Once Upon a Time by followsrabbit (SnowBaz, 2.5k, not rated)
  • Oldest fic based on Carry On rather than Fangirl: Without A Doubt by Uglysweater (SnowBaz, 1.5k, Mature) - 2015

More than 50% of Carry On fic posted to AO3 is under 2k words, with only 12% being over 10k. The most kudosed fics in the fandom are generally from 2019 or earlier.[35]

As most Carry On fic is SnowBaz, more examples are available on that page.

Meta

Most meta is posted, shared and added to (often by many people) on Tumblr.

Wayward Son comes out September 2019

Podfic

There is relatively little podfic, although in 2020-2021 one of the Discord servers regularly met in the voice channel for scheduled readalongs. xivz has produced most of the fandom's actual podfic since 2020, mostly of explicit fics.

Carry On fics filtered with the tag 'Podfic' on AO3.

Podcasts

Other

Zines

Resources

References

  1. ^ Carry On section of Rainbow Rowell's website [1]
  2. ^ Not created by the owner of this Google doc - currently unattributed
  3. ^ palimpsessed Tumblr, Apr 17th, 2020
  4. ^ Tumblr, reblogged and commented by Rainbow Rowell
  5. ^ Rainbow Rowell's Instagram, OCTOBER 16, 2019
  6. ^ knitbelove comment in Discord, January 2021
  7. ^ #snowflakefaces on Tumblr, 24 November 2015
  8. ^ Fanart Milo in conversation with Aralias on Tumblr messenger, 2021
  9. ^ Rainbow Rowell wishing her Tumblr followers a Happy SnowBaz Day 2020
  10. ^ Carryon Countdown Tumblr about page
  11. ^ snowbazrosebuds Tumblr, 2016
  12. ^ Leavers-Ball Tumblr, May 8th, 2016
  13. ^ Dolphin Baz on SubparSelkie's Tumblr
  14. ^ Private conversation on Tumblr between srirachafilledbees and Aralias
  15. ^ vkelleyart Tumblr, Oct 26th, 2019
  16. ^ Rainbow Rowell's Twitter, Nov 7, 2018 - updated publication date.
  17. ^ Rainbow Rowell's Twitter, Mar 15, 2019
  18. ^ Sharkmartini's Tumblr, Sep 30th, 2019
  19. ^ Tumblr, Sep 20th, 2018
  20. ^ Tumblr, Dec 31st, 2019
  21. ^ cynopoe Tumblr, Sep 15th, 2020
  22. ^ cynopoe Tumblr, Oct 11th, 2020
  23. ^ banjjakbanjjak Tumblr, Dec 05, 2020
  24. ^ Tumblr, Sept 8th, 2020
  25. ^ Tumblr, Mar 5th, 2020
  26. ^ Tumblr, MARCH 2ND, 2020
  27. ^ Tumblr, 20 Oct, 2020
  28. ^ Wedding Letters on Tumblr, by Venessa Kelley, posted on Tumblr Jul 24th, 2020
  29. ^ Tumblr, Jan 11th, 2020
  30. ^ Tumblr, Nov 3rd, 2020
  31. ^ laeveleve on Instagram, laeve-leve on Tumblr, DECEMBER 11, 2020
  32. ^ laeveleve on Instagram, laeve-leve on Tumblr, NOVEMBER 9, 2020
  33. ^ hufflepunky Tumblr, JANUARY 21ST, 2021
  34. ^ parijpg Tumblr, Dec 4th, 2019
  35. ^ Some ‘interesting’ Carry On stats from AO3 - fic length, June 2021
  36. ^ Posted to YouTube Oct 10, 2015, accessed May 4, 2016.
  37. ^ Posted to YouTube Oct 10, 2015, accessed May 20, 2016.
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