"anyway i went downstairs feeling all sad and depressed as usual. i did sum advanced biology work. i was turning a bloody pentagram into a black guitar. suddenly the guitar turned to draco!"
(note: my immortal contains a lot of suicidal tendencies and mature language. reader discretion is advised.)
ok i can feel your skepticism from the space-time rift between us. and i allow it. when you think of fanfiction, your first instinct might be a teenager's fantasy, or a poorly-doodled comic in a composition notebook, or even fifty shades of grey, the staggering commercial success that originated as a twilight fanfiction. there's also the blurry line of legality with fanfiction - when can you profit from your creative interpretation of an ip, should you ever monetize fanfiction, is the mere existence of fanfiction immoral or even illegal, etc. try turning in the most beautiful, eloquent fanfiction you could've ever written to a creative writing workshop, and you'll get some wrinkled noses and disapproving frowns, for sure.
but fanfiction has a vibrant, thriving, and talented community that unites readers across the globe. sites like fanfiction.net, wattpad, ao3, and even tumblr boast fanfictions with tens of thousands of hits (views) each. topics range from marvel to twilight to anime, all the way to let's players' minecraft servers. the uniting factors in all fanfictions are a genuine appreciation for the source material, and the creativity of the writers. when you think of it this way, fanfiction becomes less juvenile and becomes simply passionate.
(it's also interesting to consider the vitriol surrounding fanfiction when a 2014 examination of fanfiction.net's reader base determined it was predominantly female. see also this 2017 study of how gender stereotypes make society view women and their interests. it's fascinating stuff and i hope it makes you reconsider any grievances you have with topics like romance and fanfiction. ok moving on)
fanfiction isn't only fun to read; it's so much fun to write, too. a couple weekends ago, while sitting on the couch and enjoying the morning, i wrote a thirteen-chapter structure for a mystery novel in the sailor moon universe. it took, like, two hours at most. i also have five or six fire emblem fanfictions in my storage, one that's broken a hundred pages.
"in [fanfiction] communities, writers of all ages and skills levels—from adolescents still refining their grammar to professional adult authors...are learning and teaching others how to write, and write well."
fanfiction allows writers - especially new writers - to explore their creativity without being exceptionally demanding.
when you're a new writer, it can be mentally and creatively daunting to pull a character out of thin air, give them a physical description, a backstory, goals and dreams, flaws, challenges, a distinct voice...the list goes on. not to mention worldbuilding and story structure. this is where fanfiction can essentially train a writer. not sure what quirks to give a character? good news - comic writers have done the legwork for you with more spidermen than you could ever keep track of. struggling with worldbuilding? there are eight or nine pokemon regions already fully fleshed out. not sure how to build a romance between your characters? nicholas sparks has a whole backlog of romances to reference.
with fanfiction, your weak areas - or the areas you have no experience in - are supplemented by the existing work, allowing you to continue writing without beating yourself up or getting frustrated with your lack of progress.
it's not only new writers who benefit from fanfiction.
as colleen mitchell says, "being a writer is rewarding, and challenging, but being a fanfiction author is all about the fun."
how many jokes online have you seen about the tortured writer: the one who loves having written, but hates writing? this reluctance towards writing, in my experience, comes from lofty expectations, perfectionism, and outside pressure to be successful. when i get passionate about a draft, this passion can be the thing that kills it - when it doesn't pan out, or when i struggle connecting two chapters together, or i simply keep rereading previous lines, the draft isn't going to progress, and neither am i as a writer. the second i ascribe potential commercial value to a draft, its viability decreases significantly.
this is where fanfiction comes in. unless you delve into the morally gray area where you swap out names, locations, and identifiable remnants of the original thing you're making fanfiction of, you have little to no opportunity to make money from your work. and, unfortunately, in a capitalistic society, money is where value lies. so why make fanfiction at all?
because it's fun, damn it!
taking a break from your next great american novel and escaping to a world of dragonball z or one punch man or even an alternate universe where the characters of the fault in our stars are baristas can revitalize your work in a way you'd never expect. removing all the external pressure from your writing allows you to craft away, pursue your creativity alone, and not even think about fame or fortune. it's very freeing to make a labor of love like this. it reminds you why you started writing in the first place.
"Writing fanfiction means you like a fandom or universe enough to invest your time into writing down what you wish you could have seen happen in canon..."
the bottom line
if i taught a creative writing class, one of my first assignments would be to write a story based on an existing work. much like artists use references, the writer shouldn't feel bound to creating original characters all the time. there's absolutely nothing wrong with resting creative muscles by relying on work that's already been created. and who knows: maybe, if you're dissatisfied with the way your favorite tv show ended, you can write your own version and count it as practice for your own work
whether you enjoy fanfictions with slow-burn romances, alternate universes, or even something not safe for work, you'll find your own writing rejuvenated and your faith in the practice improved after taking a step back and letting yourself enjoy what's already been made.
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