Fanfiction isn’t bad

There is a stigma around fan fiction and fan fiction writers that has bothered me for some time. I was born in 2000 and grew up reading fanfic from my favourite fandoms, I was in awe of these people who could write such detailed stories some over 20 or 30 chapters. And most were only young adults or kids. This helped inspire me, I loved writing for a young age and would bring in my short stories for my primary teachers to read. I’m grateful they encouraged me so much despite my trouble with handwriting/spelling and getting my words out of my head and onto paper.

In secondary school I realised that not everyone liked fanfic, some found it weird and even cringey. Which I just didn’t understand, why would it be bad to be inspired by someone's work and create your own work biased on it! To me that’s the highest amount of praise someone could get.

As I’ve gotten older I’ve understood more about people’s opinion and views on fanfic. Some think it’s just taking another character's work and re-writing them to fit their own wants or ideas. So find it unoriginal. Some see it as stealing someone’s content and some find it creative.

I wanted to give a perspective on fanfic from someone who has been immersed in fandoms and creative writing since a child. I could go on a whole over talk about my fascination with fandoms and the culture but for now I’ll just concentrate on fanfiction.

Fanfic to me is a way of showing appreciation for a show/book etc, actively engaging with the work. It is not uninspired or unoriginal and to think that is doing a massive disservice to the writers and fans of the show/book.

For fanfiction writers the foundations of the world have already been made, the characters and rules of the universe are there. This gives the writer a safety net of sorts and allows the writer to experiment with the characters and writing. Fanfic allows young or new writers to practice. You can often tell when a writer is new or it’s the first time writing for that fandom however this isn’t a bad thing. We learn to write English or whatever your native language is over time, we got to school to understand sentence structure and form. If we looked back at our writing when we were 6 it would be very different to our writing style now.

Also many writers are self aware enough to understand when their writing isn’t as accurate to the original character ( calling it OOC ) or if the situation is unrealistic, but wanting to have fun and experiment with writing it anyway.

Another element that I find is unique to fanfic and fandoms is the community response. Published mainstream works are often reviewed by critics and the public with a sense of distance, the author being separated for the public. But in fandom there is a want and need to get feedback and to encourage others who are creating this content. Everyone is equal, all fans of the same work. Everyone wants to keep the fandom alive and thriving with new and different content. I’ve had more constructive feedback phrased in positive and encouraging ways when writing fanfiction than when writing my own original stories for mainstream audiences.

There is also room for head cannons, original au, fanfic tropes etc. Which is a whole other subject but overall is a fun way to play with an established fandom.

To wrap this up, fanfiction does have a valuable and significant role in fandom, it has inspired so many young people to write. If you have any opinions or want to share your own stories about writing fanfic please do!