Often seen as crude or childish and wish fulfillment. Today I will come to its defense and show you all why fanfiction is more than just my escape from reality. As someone who has met some amazing people through fanfiction and is actually in process of writing my own, fanfiction is something I truly hold dear.
My favorite metaphor explaining fanfiction will always be the one comparing it to a sandbox or toy box. The original source built the sandbox and made the toys, but they left it all when they deemed their stories as finished. Others like me will take the toys and make our own stories to expand and explore the world and characters we love or share the stories with others so we can watch new tales unfold together. It brings people together sharing and embracing something they love. We never aimed to steal the spotlight from the source or even discourage one from reading the original, if you think about it, we’re promoting it. It’s because we love the world the original creators created, fell in love with their characters that we want more, more, more.
To those that say fanfiction isn’t creative I would like to open your eyes to the possibilities. Without the same limitations as published writers, fanfics can explore and expand on ideas they can’t or won’t pursue. In this front, you can even argue that fanfiction has potential to be more creative than original fiction. Because of the limited representation in present in media, fanfiction tends to make up for the slack by shedding light on the underrepresented demographics. Fan fiction could be for some people the only place they can see themselves represented. If you see a shred of something not confirmed in a character you can bet that someone has had it explored.
Some avoid fanfiction because they’re under the impression that all fan fiction is poorly written, and for that I feel truly sorry. Perhaps your only experience with fan fiction was on a website call Wattpad. I have personally used Wattpad and I can personally attest to the great original fiction you can find on the plat form, the fan fiction however leaves much to be desired. That is not to say that there is no good quality fan fiction on Wattpad, but it is considerably more difficult to find them. If you truly want to give fanfiction a try, I would suggest Archive of Our Own, it is a site made by, run by and for fans like me. It’s a better alternative to Wattpad or I would say Fanfiction.net because I find it to have a comparably easier to navigate filter system. On top of an easy to navigate site, it also has a wide userbase so I doubt it will be hard to find something that’ll interest you.
Additionally, though I said and proved it’s far more, fanfiction to me personally serves as a nice distraction to life as well as aiding me in processing my thoughts and emotions. The fic I mentioned earlier that I’m working on, I named it Twice Departed, is my exploration of the topic of grief. Due to personal reasons, I found myself in a situation where I’m conflicted on how I should feel, Twice Departed is my way of figuring things out. I hope to share it with the world one day as many others have shared their work when that time comes, I would love to hear some of your opinions about it. Until then, I will keep on writing, catch you on the flip side!
References:
Burns, E., & Webber, C. (2009). When Harry Met Bella. School Library Journal, (Vol. 55 Issue 8), p26-29. Retrieved from https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=when-harry-met-bella-fanfiction-is-all-the-rage-but-is-it-plagiarism-or-the-perfect-thing-to-encourage-young-writers
Schaffner, B. (2009). In Defense of Fanfiction. Horn Book Magazine, (Vol. 85 Issue 6), p613-618. Retrieved from https://www.hbook.com/?detailStory=in-defense-of-fanfiction
Reagan, M. (2018). Going Down with the (Relation)Ship. Booklist, (Vol. 115 Issue 2), p64.