There’s been a lot of talk recently about fanfiction. Some
authors have been saying they don’t approve of it, and why their work is off
limits. I respect their opinions, but honestly some of the comments are just a
little nasty, and seem to misunderstand the point of fanfiction.
My college roommate and I actually bonded over fanfiction.
We had been randomly assigned, and didn’t have much contact before coming to
college. Just a few emails that managed to completely freak her out, poor
thing, when I mentioned my bird alarm clock. For my part, I had initially
thought I’d been assigned a guy which had thrown me in a tizzy. This is what
happens when you skim emails. I caught the name “Patrick” without noticing that
“Hall” right next to it.
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| Roomie & me trying on funny hats |
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We were pretty typical random roommates the first week. We
tried to hang out sometimes but often left to do our own thing. In the room, we
were incredibly polite to each other. Although we had some similar interests,
we didn’t exactly click initially. There was just too much awareness that we
were stuck in a room together and didn’t really know the other person. What was
appropriate to share? What would super offend the other? It wasn’t until my
roommate came back in earlier than expected one day and caught me reading
fanfiction that our barriers came down. Here she loved fanfiction too! It was a
guilty pleasure we shared, and from there we found more and more shared
interests and habits, until we became inseparable and people started to
referring to us as a combo package instead of separate individuals.
I’m more of what one calls a fanfiction lurker. I read TONS
of it. Not constantly. I definitely go through cycles, but when I’m getting my
fanfiction fix I’ll read for hours straight. To me, fanfiction is the ultimate
expression of fan devotion in writing. It shows that somebody loves the world
and characters you’ve created so much, that they want more of them. They want a
chance to play in the world. If it’s a series that’s over, they want a chance
to envision what comes next for the characters.
Now some of the comments about fanfiction have implicated
that fanfiction authors don’t have enough creativity to write their own
material, or that it’s a waste of their time to devote so much effort to working
with someone else’s creations.
Again, I disagree. Many great fanfiction authors write their own stories as
well, and some are working on novels. And sure, some stories are just as long,
if not longer, than a typical book. But fanfiction gives authors the
opportunity to practice their craft and have fun with it. Writing should be
fun. It also is absolutely an art that must be practiced in order for one to
excel. If you’re trying to write frequently, and you have a fandom you love,
why not combine those things and write new adventures for your favorite
characters? It’s a great exercise.
Writing (good) fanfiction is surprisingly tough. You have to
stay true to characters that your audience already knows, but you don’t want to
fall in the trap of using just a few main traits to define them. You need to
think of new ways to describe places, characters, and situations without using
the exact same verbiage of the original creator, or the tons of other fanfic
authors. It’s like being given a prompt in a writing class. While you’re
following certain conventions, it’s up to you to come up with something unique
for your story. Unlike a class though, you have so many more people working
with the same prompt. How do you represent the fandom you love so much, without
being cliché and writing the same thing as everyone else?
Within any fandom you’ll find certain themes that have been
done to death. There are also some themes that pop up across genres that have
created a language used for the fanfiction world. Familiar words like lemons
take on whole new connotations, while new terms like mary sue and mpreg are
created.
There are also trends in the writing style of fanfiction.
When I first started reading it, way back around 2000, most fanfiction was written
in a style with characters performing *actions* or lines and activities
described in a play type format. There was a lot of interaction from the author
as well. It was fairly frequent to see the author inserted at some point in the
story, describing their control over the characters. At that point in time
fanfiction was more lighthearted. It allowed people to write and read, while
still making fun of itself.
Now fanfiction is both more serious, and less precise. Good
fanfiction has evolved into real stories. The author is more removed from the
process, although there is still a tendency to have author notes at the
beginning or end. Unfortunately, while fanfiction now takes itself more
seriously, there has also been an influx of authors with less writing skills. A
whole new generation thinks it’s perfectly acceptable to write stories in txt
talk or lack even basic punctuation.
The tone of responses has changed as well. Before,
fanfiction was not widely known. At this point, it seems like almost everyone
has heard of fanfiction, and unfortunately, they are only acquainted with the
bad examples. Thus great fanfic writers start to write less and less as they
get few constructive comments and far more flames.
I happen to write fanfiction. Not very often, to be
sure. Nothing extraordinary. But I find it very calming. When I write
fanfiction for some reason I tend to write fluffy, silly pieces. I don’t do
that in my own writing. My stories tend to be far more angsty. Fanfiction
provides me with a way to write the type of stories that for whatever reason I
can’t write with my own characters.
Additionally, I often find myself loving the side characters
of a story, movie, or series. Fanfiction lets me get to further explore and get
to know characters that get very little screen time. It lets me rationalize
their choices and actions, and sometimes reflect on my own life as I often
write about characters I identify with. Fanfiction, like any type of writing,
is basically another form of therapy.
So before you judge the world of fanfiction, let me ask you,
have you ever discussed a movie, book, or tv series? Have you ever spoken to
someone about a fandom you love, analyzing plot or motives? Complained that you
should have seen more of Snape’s back-story, that Anakin turned evil too
quickly, or that X-Men 3… well basically ruined everything about the series? Then
you’ve started on the path to fanfiction. The only difference with fanfiction
is that the authors have taken the time to write out their own interpretation
instead of just discussing it.
Someday if I’m a famous author, it’s totally cool to write
fanfiction about my world. My momma taught me young that imitation is the
highest form of flattery.
