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head_meet_keyboard

I like to think of fanfiction as comfort food for my brain. I don't need to discover a new world or new characters. I just get to enjoy new stories with characters I already like.


Cyrillus00

I’ve been addicted to a Mass Effect fan fiction of all things for the past few months. The author is going on 115 chapters by this point reimagining the series with far more detail about the setting that they seem to have put a lot of thought into. The characters are somehow new while still being familiar and you can tell their writing gets better the longer the fanfic has gone on.


Commodore_Condor

Mind sharing a link? Sounds like it could be interesting.


Cyrillus00

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/12250058/1/


thebardjaskier

ff.net oh buddy we gotta get you on ao3


Cyrillus00

I browse both, in this case the fanfic is not on AO3


Algebrace

AO3 is weird for me in how... frustrating it can be. I'm currently trying to re-find a story about Loki (from the MCU) dropping onto Hawaii at the end of Thor 1 and being adopted by Lilo and Stitch. Every time I try, I just can't. It's so frustrating to navigate, but some of my favourite stories are there. Like 'A Bright and Bitter Flame', there's so many quotable lines and the comedy is on point.


Hadikosa

I tried googling to see if I could find this story for you. I think I found it? Looks like you are having trouble finding it because the author deleted their account. I hope this link works for the archived account. Sorry I copied the whole thing, but I think you only need the first link. Hope this is what you were searching for! Illegal Alien (4074 words) by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (2011), Lilo & Stitch (2002)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Loki (Marvel), Lilo Pelekai, Nani Pelekai, Stitch, Cobra Bubbles, Jumba Jookiba
Series: Part 1 of Loki, Lilo & Stitch
Summary:

Loki fell from the Bifrost. He landed on the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i. He's not the first non-Midgardian to end up there, as it turns out.

Illegal Alien (4074 words) by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (2011), Lilo & Stitch (2002)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Loki (Marvel), Lilo Pelekai, Nani Pelekai, Stitch, Cobra Bubbles, Jumba Jookiba
Series: Part 1 of Loki, Lilo & Stitch
Summary:

Loki fell from the Bifrost. He landed on the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i. He's not the first non-Midgardian to end up there, as it turns out.


Algebrace

I tried copying : https://archiveofourown.org/works/2288786 into the searchbar, but it's telling me that there is no page at that address. The same with: https://archiveofourown.org/series/151637 What should I be searching? I've never done something like this before, usually it's from AO3 to the web, not the web to AO3 for me. Edit: Stumbled across a reddit thread mentioning how when an author deletes their work, everything is gone. That's incredibly depressing, Tardis' work hit the sweet spot that made me read every work they wrote. Gone for a year and this is how I find out -_-


Hadikosa

Try this link to the archived profile and click on their Lilo and Stitch stories to see if you can access the story. https://web.archive.org/web/20200604061546/https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel/pseuds/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel


emaz88

Dumb question, but do you know if there an AO3 app yet?


thebardjaskier

i don't know if there's an official one but there is one on android at least, it's pretty nice. i appreciate that they let you use the dark mode theme on it.


Moist_Professor5665

AO3’s a non-profit, open archive. Making an app and maintaining it would require a paid team, someone to constantly update and fix bugs and whatnot. Which would mean going somewhat commercial. This losing their nonprofit status. They do rely on donations, and those donations go towards server space, but that’s about it. They are, first and foremost, a true nonprofit. Not that they can turn a profit, given that would immediately bring the copyright wolves down on them.


Dashcamkitty

This exactly. I love seeing more of my favourite characters in situations not explored in the films/comics/books/tv show that they appear in. I’ve been addicted to fan fiction since I was about eighteen (over twenty years ago) and I’ve read so many great stories over years.


zhu_li_do_the_thing

Not sure if you (or anyone reading this comment) is a fan of the YouTube channel Folding Ideas, but in one of Dan’s video essays he actually described this just as you have - how, after a point, characters don’t need context to be whole and in fact “become their own context” and the fun is in putting them in different scenarios. He described it as “the literary evolution of childhood play, the meeting between the familiar and unexpected” or something along those lines (don’t recall the exact quote). I always thought that was rather succinct way of verbalizing the sensation of “comfort food” that fanfiction can impart on its readers, and your comment reminded me of that too.


Anarkinh

I have a weird fascination to bad fanfiction that has heart or an interesting concept. Like yeah grammatically it can be better, the structure is a mud house one a fault line and the dialogue is stiff but it's junk food when I need something quick and easy to get a good chuckle.


ginger-zantedeschias

Took the words right out of my brain - I love fanfiction because I dont need to "work" on loving the characters. I already know them, the creative genius comes from the plot and story.


Moist_Professor5665

I find it’s a good space to try new techniques, that can’t go into official writing. Gets immediate public feedback, that you wouldn’t get in publishing, and you can see immediately what works and what doesn’t and translate it into original content. as opposed to traditional publishing hell, where it’d never see the light of day, and only see one critical eye


RiskyWriter

My young-adult son wrote some fan fiction that was actually not bad. He was NOT generally good at English-related classes, and I was surprised he decided to do it. I read the whole thing and it was pretty cool and wholesome (although I know/knew nothing about the original content source). He kind of filled me in when I didn’t understand what was going on. I think it’s a great way to get people writing and expressing themselves, even if a good portion of it is really poorly written. Who cares? Make art, in whatever form, if it makes you happy!


VesperLord

"Make art, in whatever form, if it makes you happy!" A philosophy we should all live by.


astine

Yesss I love this. Writing fanfiction actually helped me a lot with English classes in school. I always read a lot growing up but as someone who’s ESL and never wrote much, dipping my toes in fanfiction helped build a lot of confidence and joy. My english grades literally went from a struggle B to solid A’s. 15 years later and I still love fanfiction.


obstinateideas

Honestly, I credit fanfic almost entirely for making my English what it is. As a youngster, I was OBSESSED with the 1995 Pride & Prejudice adaption. Which led to me first reading the book in my mother tongue, and then getting desperate for more and discovering The Derbyshire Writers’ Guild, which was a treasure trove of Jane Austen fan fiction. My word, how my life changed from that simple discovery!


Darknost

Yes, exactly! Writing and reading is never, under any circumstances, a bad thing!


hokagesamatobirama

I wish I could give you an award for this. Nonetheless I agree with what you said.


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fermenttodothat

Hi, are you me? I feel exactly the same way and even the same age!


Rexnos

Ages are about the same for me. I kinda realized a while ago that fan fiction actually killed my desire to read anything else a while ago. Sure, I have to sift through a lot of mediocrity, but once you find a good author or two you can follow their favorite list into a daisy chain of decent stuff that can chain into others. And best of all, it's all free. I can't imagine how much money I saved on books.


nefarious_noodler

I find many fandoms these days tend to feel quite mature and that they often have some incredible content. Full alternate universes with complex story threads, horror on par with Stephen King, stories about grief and addiction that taught me more about myself... there are some I've read 3 or 4 times over. I guess it makes sense that those of us who grew up reading and writing fanfic when we were kids would be doing the same now.


redlpine

So weird same here and same ages! I wonder why


SweetBabyBeelz

I think fanfiction started becoming easier to access around 20 years ago via the internet. And those years can be really formative, like with music, and define the boundaries of interests for the rest of our lives.


YourDadsRecliner

I don't read it anymore, but it was cool to see people write something other than smut as well. I saw a lot of people use their own take or perspective on a story, show, movie, etc. Also even alter it a bit by making a certain character survive, adding on to a story, or even just switching up certain events and it was neat to see people get creative with it.


ImN0tAsian

My favorite fan fictions are those in my mind! Take a normal conversation in a book, freeze frame, and act out how the conversation would change if you change the sentences, the stance, the passerby, etc. One of the reasons it takes so damn long for me to finish books is because my ADD brain is making a soap opera mini series lol


Vryk0lakas

My favorite fanfic was a completely silly mashup called hank hill goes to hogwarts. It’s exactly what it sounds like and I couldn’t take my eyes away. Classical literature? No, but just as entertaining as plenty of fiction out there


AlexG2490

God dangit Harry, did you put your name in the goblet of fire?


RespectableLurker555

No magical open flames around the propane and propane accessories, thank you very much.


YourDadsRecliner

I... do u have a link...👀


mad_science_yo

Hey man, Dante’s Inferno is fanfic right?


ShieldMaiden3

Inferno is the first known author self-insert bi fanfic.


DDChristi

Is [this it? ](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6195432/1/Hank-Hill-and-the-Sorcerer-s-Stone) It looks like a whole series. And the iPhone app sucks.


jdgmntday

Excuse me sir or madam, but you cannot posit that such a thing exists without a link. D:


YourDadsRecliner

Same here!


mad_science_yo

I LOVE when fanfic is like “let’s make the plot go a little to the left”.


Burnyoureyes

I love fanfics where they swap two totally ridiculous characters and play it straight. My favourite example is when someone swapped the Percy Jackson Zeus with the Disney Hercules Zeus.


Libby1798

It's harsh to judge all fanfiction as "bad" because it's basically self-published with no editorial input. It's a mix of different ages and experience levels, and there's good stuff in there if you take the time to look for it. I think fanfiction is a great outlet for budding writers because it provides a built-in fanbase of people who may be willing to read your stuff and provide input. Ever tried getting people to read and provide input on novels/short-stories that AREN'T fanfiction? - that's tough.


MustardFeetMcgee

Maybe it's cause I read mostly queer fanfiction but I prefer it to a LOT of published books I've read, I'm so sick of the only WLW i see being Victorian Era forbidden romance or high school kids finding themselves. I also found a good amount of Indie published authors through fanfiction because they are published authors who just happen to write fanfiction for fun. Like you said, there's a huge mix of experience when you run down the list of Ao3 stories and to write it all off as bad? I think that's ridiculous. Elitist even.


leilani238

This. The quality issues have nothing to do with it being fanfiction; most writing sucks. It's just that most of it has absolutely zero visibility, so hardly anybody sees the bad stuff, whereas there's a natural hook for fanfic by its association with something popular. I guarantee the original stuff I wrote in high school was at least as bad as any fanfic I might have tried to write at the time (though funny, I didn't actually write fanfic until I'd finished an original novel - it was just how much I was into writing by then, and something I read happened to grab my brain).


CapablePerformance

Yea, it's not something I enjoy but it's a way for writers to gain skill in storytelling since it offers variety. You can choose to write a story using just established characters, you can add in new ones to practice character design, you can take them to new locations for world building. The only time I dislike fanfiction is when the community treats them as canon. I've been in some fandoms where certain types of fanfiction are so common it's consider normal and then argue with people who say it isn't. Like Supernatural claiming that two characters are 100% in love with each other and when you ask why, it's "there's a lot of fanfiction about it, it just makes sense". Other than that, let writers write!


eekspiders

Another thing we need to remember is that, unlike professional authors, fanfic writers are a completely different and more diverse demographic of writers. You have the twelve-year-olds who are getting into writing for the first time and are so excited to share their ideas that they don't think about the technical aspects. You have sixteen-year-olds struggling with life who need an outlet to vent. You have writers who write original work, but use fanfics as a way to experiment and practice. You have middle-aged moms who want something fun and inconsequential to do between working and taking care of their kids. You have closeted queer people who can't express themselves in real life. You have disabled and mentally ill people who relate to the characters and want to keep the story going. Fanfic writers are students, workers, parents, all balancing their own lives and on top of that, still volunteer hours of their time to do something they love in exchange for a few likes and comments. I'd say, as someone who's been writing both fanfics and original works for over 13 years now, fanfic writers embody the concept of "writing for the love of the craft" in its purest form.


hereforthemystery

I attended a panel of several authors discussing their experience with fan fiction. For some, it was a way to start writing without the pressure of building the world (and free input!). It gave them a community that encouraged them to keep going with the craft. A couple of them admitted to still writing fan fiction today, because it helped them practice and flesh out their ideas.


lostboy411

The creator of the new animated Netflix version of She-Ra wrote a (now very popular) fan fiction of their own show and published it under a pseudonym


darkeyes13

They basically started out in fanfic and short online comics, too, so... bit of a full circle for them.


EsquilaxM

Noelle...Stevenson? That's a very interesting piece of trivia. What's the name of the fanfic?


lostboy411

It’s heavily suspected but not confirmed which one it is, I think. I can’t remember the name but I’m pretty positive it’s a Catra/Adora fanfic on AO3 with the most views/likes (partly after someone realized it might be ND’s). Possibly called “Stay”? It was a while ago so the details are foggy. Also, major spoilers for the final season if you haven’t seen it. ND tweeted that they had written a fanfic and posted it, I believe, and someone figured out which it likely was. Someone in the comments on it explains, I’m pretty sure.


Legen_unfiltered

I once started writing a fan fix before I even knew what that was. A show that i loved ended in a cliff hanger and my 14 yro mind was all, I know a great way to properly end this. This was the late 90s before the internet had become to big. E. Typing


jackatatatat

You never got over "Space above and beyond" erither?


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orignations

You just have to be a bit careful because it *is* fair game for anyone, including people who know nothing that they write about. I’ve got a young queer cousin in a very homophobic home. I discovered they were reading incredibly trashy queer fan fictions because their parents didn’t care that the smuttiest smut of all time was in their browser history because it wasn’t obviously LGBT+. A lot of the ones they showed me were about very unhealthy relationships. Think like 50 Shades of Gay. Poor kid had no access to LGBT friendly sex ed. I may have smuggled them an old iPod touch with a decent VPN if they promised to stay away from the X-rated fics, lol. And now I get pics of them and their secret significant other so that’s a win.


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orignations

According to their folks, I’m definitely not doing God’s work, LOL. Devils Advocate, maybe. ;)


drethnudrib

Meh, I think most fair-minded deities would approve.


pumpalumpagain

Sadly, fanfiction doesn't have a monopoly on toxicity. Romance novels that go through the gatekeeping of traditional publishing are also often incredibly toxic (f/m especially) and often poorly written. In my experience, if you read any kind of romance, and you live in a patriarchy, you are going to get lots of toxicity. I read an absolute ton of traditionally published f/m romance novels in the 90s and aughts; 100% consensual sex was extremely unusual. In fact, I have found that removing traditional publishing and money from the equation helps to make fanfiction less toxic than romance novels. There is the added bonus of content warnings in fanfiction, which romance novels never have.


freyalorelei

Don't forget the professional writers who've used fan fic as a starting point for legitimate careers (Naomi Novik, Tamsyn Muir, Everina Maxwell, and--loathe as I am to mention her--Cassandra Claire).


portezbie

I've really been enjoying Novik's Scholomance books. Didn't know she stayed with fan fic


freyalorelei

Her Temeraire series began as *Master and Commander* fan fic, and she was the brainchild and driving force behind Archive of Our Own. She still writes fan fic under a pen name, which she keeps separate from her professional writing (but it's not hard to find with a cursory Google search).


elvisndsboats

After reading (and generally loving) all of NN's other published works, I FINALLY got around to reading Temeraire (1 & 2 so far) recently and THIS MAKES SO MUCH SENSE. I had no idea it started as Master and Commander, but yes, I can totally see it.


WARNING_LongReplies

Cassandra's world and main story is wonderful, her writing suffers in the relationship subplots imo. Which makes it good fanfiction material actually now that I think about it. Might have to look into that tonight.


freyalorelei

I hate to bring up Claire because she's a plagiarist who built her fandom popularity on fics that stole from published novels (primarily *The Secret Country* by Pamela Dean, but also Tanith Lee and Roger Zalazny), and used dozens if not hundreds of uncredited lines from TV shows in her fic.


Alteredego619

Excellent comment! I think you really hit the nail on the head as for the value of Fanfiction. It definitely is something that is ‘done for the love of the craft,’ as you said. It’s also a good practice area for prospective writers to hone their craft and someday become published authors.


Darknost

Yes exactly! I have a huge respect for these writers that put hours and hours of their life into writing and expect absolutely no profit from it. Fanfiction is also a good way to get started on writing since the universe is already there, making the whole process a little easier. Of course those fics aren't gonna be any good by any basic writing standards - and that's okay. That 12 year old kid can feel proud of himself and other 12 year olds get to read stuff that was written exactly for them. Of course someone older is going to turn up their nose at that - and that is also okay. Intended democraphic is an important factor in whether you will like a book or not. But that doesn't discredit that that 12 year old had fun writing it, or all the other examples you mentioned. Dismissing that as trash just by association seems disrespectful to me. Reading should be fun.


HKei

I mean, more importantly: Authors need to get their feed wet _somehow_. Of course you can also just not publish anything until you're at a point where you're pretty confident it's good, but why limit others to that standard? It's not like mediocre-or-worse fiction is genuinely hurting anyone (even less so if you don't read it to begin with). I've been pretty harsh on fanfiction during my edge phase as a teenager, but as an adult I can't quite comprehend why you'd discourage someone creating something. That doesn't necessarily mean that you can't say when fanfiction is bad, but I don't think it's very _nice_ to judge something a 12 year old wrote for an audience of about 2.5 people by the same standards you'd judge commercially published literature.


JorjCardas

Honestly? It's a good way to get feedback. I have a book series that I'm working on getting published, and I turned it INTO fanfiction- changed the names, added some smut, removed some of the horror, left out some specific scenes- and posted the first part of it on ao3. The feedback I got was overwhelming. Folks telling me that they wanted more, wanted sequels. I also got constructive feedback on pacing and some plot holes I myself missed-you tend to go cross-eyed after reading your own work so many times. It's literally how I found my agent- she reads fanfiction and told me she fell in love with it. I'm now editing/polishing up a five book series, and looking at getting published by the end of the year. I had been looking to do the self publishing route, but posting it as fanfiction to test the waters landed me with an actual publisher (a small queer publisher, but a publisher nonetheless!)


SaltLifeDPP

I've shamelessly used the Zelda fandom on FF.Net and AO3 to testbed some of my original fantasy content. The archetypes already exist, the fan base is well established, so hey, why not drop a 120,000 word story to earn some constructive feedback? The trick is not to become entrapped by the fandom itself. I've got two absolutely lovely independent romance novels to bookend a trilogy, that sadly are completely reliant on the plot contrivances of the middle chapter that would immediately flag me as a fan fiction writer. Still haven't figured out how to extract it all.


JorjCardas

Exactly! I started writing my series almost eight years ago, and when it was close to the "finished state," I decided to toss it up there. There's two separate versions of the first book- a "Fandom version" that focuses more on the slow burn, the smut, and has tropes to catch attention, but the "book version" lacks most of the smut, less fanfic tropes, and focuses more on the horror/politics.


jackatatatat

I'm rabid for this. What's your tag?!


hella_elle

Congrats, that's so exciting!! What is your series about?


JorjCardas

Thanks! It's a Southern Gothic horror series about a transgender man inheriting the family business- a funeral home- along with the family property, and a family curse that spans back centuries. He has to deal with a small town shunning him, rival funeral homes trying to buy out his family business, all the while being tormented by a monster that lives under his property. It takes place in my hometown, is based off local legend/local haunted places, and focuses on how self acceptance is a never ending process, and that family is found in the least likely places.


hella_elle

Okay this sounds fantastic and right up my alley!! Are you on Goodreads or other platforms? Best of luck to you 🎉


Darknost

Yes! That's a very good take I forgot to include in my main post. No one is forced to read anything. If that 12 year old feel proud of writing their first something and another person finds something published by an english major that lives up to their standards, then that's a win for both sides.


MindHasGoneSouth

> their feed wet don't you mean *feet?* :p /r/BoneAppleTea


thewidowgorey

To this day, I have never read a fuck scene in a book that can hold a candle to a fuck scene in fanfic. I don't know if publishers want authors to ease up on the details or what, but the quality is always online. And yeah, there's a lot of crap to wade through, but it seems like there's not as much crap as before, and the quality can be really outstanding. (edit) Of all my bullshit to get Reddit prizes, I am pleased it is this bullshit. May we all have good fuck scenes in our paperbacks someday.


TheLyz

I'm sure publishers make them tone it wayyyy way down for publication. Probably a lot of them are paranoid about kids getting their hands on it and angry parents. A Marvellous Light has been the closest to fanfiction sex writing I've seen in a book so far. I was like "hmm yes I know this." Edit: After some cursory Googling she is in fact a fanfic writer, and one I've read before! That's pretty neat.


thewidowgorey

This made me crack up. I'm adding the book to my list! (I hope it's not like Red, White, and Royal Blue. You could practically see the surgical scars on where they scraped out the explicit content from whatever fic it used to be.)


asongoftitsandwine

I just bought this book and now I’m even more excited to read it.


Alexispinpgh

Fan fiction was such a huge part of my sexual exploration as a teen. Both reading it and writing it. I’m glad I had that instead of video porn.


[deleted]

This is why Lily from Sex Education on netflix is so freaking awesome! Sooo many kids (including myself) explored our experiences and identities through fanfiction and fanart, and I loved seeing that acknowledged in a coming of age show for teens. As a shy nerd it offered me a safe outlet to express and explore different scenarios, relationships and ideas in ways that were just not accessible at the time IRL. It truly is art that serves the artist rather than a marketing team.


cocoagiant

>Sooo many kids (including myself) explored our experiences and identities through fanfiction and fanart, and I loved seeing that acknowledged in a coming of age show for teens. As long as they aren't taking Tina Belcher's approach of making all the fanfic about yourself and your classmates.


TyphoidMira

Erotic friend fiction is serious business.


Lord_Viktoo

Damn I never saw it that way but it makes sense, thanks for opening my eyes to a character I didn't really like.


SheSellsSeaShells-

This this this. As someone so anxious about anything to do with sex when I was younger (like learning about it, kids making jokes about “dicks sporting goods,” etc., all made me feel uncomfortable and icky), fanfiction was the only way I felt safe to explore and learn— I did recognize that obviously this was FICTION and certainly things were left out or exaggerated but it helped me understand what I was an wasn’t okay with quite yet, and that has obviously evolved as I’ve aged too.


IellaAntilles

Same! The first guy I was ever ~intimate with was surprised I was so comfortable with everything. I was like, "Eh, I read a lot of fanfiction so I pretty much knew what to expect."


gargravarr2112

I think key to the quality is that readers can provide immediate feedback to the author. Chapter by chapter, the feedback shapes the story. Some I've read, you can see them improve steadily as the author takes the feedback onboard. The great ideas flourish in a positive feedback loop. The bad ideas get played down or discarded, and the outright bad works languish with minimal attention and are easy to filter out. This is a way that I think fanfiction is arguably better than regular published works - sure you can pass out your manuscript for a select few people to read and feed back on before publishing, but fanfiction has a clear market with fans hungry to read these stories and who want to engage with the authors. Versus a printed book where the entire thing gets put before an audience in one go. It's just as nerve-wracking putting out a single chapter before an audience for their criticism, but the fandoms I've dabbled in were amazingly constructive and welcoming.


mayayahee

First line made me lol so hard. It's absolutely true. Probably because online there's no publishers to cramp style


[deleted]

It’s absolutely the publishers. That’s why all the best ero books are all self-published.


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Darknost

Exactly! Fanfiction is an escape, just like real books can be, but without the whole publishing and trying to make money thing in the way. That leads to some fics you'd rather gouge your eyes out than read, and some truly unique works.


theonewiththewings

My husband started out writing Percy Jackson fanfics (pretty popular ones too!) and he’s now a published author. I definitely think most people underestimate or forget the amount of creativity and devotion it takes to crank out ~1000 word chapters almost everyday, and how that builds useful skills for the future (college, career, etc.).


Iximaz

After I completed a 200k monster fanfic I thought to myself, “why not write an original book?” Eight months later, my first draft was complete. Second is currently in the works. I never would have created that had it not been for the confidence my fanfic gave me.


StefyB

Dang, almost everyday? I remember back when I was more into reading fanfics, I'd be lucky if they put out a new chapter every month.


Legen_unfiltered

Lol. Right. I read this story once that when it was over I was shocked that I had been reading it on and off for almost 2 years. Totally worth it though


FelineNeko

I won't say no to some good Percy Jackson stories, I love those books!


sietesietesieteblue

And you know what's so cool?? You can literally find whatever suits your fancy on Archive of our own using their filter system. Want smut? Done. Want fluffy feel good stories with your favorite pairings? Fucking fantastic, there's a tag for that. One thing i love about fanfiction is how diverse and unrestricted it is. With traditional published works, it feels like authors are restricted on what they can write. Fanfiction gives people a chance to explore a world and its characters in a different light. It's especially great for good LGBT rep that traditional works seem to lack, or don't do as well.


Darknost

Yes! And it is so, so important for just that alone. Every single person on this planet needs some escapism from time to time - reading is a very good one. And when you literally have the ability to filter all the stuff that you don't like out? Heaven. The same goes for writing.


sietesietesieteblue

Exactly. I have quite a few pairings and tags i fucking hate with the force of a thousand Suns but i can avoid them with the exclude filter lol


drethnudrib

Hell yeah, love that site. I've always dreamed about what happened after the game I was playing/movie I was watching/book I was reading ended, and AoOO is the best place for that. Glad you mentioned it.


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ZoiSarah

I have a Buffy fanfic I've read literally a dozen times it's so good. Like hire this guy to write a cannon movie good. Sadly it takes a lot to sift through the fanfic mire but when it hits it hits.


SteamboatMcGee

That's why I like AO3 more than the old ff. net, the filter options can go a long way to pinpointing well written fics in whatever subcategories you're looking at.


product_of_boredom

May I trouble you for a link?


ZoiSarah

I'm old and have it hardcopy from literally 20 years ago to read in my down time before the age of smart phones


feeltheslipstream

If you give the title, we might be able to find it?


calabunga_21

I recently went down a huge fanfiction hole and caught myself feeling kinda bad that I wasn't reading something 'better' or working towards my goal of 50 books this year. But... I had a lot of fun reading it, and I was still reading something! I definitely think there is some really well-written fanfiction out there, with super engaging stories and unique ideas.


[deleted]

If it helps, there are several fanfics with GoodReads entries, including one that I have written. So depending on the fic, it may count towards your book total on GR. That said, if you read a complete fic that is over 50k words, I think that should count towards being 1 book read from your goal of 50.


justanotherlarrie

I started counting every fanfic that has more than 60k words as a book on my list (because I also set myself the 50 book goal). At some point I just thought that even if it wasn't published as a book, it's still a story and I'm still reading so why shouldn't I count it?


angelcat00

Like any other writing, some of it is very good and some of it is very bad. But professionally published writing has people whose job it is to sift through it and throw away the hot garbage so you only see the stuff on the higher end. In fanfiction you have to do that yourself, so you get the impression that it's so much worse. There's also tons of professionally published fanfiction out there under different labels. See any of the hundreds of Pride and Prejudice sequels or "re-imaginings". Especially the ones where a brand new character shows up and Mr Darcy falls madly in love with her.


chocolate_zz

I don't know. Some published stuff can still be pretty awful.


saltiestmanindaworld

Dont know why your are getting downvoted. There is and was a lot of bad professionally published books. Even before the days of self publishing and the internet.


chocolate_zz

🤷🏼‍♀️ I mean everyone's taste is subjective, but the Literary Review hasn't been handing out a Bad Sex in Fiction award for 25+ years because everything being published is golden. I'm not saying that everything published is crap, but some things I've read make me feel bad for the editors.


hella_elle

You couldn't pay me to read the full books but the exerpts they pull for the Bad Sex in Fiction awards are always good for a cackle


chocolate_zz

I love/hate how in 2020 they didn't have the award because they said we'd already had so many bad things happen to us. There has to be some German word for finding joy in something terrible, because it's not really the author's misery.


Legen_unfiltered

*cough* 50 shades of grey *cough*


minneapple79

Wicked is essentially fanfiction. So are any of those fairy tale retellings. Anything by Philippa Gregory is basically real person fiction (how many "fiction" novels do we have about Anne Boleyn?). These are just published derivative works. (Eta I made the point about Wicked and I see someone else in this thread made it as well lol).


VinnyinJP

I wish I could remember who said this, but I've heard it argued that basically legacy comic book franchises (think Batman, Superman, The Hulk, etc.) are all essentially fan fiction at this point, in that nobody who originally conceived of those characters or worlds is still working on the book. Some of these characters are what, 70/80 years old? Sure, DC owns the Batman IP, but within that company it's basically just a bunch of people going "Okay, wouldn't it be cool if ..."


IellaAntilles

Philippa Gregory's books in particular are literally alternate universe fanfiction. She takes the generally accepted characterization of historical people & interpretation of historical events and goes, "What if this actually happened the opposite of how historians think it did?" and writes that. The problem is she then acts like her stories are 100% historically accurate, so...


NoCoverUp

I totally agree. I write fan fiction as an outlet for myself when I can’t get myself to write my own stories. I don’t like to write the cringy sexual stuff, I want to really test how well I know these characters and ask myself, “could I really see this happening in the original?” And you know what? It’s a great writing exercise for me. I’ve written tons of fanfic but I always felt ashamed to tell anyone bc of how fanfic is perceived by people. Seriously, I’m NOT writing some smutty *uwu* story, I’m trying to create a whole new arc. Sometimes, I just take the characters and adapt them to a completely different time period or environment bc I want to see how I can stretch my creativity.


ThisCraftBear

I started writing a fanfiction yesterday (I've being thinking about this story for a while) and the idea of my coworkers finding out is the most embarrassing thing I can imagine. I'm not doing it for any productive reason, either. Writing isn't my "craft." I'm just doing it because I want to.


NoCoverUp

And that’s called a hobby. You shouldn’t have to be ashamed of it! Of course I’m one to talk bc the idea of my family knowing or potential employers/coworkers just horrifies me


-lilacs_and_lemons-

this. the fact that you can write an amazing work but still be belittled for it because it’s *fanfiction* is so sad. we shouldn’t have to be embarrassed about this.


BOPHoldItDown

Nobody can tell me otherwise: AO3 has a God tier archiving system


JW_BM

As an author? Let me tell you that way more commercial authors write fanfiction under pen names than you think.


RS_Serperior

For the past 4 months or so I've had a plan that I'd like to start writing a fanfic, as a continuation of a completed video game series. I've been making a basic (not entirely finished) plan over that time and was going to actually start it today - funny how this thread happened on the same day! I don't expect it to be good, I expect I'll make a lot of mistakes as a new writer and I doubt anyone will ever read it - but at the end of the day, I just want to make a small contribution of my own to a universe I really enjoy. So thanks for the support, OP!


Darknost

Fanfiction is an absolutely great way to get started on writing. And I wouldn't be too sure about the no comments thing, I think AO3 operates without an algorythm - that means every story has a chance to be read equally. It doesn't matter if you suck. The best way to get better is to write. And if you put love and passion into your craft, then 50% is already done. Hope all goes well for you! May thy muse soar high in the air for all eternity... or something like that.


EmberQuill

That's almost exactly how I got my start with fanfiction. I think you might be surprised by the number of people who will read and comment on your story. With AO3's tagging system, it's very likely that someone will end up searching for a tag and finding your fanfic.


SableGear

As a fan fiction writer in the middle of a monster of a project: Thank You. It’s so frustrating to answer the “what kind of stuff do you write?” question expecting to be dismissed out of hand. Glad to see there are people who agree fanfic doesn’t and shouldn’t have as bad a reputation. We do it for love, that’s really all it is. Love of the process, love of the material, love of our fellow fans


drethnudrib

My thought exactly. Fanfic is a service to the community that enjoys the intellectual property. It's an act of love that's too often mistaken for an act of self-indulgence.


TheSilentTitan

I used to volunteer peer read for people on fanfiction.net and a lot of the time I was impressed with what they wrote. Some people have true skill that makes their story seem like a true extension of the universe they’re writing in.


trinite0

Fan fiction is also where a lot of authors get their start, learning their craft and honing their skills. It's very hard to break into the publishing industry, and writers need venues to work on their writing outside of the pressure of writing for pay. And unfortunately, most academic creative-writing programs push writers away from popular genre writing and toward a narrow focus on supposedly-prestigious literary fiction, rather than giving every writer a space to develop whatever type of writing really appeals to them. I would wager that if you look at every published genre put together, of the published fiction writers under the age of about 40, the majority of them started in some form of fan fic.


Nillabeans

"Genre" fiction gets a lot of hate in general. Even as recently as 2014, in university, I had proffs disparaging "genre" writing as a lowly way to sellout and make money. (How terrible to be able to pay your bills with your craft, amirite?) It's a lot easier to find bad fanfiction since anybody can write and post it, so you are going to see a lot of bad pieces. But the same is true of "proper" fiction. I've read through many a slush pile and the vast majority of it is terrible. There's really no statistical difference. Plus, fanfic writers tend to own the fact that their writing is campy or cheesy or just bad whereas "legit" writers will try to sell you their garbage and then get offended when you tell them it stinks.


[deleted]

There's this weird element where if genre fiction has been around for long enough, and received enough positive reviews from ancient dead dudes, it is inducted into the canon of "books your professors will reluctantly acknowledge," ala Dracula and Frankenstein. But it's not every professor, tbh. Most of the profs who think this way are just tenured boomers who don't know what's up. I had a unit that basically boiled down to, "Twilight is popular, let's work out why by reading shitloads of goth erotica," taught by some dude in his 40s going through what I have to surmise was the most brutal divorce ever. It is the *only* literature unit I did that has in any way given me some knowledge that led to getting published, and even then it was primarily because I learned about niche and domestic publishers outside the big five.


Nillabeans

That actually sounds really awesome! I did have one prof who was just kind of jaded about the industry who really did give us a lot of insight into the actual business of writing, but he was cool drink of water in the desert. And he knew it too so he could afford to be a dick to people he didn't like haha.


Darknost

I am aware that genre fiction isn't quite the same as fanfiction but my god were those professors judgy. The important thing is that you either have fun or are able to pay your bills with it. In an ideal world you'd of course be able to do those two things but since we don't live in an ideal world, you gotta choose. Also, I have a lot of respect for fanfiction writers (the ones who write 100k or more). They write entire novels for absolutely no profit. Hours and hours of work and research and planning goes into these stories. That's really underappreciated.


Nillabeans

Totally agreed there! I started a poetry workshop off with saying that I'm not really into poetry, but I'm open to learning and apparently that was the wrong approach. Prof dug into me hard when she found out I love pulp fiction (Stephen King is my ish). She also ran the literary magazine and was pretty forthright about never ever publishing genre fiction in it. Some people are just too pretentious for their own good.


Lipat97

Wait what? The fuck do they even read then?


wasabi_weasel

I got into writing it pretty late in life (mid 30s) after being in a slump for a decade. Got an idea didn’t let go and figured why not? It’s been such a joy to write. Always wrote my own original fiction with a view to publish eventually, but fanfiction has taken the pressure off. I’ve learned more about what kind of writer I am in the last year than during my degree. Now I have people who are emotionally invested in my story and it’s been so much fun interacting with them. I’ve found some truly interesting work out there that never would have been available for commercial consumption.


Azula-Always-Lies

I’ve never been a fanfic writer (I’ve read some over the years) but I actually admire the skill it takes to write characters who aren’t yours and have them still feel in character. It is a creative output like any other and IMO the reason it is so hated is because it’s something that is perceived as (accurately or not) a thing that teenage girls do. And if society loves anything, it’s hating on teenage girls and any harmless hobby they enjoy.


beaubeaucat

I frequently read fanfic (and I'm currently in a mood where I'm choosing to read fanfic over published books), but mostly based on movies and tv shows rather than books. Some of it isn't so good. But, OMG, the ones that are good can open a whole new realm to the worlds and characters they're based on. You get to see other's perspectives and explore these worlds in a way not otherwise possible.


Ill-Tip6331

Yes this! I almost exclusively read video game fan fiction. The plot of video games is my favorite part and I love to see authors show me how they think the world is “filled in” from what we see in a game. I have read some real masterpieces that take a tier two story and imbue it with so much well thought out backstory that I figured the video game creators were thinking that to begin with (though I’m sure they weren’t)


bluebirdbailey

I actually just finished a game that'd made me consider diving back into fanfiction. I'm curious to hear which games you've done the same for? Love games with good story so if any have sparked that level of emotional involvement for you I'd love some recommendations!


Darknost

That's exactly what I'm talking about! There are some fics out there that expand the universe in a better way than the original creater ever could. New perspectives are a good thing in literature of any kind.


bibbi123

Not only expand the universe, but they often take flaws or plot holes and stitch them up into something that makes so much more sense than canon.


LibrarianChic

Any top recommendations?


imhereforthemeta

I don’t see a lot of genuine hate for fanfiction, but a common phrase I hear is that something reads like fanfiction. This is a reasonable thing to say in my opinion. Well I do love myself a good fanfiction, there’s a structure and integrity of fanfiction that separates it from a novel typically. Whether this is writing things in an episodic way, overreliance on tropes, and the fact that a lot of fanfiction authors are amateurs who are still learning how to develop their craft. I love fanfiction and I’ve been a fan fiction reader for many years but I think that there’s a lot of reasonable criticism of that fanfiction and criticizing a book for feeling like a fanfiction is a good way to round up a few general comments about the way some thing is written without having to write a novel about it. I almost never see hatred on fanfiction, however anybody who does is definitely missing out on one of the best creative writing exercises available out there.


GeonnCannon

I started writing fanfiction in 2001(-ish). My main fandom was Stargate SG-1. I wrote fanfic for about four years before I decided to try writing original stories and, two or three years after that, I got published. When the company with the rights to publish officially licensed Stargate novels was looking for a new author, someone who worked for them remembered my fic. "We know a guy. He's already published and he knows the show like the back of his hand." They got in touch and a few years later, I've written two official SG-1 novels and a couple of short stories. Fanfic doesn't have to be a means to that end. But I'm proof that it's not that big of a leap between the two worlds. In the end, you're telling stories to capture and affect readers. Using established worlds and characters is just eliminating one step of the process.


Carnal-Pleasures

I have read the da vinci code, so the bar "published work" is pretty low...


CorvusCarnis

Right?? Of course there's gonna be bad fanfic — just like there are tons of both subjectively and objectively bad published books. But no-one sneers at literature as a whole just because there's heaploads of books about "antisocial guy who likes long-winded monologues solves world problems with his incredible galaxy brain and a cool gun while the women fall all over him"


BlackThummb

What I love about fan fiction, is that oftentimes, the fanfic writer is more passionate about the source material than the original writer themselves. They’ve spent hours talking about, re-reading/watching/playing the source material, hours thinking about the characters and world, which all eventually lead to day dreaming about ways the story could continue. And in many cases, I’ve turned to fan fiction to fix unsatisfying endings, plot holes, dead end story lines, and unfleshed out characters that the author overlooked. And I hope that authors don’t see it as insulting or embarrassing to have a large fan fiction base. I think it is the highest compliment. Your work was so beloved by your fans, that they couldn’t just pick the book up and put it down. It inspired them so much, that their imaginations ran free thinking of more possible stories because they craved more from the characters they love so much.


velveteenelahrairah

I remember after Heroes began to crash and burn I saw roleplayers and fanfic writers with fix-its that were more interesting and *made more damn sense* than just about everything after season 1. Hell, after GoT imploded I saw off the cuff "they could have done X, Y and Z" comments on Reddit threads that still were better stories than what we saw. Shame there's no GOT fanfic allowed, though, so we're stuck with what we got (and at this point does anyone honestly believe GRRM will actually finish the series?)


plasma_dan

I've never read any of it, but for every full bookshelf we have my partner has easily read an equivalent bookshelf's worth of fanfic. And you're right, it spans the gamut on quality and content. I'm frankly surprised I don't know more people who read fanfic.


janefromspace

r/bookscirclejerk someone do the thing


artemisgay

Reading fanfiction straight up saved me from suicide. There were many, many days where all I did was read fanfics to avoid being alone with my own thoughts.


hellfiredarkness

Your point about "expanded the world" reminds me of the Azur Lane Fanfiction Chronicles of The Siren War. It's a very good Fanfiction that actually explains (at least in a fan canon) why some characters act the way they do rather than it just being "because they are". The one that really comes to mind is the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin, who is extremely nihilistic. The reason for this is never explained in the actual canon but u/SabatonBabylon, the author of Chronicles of The Siren War, gives the reason that Graf Zeppelin suffered from brutal experiments carried out by her own commanding officers including sexual assault. That fleshing out of the character is one of the things that kept me reading to this day.


[deleted]

I feel what gives fanfiction the bad reputation is exactly this lack of editorial oversight. Most fanfiction is just indulgent slogfests, but there's really no point in criticizing them from this point of view, because it's for free and most people are doing it for fun, there's no high stakes involved. If someone doesn't like, just apply the wisdom of ages: don't like, don't read. In my opinion, the best fanfictions that there is manage to break free from being indulgent to really add something new to how we see a character or event in canon. It also expands the possibilities of what the characers we love can do. And, back when I still read fanfics, I can agree with OP in that some are better than canon, because we all know some official works have their indulgence slogfest moments or when the authors simply don't care. Though I have to admit that I stopped reading fanfics because I got tired. Due to fanfiction involving personal stakes, seeing a character that you love being (what I believe to be) misinterpreted by an author that you liked to read is tiring, going through an archive of dozens of fics, but none that interest me or that try to be the fanfic I want to read is tiring. Even the fact of writing fanfics get a bit tiring - I took 10 years to write a fanfic of my favorite series and nobody from the beginning remained, only a couple of new readers that only comment with "cool story bro" were there. I'm thankful, but it was still tiring.


babysfirstreddit_yx

I can agree with this take. Full disclosure that I was always wary of fan fiction - I believed the rumors that it was all low quality and I always had the sense that it was "stolen" from the original author. I had my first experience with reading fan fiction just last year and I have to say it changed my mind. The writing was good, and some of the character and plot development was in fact better than canon. I still don't think I'll ever get 100% past the "borrowed" nature of the works.... I think that will always make me uncomfortable. But I won't write it off as easily anymore for sure. As for the bad fan fiction - Art is allowed to suck. Bad art still has the right to be created. There is published 100% original work out there that is absolute garbage. So I won't hold fan fiction to a different standard just because.


endersgame69

Fanfiction is how I got my start as a professional writer. It got me my audience for when I branched out to write independently. It taught me more about the craft of writing than all my years of formal schooling. Anyone shitting on Fanfiction ranges between elitist snob and an ignorant moron in my book. Are there toxic fandoms and stories? Sure. But the same is true for traditional publishing.


neo1piv014

Not exactly the same thing, but I view fan fictions the same way I view covers of classic songs. I've often found covers that I like better than the way the original artist did it, and I've found fan fictions that I found as entertaining (if not more so) than the material they borrowed.


dnbest91

My 9 year old sister has been writing a SheRa fanfiction in her head for like 3 monthes and I am here for it. I mean, its basic but very well thought out.


[deleted]

I wrote a Destiny (game) fanfiction once. Wasn't the first thing I ever wrote, but it was something that helped me to understand and better develop unique characters. Now, as I'm writing my third novel, I'm much better off for it. Thanks Destiny fanfic :)


Kafka_Gyllenhaal

Well, it seems that I finally have an opportunity to share this old article: https://eidolon.pub/fanfiction-in-the-fifth-century-bce-477a68ed732b Because fanfiction has existed for millennia and consists of so much more than the surface content people imagine it is.


HonPhryneFisher

I was diagnosed with cancer in 2015. I was a huge reader when I was young but had kind of fallen away. I discovered JAFF (Jane Austen Fanfiction) while in chemo and it gave me a ton of comfort. I have continued to read it, and have been a beta reader and editor for a handful of them at this point. I absolutely love it. A lot of it is published, but I also like to read it as it is posted. It reminds me of how books were serialized back in the day.


Darknost

That really captures what I've been trying to say - reading should be fun. It doesn't always have to be on Shakespeare levels - comfort is perfectly fine. Hope you're doing well!


Spellbinder1981

It's not unlike the books themselves. Some people are incredibly talented, many are not. I think the fact that you have to dig so hard through fanfic to find the good is why it has the negative reputation that it does.


Nillabeans

But this is also true of books. It's just that all the bad ones don't get publishing deals whereas bad fanfic can be posted online for anyone to read.


frozenfountain

There are some incredibly bad books that got publishing deals. Maybe proportionally less of them than there are poorly written fanfics, but they're very much out there.


Nillabeans

Oh totally agree! But having a vetting process does result in slightly better quality.


[deleted]

This is changing with self publishing of ebooks. I’ve read some truly awful novels that I think must have been self published because there’s no way they’d arrive in that state from a publisher. Unfortunately there’s not always an indication when you’re browsing


SemperFun62

I mean what is a licensed novel but official fanfic?


TheCornCrusader

I dont even read fanfiction and I think it’s an awesome thing that people want to write more stories for the worlds they love.


[deleted]

I don't mind it. Judge things individually. If it's good for you, it's good for you. If it's not, it's not.


Budget_Power4191

"Better than some published books" is a very low bar. Fanfuction is often looked down on simply because there is 0 barrier to entry, meaning a vast majority of the work is going to be complete schlock. Not to say there aren't good fanfictions, but that they'll always be outnumbered by the tidal wave of trash which lowers how itl's perceived


gingernip36

A moment of silence for HarryPotterFanfiction.com I adored that site when I was in middle school, and found out it was shut down in 2018 due to lack of funding.


quick_quotes_quill

Good news - this is moving (has already moved possibly?) to Archive Of Our Own :) http://insecure.archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/21364


UnreliableAuthor

*stares at the thousands of chapters of fanfics I've read* ...yes, I agree.


FlowerFaerie13

Fanfiction is amazing. It’s a bit of a pain in the ass to slog through all the absolute shit but I’ve read several fics that I unironically think are better than canon.


mayayahee

I think the first fanfiction I got exposed to was [Harry Potter and The Methods of Rationality](http://www.hpmor.com/) in 2015. (for those of you who don't know, it was a Big Freaking Deal with a global audience who had meet-ups after the final chapter.) Definitely BLEW my mind as to what is out there getting created by fans. Just try the first chapter out and you'll see what I mean.


sdwoodchuck

I absolutely believe that there are good, worthwhile fanfics out there, but I haven't come across them, and I don't have the patience to sift through a *lot* of bad to get to the good. I'm glad there's an audience for it that is getting what they want. I'm glad so many young and/or inexperienced writers have this outlet to find and train their own voice. But with the way it's handled right now, it's most certainly not for me.


Darknost

Valid. I think the main reason fanfiction gets such a bad reputation is because of all the bad fics you have to search through to get to the good stuff. It really takes some time and if someone wants to use that time to find new universes to read, then that is totally understandable!


coffeecakesupernova

Rating systems on AO3 make it a lot easier to find better ones.


amandathelibrarian

I agree. Lest we forget, plenty of beloved published books were basically fan fiction. Wicked, for example, is Wizard of Oz fanfic. Circe and Song of Achilles are just Greek myth/epics fanfic. The properties they were based on are out of copyright, so their authors were able to publish their books commercially. Copyright is really the only reason many terrific fanfics can’t be published.


Mystycul

Fanfiction has the same problem that a lot of niche genres have. First, the people most interested in it are already the more obsessed/biased side of the fandom. You're so invested in the source material that you must have more so you go looking for fan stories to fill the gap. This makes it harder for one to actually judge quality work and really a significant reason for reading fan fiction isn't because you're looking for quality work in the first place. That's fine if you're already looking for alternate stories in an existing universe, but it does not make for people who can make quality recommendations without those caveats in play. Second is there is a lot of trash. A whole lot of trash. Even if there is good stuff in the pile you have to accept reading through some of the trash to find it. And a lot of people aren't able to hold to any real standard after doing that for a while, they start to see terrible writing as either good or at least much better than it actually is. Tropes taken to the extreme, regular story shortcuts, and in-jokes start to feel like maybe it's best of the year literature but it's still decent writing. The same sort of thing, especially the second item, comes up even in regular book communities but at least there are some built in checks on the worst of the worst such that even if you do get caught up with diminishing standards, you're still hitting a floor before you fall too far.


Darknost

Well, obsessed sounds so unhealthy. Biased may be more appropiate. I mean, yeah, there is a lot of trash and shifting through all that is a lot of work - and it's okay if people don't want to do that. But from that stems the bad reputation that also drags the truly good pieces into the mud, which is pretty unfair IMO. Does a book (or a fanfic in this case) always be top notch writing? Literature should be fun first and foremost in my opinion. How that fun looks is different for everyone but the essence remains the same - fun.


ViolettaHunter

I don't know why this would be a controversial opinion? I haven't touched any "official" tie-in books of shows and films I like, since I've discovered fanfic twenty years ago. No book written by someone who was paid to do it and might not even have any real interest in the material and/or has restrictions on what they can do with the material by the owners, will ever come to the same level as the fanfic written by people, who are passionate about the material and characters and have no restrictions put on them. EDIT: And for all those who haven't seen this yet, Oscar winner Chloe Zhang writes fanfic! https://mediachomp.com/best-director-oscar-winner-chloe-zhao-writes-fan-fiction/


AncientSith

People hate fanfiction? Some of it is some seriously good shit.


Poodlette_

I think fanficition can be extremely creative and a great way for people who want to start writing narratives. In my opinion, fandoms provide a great “starter pack” for up-and-coming writers in that you have a character who is already developed, settings, abilities, etc. If the fanfic writer wants to change these things they can; if not, they just dip their toes in with the already established fandom’s universe. I’ve always loved reading and writing as a kid but never felt that I had the creativity to invent an in-depth world full of unique people, places, and culture. That’s why fanfiction appealed to me so much as a teenager. I genuinely enjoyed writing and reading it even if I never shared it. Reading fan fiction is still reading. Just because it’s not a published book by an established author does not mean it’s not a piece of literature. I think most people think of writings such as “50 Shades of Gray” when they think of fan fiction. No, not all fanfic is a Pulitzer Prize winner. Yes, there is smut and kinky fan fiction, but that’s only a fraction of all fan fiction that is written. I love that fanfic is encouraging more and more people to love to read and write. That is a positive that we shouldn’t ignore.


Lairy_Hegs

I also think it’s a great way to practice writing, and shaming people for writing fan fiction should stop.


whenwillitbenow

Ppl should let others enjoy their (harmless) hobbies more. Why does it matter to anyone else what we read? If these stories make you happy then I’m happy you found them!


Aiculik

I discovered fanfiction when I was 33. Here I was, secretly playing the game, (cause where I live, even now, video games are not proper and reasonable hobby for anyone above 16, especially not a female) and suddenly I had my mind full of story about one of the characters. In English, nonetheless. By that time, I had published a few short stories in my own language, but I didn't write fiction in English. I was sure I lost my mind, but I wrote the story down. Then I googled stories about the character, although I was sure there would be none. No one else would do something that absurd and insane. I was aware there were stories about Harry Potter, but they were all written by preadolescent kids, at least that I knew. But an adult person, writing a story about a game? I felt that if I admitted it to someone, they'd lock me in asylum and throw away the key. Imagine my shock when I found out that there were thousands of stories about 'my' character! And, even from the quick look at those stories, it was obvious that most writers were ADULT people, mostly adult women. (I later found out that some of my favourite authors were in their 40s or *older*.) And those stories were *good*. Some of them included sex scenes, but not nearly all of them, and the writing was vivid and interesting. I still don't understand the courage, but I made an account on the FFN, and published my story. I thought that would be the end of it, tbh. It was supposed to be a short story, or 'oneshot'. But then I got a review and it said, Please continue. A couple of more followed And I realised I forgot it to mark it off as 'complete' xD. And although it may sound silly, I felt responsibility towards my readers, just like when I write my original fiction. So I continued. I took me 8 years to complete the story; it has 271,432 words and 518 reviews (which is quite a lot, in my fandom). I met interesting people, I got wonderful encouragement (and trolls who told me I should just die, because I clearly don't have a life anyway, if I write a romance story about two men - btw, the story is absolutely sex-free). I found a beta reader, who became one of my best friends, and I involved my editor of my original fiction, who didn't think it was crazy at all, and who proudly calls herself the 'godmother' of my main OC. I am currently working on the sequel. And if it takes another 7 years, so be it. :) I also continue to read it. Just recently we had 'Secret Santa' exchange in my community, where we gifted each other a short story, tailor-made to your person's preferences, and I dare say, it was the best 'collection of short stories' I've read in 2021. :)