The Real Problem about Fanfiction Writing
I’m a fanfiction writer. I’m not afraid to admit it. I am a fanfiction writer and I have no shame. I am a fanfiction writer of actual people, and I have no shame. Why?
Fanfiction has been a controversial issue. Now, I don’t know about you, but I absolutely abhor published fanfiction. Why do you publish your fanfiction? Why should you earn money off of what others have done? You can argue all you want, but I think most of us agree on one thing: fanfiction should be nonprofit. No one should profit from stealing an idea or a character.
Now, with the actual writing. This is what I want to talk about.
You can’t say that we fanfiction writers can’t write fanfiction. It is a hobby and posting it on fanfiction-friendly sites like Fanfiction.net or Wattpad is totally and utterly legal. We have gotten an idea. We are the ones that were inspired by whatever fandom we are writing about. We are the ones writing, putting effort into works. It’s easy to judge. It’s not that easy to make. A movie that takes only an hour-and-a-half took over a year to develop, film, and edit. People put effort into fanfiction, believe it or not. We can’t just take that away. Once I get an idea, I put it into action. I write. I thrive. A certain published novel called “After” was originally a Wattpad fanfiction.
So, if fanfiction itself isn’t the most horrible thing to exist on the planet, why does it have a horrible reputation?
My answer? The content.
Fanfiction writing in itself isn’t bad. But the first thing that comes into your mind when you go search for fanfiction is this one thought: this story is BAD.
Depending on the fandom, some stories are simply… Horrible. Not only is their grammar abysmal, but we fans love to ship. Honestly, I’m not quite sure why we like romance so much. But we do. Some of us love to write poorly written smut fanfics that are basically a pile of meaningless junk no one likes to read. I mean, this is literally a fanfic I stumbled upon in a nutshell (since I wasn’t given the permission to use it):
John went to the store.
He came across the reaping area and the woman called “John!’
Oh no! he was reaped! how was he goin to do the hunger games when he hadn’t ate his breath yet?
He went to the arena and got a bow and arrow and started to shoot everyone. John was awesome.
He won the hunger games woohoo!
Yeah, you see what I mean? Some fanfics look like they came from a five-year-old, which is probably the case.
And then there are fanfics that completely blow “mature” out of the water. They explicitly bring celebrities to bed even though they literally announce: “we are not dating! Please stop shipping us!” and guess what? They continue to ship them! They continue to do things that their literal idols had told them NOT to do!
Yes. I agree. Some of us are horrible.
I’m not denying it. Some fanfics are junk. Others are offensive to their creators. Especially fanfics of real-life celebrities.
But guess what? Sometimes I stumble upon a good fanfic. Sometimes I do stumble upon something so beautifully written that I feel that it’s worth it to go through the endless array of trash stories. Sometimes I find something worth reading, that is as good as the published work that they based on.
And not everyone is disrespectful. Some of us, including me, remember to put disclaimers. We issue trigger warnings whenever we can, and we respect others’ wishes. We put effort into our writing. And I’m proud of that.
And besides, fanfiction has led many proclaimed published writers to where they are now. It’s good practice, to base a work off of someone else’s, to develop writing skills. It’s great to have a community of other fandom writers to work with, to share ideas and help each other.
I have heard so many accusations. So many people turning their noses at me. “Why do you write fanfiction?” my friend would ask. “I thought you were a smart kid.” Or, “you’re crazy! Fanfiction is horrible.” Fanfiction isn’t as bad as people say it is. Just avoid Y/N stories, try to steer clear of ships, and flag those without disclaimers. We need to redeem ourselves. Animatics, fanart, songs, and sculptures — they are all appreciated by any fandom. But fanfiction? They leave those with the talent of writing in the dust, unable to share their amazing ideas just because a few people disobeyed their fandom’s wishes.
