Hi all,
This week I'm going to talk about Fanfiction, and why you shouldn't be ashamed to write it.
Firstly, Fanfiction is when someone writes a story using a book's setting, plot or characters. Most people write about their own original characters, or 'OCs' and how they would fit into this world.
I've seen a lot of authors being shamed online for writing Fanfiction, as they are using someone else's ideas and changing the plot.
There's nothing wrong with that.
As long as they source the original work and express that it is fan made, there is no harm done. They also don't try to sell these works because that would breach copyright.
Fanfiction is a fun way to write without having to worry about doing all the world building yourself, it's already been done for you. It's a great way to improve your writing skills and also inspire you to come up with your own original work. I started off writing Fanfiction for my favourite book series, Warriors by Erin Hunter. I still love those books to this day (though I really need to catch up with some of the newer books).
Were they badly written?
Yes, but seeing as I wrote Fanfiction from thirteen to eighteen I could see the improvement.
Were there spelling errors?
You bet.
Did you use OCs?
Yep, creating OCs in the Warriors universe helped me greatly with personality and character flaws.
Did readers like the characters?
Yes, people loved my characters. When I left the site because of my schoolwork I passed one of my characters, Bouncepelt, to one of my most loyal readers.
Was the story good?
Kinda.
Do you regret writing it?
Not at all.
I wrote four Fanfiction novellas because of those books, I think I only managed to finish three before I had to stop to concentrate on my studies. It was a great creative outlet and I met so many lovely people from writing Fanfiction. It really improved my writing, as I just had to focus on nailing my characters because the background and rules had already been written. Although I look back on it now and cringe at how bad it is, I'm still glad that I loved a book series so much that I wanted to write about it and share it with the world.
Do not be ashamed to write Fanfiction.
It's not a bad thing at all, it's lovely to see authors expanding on someone else's work. I love reading Fanfiction, I think I've read more Fanfiction this month than books!
Of course, not all Fanfiction is good.
But, I'm the other hand you can go into any book store and pick up an awful traditionally published book or scroll through Amazon and find an unedited mess of an ebook. Shaming someone for reading Fanfiction does not make you look good. Plus, coming up with original ideas all the time can be exhausting. Why not take a break but also fulfill your writing needs at the same time?
I've also seen some of the following as to why people don't regard Fanfiction as 'proper' writing:
- It's copyright.
- Authors don't like it.
- You're stealing someone's work.
- You're not coming up with any ideas yourself.
- It's lazy.
- All Fanfiction is poorly written.
None of the above are true. Fanfiction is an important creative outlet, and I'd encourage people to write Fanfiction about my work if they were that inspired by it. Most authors are flattered that people love their work so much, so don't be afraid of backlash.
In conclusion, if you want to write Fanfiction, do it. If you don't want to, don't. But neither side should be shaming the other for their choice. We need to support each other no matter the writing route we take.
Thank you for reading this week's post! Did you ever write Fanfiction? Share in the comments!