An ode to FanFiction

This week, I got an email that stirred up some old memories. It was from the FanFiction site, and somebody had asked if they could translate one of my old stories into German, which they could then publish on their profile. I didn’t really have a problem with it (if anything, I was bamboozled that somebody even wanted to do that to my half-baked, years-old writing), so I agreed.

Anecdote aside, that stirred up some old memories. It’s been a long time since I even logged into FanFiction- much less thought about it- but when I was posting my stories on there (Harry Potter, like everybody else, in case you wanted to know) I never really told people about it, most likely for fear of them laughing at me. After all, this site was somewhere for people who were crazy passionate about their stories to speculate and develop new ideas and take them in new directions… it wasn’t something you could really chat to schoolmates about.

That viewpoint has definitely changed now. The more time has gone past, the more I can see what a great thing FanFiction is- and not just FanFiction, but FictionPress, Wattpad and all the other online writing sites that the cool kids use these days. It’s amazing how much creativity is on there: people really let loose with their imaginations, especially when it comes to improving or riffing off their favourite stories. I’ve seen Beauty and the Beast/ Harry Potter mashups, every ship that you could ever ship, and some seriously crazy plotting. Seriously crazy. And sometimes X-rated, as I found on more than one accidental and unfortunate occasion.

More than that, though, it’s a great place for people to come together and support each other. Not everybody on FanFiction (or any of the other sites mentioned above) wants to become an author, but a fair amount do, and there’s no better place to test yourself than a safe online space where people can critique your writing- but mostly support it. It’s effectively beta-reading, and for any budding writer, that’s pretty invaluable.

And let’s not forget all the success stories that the site, and others like it, have helped to forge- Cassandra Clare started out as a writer on FanFiction, and Sarah J Maas began her career on FictionPress. For every awful story, there’s a great one out there. It can be done- and for the wide-eyed naïve little kid I was then, that was a pretty amazing thing to aspire to, and to be part of. Though I eventually graduated from FanFiction, to FictionPress, to… nothing in particular, I think it was probably starting off on FanFiction that got me used to writing for an audience, and writing a story, in the first place. Fingers crossed I can use that experience in the future!

So long live FanFiction, the realm of half-baked stories, unexpected brilliance and budding authors. Though I don’t use you anymore, may you go on to support and inspire a whole new generation of writers. And I’ll be waiting to read their books.

Did you ever use FanFiction yourself? What did you write about? I want to know! Leave a comment below, and let’s start a discussion 🙂