A word, if you will, about fanfiction.
Have you ever been chatting with someone, and they mention something they used to like when they were in middle school, and you laugh along knowing that you are very much still actively into that thing? Well, that’s me with fanfiction.
Don’t get me wrong, I am absolutely not ashamed of reading and writing fanfiction(unless someone asks to see my ao3 history, I’m taking that to the grave). I think it’s extremely misunderstood and overlooked as an art form. People hear fanfic and they think of “My Mom Sold Me To One Direction” stories on wattpad, or just straight up smut. And while I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with either of those things, they are far from representative of the full scope of literature that we call fanfiction. There is so much more to it, and if you’re writing it off for that reason, you’re missing out on some really incredible stuff.
Fanfiction has been a part of my life for a really long time. One day when I was like 12, a family member who’s a few years older than me and also an avid reader introduced me to Wattpad. “Free books” was all I needed to hear, and I made an account immediately! The rest is history, as anyone who had a Wattpad phase knows. Wattpad had many original stories, but it also had the biggest collection of fanfiction I had ever seen in one place. My first introduction to fanfic had been the year prior when I stumbled upon some Loki fanfic on Quotev, a site that now seems like a fever dream. This was years before I became a Marvel girlie, so I didn’t know who Loki was. I liked the story about this cunning trickster with powers, though, and I kept reading. So when I found myself wading through the pool of amazing works that wattpad had at the time, I was hooked. I read fics for some of my favorite fandoms, I read fics for fandoms I wasn’t part of and knew nothing about, and I joined new fandoms because of fics I read that made me fall in love with the universe or the characters. And as I grew older, the types of fics I read matured and changed with me, but my love for the art of fanfiction never wavered.
So why do people love to read and write fanfic so much? Well, there’s many reasons. There’s the obvious: people just want more content of their favorite characters. Especially when there’s a show that was cancelled too soon or something in canon that people really wish was different, fanfic is where we turn to fill the hole in our hearts.
Writing fic can be extremely cathartic. It allows you to pull the characters, themes and moments that speak to you most in your favorite media, and zoom in on them, explore them further. You might write about your favorite character going through something you’re going through as a way of coping. You might put them in an AU (alternate universe) completely opposite to their original setting, because you’re curious about what the characters would do in such a situation.
It’s really good writing practice. Sometimes when you don’t have any ideas, writing fanfic can be much easier than writing something else because you don’t have to start from scratch with characters and setting. It’s a great way to keep you writing even if you’re struggling with writer’s block. It also has a pretty low barrier to entry- it’s accessible to anyone with a device and an internet connection- which, yeah, means there’s a lot of junk out there, but anyone can publish fic and I think that’s awesome. You don’t have to have professional writing skills, and you don’t have to follow traditional story conventions. Your story can be as long or short as you want; it can end on a cliffhanger; it can be 8k words of your favs going to a farmer’s market. It’s a place for boundless creativity and passion.
Not to mention, there is some insanely well-written, emotional, thought-provoking, and fun writing out there that is shared with anyone who wants to read it for free. I have read some of the most devastating prose ever in fanfics. They’ve made me think about things I never considered before. They’ve made me a better writer and a more empathetic person. I think part of the reason fanfic isn’t taken more seriously is because it’s known as a hobby for teenage girls, and as usual, society deems anything that women, especially young women, enjoy as unserious and not valuable.
Fanfic is a lot more than just silly and self-indulgent stuff, but even if it wasn’t, it would still be a valid art form. It would still be meaningful. Even if all it ever did was bring comfort to angsty middle schoolers, it would still be worthwhile. Art always is.
So yes, your honor, I do still read fanfiction at 24 years old, and I absolutely believe it to be a legitimate form of literature that should be respected in its own right.