In Defense of Fanfiction
If you came here for some top-tier fanfiction bashing, then you’re in luck! I’m not going to do that, but you’re exactly the kind of person who needs to hear what I have to say.
As a millennial, I like to think of the internet as my baby sibling that grew up too fast and got really famous for something incredibly stupid, despite all the amazing things they can do. I existed before Google, before YouTube, before Facebook, before a lot of things, really. But you know what I didn’t exist before? Fanfiction.
“But Victoria!” You say, crossing your arms and glaring at me (probably, I don’t actually know you). “You just said you’re hella old (rude), so how is that possible? Fanfiction has only been around since Tumblr, right?”
Wrong, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
First things first, for all of you unindoctrinated readers out there (looking at you, 90% of my family), let’s talk about what fanfiction actually is. In simple terms, it’s fiction written by fans. That may seem obvious, but… well, it kind of is. Fans that like to write (like me) get inspired by an existing fandom (think, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Twilight) and create their own version of the story, or parts of the story, or something different altogether but that remains based in the existing work. That’s the barest of bones explanation of what fanfiction is, but it’ll serve our purposes today. Fanfictions are typically found on the internet, on blog sites, or in dedicated fanfiction archives, but you might not realize that you’ve encountered fanfiction before. 50 Shades of Grey began as a Twilight fanfiction. The Mortal Instruments series was originally Harry Potter fanfiction. After was written about Harry Styles. Fanfiction has found success outside the realm of the internet, to varying degrees of acclaim.
Next, let’s talk about why people hate it (and believe me, some people hate it).
I’ve been active in the fanfiction scene for many, many years. I’ve seen it go through most of its stages, from fun niche to guilty pleasure to multimillion-dollar book deals. I’ve seen and heard every possible complaint about fanfiction, and they can be broken down into a few key points.
Fanfiction is all about sex. This impression comes from the repressed part of the internet, the once-hidden recesses of the web where curious fans went to find out if their TV crush was a top or deeply invested in BDSM. It’s also the impression that’s at least a little bit true- there is a lot of sex in fanfiction. I could get into the reasons why, but that’s not really important right now. Is it all sex? Absolutely not. There are some truly heart-wrenching, emotionally-involved, action-packed stories on fanfiction sites, and plenty of them without so much as an enthusiastic kiss. If you’re a reader not interested in naked Twister, you can easily avoid it.
Fanfiction is unoriginal. I don’t even really want to entertain this with a response. Unoriginal? Unoriginal! Pray tell, where else can you read a 57-chapter anthology of every Sonic the Hedgehog character getting transported to the Super Mario universe where Princess Peach is now Queen Bowser and, for some reason, Harry Styles is there? Fanfiction is many things, but ‘unoriginal’ is definitely not one of them.
Fanfiction is stealing. Listen, if you’re logging onto Archive of Our Own and thinking that J. K. Rowling herself is writing a 3000-word crack-ship fic about Dumbledore falling in love with a talking boot, then I really can’t help you. Everyone knows fanfiction writers are not the original creator. For Christ’s sake, it’s in the name! FANfiction. You can’t steal something that you openly admit is not yours and you have no claim to.
Fanfiction is lazy. Alright, I’m going to get really heated on this point because WOW is this ever a stupid take. Yes, that’s blunt, no, I don’t care. If you honestly believe that fanfiction writers are lazy, then I can confidently say that you know absolutely nothing about fanfiction. At all. Let’s put some things into perspective here: fanfiction writers are not employees. They do not get paid for writing, they do not get money from advertisements, sponsorships, product placements, merchandise, etc. They can’t claim the original property as their own. Most writers get very little IF ANY recognition for their work, and some of them put in work. I’m talking hours and hours of their free time writing, editing, researching, posting, commenting, and anything else they want to do. There are fanfictions out there longer than most novels- I should know, I’ve written both. And guess what? Two of my past fanfictions are more than twice the length of Deus. As of writing this post, the longest known piece of literature is an 8-million-word fanfiction based on the cartoon The Loud House. No, I’m not joking.
Fanfiction is lazy WRITING*. This point goes hand in hand with the last point, but it is its own distinct issue so I decided to separate them. Some people will argue that if fanfiction isn’t lazy in terms of effort, then it is lazy in terms of story creation. The idea is that if someone wants to write, then they should just make their own characters, world, plot, relationships, etc., not piggyback off of someone else’s hard work. This belief is plagued with one critical flaw: not everyone wants to be a professional writer. Fanfiction writers do what they do because they love the original property- they love these characters, and this world, not the overarching idea of crafting a story. If you subscribe to the thought that fanfiction is lazy writing, then you’re missing the entire point. Fanfiction is a labor of love, not a ploy for credit.
Fanfiction is just bad. This one is the most eye-roll-inducing reason for me personally. Are there bad fanfictions? “Of course.” Are there bad movies? “Well… yeah, but-” What about bad books? “I mean, I guess, but-” But what? But fanfiction is different? These are the same arguments often associated with self-publishing. If you had to self-publish instead of traditionally publish, then you must be a bad writer. If you have to write fanfiction instead of your own original content, then you must be a bad writer. Neither of these things is even remotely true. I won’t lie to you, there is something to be said for the fact that anyone can write fanfiction and share it on the internet. Anyone can self-publish a book. This means that the percentage of poor-quality writing is definitely higher than in traditionally published media, but the points are not mutually exclusive. Just like searching for books you’ll like based on cover, blurb, rating, recommendations, etc., there are things you can use to help you find fanfictions you’ll like, too. It’s not all bad, and it’s not all good. It’s just like anything else in this world.
Now, here’s the thing. I did a lot of yelling about fanfiction and why you shouldn’t hate on it, but I’m not telling you that you need to like it, either. Some people prefer original works, and that’s totally okay. All I ask is that when someone brings up fanfiction to you again, you keep an open mind. Maybe rethink some of the preconceived notions you have. There are a lot of reasons behind the poor reputation fanfiction has acquired over the years, not least of which it’s a primarily feminine hobby, but I’m not going to get into that either. Instead, I’ll leave you with a bit of food for thought.
Remember that hint I left you with earlier in the post? About fanfiction existing long before the internet? Here are some examples that I think you might recognize.
Ulysses by James Joyce: It’s The Odyssey, rewritten in a different time and place. In other words, an Alternate Universe (AU) fanfiction.
Dante’s Inferno: Hello, self-insert, cross-over biblical fanfiction?
The Aeneid by Virgil: Written long after Homer’s time, Virgil took two of his favourite stories (The Odyssey and The Iliad) and combined them in one of the most famous examples of cross-over fanfiction ever.
William Shakespeare: Ol’ Willy boy has a few fanfictions to his name, most notably Romeo and Juliet, which was based on a poem of (almost) the same name.
The moral of the story is? Don’t be a dick, read fanfic.
(Or, you know, just don’t hate on it needlessly. But that doesn’t rhyme, so we’ll go with the first point.)
