An odd article would this be, would it not? Fanfiction is known to many, who have went through the phenomenon of fanfiction itself. What is it really? It’s fiction created by fans of a certain movie, book, individual, etc. Those fans use existing elements of the listed segments and create their own world, henceforth, their work is called fanfiction.
Fanfiction has the genres of normal fiction and isn’t much different. The only difference is the copyright, which doesn’t belong to the author, since they’re using someone else’s work as a stepping stone towards an unofficial story, which is labeled a continuation or an alternate universe to the official, unofficial plot.
You can view fanfiction like fan art. There is nothing wrong with it, because it just boosts the popularity of the original work, which the fan fiction authors promote by this unofficial creation. Indeed there are some strange ice-cream flavors out there, but let’s not burrow too deep in the rabbit hole, as there are spiders inside.
Learning the craft of a story is a tricky process that requires lots of dedication and practice, and grabbing an already crafted world and further developing it makes the process easier and faster to get used to, until one is ready to divulge themselves into their own original creation.
I had to write and edit a sum of more than 2000 pages of fanfiction before I knew for sure I was ready to perfect my own for which my incredible books have taken life like Komsomol and Mr Reaper.
It’s a good way to get feedback from other people, since there are many fans of a blooming movie, game or book. Those people are the pillars of one’s writing and editing journey, since they can point out the problems in your work.
You can always start with original fiction, but such would take a lot of work to do, and it is not known if you’d even make any substantial progress anyway, since no one would know about your original work and you’d be demotivated by the need to learn how to find those willing readers.
Negatives are present tho, since you can’t publish or profit from your fan work, because it is not legal to do so off someone’s copyright without their explicit allowance. You are barring yourself from having any chance to publish the written material.
Such was the deal breaker for me when I reached a spot where I felt that I had learned enough and that it was no longer necessary for me to build something that wasn’t really mine. It was a good journey that taught me discipline, storytelling, editing and creativity.
I will prompt everyone who wishes to give writing a go to just start. It doesn’t matter if it’d be fanfiction or original fiction, all that matters is you type on those keys, you fire those neurons within the brain and give life to the white canvases that are Word’s desolate pages.
Your first work will always be awful, so it doesn’t really matter which you choose, all it matters is that you actually make a choice.
What are you waiting for, unleash your potential!
