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In Defense of Fanfiction: Part 1

Carlyn Greenwald |
February 6, 2015 | 10:58 a.m. PST

Staff Reporter

Fanfiction.net currently holds millions of fics, including "Legend of Korra." "Harry Potter" leading with over 650,000 stories (nikkipet/Tumblr)
Fanfiction.net currently holds millions of fics, including "Legend of Korra." "Harry Potter" leading with over 650,000 stories (nikkipet/Tumblr)
For years now, whenever people ask how I started writing, I’ll always peg my first piece of serious fiction as a serial killer novel I wrote when I was 13. Original fiction, the kind of stuff that no one will dispute as being a legitimate or impressive accomplishment. After all, who doesn’t love the kid who wrote an original piece of fiction so young?

But, I’m lying. If we’re being technical, the first piece of writing I ever did was “Pirates of the Caribbean” fanfiction. I plan to keep that sucker buried for many more years to come, but if I recall, it heavily involved an original character I made up myself (called an “OC” in fanfiction terms) being thrown into the "Pirates of the Caribbean" universe and him having misadventures with Jack Sparrow. It was mostly me rehashing previous events in the movies with my OC, and even 11-year-old me knew that it was so bad that it would never be seen by another human being.

After my stint into fanfiction, I fell into an awkward stage of writing this weird semi-autobiographical original fiction with some not-so-subtle wish fulfillment thrown in (I was going through a My Chemical Romance phase and I had my main character meet the frontman of the band). Once that horrific phase ended, I stopped writing any form of fanfiction as I delved into the aforementioned novel.

Fast forward six years and 24 novels later. I’m a huge “Legend of Korra” fan, and although the finale did satisfy me, I couldn’t get season four’s main villain, Kuvira, out of my head. I wasn’t willing to let go of what I viewed as a super compelling character, so I decided to write a one-shot (a short story) to wrap up her ending a bit more and throw the story onto a popular fanfiction site called fanfiction.net. I figured it’d be a one-night thing, and I could return to my original fiction afterwards. I’d written another villain-centric piece of “Legend of Korra” fanfiction a few years before, and people really responded to more closure for their favorite characters, so I figured I’d be helping some people out.

SEE ALSO: Into The Hive Mind: Going Beyond The Page And Screen

Then something strange, something amazing happened. That emotion-fused one-shot got dozens of comments (called reviews), and another dozen or so people favorited the story and subscribed to email updates if I added more chapters. That stupid little story was suddenly beckoning for my time again. And, well, if I were honest, I could keep exploring this villainess more, so I figured I could keep writing it. 

I did, and it blew up like I couldn’t believe. There were upwards of 1,000 hits on the nights I’d post new chapters, 10-20 reviews per chapter, favorites and follows stacking over 100. People really liked this thing. Tumblr users started writing posts recommending my fanfic to their followers, and when I reviewed other people’s work, I was suddenly “the writer of 'The Dictator'” as if that had weight. A pretty famous Tumblr artist drew a piece of fanart that would garner over 1,000 likes and reblogs based on my story (pictured above). I’ve posted my original fiction on sites like fanfiction.net, and I could pull maybe three reviews per chapter at best, so this success was flabbergasting for me. It suddenly occurred to me that there really was something to this fanfiction thing beyond fans pairing up random characters from their favorite books/TV shows/movies for poorly-written pieces of smut. 

From the point of view of the writer, this fanfic I was writing quickly evolved beyond me trying to write someone else’s work into me telling a story in my own writing voice. I was improving my prose, becoming more conscious of character consistency, and hell, I was enjoying it. There were nights when I could crank out 6,000 words, which I’ve never been able to do with my original fiction. What I imagined ending at around 3,000 words has grown into a full-length novel, currently over 80,000 words and still being written. I'll be a witness to the fact that this fic isn't just a bunch of melodramatic dialogue and sex sloppily pasted together, but a novel, as much a novel as my original fiction.

So what is it that was making my fanfiction experience so incredible? Why were so many people flocking to my story? After all, this experience was a two-way street; I may have enjoyed writing, but why were these people getting so into my story and fanfiction in general?

I decided to go straight to the source and posed the question within the span of two chapter updates of my story. The answers I got were nothing short of incredible. What was usually a few sentences of praise and urging me to continue writing turned into these long responses talking about every reason from it just being fun to how it vastly improved these people’s lives. One of the most poignant responses I got, though, came with reasons I had never even considered before. One user, an anonymous review who calls him/herself Red wrote:

“I used to be the dumbest kid in English in class and then I came across [fanfiction] five years ago and I have stuck with it ever since. I kept reading it days and nights and I developed an instinct for it. My English vocabulary and grammar suddenly skyrocketed, from the dumbest kid I transformed into one of the brightest kids in English. Everyone was in awe and kept asking me how I did it. It was English that saved me from failing class every year. Thanks to English, I passed the university entrance examination (one of the most important exams that determines whether you get into a good university/college or not in my country) with a nine in English. That nine saved me from the death cliff. Now I'm a freshman in university for law, one of the most prestigious and high quality universities in my city.”

SEE ALSO: Creating Diversity In Creative Writing, One Student At A Time

I found myself reading multiple stories like Red’s, about kids who used fanfiction as a means to improve their English, and with fantastic results. Users told me about how fanfiction helped expand their vocabulary, as well as experiences such as an anonymous user who “learned about the culture…ideas and feelings of the writers. When reading I stopped more than once, to learn about a new tradition, a word, a poem, an author, a new kind of music…It’s a window to new knowledge…” So, with fanfiction, it wasn’t just me who was improving my writing skills.

Despite these apparent benefits, there will always be people who don’t believe in fanfiction, whether it’s because they believe it’s nothing but garbage writing or they’re Anne Rice and George R. R. Martin, who believe that young writers should practice the craft with their own stories. But, I think that those on the fence should really give it a second look. For such a “silly” past time, it sure has affected a lot of people’s lives for the better. After all, isn't every new Sherlock Holmes adaptation really glorified fanfiction? Aren't staff writers on television shows really hired to write well-crafted fanfiction? Plus, fanfiction has led to some surprising success stories for traditional authors. 

As much as no one wants to count “Fifty Shades of Grey” as anything to strive for, E.L. James did sell over 100 million copies of a story that is, essentially, “Twilight” fanfiction with the names changed. The fic began as what’s called an AU (alternate universe) story called “Master of the Universe,” in which it was Bella and Edward in a BDSM relationship.

Another, less direct, example of fanfiction turning into bestselling books actually comes from Cassandra Clare’s Young Adult urban fantasy series, “The Mortal Instruments.” Clare began her writing career as a famous “Harry Potter” fanfiction writer, her claim to fame called “The Draco Trilogy,” a story famous for reinventing Draco into a sultry antihero. “The Mortal Instruments” isn’t as copied as “Fifty Shades of Grey,” but readers can find entire backstories and major lines have been taking from “The Draco Trilogy” and adapted for “The Mortal Instruments.” The YA series has sold over 24 million books.

SEE ALSO: 'The Legend of Korra' Season 4, Episode 1: 'After All These Years'

The debate can rage on, but there is certainly something fascinating about fanfiction. I still believe that fanfiction has a bit longer to go before people stop remembering it for amateur writing, smut, and now “Fifty Shades of Grey.” But I have faith. Because, really, what’s emerging is the idea that fanfiction has the same diversity in quality that traditionally published books have. There are some serious duds, and there are some stories that suck you in and make sure you never forget them.

So, am I embarrassed to admit to writing fanfiction? Well, I’m still embarrassed about the “Pirates of the Caribbean” fanfiction. And you’ll be hard pressed to get me to admit that my first novel only became a thing because I felt unworthy of writing Christopher Nolan's the Joker/Rachel Dawes fanfiction, so I made up my own psychopath and lady cop, but I’ll happily admit to having written that Kuvira fic. It’s some of the best prose I’ve ever written, and it’s the first story in which I’ve been able to maintain a compelling narrative without action. I’m proud to do these characters I love so much justice.

Contact Staff Reporter Carlyn Greenwald here and follow her on Twitter here.



 

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