To be honest I'm surprised this topic hasn't come up before.
So: who writes fanfiction? Why - or why not? What sorts of things do you write fanfiction of?
For me fanfiction presents a world I can slip right into at whatever junction I feel like and play around with to tell a story for the sake of my own enjoyment in telling it. There's no worldbuilding, very little character building, and I can manipulate characters who I like or dislike however I want to (generally I ignore the characters I dislike, or use them as the odd obstacle, and torture the characters I like). It's about writing something that isn't structured, that goes down the routes I want to take it, without a predetermined overarching plot or character arc. I can skip forward with a few sentences to explain what has happened in between without feeling guilty for not writing it properly, and there's no pressure to entertain anyone except myself.
I find it easiest to write fanfiction of TV series. I've done fanfic for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the most recent BBC Robin Hood, and a couple of other things. Regarding the recent BBC Merlin, I wrote it out of frustration with how the writers were just writing it episodically and not furthering the plot much. I wanted Arthur to find out Merlin had magic and have to decide whether to protect him or hand him over to Uther, because that was more exciting, more tense, than what was really happening (assassination attempts which Merlin constantly foils because every fricking person underestimates him, but nobody ever works out or sees that he has magic, argh!)
Now, I could claim that fanfiction is also about practicing the art of writing, getting things like dialogue, plotting, description etc right. And I'm sure that's true for some people. I don't use it like that. I don't try to concentrate on areas where I am failing when I write fanfiction. For me, writing fanfic is self-indulgence in satisfying my own desires for the direction a story should go in - sometimes with a little push from a character who is usually called Faye, who is basically an author-insert; I don't claim any merit for my fanfiction, because it is written with one purpose in mind: to entertain myself. I don't share it (well, there was one thing a LONG time ago, but I don't share any more). It's just for me.
Am I the only one? What other reasons do people write fanfic for? Do you share it? Alternatively, do you dislike fanfiction? Are you happy reading it but prefer not to write it? Or do you, like me, only rarely read it but happy write it whenever you feel in the mood for it?
So: who writes fanfiction? Why - or why not? What sorts of things do you write fanfiction of?
For me fanfiction presents a world I can slip right into at whatever junction I feel like and play around with to tell a story for the sake of my own enjoyment in telling it. There's no worldbuilding, very little character building, and I can manipulate characters who I like or dislike however I want to (generally I ignore the characters I dislike, or use them as the odd obstacle, and torture the characters I like). It's about writing something that isn't structured, that goes down the routes I want to take it, without a predetermined overarching plot or character arc. I can skip forward with a few sentences to explain what has happened in between without feeling guilty for not writing it properly, and there's no pressure to entertain anyone except myself.
I find it easiest to write fanfiction of TV series. I've done fanfic for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the most recent BBC Robin Hood, and a couple of other things. Regarding the recent BBC Merlin, I wrote it out of frustration with how the writers were just writing it episodically and not furthering the plot much. I wanted Arthur to find out Merlin had magic and have to decide whether to protect him or hand him over to Uther, because that was more exciting, more tense, than what was really happening (assassination attempts which Merlin constantly foils because every fricking person underestimates him, but nobody ever works out or sees that he has magic, argh!)
Now, I could claim that fanfiction is also about practicing the art of writing, getting things like dialogue, plotting, description etc right. And I'm sure that's true for some people. I don't use it like that. I don't try to concentrate on areas where I am failing when I write fanfiction. For me, writing fanfic is self-indulgence in satisfying my own desires for the direction a story should go in - sometimes with a little push from a character who is usually called Faye, who is basically an author-insert; I don't claim any merit for my fanfiction, because it is written with one purpose in mind: to entertain myself. I don't share it (well, there was one thing a LONG time ago, but I don't share any more). It's just for me.
Am I the only one? What other reasons do people write fanfic for? Do you share it? Alternatively, do you dislike fanfiction? Are you happy reading it but prefer not to write it? Or do you, like me, only rarely read it but happy write it whenever you feel in the mood for it?