There is a lot of prejudice about fanfiction. Is it just a load of 12 year olds trying to write really bad stories about their favourite characters? Or is it just a minefield packed with smut? And I would harbour the question to those people who have these prejudices towards fanfiction: have you ever read any fanfiction? Have you ever gone through the long slog of trying to find the perfect fanfiction for your heart’s desires? If not, then I don’t think you have enough expertise in the field to comment.
I have been in the mine field. I have seen the smut, and the fluff, and the random BS stories you find on those sites, and I have seen it all. There are many things concerning fanfiction that I wish I could erase from my memory. Nevertheless, because of those experiences, and those haunting images and words, I have become a better reader and writer because of it.
There is a lot more to the world of fanfiction than people think, and those that brush it off as a source of smut and endless pipe dreams, then I will tell them that they are wrong. Fanfiction doesn’t just revolve around smut. There is so much more to it than that. Don’t get me wrong, you are bound to stumble across it, and sometimes, depending on the fandom, it is inescapable. But that is where your new skill as a reader will come into play.
As a reader of fanfiction, you learn to filter out what kinds of stories you want to read, what ones take your fancy and what ones are not worth your time. Most of this comes down to studying the summary. The summary of a story will tell you a lot about what kind of writer you are about to start reading, and sometimes they will offer a mature content warning to give you an idea as to how smutty their work is going to be. You have to decide for yourself what kind of mood you are in.
Do you want to read that kind of thing? Or are you looking for something more Vanilla?
It is up to you. There are hundreds upon thousands of fanfiction stories out there, all to suit your interests. For me, I always look for a specific type of fanfiction. There has to be an element of slow burn romance, and I always love it when the writer perfectly builds up the tension between the characters. These things are what make good writers, and I believe is what makes them better than professional writers.
I mean, we’ve all seen the success of Ali Hazelwood’s fanfiction story. Now known to you as The Love Hypothesis.
Her story shows the world that fanfiction isn’t as sick and twisted as many have believed it to be. Sometimes, it can be perfectly well balanced, with a brilliant story and some of the sweetest love stories you will ever come across. There is something to be said about the love story of characters we have already gotten to know through various medium, replaced into a new story that takes their love in a different direction. They will always end up together, you know the ending, and yet there is something always so enticing about the journey.
After all, that’s what fanfiction fans live for. The journey. We don’t care about the end result; we strive off of the journey. And the love that can stem from it.
I don’t care what others will say about me when I admit to my love of fanfiction. It is who I am, and it is a part of how I got to where I am. Fanfiction will always be a major part of my journey and will continue to be as I grown and mature as a writer.
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