Every writer has a different attitude toward fanfiction. Some authors encourage it, some are indifferent, and some think that fanfiction desecrates the original works, especially when the fan stories contain mature content. Whatever your own moral take is, any writer can learn something great from this amateur community’s positive approach to the craft.

Fanfiction authors shine because of their pure desire to entertain. They write because they love to tell stories, not because they want to get published or pump themselves full of literary self-importance. They thrive on direct feedback from their audience. All writers want people to respond to their work, of course, but it’s easy to get disconnected from readers when you have to get through an agent, editor, and publisher. When you go through a traditional publishing cycle, it’s also a lot harder for readers to reach you directly.

Fanfiction writers, though, are immediately connected to their readers, and this changes the game. They are more sensitive and responsive to the wants of their readers, and the more popular writers get almost immediate feedback when they post something new. Just as a motorcyclist can feel “one with the road,” fanfiction writers are one with their readers. It motivates them to write their very best for the people who are waiting for their next installment.

Many fanfiction authors produce in volume, regularly; their work ethic is better than many professional writers’ habits. A lot of this is due to courage, which these amateur writers have in abundance. They will post what they write in the spirit of learning, even if it is hardly a masterpiece. You will not find a group more fearlessly devoted toward improving their chops. Fanfiction authors don’t take their writing so seriously that they’re going to throw themselves off a building if they produce a bad work or get “flamed.”

They also love the process of writing. You will hear a lot of writers complain about how much they hate to write, but many fanfiction writers genuinely love the use of language. Their goal is to write the best they can, for its own sake, which results in an intense growing and learning curve — and very enjoyable stories for the readers. For that reason, readers have rated some fan works as better than the parent works.

But writers of original material should not feel threatened by fanfiction. Comparing the two is misleading, and authors who write both fan and original stories will agree that they require different skills. Writing good fan stories is far easier when the characters and world building are already done for you; that initial design work makes up more than half the labor of writing a story. Commercially-published authors also have many restrictions that fan writers don’t have to worry about, such as story length, genre obligations, and editors to answer to. Fanfiction authors are free to concentrate only on their stories. They are able to do whatever it takes to get the emotional response they want from their readers because they don’t have to worry about anything else.

Every writer should take note of the fanfiction culture’s enthusiasm for storytelling and writing. With too many authors, the focus is on “getting published” or “staying published,” sometimes to the detriment of the work. Authors are very businesslike these days, even the beginners, and their awareness of the publishing cycle sometimes tempts them to sabotage their own clear vision. Writers who feel feel boxed in should consider adapting the fanfiction community’s attitude of freedom, creativity, support, and sheer love of storytelling.

Resident writing teacher and editor for Adele Journal, a website dedicated to promoting imaginative, story-based adult entertainment. We plan to post many more articles like this one, and you can join our site update list here: http://www.adelejournal.com/get-updates

[tags]writing, fanfiction, fan fiction[/tags]