Fanfiction: The Controversy And The Love Story

bookmoviefanfiction2Few topics inspire such hot debate among writers as fanfiction. If you don’t know, fanfiction is the practice of writing stories starring characters from other media: television shows, movies, comic books, novels, etc. As a fanfiction reader (and erstwhile writer), I wanted to blog about this topic and explore both its controversies and its appeal.

The Controversies

Fanfiction inspires several controversies from different factions. First, there’s the whole copyright issue. These aren’t your characters, so how can you get away with writing about them? Well, generally, fanfiction is posted for free online and no one makes any profit from it. Almost all pieces of fanfiction are accompanied by disclaimers: “Not mine,” “no profit is being made,” etc. Authors and creators vary in their responses to fanfiction: some enjoy that it exists, and some despise it. Occasionally they put out “cease and desist” letters, requesting takedowns… but these reactions are the exceptions, not the rule.

Another area of the controversy comes when authors of popular fanfiction works change those works in either major or minor ways, then publish them for profit. It’s no secret that E.L James’s 50 Shades Of Grey began as a Twilight fanfiction piece called Master Of The Universe – which disappointingly has nothing to do with He-Man. Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments is said to bear many resemblances to her Harry Potter fanfiction The Draco Trilogy, which I haven’t read and can neither confirm nor deny, but the accusations are running rife online. So at what point does a fanfiction become original? That line, the point where a derivative work is considered no longer derivative, is hotly debated.

The third and final controvery, and the one wherein I am most personally invested, is the dismissal of fanfiction as a “lesser-than” form of writing. Critics treat the writers of fanfiction as if they are inferior to “real” writers, scoffing at their writing skills and the validity of their work. I watched a writer driven off a Facebook group in shame by the flaming they received about writing fanfiction, and it broke my heart. Even by those who don’t oppose fanfiction or its writers, it’s often treated as a stepping-stone to “real” writing, rather than a craft in and of itself. But for every writer that begins writing fanfiction and eventually stops writing it, there are many others who never stop, and that’s wonderful. You can use fanfiction as a stepping stone if you want, but there’s nothing wrong with writing fanfiction for the sheer joy of writing fanfiction.

Aja Romano wrote a beautiful, passionate, articulate blog post defending fanfiction, and rather than rehash those ideas, I’m just going to recommend you go read the post. (Seriously, go read it. It’s brilliant.) Instead, I want to speak about my own personal love affair with fanfiction, and why I will always hold a special place in my heart for the “derivative.”

The Love Story

I first started writing fanfiction before it had a name. These were the “golden” pre-internet days, when if you had an obsession, you pretty much were on your own about it unless you were lucky enough to have friends with the same obsessions. Alone with my confused adolescent hormones, I began writing Han and Leia fanfiction. At first, they were short hand-written scenes, painfully mawkish, sweet enough to be saccharine, mixed in with a healthy dose of cliché. Writing them, though, was immensely satisfying. I could explore all the feelings I didn’t understand through these characters I’d grown to love. As time progressed, my scenes became longer, stretching to 10 or 15 pages, often with plot, but more often with sex. The sex was terribly written, at first. I hadn’t read enough (or experienced enough!) to know what I was doing, and I was shy around terminology and specifics. Then, I became bolder, more talented, and my stories became… okay, they still weren’t great. But I enjoyed writing them!

I kept all these stories tri-folded like letters, each one labeled as if it were homework: “Math Set 98,” “Biology Set 105,” etc. Each subject had its own theme and characters, finally culminating in Chemistry sets, where I began exploring the kinky side of sex with Ms. Blake Corothers and Patrick I-Forget-His-Name, who eventually became the stars in my first romance novel. (Not Purely Professional.) I still wrote fanfiction, but I also wrote about my own characters.

sets
Look at them all!

My “sets” gained a significant following among my friends. The collection with its green rubber band (the shredded remnants of which are visible in the picture above) went around through my entire social circle, a naughty secret in my Catholic high school.

With the internet came a whole new world. I first discovered X-Files fanfiction when I was in college, completely floored that these stories I’d written had a name and I wasn’t alone in writing them. I spent hours reading the best Mulder/Scully smut on The Gossamer Project. I wrote my own, just one piece, which is archived on the internet under a pseudonym. (I’m not telling – and for good reason, too. It’s decidedly mediocre.)

In the intervening years, I’ve read a lot of fanfiction, going through periods of time where I’ll blow through entire archives of a particular show. I’ve also recently discovered Podfics, delightful audiobook-style fanfics read by talented voices, and they’ve been keeping me company on my long commute to work.

I’m a Real Adult With Many Important Things To Do. I’m an erotic romance author under contract to be published. I’m a high school English teacher. I should “know better,” right? I should have “standards?” I shouldn’t read fanfiction when there are so many excellent original books to read? Well, you know what?

scully_idontcare

Because they serve different purposes. Sometimes I don’t want to invest in character development; I want to spend time with characters I already know. The ‘net is full of excellent fanfiction authors, authors who can capture character mannerisms and actions to the degree that I can forget it’s not canon. When I find those authors, I read the hell out of them. And if their work is published somewhere? I go and buy it.

Fanfiction isn’t a replacement for other types of reading. It’s a comfortable place where I can slip off my metaphorical shoes and spend time with familiar faces in familiar worlds. If it weren’t for fanfiction, I might never have developed the courage to start writing sex scenes, and who knows where I’d be now?

I do have my preferences, and I definitely have my limits. I don’t read “RPF,” or “Real People Fanfiction,” where authors write about the actors rather than their characters. For me, that crosses a line of personal privacy that makes me uncomfortable; it’s like people assuming I have a dungeon in my basement because I write BDSM. (Do I? Don’t I? That’s beside the point.) But regular fanfiction? If I like the characters, and I like the author, I’m sure as hell going to read the story. And if people want to judge me for that, well, I’ve certainly been judged for a lot less.

hatersgonnahate

So how about you, readers? Do you read or write fanfiction? Leave me a comment!

12 thoughts on “Fanfiction: The Controversy And The Love Story


  1. thanks for the post 🙂 any more posts about kinky sex coming up anytime soon, Elia?


  2. Well I hope it turns out to be a sexy one – but whatever you want is good with me. I’m just so horny lately thinking about that guy!


  3. Don’t feel required to take the advice of random internet people, but girl? You need to ask him out. You’ve been talking about him on Tumblr and Twitter since… what, May? Any answer is better than the indecision of not knowing.

    Or, you know, don’t. Because I’m just someone on the internet… who wants you to be happy!


  4. such good advice, Elia! thank you!!! 🙂 I want to be happy too – I’m just not sure how to go about asking him yet, but I’ll figure it out 🙂


  5. also, I”m trying to get up the courage hehe 🙂 I don’t want to be too overwhelming or say anything wrong, because I really really really want him to say yes! 😉


  6. also, I”m trying to get up the courage hehe 🙂 I don’t want to be too overwhelming or say anything wrong, because I really really really want him to say yes! 😉 I’ve been into him for so long, I guess I’m just nervous lol and working on my self-confidence with this whole asking out business. But you’re right, I should hurry up and just do it 🙂 Is asking him for coffee a good place to start?


    1. Absolutely!

      And just remember, you’re awesome no matter what. Your awesomeness is independent of whatever he might say or do!
      Good luck!


      1. Thanks for the encouragement, I needed it. I’ve been having feelings for this guy for 2 1/2 years, so my heart is kind of vulnerable at this point. I just have to work on overcoming my fears and being sensitive to the right timing about when to approach him. I would hate to do anything to upset him because I care about him so deeply and don’t want him to feel uncomfortable. Thanks for the good luck wishes, I appreciate it, since I need the positive encouragement. And thanks for the second opinion on asking him out for coffee. the hard part for me is knowing when to catch him at the right time, when he’s not busy and it’s the right place. I’m just trying to figure out what would be the good location/timing where we’d both be most relaxed and comfortable. I’m thinking of just asking him for coffee to talk about some of our common interests, and see where it goes from there. And thanks again so much for wishing me good luck with my guy and telling me I’m awesome. It’s hard to feel sometimes; one of my main weaknesses is self-doubt and I’ve been dealing with a lot of loneliness lately. I just want so much to be able to make this guy happy, be someone he enjoys being around. I want him to know that he’s THE one I fantasize about when I cum, that he’s had my heart for many many moons and no one else has even come close. Being able to make him happy, please him in every way, would bring me the greatest fulfillment in the world. I’ve never been in love with anyone as much as him. I’m doing my best to not get my hopes up about where things could possibly go in the future, but the greatest thing I could hope for is that he cares for me too and wants to make love to me . . . even one night of passionately love-making with him would be so incredibly worth it. I’d be a damn lucky girl . . . .he drives me crazy with his sexy body, and mind. and heart. He’s fucking spectacular.
        Sorry if I rambled on too long – it just helps to think things through when I write it down 🙂 Thanks again Elia for taking the time to give relationships advice which I desperately need 🙂 Here’s to hoping my dreams come true, eventually 🙂


  7. I’m trying to work on overcoming my fears and just think positive about the whole thing. There’s always a chance my dreams could come true 🙂


  8. I hope so much he thinks I”m awesome too . . . i just want him to care about me even a little . . .. even one time of being with him would mean so much to me, if that was all i could have . . .

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.