Don't Stop Writing Fanfiction

by Bethaney Randazzo

“Stop writing fanfiction, and go get published.”
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I often wonder where I would be if a twenty-three-year-old me had listened to that creative writing professor. Would I currently be in a masters in writing program, while teaching first-year college writing, on my way to transforming some of nearly eighty stories I’ve written over the decade since that comment was made into publishable works? Probably not.

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I’ve spent years unpacking that comment—unsolicited, unfounded advice—albeit undoubtedly well-meaning—just ignorant. And in that time I’ve held onto the comment like a splinter lodged just a bit too deeply to pick out, deep enough to still ache from time to time, and I continued to write fanfiction, partly in defiance, and partly in knowing better.

While many writers who are considered “greats,” particularly in the Western Canon, such as William Shakespeare, wrote RPF (real people [fan] fiction) and a multitude of works derivative of Bible stories and Greek and Roman mythology as well as folk and fairy tales, the term fanfiction allegedly first appeared in print in 1939 and has been synonymous with “amateur” writing and storytelling through the ages. Needless to say, the ignorance surrounding it leads many creators and readers to view it and its creators with an absurd amount of uniform, negative bias. I have been writing fanfiction since 2012. And I have heard it all by this point, especially from professors in higher academia. But what they fail to recognize is just how valuable writing fanfiction is to developing writers due to its hidden pedagogical functions. They might also find it shocking how similar fandom looks to a college-level writing course with workshopping.

“You can’t publish fanfiction.”

Maybe not. But a wealth of original work has come about as an extension of or transformation of fanworks. And almost everyone is aware of that fact now, especially when it comes to the Fifty Shades franchise as well as other popular works previously discussed by former Glassworks editors. But that’s not what truly matters here. It’s not being marketable or publishable that makes writing valuable, it’s the act of doing, the process of creating. It’s learning how to develop a meaningful narrative, how to communicate clearly and effectively, and how to impact an audience and move them with words.

Much of the stigma attached to fanfiction stems from how writers use characters from favorite books, shows, and movies that they did not originate. I’ve heard some liken it to “stealing.” As Cat Reed unpacks in their op-ed “Stop Sleeping on Fanfiction,” “The scorn toward the medium is founded in odd logic. Why hate on fanfiction for not being ‘original’ when there is nothing new under the sun? Everything we consume is a redone, retold, reworked version of something else.” Just as all art is derivative, writing is writing is writing. One does not hone their craft without practice, and one does not know how to hone their craft without feedback, encouragement, and guidance. Preteens, teens, and young adults have increasingly become active in fandom, and once they’ve been bitten by the bug, they often try their hand at creating something of their own, whether it be writing, visual art, or both. Fandom provides its participants with a low-stakes environment made up of a diverse community of other writers and creative minds that aids in the development of craft through a built-in, typically voracious audience and fairly regular feedback they might not otherwise receive from an academic or extracurricular environment, making those who write fanfiction more likely to grow more quickly as writers and into stronger storytellers and communicators.

One of my university’s first-year writing core values emphasizes that writing is a social activity. Unfortunately, too many young or novice writers are led to believe that writing is reserved for school or to earn a grade, that it’s a solitary and lonely activity. Not for fun, but a chore. However, the internet has made it possible for vast global communities of fans to form and for people to write and create together. In fact, some fandom participants recently discussed much of what I’m talking about here on the podcast, And That’s What You REALLY Missed.

Beta readers are common in fandom, eager, friendly readers who act as cheerleaders and offer perspective and a critical eye. They don’t offer their services to get anything out of it except the sheer joy of connecting with other writers and the ability to read their stories before anyone else. Writers who use beta readers have the most opportunity to benefit from that love and encouragement and personal, one-to-one feedback in order to look at their writing in new ways and revise more effectively. They sometimes act as mentors in the craft, facilitating radical growth for a writer fortunate enough to have one.

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

Beta and other readers are an excellent source of feedback, both critical and general reader response, making it typical for fanfiction writers to expect at least some commentary on their work before and after publication. A regular feedback loop motivates writers to make writing a habit; more practice with regular feedback produces better, more experienced writers who can approach any writing task with improved confidence and ease.

Because of the low-stakes environment, fanfiction writers are more open to prompts and experimenting with genre, not only Romance versus Sci-Fi versus Fantasy versus Horror, but writing drabbles (flash or microfiction), one shots (short fiction/stories), and longer multi-chaptered stories. As a result, they have a deeper understanding of the rhetorical function and composition elements of a variety of narrative styles through exposure and practice, even if they don’t yet possess the associated vocabulary.

Whether it be writing based on a prompt, for a challenge or event, or otherwise, fandom introduces writers to an environment in which they can play with their favorite characters like Barbies, building rich narratives around them or thrusting them into ridiculous or ordinary but new scenarios. Want your favorites to kiss? You can make them kiss. Didn’t like how that plot point played out in that episode or chapter? You can rewrite it however you like.

“You need to write your own characters in this class.”

Well, yes, sir, and with all due respect, I had and have successfully done just that. However, in order to play with pre-existing characters and worlds, strong analytical and critical thinking skills are necessary. Fanfiction writers become highly skilled in literary analysis, recognizing and reconstructing themes, setting, conflict, tone, characterization, perspective, and point of view. All through reading and studying models and then applying knowledge and practicing skills. Sound familiar? It’s the root of evidence-based best practices in writing instruction.

Because fandom is developed around beloved media and characters from pre-existing works, it is accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds and connects passionate people. Therefore, writing fanfiction often amplifies marginalized voices. It’s no coincidence that a majority of fanfiction features queer characters and queer relationships, explores trauma in many forms, and deals with more taboo topics that tend to be shunned in the mainstream media. Perhaps the way in which it functions around anonymity—at least initially—is the key. The ability to participate transcends the patriarchal white supremacist ableist heteronormative capitalist systems that limit access to education and writing programs and individualized instruction, tutoring or mentorship, for members of certain groups and socioeconomic status. Fandom cannot and does not tear down the walls but instead digs a tunnel underneath into a cozy subterranean den to exist and thrive beneath it, where all are welcome.

It can be a challenge to navigate fandom at times, a seemingly “lawless” world, because of how deviant and divergent it is from typical society and social norms, but at the heart of it is genuine human connection, where strangers who often remain anonymous bring what they have to the table in the most wonderful potluck, eagerly and willingly help and support other members in their pursuit of knowledge, creative endeavors, and overall mental health and wellbeing. Not all remain wholly anonymous, and the fandom in which I’ve been the most active is brimming with educators and students at all levels and in various fields, doctors and healthcare workers, linguists and speech language pathologists, professional artists and social media specialists...just to name a few. The fandom is culture-rich, made up of a majority of queer, neurodivergent women and girls of all ages and educational backgrounds from North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, and what can be learned from existing within it is far greater than what any American classroom can offer. ​

I personally witnessed someone who began writing fanfiction at fourteen grow into an incredibly intuitive writer with a clear, strong voice now in her mid-twenties, possessing skill and experience I only wish I had had at her age.

Well, I might have had a later start at twenty-one when I first discovered fandom and fanfiction, but I too underwent a similar transformation, from voiceless to knowing exactly who I am as a writer and artist. And it could not have happened in a vacuum. It would not have happened if I had stopped writing fanfiction, had given up the community that encouraged me to continue writing, that cheered me on and challenged me, that inspired me and made me see that my voice does matter and that the stories I have to tell are worth telling.

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In the years I’ve spent unpacking that discouraging comment, I’ve made a point to destigmatize writing fanfiction, especially when it comes to my own students. What’s shameful in doing something you love, especially when it’s harming no one? When all there is to gain is pure joy in the act of creating and the opportunity to practice in order to grow and thrive as a writer and storyteller? To form genuine connections with other creative minds in a diverse, supportive community?

It was my venture into fandom and writing fanfiction that reinvigorated my love of storytelling and led me to take a handful of creative writing courses while pursuing my dual bachelor’s degrees in education and English, to take the class taught by that professor who viewed my fanfiction writing as lesser than or unoriginal, that led me to willingly and freely spend a decade consumed by what I love, to reclaim writing as my greatest passion, to remember that being a writer is an integral part of who I am. It was writing fanfiction that brought me back to school after all these years and into a Master of Arts in Writing program, only to find that so many of my peers here have come from similar experiences and backgrounds in writing fanfiction. We’re the professors now, the ones who know better and will continue to encourage the growth and development of our students’ writing skills, regardless of the venue or medium through which they choose to do it.