Fanfiction as something to both read and write lives in a unique grey area. Some look down on fanfiction and think of it as lesser, yet some fanfics can become a masterpiece that is arguably as good or better than the original source material. Some fanfics, with rewrites, even end up becoming popular traditionally published books. Some people even love their favorite fanfics enough to learn how to bind a physical copy for themselves (as fanfic can’t legally be sold or purchased) just to be able to have it forever.
Fanfiction can be found for virtually any fandom (or a combination of) you can imagine, featuring a vast variety of genres and level of deviation from the original source material. If you’ve ever read a book, or watched a popular movie and wondered “what if?” then its possible that someone else has pondered the same idea and decided to write about it, or maybe you’re the first and can write it yourself so the next person to question it can find it to read.
Have you ever read fanfiction?
If so, what fandoms do you read? And what are some of the things you like in a fanfic?
And have you ever tried writing fanfiction?
Oh wow I’ve written and read soooo many fanfics back in the days. Was probably 12-15 even
I know I tried writing one about Brad? from the Vamps, Luke from 5sos, magcon boys probably and the Janoskian twins, read the same + more, Jon Snow was a huuuuge phase aaand (this might sound weird) but Seamus from hp
Still have that reading list on wp lool
What can I say, my moon is in Pisces I just want to escape the reality all the time and live those dreams
I’m at work so I get random thoughts and need to come back to comment
I reeeeeallllly want to read that one famous HP fanfic about Marauders but it’s sooo long
I used to read a lot of fanfic when I was 12-14ish, but I haven’t in the last couple of years. If I’m being honest, I’m so particular about character portrayals that I’ve stayed away from it the last few years. I still keep up with a to-read list on ao3 that I get from people I follow or rec lists for when I want to reach for a fanfic, but for the most part I prefer rereading the source material.
I went to go check because I was curious, my list seems mostly to consist of Realm of the Elderlings and the Locked Tomb fanfic
I want to get into writing it mostly to flex my writing muscle again; original fic is a lot more intimidating, because you have to create the world and characters yourself. I like that in writing fanfiction you can figure out what questions you can explore using the existing world and set of characters. I’ve written down a few ideas of what I want to write about, and most of them start with ‘i think x thing about y character is really cool’. Or ‘x show got cancelled but I think what they were setting up with y character had a lot of potential’.
I only started actually started reading fanfiction this year. (like December 31st) For a long time told myself I had no interest in reading or writing fanfiction. Nothing against those that did, but I wasn’t into it myself. But the moment I started reading it, I was hooked and it’s been a snowball effect from there.
I’ve only read Harry Potter fanfics so far (still not sure how I feel about stepping into other fandoms) and they’ve all been Draco/Hermione fanfics. (I’ve saved a couple non-dramione ones, but I haven’t gotten that far yet)
I’ve discovered that I really like longer fics. My top favorite is even just over 650k words. I also really seem to like fics where it’s a full rewrite from canon, or canon divergent part way through the main trio’s time at hogwarts. And I absolutely love fics where the slytherins get their chance to shine and have that redemption (but I know part of that’s just the slytherin in me)
I’ve looked into reading that one too. I just haven’t gotten myself to read it yet. I’m too much of a dramione girl.
Though, I did read a time travel fic where Draco and Hermione had to go back in time to the marauders era to prevent everything that happens later on. Which I absolutely loved.
Each week we would learn about a different technology and how it was used to create alternative/activist media - we would also look at what was happening socially/politically at the time the tech of the week was used and how alternative media played into that
The week we had the fanfiction lecture was focused on the internet but we talked about the origins of fanfiction, what purposes it can serve, and why it’s important
Also, recently I even started working on writing a Harry Potter fanfic myself sort of combining details from both the books and the movies for the canon information since it diverges from canon at the end of Prisoner of Azkaban.
the idea for the fic
I was watching prisoner of Azkaban (my fave of the movies) and had the idea that when Harry and Hermione use the time turner and encounter professor lupin as a werewolf, either of them very easily could’ve gotten extremely hurt.
So I decided to play around with the idea of what if Hermione was bitten, making her a werewolf too and how things could’ve gone completely different later on
Yes, I have read some fanfiction. Mainly about Star Wars: The Old Republic and RWBY fanfictions. I didn’t really care for fanfiction when I was younger. I didn’t start reading it until my early 20’s. It’s a different way at looking at the story in a different lighting. For instance, the RWBY fanfiction was about Ruby and Mercury becoming a couple. They are enemies in the show. The War Fanfictions follow the storylines for the different classes in the MMO game. I haven’t written any fanfiction but I really want to write my own Star Wars fanfiction based on the game as well.
So, I’ve still only written like a little over 4 chapters of this fanfic so far, but I do still love the vision I have of how parts of the rest of it will go. Plus, as a bonus, it also helps provide some inspiration for the novel I’m trying to write.
@benitz786 can probably give a better idea of how good any of it is so far though, she’s the only person who’s read any of it
