Y'all, I think fanfiction (and fanfic authors) deserves a little more credit. True, some of it (even a lot of it) is . . . decidedly not great. But you could say the same thing about published literature, even books published by established, traditional presses. But while the great published books and authors tend to get noticed and celebrated, great fanfiction and fanfic authors — which do exist; I've read quite a few of them — get looked down on because they're not original fiction. And I think that's a shame. So, since this month's February is Fantasy Month theme is fandoms, I think it's a great time to share some reasons why we should give fanfic and fanfic authors quite a bit more credit.

Giving Fanfic Some Credit

1. Fanfiction brings new people into fandoms and keeps them there. You know why I read Harry Potter (or, the first four books, anyway)? There were a lot of reasons, but one of those was the fanfic I kept running into and enjoying. You know why I stayed a Star Wars fan in the years between when I first discovered the stories and when the new movies came out (and even to this day)? Fanfic, both in traditional narrative form and in the form of text-based roleplaying games into which people put insane amounts of time and effort. (Caleb, Matthew/Dmitri, I'm looking at you. Not that you're probably reading this, but if you are, hi. I've read actual novels with less drama, less emotion, less careful craft than the stories you created.) Sure, a fan who comes into a fandom by way of fanfiction may come in knowing spoilers — but as I said not too long ago, depending on the stories, that may not be as bad a thing as we often act like it is.
2. Fanfiction helps writers (of all experience levels) grow their skills. There's the obvious way in which is true — writing more is the best way to get better at writing, whether what you're writing is a totally original fantasy epic or a Star Wars fanfic showing the climax of Return of the Jedi from the perspective of Clone Trooper #3054. More than just that, though, fanfiction can allow a writer to really focus on specific aspects of wordcraft, especially characterization and writing voice/style. In that story about Clone Trooper #3054, sure, the plot and world are already built for you; all you have to do is make sure what you write is consistent with what's established. But that allows you, forces you even, to put more thought and energy into characterization. How do you really show who Clone Trooper #3054 is in this scene? How do you really get readers into his head and make them feel what he feels? Or maybe you're writing about an original character and story, but you're using the world and style of an established author. Consciously or unconsciously, in trying to imitate that author's style, you're going to be analyzing it and figuring out its strengths and all the little pieces that make it unique, and your own style will probably improve from the experience.
3. On a related note, fanfiction helps writers think of the "what if?" Arguably one of the most valuable non-technical writing skills you can have, especially as a speculative fiction writer, is the ability to ask the question "What if?" well. Almost every story starts with a "What if?" What if there were fae and wizards hiding among us in real life? What if you jumped into a swimming pool and came out in another world? What if Rapunzel was deaf and stuck in a clock tower? That's true of fanfiction as well, and asking and exploring the what-ifs of an established story (What if Petunia had chosen to love and care for Harry? What if the Jedi had made Anakin a creche master instead of sending him off to fight?), again, allows you to do it better in original stories too.
   
4. Sometimes, the fanfic is better than the original story. A lot of the best fanfics, in my opinion, are the ones where the what if the author pursues is fixing something that detracts from the original, whether that's the stupid choices of characters who are canonically supposed to be wise but whose actions are anything but or adding complexity to characters who didn't get much in the original tale and deserved more. Or sometimes they don't fix any actual issues but they're genuinely better written and more enjoyable than the original. These authors said, this story is good, but it could be even better, and we're going to make that better version exist. And we should appreciate that more than we probably do at the moment.
5. Fanfic is a labor of love made to celebrate something well-loved. Look, at the end of the day, very few writers of fanfic are getting a lot of tangible reward out of what they're writing. They're improving their skills, they may be getting some compliments and likes, but what they're making — they can't make money off it. They won't get much recognition for it outside of fan communities. But many, many still choose to put just as much time and effort and energy into it as writers of original fiction put into their stories. And they do it to celebrate stories and characters they love — even if they're writing a story that "fixes" the original, you don't write fanfic for a story and fandom you hate. You do it because you care about it very much indeed. And if that kind of labor of love isn't commendable, I don't know what is.

Now, it's entirely possible that I'm preaching to the choir here, since most of the people who read my blog are the kind who probably genuinely appreciate good fanfic and may have even written some themselves. (In fact, I know some of my regular readers have written fanfiction that I've very enthusiastically enjoyed.) But I hope that even if you already love fanfiction, I've given you a new insight or two into why it should be appreciated.

So, what are your thoughts on fanfic? Are there any fanfics you like better than the original story? What's your favorite fanfiction you've read? Have you written any yourself? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!