Let’s face it; most articles about fanfiction invariably end up disparaging the phenomenon rather than celebrating it, so I was delighted to be asked to write an article providing an inside view.

My credentials for this? Well, I’ve been writing fanfiction for about five years, (if I don’t count the one summer back when I was 8 when I wrote a whole episode of The Fall Guy in a spare exercise book). I started out with Airwolf, but these days I mainly play in the Stargate fandom. I’ve written over 100 stories. However, I don’t claim to be an expert, so what follows is simply my personal take on the world of fanfiction…

So, what the heck is fanfiction?

For the uninitiated, I should probably start with a definition -- but that’s really where I run into my first issue, because in recent times the definition has definitely become more convoluted.

Take events over at John Scalzi’s website Whatever. Scalzi announced that he (or rather his agent, whom he credits with all the hard work) had secured permission for a story called Fuzzy Nation, a reboot of Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper. He was accused by one commentator when he announced the project (which he has now sold to TOR) that he had just written what was effectively fanfiction, just like any number of teenage girls in their bedrooms writing about the hotness of Edward Cullen. Scalzi’s reply was (to paraphrase) that yes, he had written fanfic and he’d enjoyed doing it. That led to a rather interesting debate in his comments section on what constitutes fanfiction, what constitutes transformative works, and aren’t all transformative works ultimately fan works of some kind? Personally, I don’t think fanfiction and transformative works are exclusive terms.

The way I see it, any work which is based in some way on existing material is inherently “transformative” (or derivative is the alternate term sometimes used). Published novels of movies, or movies based on novels, or TV shows based on movies, sequels to classic novels and so on, undoubtedly belong in the “professional” category of transformative works. Fan works, whether they are stories, art or videos based on a TV show, novel, game, and so on, belong in an “amateur” category.

For me, the difference between amateur and professional transformative works comes down to the two Ps: permission and payment. Professional transformative works are usually created with the full knowledge and permission of the copyright owner and for commercial use. Amateur works are usually not.

Hence, my definition of fanfiction is very much: “Fiction written for non-commercial use, based on characters and/or worlds originally created by somebody else, usually without permission but not always.” (Keep this in mind as there will be a test later).
 
That’s not to say things can’t move between the amateur transformative work category and the professional (Scalzi’s Fuzzy Nation clearly made the transition from a fan work to a professionally authorized and soon-to-be published novel), which brings me neatly onto the prickly subject of quality...

All fanfiction is Bad, right?

Before I fall foul of an urban slang definition where Bad means Good, in this context I mean Bad as in, well, Bad.

And the answer is: no. Not all fanfiction is Bad. Actually, some fanfiction is very good.

I admit this particular assumption is definitely my biggest irritation as a fanfic author, and one which is shared with other fanfic authors to whom I asked the question “What’s your biggest irritation” before setting out on this article. People seem to assume all fanfic is poorly written crap thought up by teenage girls crushing on Edward Cullen. I would say this is namely because people keep writing about how all fanfic is poorly written crap thought up by teenage girls crushing on Edward Cullen. Weirdly, by comparison, fanvids and fanart don’t seem to generate the same amount of derision or bad press.

Of course, you may point out, I write fanfic so I would say that, wouldn’t I? Well, yeah. However, as biased as I may be, let me make the point that the world of fanfiction is pretty much like that of published fiction.

For every story you buy in a bookstore that you absolutely loathe and can’t understand how it ever got published, there’s another which you passionately adore, recommend to all your friends, and reread so many times that the pages become in imminent danger of disintegrating.

So, with fanfiction, for every story on the internet that you absolutely loathe and can’t understand how someone had the temerity to actually post it, there’s another which you passionately adore, recommend to all your friends and print out multiple copies just in case it disappears from cyberspace sometime in the future.

I will concede that officially published works should afford the reader some kind of guarantee on quality of grammar, story-telling and characterization given they have to meet the exacting standards of a publisher -- although, let’s be honest: not always. And yes, this kind of quality guarantee does not exist for fanfiction. It’s very much ‘enter at your own risk’ and there is undoubtedly a lot of fanfic which is bad.

Indeed, probably one of the reasons why fanfic has a poor reputation to some degree is that finding the good stuff can be something of a treasure hunt. I can appreciate someone trying fanfic and, having read their third or fourth ‘bad’ story, giving up and labeling it all as such. Even fanfic recommendation sites (there is usually one around for each fandom) are a bit hit and miss because one person’s cup of tea is another’s poison.
Fanfiction is writing, and writing -- like any other art form -- is a subjective experience.

So, why is the quality so variable?

Everybody can do it.

Fanfiction is a very large sandbox wherein everybody can play – from the 13-year old writing about their favorite character in a novel, to the fan who wants to continue a cancelled TV series, to the aspiring writer wanting to practice their craft, to professional writers just wanting to let loose and have fun.

All you need is some fannish obsession, any kind of word-processing program, an internet connection and somewhere to post, whether a fanfic archive site, a livejournal/dreamwidth account, a blog or (for the truly dedicated) your own website.

Personally, I wouldn’t want the inclusivity of fanfiction to change. Yes, it is annoying having to separate out the chaff a reader, but I like that everybody can participate; even the much-maligned Twilight-obsessed teenager.
 
Because seriously; what’s so wrong with a teenager writing about the hotness of Edward Cullen? It shows they’ve been inspired by something and that they’re being creative. Admittedly, their efforts might result in many stories where they’re the heroine, and they may not have much of a plot beyond Edward noticing their fantastic awesomeness and dumping Bella like a sack of potatoes, but in the overall scheme of things it’s a fairly harmless fantasy.

Do I particularly want to read it? No.

Do I think anyone has the right to tell them not to write it? No. Well, except the owner of the original material, who could request for it all to be taken off the web.

Copyright does matter.

There is no way around the fact that when writing fanfiction, you’re using someone else’s characters or world (or both), usually without their permission. But let me be clear about a common misperception: fanfiction is not plagiarism whereby the original story is reproduced with a different author name assigned to it. As stated already, fanfiction is transformative: it creates something new using elements of the original source material.

I’ll leave the legal debate to others but for me copyright does exist and I personally don’t believe that when someone produces something -- whether a movie, a novel or a piece of art -- that they then should lose all control over any transformative work beyond that. Everybody has to make a living and the original creator deserves recompense when their ideas are used to make money, and they are definitely entitled to an acknowledgement for the original work even when there is no money involved, as in fanfiction.

I can also appreciate that for many, the idea of someone else playing with the characters and worlds they have spent so much time and effort building is an anathema. As my fellow fanfic author, Denise, put it, sometimes in fanfiction “… they [original creators] are going to see people tearing a character apart and they're going to see stuff they don't like being done to their characters. They're going to see some plot twist that they absolutely loved being 'fixed' by fans.” And in these situations, it is perhaps no wonder that original creators become possessive and protective of their toys. If someone has stated they don’t wish fanfiction to be written (like Robin Hobb has done, for example), most fans will comply -- after all, they are fundamentally fans. Most fanfiction sites have exclusion lists for those writers who have explicitly requested that no fanfiction be published based on their work.

I have to admit though that I would personally be incredibly flattered if someone wrote fanfiction of an original work of mine (as it is I do have a couple of people who’ve written fanfiction of my fanfiction). Ultimately, there is no competition between a fanfic writer and the original. It’s highly unlikely that even published on a global internet, any single piece of fanfiction will reach the same volume of audience as a TV show, movie or internationally renowned novel, or that a fanfic author will achieve any level of official recognition for their work over and above that received by the creator for the original material.

It’s also highly unlikely that someone reading a bad piece of fanfiction would equate that with the quality of the original product. By contrast, a good piece of fanfiction can spur readers to invest in the original material. I’m quite proud of the fact that a few of my Airwolf readers followed me to Stargate just because they liked my writing, and ended up as fans of Stargate, buying DVDs and other official merchandise.

While I, and others that I’ve asked, can’t see it being legitimized completely across the board, the trend suggests that many TV producers, movie studios, publishing houses and writers are beginning to acknowledge fanfiction as a sign of an active and vibrant fandom, and recognizing that it brings benefits of free marketing and of creating and maintaining interest between official product releases. It’s certainly recognised academically as a cultural phenomenon.

There’s also a move by some writers -- such as Mercedes Lackey and Jim Butcher -- to allow fanfiction, issuing a license under the Creative Commons umbrella. So while fanfiction is usually written without the permission of the original creator, that is slowly changing. Most famously, J. K. Rowling issued a statement through her literacy agency that stated “[her] reaction is that she is very flattered by the fact there is such great interest in her Harry Potter series and that people take the time to write their own stories.” Rowling went on to request that the work remained non-commercial and free of smut, given Harry Potter was aimed at a children’s audience.

Ah, smut…

Because it’s all sex, romance, and more sex, isn’t it?

The urban myth is that fanfiction really took off when Star Trek fans decided to write stories with Kirk realizing his one true love was actually Mr. Spock. Since then fanfiction has gained a reputation for being about sex, with any and all characters pairing up in infinite combinations within fandoms, across fandoms, regardless of canonical sexuality likes and dislikes.

Well, romance is the best selling genre of paperback fiction, and many published novels outside of the romance genre will have some element of romance included, so why should fanfiction be any different? That said, it’s not all sex, romance and people hooking up in bizarre combinations, although there is a lot of that.

A LOT.

While many people watch a TV show or read a book for the great action sequences, space battles, alien conflicts or deep political and social commentary on mores, many other people do so because they want to read or watch the relationships between the characters -- whether that’s a friendship or something more.

In the case of TV shows, the Fear of the Moonlighting Curse with which most are afflicted ensures that the lead characters will invariably not get together during the course of the show -- or if they do, they are immediately torn apart again by some contrivance. Supporters of Sam/Jack in Stargate SG-1 (myself included) have been waiting over ten years and through two straight-to-DVD movies for the two characters to actually enjoy a non-alternate universe, non-alien induced, non-hallucinatory/dream, non-time loop reset kiss despite indications that the two characters did actually get together.

Fanfiction provides a forum where fans can explore the relationships between the characters, hook up whoever they want to and have the happy ending for the characters that they’ve long wanted to see. So, yes; a lot of fanfiction sits in the romance genre.

And a fair bit of it sits in the erotica genre. PWP is fairly prolific and some of it does smack of serious implausibility (sex when hypothermic and with a broken pelvis? Please.), but so too does a lot of published erotica. It also isn’t completely accurate to suggest that everything in PWP fanfic is self-insertion fantasy, anymore than it would be accurate to suggest published erotica authors only write about their own fantasies. As a romance writer once said to a writing class I attended, the reader shouldn’t confuse the character’s desires with the author’s.

For those seeking friendship-only gen fics or any genre other than slash, femslash and ship, there are fanfics out there, including AU and…

What’s that? You don’t understand the lingo?