Not too long ago, I had the unfortunate privilege to stumble upon a rather interesting take in the form of a Twitter thread. I won’t link it, mostly because I now have the person blocked, but also because I refuse to further spread their rhetoric. But in general, the gist of the thread was that writers shouldn’t start writing by writing fanfiction and that when they do, it’s disheartening.
I personally refused to take place in the metaphorical dogpile that proceeded to occur, as countless individuals both published and not took part in calling them out. Which, I’m assuming was the point, again, why I won’t link their account. But regardless I feel as though this is something that should be talked about.
Moving away from the obvious argument that it detracts from the original work and that it could be considered illegal, which thanks to the work of organizations like The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), the legalities are found to be less of an issue in this day and age. And yes, I was around for the disclaimers written out in notes on Fanfiction.net promising that they weren’t receiving monetary compensation for their work, so I recognize that this fear was at the forefront of people’s minds not too long ago.
However, the point that it detracts from the original work is degrading to fanfiction writers. Sure, you have the brand new writers that still need some polishing, but that doesn’t mean they’re detracting from the original work in any way, shape, or form. In fact, you could have an entire work that’s literal gibberish and it still wouldn’t detract from the original work. Why? Because the original creator never claimed they created it. And nobody forgot what the original was. In fact, there’s an unspoken agreement about reading fanfiction: it’s a transformative work that takes elements from the original work but that the fanfiction author has their own take on it. Nobody’s expecting it to be the original work all over again, that’s quite literally the beauty of fanfiction.
However, in that same vein, the author of the original Twitter thread also made the point that fanfiction was a terrible place to partake in reading and writing because it breeds poor writers. Which, aside from my personal feelings on the matter, since I have in fact written fanfiction, the idea is ludicrous. I have read fanfiction that’s better, in my personal opinion, than the original work. And I think there’s something poetically beautiful about the fact that someone can put that much thought and attention into telling a story without any request for monetary compensation.
Which, this is where the irony begins. The person who tweeted out this entire thread is an actual author. Who, listed in their recent works, is a modern retelling of the death of a real person. So essentially, they not only wrote fanfiction, they wrote fanfiction about a real person. A topic still debated within the fanfiction community is the ethics of writing and reading works that this falls under.
So then it becomes if the author has no problem with people writing fanfiction, questionably ethical fanfiction at that, why do they have an issue with fanfiction? Is it because they can only see value in art when there’s a monetary value attached to it? Or is it because they’re jealous of those that are in a position able to write without the need to receive compensation in return? I would suggest that they view fanfiction turned published work, (take for example the 50 Shades series), as lesser than because of personal preferences, but they wrote fanfiction themselves. And besides, that’s on the publishing company for cherry-picking certain series to be published and not on the author themselves for writing the story.
Regardless, fanfiction should not be something looked down upon. Questioning the ethics of writing about things happening to real people is one thing, but fanfiction at its core is transformative work that should not be dismissed just because legally it can’t be published. The realm of fanfiction provides a playground for new ideas and whimsical story structures that I would’ve never thought to have previously taken into account. The sense of community it can foster is not to be taken lightly either.
Personally, I’m proud to have cut my teeth in the writing world by writing fanfiction. I poured my heart and soul into those works and grew from those experiences, allowing me to become the writer I am today. And if there ever comes a time when I am sufficiently published to the point that other writers are inspired to write fanfiction based on my original works, well, I for one, welcome it with open arms.