Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Thoughts on Fan Fiction

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A woman dressed in chainmail, leather, and wool. She’s holding a funky wooden staff and appears to be dressed as a fantasy character. When I was a teenager, I wrote a little bit of fan fiction for a couple of my favourite worlds (Narnia and the prehistoric world set in Jean M. Auel’s Earth’s Children series that I’ve talked about here so often, if you’re curious).  I never finished any of it and it doesn’t exist anymore so far as I know, but I had a wonderful time playing around with characters and settings I knew so well.

I’ve read far more fan fiction than I’ve written. The quality of it varied depending on the skill of the person writing it, of course, but that’s true for any form of storytelling. I’m interested in experiencing fabulous stories no matter where they come from: fan fiction, self-published books, hybrid-published books, traditionally-published books, tv shows, films, music, or spooky stories told around a campfire.

To me, fan fiction is a hobby that may sharpen your writing, communication, and critical thinking skills if you write and/or read high quality material. I’d compare it to cosplay or role playing a character for Dungeons and Dragons in that you get what you put into it and there are so many different ways to enjoy it.

Some people adore it and do it regularly. Other folks are like me and have dabbled in it. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who have zero interest in this stuff, and that’s perfectly okay, too.

Hobbies make life more enjoyable. Of course I encourage everyone to follow their interests no matter how young or old you are. Life is too short to be serious all of the time or to worry what others think about what makes you happy.  For some folks, chasing happiness includes doing things like dressing up in fun costumes or making up stories about your favourite characters. I say more power to them!

 

22 Comments

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22 Responses to Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Thoughts on Fan Fiction

  1. Interesting! I guess I have no opinions on fan fiction because I’ve never read it or written it. It doesn’t seem like it’s hurting anyone, and it’s making people happy, so go for it!

  2. Personally, I tend to forget minor details about things and that can get you into trouble depending on your fandom. Original work is so much easier, in my opinion. No one can tell you that the character you created would or wouldn’t do something. Hahaha.

  3. I am all in favor of fanfiction. Among other things, it can be a great way to educate yourself about writing, because it can force you to look at how the original author put things together.

  4. Dabbling is a great way to practice and refine writing skills.

  5. I have never read any fan fiction, but I guess I should start.

  6. I always like to write and wrote some stories long before I got into writing fanfiction. It is great way to improve writing skills.

  7. I’ve considered writing some fan fiction, but I never have dabbled in it. I started journalism school YEARS, upon YEARS ago and I’ve always been a better writer at topics I know.

    However, I have to say, tinkering with different styles of writing, to mimic a favored writer, could definitely sharpen the mind and writing skills! Not to mention how much fun that would be!

    Thanks for sharing!

  8. I definitely found fanfiction useful from a critical point of view.

  9. I forgot to post my link on Wednesday(heck, I don’t even remember knowing it WAS Wednesday, but better late then never). There are so many different layers to fan-fic, but these days I hardly have enough time to read the stuff on my TBR pile, much less anything on the internet.

    My post is here if you want to stop by.

  10. I love this – and completely agree that the world needs more fun and happiness. Fanfic has given me that for over 20 years – I love telling stories about my favourite characters, and love that people enjoy reading them too!

  11. I love reading fanfiction! There’s something so beautiful about the way it gives an ever-evolving *life* to the source material! 🙂

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