Why the world needs fanfiction

‘There is no doubt fiction makes a better job of the truth.’ – Doris Lessing

I’m in a big reading-writing period at the moment. By that I mean, when I’m working on one of the books (Book II at the time of writing), I also need to read a lot. It’s like I need to feed my creativity and if I don’t read enough, my writing and editing becomes dry, sluggish…

Just a bit mediocre.

So, at the moment, I’m reading for about an hour and half immediately after dinner, another hour on my bed, and then another half an hour or so curled up in my blankets.

Those first two and a half hours? Well, that’s ‘proper’ literature. Good quality stuff that’ll sink into my brain and force a bit of discipline in my writing.

That last half an hour? That’s fanfiction.

I’m chasing a gourmet meal with a McDonalds milkshake.

And I make absolutely no apologies for it.

Fanfiction is one of my greatest, not guiltiest, pleasures.

What is fanfiction?

Fanfiction is a portmanteau of ‘fan’ and ‘fiction’. In other words, it’s fiction written by fans, usually of a particularly world represented in films, books, or television. For example, some of the biggest fandoms on the peerless Archive of our Own are Harry Potter, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Lord of the Rings.

Fanfiction works will take some element of this world, such as the characters, the setting, or the storylines, and give them some kind of twist. ‘Shipping’ certain characters is very popular, whether the characters in question have canonically been in a relationship or not. In fanfiction, you can also find a lot of deep character explorations, which often can’t happen in the space of a two-hour film, especially if the character being explored isn’t the protagonist.

The history of fanfiction

Fanfiction, or at least the concept of ‘stealing’ and reworking certain concepts, has been a thing for centuries – after all, just see Shakespeare. Copyright legislation complicated the idea, especially as we now have such a strong idea of a creator and their work, but fanfiction just had to thrive with the rise of film and especially television.

Science-fiction series in particular lent themselves well to early fanfiction: Star Trek and Doctor Who are two infamous examples. Both series have always boasted a large and lively fandom who were excited to explore these multi-faceted worlds, with creating their own stories just one facet of this.

Then, of course, the Internet came along. To put it in perspective, Archive of our Own hosts, at the time of writing, nearly fifteen million fan works and over eight million users. These works are across more than seventy thousand fandoms, by the way, with Marvel and Harry Potter making up one million of these works.

What famous authors have said about fanfiction

Well, fanfiction has had a mixed response from authors.

Some, such as Twilight’s Stephanie Meyer, love it, which is lucky for E.L. James, whose Fifty Shades of Grey series started life as Twilight fanfiction.

Others, like George R.R. Martin, are very much not fans. Some cite copyright issues or claim that the quality isn’t there or that it’s somehow a violation of what they’ve worked so hard to create.

Now, I’m not published yet, but (fingers crossed) this will be happening in the next few months and so I do have an opinion on the matter.

And my opinion of fanfiction as an author is…

I bloody love the idea that someone would connect so profoundly with my work that they would take the time to create something inspired by it. I want to read someone’s one-shot exploring Matthew Wilde’s psychology and I kind of hope that people will take it upon themselves to write all the spicy scenes between Alex and Elizabeth that I’m just a bit too much of a prude to actually put in the books (but have definitely imagined myself). I will also take any and all coffee shop AUs (although there already is a café in Coldharbour, so the mileage may vary there).

Why fanfiction is vital

These days I only read fanfiction rather than write any, but I can see the benefits for both readers and writers.

Firstly, it gives people the opportunity to explore things they love (i.e. the fandom), difficult topics (often traumatic), and even their sexuality. The best fandom spaces are reasonably non-judgemental but also have clear rules about age restrictions. Honestly, as a teenager, these spaces were the only Queer-normative spaces I knew (same-sex shipping is very common in fandom), as the Noughties were okay, but not great, in terms of Queer representation in mainstream media. Fanfiction gives people a chance to be part of a community – a group of people who all love the same series or manga or novel, who, again, might find it difficult to meet each other in real life.

Also, I fundamentally disagree with the argument that writing fanfiction is simply derivative and trash (please imagine both words said like Danny de Vito in Always Sunny). Alright, we all have our own opinions on the literary quality of Fifty Shades of Grey, but I do wholeheartedly believe that writing fanfiction can help passionate, creative people hone their writing skills, whether that’s stylistic or in terms of character, plot, and pacing. Also, most fanfiction rewrites elements of canon – that requires the writer’s personal imagination. There’s no reason why fanfiction can’t be seen as an amazing training ground for writers – and there’s also absolutely no shame in ‘only’ ever writing fanfiction.

I’m going to be brutally honest here. I have read a lot of badly written fanfiction, but I’ve also read some exceptionally written, profoundly beautiful pieces of work, some short, some long. They have made me laugh and cry and root for characters. I have also read some traditionally published books that have infuriated me because basically, they are poorly written. It’s not often, but it happens. Just because the writers I follow on Archive don’t have publishing contracts does not mean that their work isn’t valid. It brings joy and comfort and thrills to an audience that clearly craves what they’re producing.

My personal history with fanfiction – and how it relates to Coldharbour

So, back in the pre-broadband days (cue dying modem sounds), I did circumvent the age restrictions. MuggleNet (Harry Potter) was my first home, then A Teaspoon and an Open Mind (Doctor Who), then FanFiction.Net back when it wasn’t a dumpster fire, and then finally, Archive.

As I said, I’m still a big fanfiction reader, but I did also dabble in writing.

And this has had an impact on Coldharbour.

The Wilde twins, although they’ve had a lot of development over the years, both started off as fanfiction characters. Long story short, but I created Matthew as a modern twist on Shakespeare’s Richard III when I was thirteen and Alex is a companion from when I was writing Doctor Who fanfiction a few years later. They’ve evolved since then, obviously, just as I, their creator, has done the same. After all, I’ve been through my uni years, my twenties, the loss of a parent, and out the other side. But the fact of the matter is, the Wildes would not exist without fanfiction.

So there.

And while we’re talking about what’s real or not, let me finally introduce you to Matthew Wilde:

Everyone thought Paris in the rain was romantic.

It was actually just as cold and grime-riddled as everywhere else fifty degrees north in October, which was exactly how Matthew liked it.

Nine years of speaking another language could make someone a different person if they tried hard enough and Matthew had been amazed to discover how polite and eloquent he could be in French, to his clients, to his colleagues, and especially to his assistant, an apparently attractive young woman whom he had gently been trying to dissuade in the most professional and polite manner for the better part of three years.

It was at two minutes past nine that Matthew took an impromptu break for another cigarette and another coffee and another paracetamol from the packet he had bought after his run, as the back of his head had been twinging all morning. In fact, the pain had started the night before well, the early evening, when halfway through representing a client in an interview, it felt like someone had taken a mallet to his head. One of the police officers had said something about migraines, but Matthew could hardly have told her that he had never suffered so much as a headache in his life and therefore it was highly unlikely for his brain, Matthew Wilde’s brain, to be turning against him.