Fan fiction has always been popular but often shunned by mainstream authors. However, this genre of writing can be beneficial to writers. If you want to improve your writing, it can be the best way to do that. Fan fiction isn’t always taken seriously in the writing community, and it’s time to change that. If you are looking to improve your writing, this is where you can get the hands-on experience you need.
Whether English isn’t your first language, you are a beginner to the writing craft, or a hardened professional, it doesn’t matter. Fan fiction is the best for any level of writer.Â
These are some ways that fan fiction can improve your writing.
Fan Fiction provides low-risk practice
When you post your work on the Internet, there’s a risk that it could be stolen. Plagiarism is an unfortunate reality that plagues the writing community, and nothing hurts more than seeing someone profit from your work.
It’s true that fan fiction is technically plagiarism; it’s based on someone else’s work. But as long as you aren’t trying to profit from it, as long as it’s just for enjoyment and to help develop your skills, there isn’t any harm in it.
Fan fiction offers writers a chance to publish their work without the risk of their intellectual property being stolen. It also gives you a chance to get your feet wet and decide if writing is something you really enjoy.
If you don’t enjoy writing about your favorite characters and worlds from your favorite shows, if that isn’t a source of inspiration, then writing may not be for you.
The best part about fan fiction is that it’s 100% free. So check out a few fan fiction websites here (ao3 and Wattpad). These are sites where you can share your fan fiction with tons of readers.
There is a huge and supportive online community
The fan fiction community online is large and diverse. There are social media groups dedicated to the art of writing fan fiction, and these communities are huge. Facebook and Tumblr, as well as Discord, are good places to find these groups. They are a great way to share resources and ask questions of other fan fiction writers. Many writers get their start in fan fiction.
Many social media groups engage the community with writing challenges, prompts, and contests. These are great ways to exercise your writing skills and get your work out there, as well as to network with other writers.
As with any group of people, there are bad apples. People can get pretty passionate about the shows and books that they love, and this can bring out some negative behavior. ‘Ship bullies,’ as I’ll call them, can be a problem, but this can be true of any form or writing.
When you publish your work, you expose yourself to trolls and negativity, and that’s just the reality of the world of art.
But the support of the community far outweighs the risk of trolls. Friendships can be formed through a love of fan fiction that can last a lifetime. These groups are where you can interact with other writers, learn the tricks of the trade, etc. If you have questions about grammar, dialogue, or character development, these communities are worth their weight in gold!
Gain access to readers and feedback
Writing this genre and publishing it on fan fiction websites brings your work to readers. Learn what readers think about your writing style and learn how you can improve. You have access to instant feedback.
Don’t let this be your driving factor, though. Fan Fic readers can be choosy about what they want to read. A lack of comments on your work doesn’t mean you are a bad writer. Especially if you are new to fan fiction or a particular fandom, gaining a following can take some time.
Fan fic readers come to these websites to indulge in the love of their favorite fandoms and their favorite characters. So if you write about unpopular characters or dead fandoms, you may not get seen, at least not immediately.
Don’t let this deter you. I write crossover fandoms (meaning multiple fandoms) with very little romance and pretty much no smut, so I rarely get noticed. However, I’m there for my own enjoyment and to practice my writing skills. And even though I get very little feedback, I have a small following. Some fan fiction readers are silent. But they’re still there.
In the writing community, we are always told to write with the reader in mind, but fan fiction is the one place where you can write 100% for yourself. It takes all the nerves of having to impress others out.
Fan fiction provides a chance to study and think critically about other works
Fan fiction gives you a chance to analyze other works. To be a better writer, you have to be a reader first. You have to interpret other works and create ideas from them. Nothing is truly original anymore; for the whole of human history, humans have been telling stories. What makes your story original is your own twist. Fan fic can help because it’s all about taking already created characters and plots adding new twists and going down different avenues. Seeing how characters react to different scenarios.
Literature is a valuable way to express humanity. It helps us explore our emotions and feelings and helps us interpret the world around us. The ability to read and interpret another person’s words is a must as a writer.
Many fan fic communities are based on shows and now on books, but the medium doesn’t matter in this case. What’s important is that when you study your favorite works, you can gain a deeper understanding of what the authors and producers are trying to convey to the world.
Watch your favorite shows over and over again and don’t just sit back and eat popcorn, but really study. Study how the characters react in certain situations. Learn to channel them, picture yourself in their shoes as they confront the conflicts they are presented with.
Check out this video on how fan fiction can help you with more in-depth interpretations and characterizations.
Fan fiction provides writers with inspiration
If you want to be a writer, you have to have a passion for storytelling. If you’e ever been captivated by your favorite shows, or swept away to another land through a book, that’s the magic of literature.
Fan fic inspires you, because who isn’t inspired by Aragorn’s inspiring speech at the end of Lord of the Rings, or by Captain Picard’s speeches about humanity and courage?
Many best-selling writers first started their writing journey with fan fiction.
With Fan Fiction, writers get a chance to experiment with the craft
I like to think of fan fic as a laboratory for a crazy scientist. Or a place for a musician to practice their instrument or for an artist to learn how to put the first strokes of their brushes to a canvas.
Writing, like anything, requires practice and a certain amount of independence. You may have taken plenty of writing classes in schools that teach you how Shakespeare writes, Mark Twain, or many of the greats whose writing styles we’ve used to define what writing is and how it should be done.
But the best writers are the ones who break from tradition. Or who learn from those they admire but then learn how to put their own twist on an old craft.
Fan fic allows you to experiment. It allows you to break away from traditions and find your own voice.
Strong character development and relationship study skills
Characters are what make a story. And how characters react to one another can be a challenge for many writers. Dialogue, actions, and emotions, they are all part of what the reader sees in a character.
Fan fiction helps with character development because you can study the source material and then learn to emulate a character’s feelings. You can learn to think like they do, learn their inflections, emotional processes, etc.
Of course, fan fiction is known for relationships, especially romantic and physical relationships. It’s a chance to explore character relationships of all kinds, though.
I use fan fic to explore relationships between brothers or close friends. In my novel The Next Dimension, the relationship between Leniboen, the older dark elf, and Qil’durryl, the younger dark elf, is one of my favorite character relationship dynamics to explore. That of an older mentor-like figure and a younger character who learns from them.
Conclusion
Fan fiction offers the best way to improve your writing, and the best part about it is that it’s free!
Some writers are hesitant toward fan fiction works being done of their works, and there is an ethical way of writing fan fiction. Trying to earn a profit off of fan fiction is not only illegal, but it’s also highly looked down on by the fan fiction community. But as long as you are using this powerful tool just for practice and for the pure enjoyment of stories, and you treat the source material and the authors who took their time to create it with respect, then fan fiction can be the most powerful resource in your writing journey.
