Why I write what I write - discussion of original fiction, fan fiction, slash and more

The recent discussion of fan fiction vs. original fiction on Mibba has been really interesting to me of late, because it's not something I've ever really thought about in depth. All of my stories are either original fiction or true stories, some of which are slash fiction. I've never written fan fiction, nor have I been inclined to.

So saying, it has interested me that some people on here have expressed annoyance with fan fiction writers, because it's honestly not something I have ever felt. I came to Mibba about 4/5 years ago, and this site has always impressed me with the fact that it focuses on creating the best experience for people who are serious about their writing, and its improvement. Even when we kind of became SceneKids.com for a little bit there, I always felt like the moderators were doing their best to foster the kind of environment where we were all taken seriously as writers, and I have always valued that. I do not believe that fan fiction is, in any way, to be taken more or less seriously than anything else.

I do believe, however, that as much as we like to think we live in this utopic world where we are all lyk, srs auteurs, the marketing of your work will always be important. I've never really bought in to this, because I've always liked to think I would get feedback based on my merits as a writer and not on my layouts and descriptions, but that's not really viable. In the end, you will get feedback on your work from maybe 1 of 5 people who read it, and if you want more active feedback you just have to expand your readership. Someone on this website could be the next Miles Franklin, but if no one is reading their work then it will fall by the wayside. The website itself provides as many platforms for increasing readership as possible, but in the end, you have to market and package your stories yourself.

By that end, I don't believe that fan fiction tends to get more readers than original fiction for any reason other than that fan fiction is part of a specialised community of people with the same interests. This is something I have noticed within the original fiction community as well, especially since I have been writing slash fiction - more often than not, the comments and feedback I get are from other slash authors, rather than someone who was just browsing the stories section and happened across my work. This is why the tags system is so important, I feel. My slash fiction used to get more readers, subscribers, comments and recommendations than any of my other original fiction, and it's only since I've started making a name for myself in that community that much of my other work has got any attention. It's not something I'm upset about - just something I've noticed.

If you're trying to get your stuff out there, increase your readership and feedback, it's easier to get the ball rolling somewhere and then branch out than to just continuously post things that nobody reads. I only know this because I have worked both ways. When I first started posting on Mibba, I just kind of posted a whole bunch of stuff in one go and crossed my fingers. Of course, I didn't get many readers or subscribers, but the one or two comments I did get kept me motivated. Since then I've come to realise that Mibbians in general do really value good, interesting writing above anything else. I'm not going to pretend that the stuff I wrote when I was thirteen was good. Because it was awful. But that's one of the things I've valued about Mibba, looking back, is the platform it gave me to really encourage and expand my writing. I'm still not perfect, but I've improved, and the feedback I get reflects that. I think that everyone deserves that opportunity to grow, and I don't see why that should be limited to original fiction only. Good writing is good writing, regardless of the subject matter.

Therefore, I don't believe that fan fiction has any less merit than original fiction. Everybody who writes, here or elsewhere, is trying to entertain other people and to develop their own skills. I read fan fiction as well as original fiction, and being someone who values honesty and reality in writing, I have found that there is a tendency for fan fiction to disappoint me more than original fiction. That's simply because of the nature of fan fiction, and the fact that it can more readily descend in to the author's own personal fantasies, but that phenomenon is perfectly present in original fiction as well. I have read plenty of wonderful fan fiction on Mibba, because it's just as I said earlier - people value good writing. When fan fiction is well written, I don't sit there thinking 'this is fan fiction tho', I just get lost in the story. If I enjoy it, I enjoy it. If it's not my thing, I can easily exit the page and forget about it, and that author can carry on doing their thing with their enthusiastic readership, and everyone is happy.

I definitely don't buy in to the argument that fan fiction is 'easier' to write because original fiction authors have to develop their own characters, and fan fiction authors have them 'pre-made'. How much do we really know about the personality characteristics of our favourite celebrities, or characters? I will admit here and now that One Direction fan fiction is my guilty pleasure. I mean, I can't get enough of that stuff. But what do people actually know about the members of One Direction? One of them is Irish and another one has curly hair? Half the time when I start writing a story, the actual personalities of my characters take shape well before their outward appearance, which is more often than not just extraneous detail. I've read so many different interpretations of the same person in fan fiction, that it astonishes me when people argue that there is no character development. Keeping with the One Direction idea, I could read a Harry Styles fan fiction where Harry is a total dickbag, one where he's hyperactive and another where he's sarcastic and suave. There's plenty of character development in fan fiction, and it's all about finding out what type of character appeals the most to you and then finding the stories where that personality is put to a face. What does it matter whose face it is? The same character could be written in to a One Direction, All Time Low or Sherlock Holmes fan fiction, and if it was well written it would be just as enjoyable, regardless of outward appearance.

Not to mention the fact that if a fan fiction author is writing a character with a defined personality, the challenge there is not to develop the character any further but to create an original and interesting storyline that stays true to the personalities and context of the characters. We value that talent in screenwriters, so why not in fan fiction authors? It's like when you read a story that is supposed to be set in England but the characters say "mom" and refer to themselves as "sophomores taking AP Bio" (or conversely, when the characters say "love", "bugger" and "bloody" every 3 words and drink a lot of tea) and you are hyper aware that it's just lazy. Fan fiction authors immerse themselves in these worlds entirely, and I have mad respect for the amount of effort it must take to pick up on little plot continuations from TV shows, or small character details that must come from a lot of observation and research.

I started writing slash fiction because my best friend (gay, male) was being oppressed by his family, and I was helping him live vicariously through my characters (at his request, by the way, I didn't just write some smut and email it to him like 'you're welcome'. Not that I write smut. ok.) Fan fiction authors started writing fan fiction because they were genuinely emotionally involved with their characters, and wanted to express that. I don't really see the difference here. We're all doing this to let out something of ourselves, and I think that's what is most important.

So just lay off each other, OK? No h8, onli luv.
Play nice.

xx Lizzie