Fanfiction

What is fanfiction? Why do we read fanfiction? Does it not destroy the real story? Is it not copy paste? Is it legal?
Those are the questions that come to mind when people hear about fanfiction. I am here today to tell you about my experience and view on this topic.

What is fanfiction?

Fanfiction is the creation of stories, which are based on existing (published) books. The idea is that the writer writes his own story, based in an already created world. Lots of times it is based on a what if scenario.
For example: You have the Harry Potter universe, but then someone wants to make Harry and Luna fall in love instead of Harry and Ginny as in the real story.

One of the greatest things about it is that there are no limits, as long as you can see it happening, you can write the story.

Weird thing?

One of the reasons actors do not always like fanfiction is because they are to attached to the characters created in the book. When I read a fanfiction story I do not see the actor or character created in the book before me, but someone completely different. For me it is a compleet different story.
Also the many gay couplings. Maybe it shows us how most people still see the world. It has always been clear that in the fanfiction stories there exists an equal amount of hetro and gay stories. While in the published books gay couples, as the main couple, are hard to find. I personally do not care as long as the story is well written.
One of the most important things about writing a good fanfiction story is giving a good explanation as to why things happen in a certain way, or why things have changed. It is sometimes hard for people to distance themselves from the story the know.

Allowed?

Most writer write at the beginning or the end of their story that they do not own anything except the characters they come up with. The stories are most of the time also very different from the starting story, it is hard to say they copy pasted it.
What is a problem, are people who write the story “the characters reading the books”. Why? Because most of the times they copy paste the original book and just add some reactions the characters may have.

Wonderfull

Fanfiction has also brought out many good things. It allows people who have a passion for writing to show that to the world and get reviewed about their writing.
Besides this fanfiction has created many opportunities for people to eventually publish their own book. One example is “Fifty Shades of Grey” which was fanfiction based on the popular “Twilight saga”.

Excited?

If you also want to try it out I recommend going to the fanfiction website. Here you have the opportunity to start reading. I would advise you to start with minor changes to the original, such as ‘what happens after’ or ‘what if he did not marry her’. This will allow you to get used to the idea of fanfiction and you will automatically go to different stories.

Hope you liked it! Tell me what you think in the comments below.

Delphine