Why fanfic?

[elfwreck]

Why don't we write our own stories, if we've got the talent?

Once we set aside the legal issues (which are complex, and plenty worthy of discussion on their own), and the ethics issues (wac, apwodoto), we're left with the key question of why do we do this--why write (or draw or vid or game or whatever we do) in someone else's universe, with

Comments

[slashpervert]

I believe that all those reasons exist, in addition to the commentary aspect, and yet, the best fanfic are the ones that do include a commentary on either the original stories or on society through their fiction.

I recently did a literary analysis of one of my own fanfiction stories, giving both behind the scenes looks at the writing and a psychological analysis of the characters in the story. One of the things I said there was that one of the issues I explore is the affect of violence in the lives of people and I beleive that comes through in my stories, especially that one. One of the things I haven't said and intend to write about is that it is one of my biggest critiques of the Harry Potter stories - the level of violence and the way the impact of that is glossed over in the canon.

I wrote most of my Harry Potter stories from Draco's perspective (my co-authors write Harry) and find it an amazing tool for actually criticising the original stories and characters. For example, Draco has no trouble saying he thinks Dumbledore was manipulative and dangerous. Through Draco I can take a completely different view of the events of canon and show how they might be interpreted differently. Using the literary device of a "point of view," we get literally, a "different point of view" on the original stories.

I want these to be "good stories" that engage people and draw them into the worlds I interpret. AND I am also so clear that what I am doing is a critique of the originals that I actually label my work "parody" in the disclaimer. Not parody in the sense of funny, but in the sense of completely turning the originals around to look at them differently.

I am a published author of nonfiction and I write original fiction as well. Yet, I reach audiences with my fanfiction I would never reach with those works. I can educate (or at least get them to think) audiences about homophobia, marriage rights, child abuse, polyamory, and a host of other topics in my fiction, especially fan fiction, and reach who would never actually buy a nonfiction book on the topic.