Why I Write Fan Fiction

I adore writing. Always have. But I really do get a kick out of writing Fan Fiction. And, yes, I've heard it all, that Fan Fiction isn't really writing, and that why don't I write original fiction. Well, the answer to that is that I do write original fiction. I've published books of original fiction, both poetry and stories. But I still come back to Fan Fiction. You might ask Why?

Well, there are a number of reasons.

1. There are TV Shows, comics, movies and cartoons that I really enjoyed (and to a degree still enjoy) that often have open endings and I should like to resolve them.
2. Some of these stories pair up people who have absolutely no chemistry whatsoever, I'm fine with either a heterosexual or homosexual relationships in stories although I've never written about the latter. But sometimes the writers pair up people who have about as much chemistry together as a brick. Either the production team had really lazy writers, or they didn't care. But I can list shows where they paired off two characters and for the life of me, I cannot see the chemistry. For example:a) ST: Voyager: Chakotay and Seven of Nine (A real WTF moment. Who wrote this episode? There's more UST between B'Elanna and Chakotay than there is between those two). No wonder there are FanFics on the Internet that give it a different ending.b)Monarch of the Glen. Of all the women that Archie gets involved with who does he marry? Lexie? Now other people might get all watery-eyed and go "Ah, they really love each other?" Really? I'm glad that you can see it because I'm speechless (and not in a good way). Archie had more chemistry with Katrina than he had with Lexie. While the actors had great chemistry as friends, as lovers and a couple, not quite so much.c) Jonathan Creek. Now I'll be frank. I loved this series. Being a girl of the slightly large persuasion myself, I thought that the slowly budding romance between Maddy and Jonathan was gentle, charming and delightful. And then, the writers, obviously deciding that Viewers Are Morons, decided that no, Jonathan couldn't possibly get involved with a bigger woman, and so married him off to a stick-thin waif called Polly. And the worst thing about all of this? They really didn't seem to give a damn about one another; certainly it didn't appear that they were even in like, let alone in LOVE. I could name lots more shows where I've watched almost all the whole series and then the writers, producers, director had a WTF moment, and that doesn't cover certain shows where the final episode makes absolutely no f******g sense whatsoever. I could of course rant about all of them, but it would change the subject. No wonder I have rewritten endings or changed endings using the medium of Fan Fiction.
3. By writing about a show (or shows) that are no longer on the air, I—and others like me—keep the show and the characters alive. This gives us writers a chance to explore other aspects of the characters lives and motivations, explore their pasts, their backgrounds, their relationships with other characters—and in an era when male characters in a 60s show went through women like disposable tissues (look up The Cartwright Curse on TV Tropes) we can marry some characters off and give them the happy ending they deserve—as well as rewriting some of the poorer episodes of shows such as ST:TOS(and Season 3 is the repeat offender).
4. Writing Fan Fiction gives budding authors a chance to get reviews from people and put their work out into public space without having to announce who they are—sometimes you'll receive negative comments—sometimes you'll get trolled—but when you get good reviews, it's brilliant and really gives authors a thrill.
5. Writing, even in the form of Fan Fiction, gives writers a chance to hone their skills. It makes the good ones realise that they have to do as much research to write a good, believable Fan Fiction story as writing a good, believableoriginal story.

As I wrote at the beginning of this post, I love writing. I love writing Fan Fiction and original fiction. Sometimes I write more Fan Fiction than original fiction, but this doesn't bother me anymore. It used to, but now, now I really couldn't care less.