The Curse of The FanFiction Writer

Why do fanfiction writers, write?

I have been asked this question. I still don't really know the answer.

We do not get paid for what we do, after all.

Technically what we do is illegal to be perfectly honest. If someone wanted to be very strict about things, we could be sued. Unlikely sure, but the risk is still there.

So, what is our deal exactly?

In thinking about it, and observing some of my own quirks and those of other writers, I've come up with a few ideas. So here are my theories:

Compulsion

Degree of difficulty

Love of the Characters

Hatred of the Characters

The Desire to Fill In The Blanks

The Desire to Continue The Story

Fulfillment of Personal Fantasy, or "the Mary Sue Factor"

Reading the list you may get the idea that some writers are a little, oh, nutty. As one, I can tell you without hesitation that "little" is an understatement. "Imaginative" would be a nicer word than "nutty" I guess but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…

Not all fanfiction or fanfiction writers fit all of these categories, and this is just general observation, but for this essay I think they will suffice.

Compulsion

Sure, I have some ideas of why I do what I do, but really for me it's like asking me why I breathe.

I write because I have to. It's a need. The simple fact is, if I have an idea in my head, it HAS to go down on paper. Or else I suffer with it until I do put it down on paper.

Think I'm kidding? I wish I were.

Ever have a song stuck in your head? You keep humming the tune, you keep thinking the words over and over again… that's the closest thing I can compare it to.

For the purpose of example, I will use what I mostly write about, ANGEL The Series. So, there I am, watching an episode of ANGEL… and this little idea starts to grow in my head. And pretty soon whoever is in the story I will soon be writing, starts to talk to me.

Scared yet?

The first ANGEL fanfiction I wrote was "ANGELUS: A Poem". If you think having Angelus' voice in your head isn't scary, you are braver than I.

Now, I have always loved writing. I wrote short stories in high school all the time. That was original fiction by the way, not fanfiction. After that, I wrote whenever the mood struck me. For a while it didn't strike very much at all. I wrote a few fan fictions for Star Trek and Robin Hood, but not very many. I guess what I needed was inspiration… which I found with the Whedonverse…

But not right away.

It wasn't until Season 4 of ANGEL that I wrote my first fanfiction based on Whedonverse characters, the afore mentioned "ANGELUS: A Poem".

I have no idea why it took that long because I've since written many a fic based on earlier seasons.

I guess I'll have to ask that Angelus voice in my head sometime…

Degree of Difficulty

I think that fanfiction is easier to write than original fiction on many levels. Of course there are many levels in which it is actually harder. But in the end, fan fiction stems from a catalyst: the show, movie, whatever that you are writing your fiction about. I have seen some fan fiction that was so creative and well thought out that, had it been original fiction, it would have been a great book. But the catalyst was someone else's universe and so the writer can only play in it.

Which is one of the ways that fan fiction is easier: The writer has a good base to begin with and a good base is often over looked in the grand scheme of things when it comes to original fiction. Let's face it, if I want to write about ANGEL, I don't have to spend time telling my reader, who is no doubt someone who has watched ANGEL, what Cordelia looks like. I don't have to spend time telling my reader WHY she has long, dark hair in one of my fics and short, blonde hair in another. The reader KNOWS why (ok, maybe we don't really know WHY that particular thing happened, but we know it DID happen.) I don't have to explain that Angel is a vampire with a soul, or how he got his soul or if there's a chance he could lose his soul. Again, the reader knows these things. Mainstream authors, professionals who get paid to write ANGEL novels, make an effort to some extent to do this, but they are hoping to snag that reader who doesn't know what ANGEL is and just liked the picture of David Boreanaz on the cover of their book. They want to tell them all they can so that they can hook them into the universe… but we have our audience, and we don't get paid, so it's not really a big concern for us as fan fiction writers. And this base works even for AU (alternate universe) fan fiction. Yes, some of it is pretty wild, but still we don't have to tell you what Xander's boyfriend, Spike, looks like, because we know. (And that's as far as I'll go there.) The point is, we have a good working knowledge of these characters and so do our readers.

Which brings in that "fanfiction being more difficult than original fiction", thing. We have our base, our readers know the characters… so if we mess up and have them doing something they shouldn't be doing or saying… well… the reader knows it. And sure, you'd think that wouldn't matter if you happen to be someone who writes "slash" fiction- obviously the characters are not doing what they would do in canon work, but at the same time, the characterization level has to play some part. Or so I would assume. I don't read or write slash so maybe characterization isn't as important as it would be in canon. Anyway, I think it's important. In fact, to me, a good fan fiction, or even professional fiction, has to have good characterization, and good plot- in that order. I can forgive plot holes IF the characters "sound" right. And so the most important thing to me when I'm writing is to get that character's voice down. And that isn't easily done sometimes.

Love Of The Characters

The characters have become part of our lives. We know them so well, or think we do anyway, that we must give them things to do.

Maybe we have a favorite that we think didn't got a fair shake in the canon. They didn't get enough on screen time or we didn't agree with how the show's writers portrayed them.

Whatever it is, we want to fix it. This is how a lot of AU fiction comes about. It's also how a lot of your more off the wall relationship mixes get started.

And it's where many of the more creative fics emerge, because we never "saw" these types of things on the screen.

It's great for those writers who feel their favorite character wasn't used properly… and it also can lead to the next area…

Hatred Of The Characters

So you hate Angel. Well, considering the show is called "ANGEL", he's probably not going to get killed during the series run.

What do you do? You write a fanfiction and bump him off.

Yep, and then you can do it to any other character that you find annoying too. And you know, there's probably someone out there who feels that same way and will love your fic.

And hey, it's better than going to a board and posting "I hate Angel!" and waiting for the inevitable flaming posts afterward…

After all, when you make it a fanfic, it's your story and you say who lives and dies… and there's nothing anyone can do about it…. MAHWWWHAAAAA!

Incidentally, the only fiction I ever wrote that had someone "bumped off" was actually about Angel. But, and here's my disclaimer, I didn't do it out of hate… it just sort of happened. See "Compulsion" above and you begin to get the idea that maybe I'm not completely in control of the muse that dictates my fiction writing.

The Desire To Fill In The Blanks

There are 22 episodes a season, give or take, depending on the series. There is about 45 minutes, give or take, in an episode (taking in to account the commercials.)

Things are bound to get left out. Especially when we are talking about, say, Season 5 of ANGEL. The final season. The season where everything was moving along smoothly when the WB decided to yank the rug- with only 4 episodes to film.

A LOT of things got left out.

Not Joss Whedon's fault. But we do have questions. Certainly many of them would have been addressed… in time…. Like during season 6 which we were all so sure we would get.

But instead of answers to some things, we got a wrap up of things that could be wrapped up.

And so it's left up to the fanfiction writers to take some of those questions and give them answers.

I'm one of those writers who particularly likes to do this. Mainly, because most "missing scenes" are short and I like that.

Simple truth: it's harder to write longer fics. The longer it goes on, the more complicated it becomes, the more you have to weave together.

With a missing scene, you don't have to worry about that. Your scene is set up for you, you fill in the blank with what you wanted to happen or think might have happened and you blend it into the next thing that we saw on screen.

The Desire To Continue The Story

Pretty self-explanatory. In the same vein as "Missing Scenes", we have a desire to write about what comes next. In the case of some series, this is a necessary function of fan fiction, because some series were left in the lurch so to speak. You all know to which one in particular I'm referring, but really there are several series, good series, that were ended before their time.

The fans of course want more but unless we are lucky enough to get movies or mini-series, well, we have to make it up ourselves.

Some of the continuations are pretty good really. Some of them are… questionable. But in most cases, there are so many to choose from that chances are you will find one that best suits what you think happened.

And if not… well… write it yourself!

Fulfillment Of Personal Fantasy, or "The Mary Sue Factor"

And now we come to the stereotypical example of fanfiction. This is the one that people who don't like fanfiction point to as the reason why they don't like it.

Mary Sue.

Pretty innocent sounding name, but don't let that fool you. She is the enemy of all fanfiction writers who want to be taken seriously, simply because her trap is so easy to fall into.

You see, we have seen Mary Sue, and she is us.

Beyond the grammatical nightmare, what I mean by that is just that: "Mary Sue" is the common term fiction writers and readers use for a story that is centered on a character that is just a LITTLE too much like the author who wrote her… or more accurately how the author wishes she was.

Now I say "she" because male authors don't seem to do this very often. At least I'm not aware of many. Females write the majority of "Mary Sue" stories.

The basic storyline goes: The hero of the series the fiction is about, meets and falls desperately in love with this "original" character. Sometimes she has super powers, depending on the universe, but more importantly she is extremely beautiful, smart, and every male in the vicinity, and sometimes the females too, WANTS her. A lot, not all mind you, but A LOT of it exists only to get the "original" character into bed with the hero. Or heroes. And sometimes not separately, if you get my drift….

Sounds a bit ridiculous? Yeh well, read any good romance novels lately?

Anyway, that is the bare bones of the "Mary Sue" story. They don't all follow it to the letter but if you've read one, you know what I'm talking about. And if you haven't read one, you will know it when you do.

The bad news? Almost every fanfic writer has written one or will. Or at least has one as a work in progress on their computer.

The good news is that just because it's a "Mary Sue" story, does not make it automatically "bad". There are degrees. One or two of the above elements isn't going to kill a story if it's well written and, yes, at all plausible.

And why not write a "Mary Sue"? Again, it's our story; we can do whatever we want! We have the power! Woo Hoo! Plus, let's face it; most of us will never have a chance at that hero of our dreams any other way.

So I say "Mary Sue" away! There might be negative feedback should you post it… There will be people who poo-poo your work. So take it in stride, you can't please everyone and sometimes you can't please anyone. But if YOU like the story, that's all that matters. In fact, that's the only thing that matters really.

Yes, that's right, fanfiction is selfish. We write for ourselves.

Do you see "Feedback" listed as a reason for writing? No, because it's not. We don't write fanfiction for anyone other than ourselves.

We don't care if you like it or not.

Your opinions mean nothing to us.

I am of course lying.

To say feedback is important is like saying French fries are made from potatoes- Uh duh! Any fanfiction writer who has had the guts to ever post one of their works anywhere has done it for one simple reason: To find out if it's good. And the only way we having of knowing that is through feedback.

And occasionally we get told how bad we are too. In that case, well, we don't write it for anyone else, we don't care if you like it or not and your opinion means nothing to us.

If you do like it however, you have made our day by telling us that.

It's funny how that works sometimes.

I did mention something about being nutty… right?