#Project14Lists,  Creation,  Discussion Post

;five reasons I read fanfiction (and five reasons I write it)

bookworm things

I love fanfiction. I’ve been reading it since I was a teenager, and writing it just as long, even if I never posted those anywhere. It’s fun, and sometimes messy, and if you’re searching on Archive Of Our Own (AO3)? Usually tagged well so you can avoid triggers and other things that may make you uncomfortable.

More information and the full #Project14Lists can be found here.

#project14lists day 7

Someday, I will actually sit down and write a more coherent post about why I love fanficiton with links to some of my favourites, and maybe even my own, but today is not that day.

Today is a day for a little bit of a messy list, because expressing my views is hard, you guys. I’ve realised I’m not that funny, or at least what I think is funny is only funny to a couple of other people.

I’m still doing this, I’m just not going to go very in-depth.

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Reasons to read:

  • I have a specific want in the show that wasn’t met, so say hello to my new obsession on AO3.
  • To support writer friends who are writing.
  • Hi, my favourite character is treated horrible/was killed off and I am in denial.
  • All sorts of AU situations with my favourite characters.
  • Look, I have an obsession with social media AUs and I will read any of them for fandoms I am in.

ipad ao3

Reasons to write:

  • I have a specific want that wasn’t met by the canon OR by the fanon, so hello I am going to try and write this.
  • My brain had a thought about my favourite character/ship and now I can’t let it go and my friends are all enablers.
  • Hi, my favourite character is completely not given the attention they deserve and other fics don’t do my headcanons justice so I guess I’m writing now.
  • There’s no social media AU for this fandom that hits this SPECIFIC WANT I NEED so I guess I’m writing now.
  • So – what if these two characters who never met in canon and who no one else really cares about met and fell in love? (I guess I’m writing now.)

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Fanfiction has become less of a guilty pleasure and more simply just, pleasure. It’s fun and an escape, and I’ve made a lot of friends writing and reading it. There are fandoms I write for and fandoms I read for, and fandoms I imagine stories for but have no confidence in my ability to actually write for them. It can be silly, it can be serious, it can be so many things, and it is wonderful.

Does anybody else have an ‘I guess I’m writing now’ mentality to stories you can’t find online or is it just me?

ara

I’m Ara, a Southeast Asian writer who someday hopes to have published a novel, and who is currently losing herself in the worlds created by others. I love books and food and television and blogging and I get distracted and sidetracked easily.

5 Comments

  • denaiir

    Ooooooh I’m so happy to hear that you like fanfiction!!! Which fandoms are you a part of? I used to write tons of fanfics but I never published them because English is not my first language so I was scared they would be too bad.
    I wrote Spuffy fanfic (Buffy The Vampire Slayer, shipping Buffy with Spike) because I hated how the show never got them even a tiny bit of happiness, it was all gloom and darkness and getting worse and worse.
    I tend to read fanfic when I want a character to have a happy ending with someone, or when I want 2 characters to get together (HP: Draco and Hermione) or I want to explore more of a character (Elsa in Frozen). However, I don’t read just romance, I read novel-length fiction preferably with a plot that has an impact on the overall canon plot continuation or twists some events (for example Elsa has to face a war, or Hermione is working on a secret plan with Draco to get Voldemort from the inside).
    Please make more posts about fanfiction!! @^▽^@
    Oh and I totally relate to the “I think I’m funny but I’m not really” thing! The good thing is that my husband is one of the 2 persons who thinks I’m funny ヾ(^ ^ゞ

    • Ara

      I switch a lot of fandoms to be honest. I used to be a part of the HP fandom – I love Ron and the Weasleys very much, so I love to try and find fics with them treated well, which is SO RARE SOMETIMES I could cry. I used to read BtVS fic, and I still love reading crossovers involving them, especially the new Slayers and Dawn and Connor. I read (and write) The 100 fic even though I don’t watch the show anymore, I definitely still read Pride & Prejudice fic, and sometimes Star Wars as well.
      I will definitely make more posts about fanfic! And I hope you keep writing fanfic, and never fear about posting them online. <3

  • Fanna

    Oooh, I loved this post! YES, fanfiction can be as amazing as any other fictional books out there and it’s all about what someone likes to read. I’ve found some amazing stories from the Harry Potter world and I’m never gonna give up on reading those 😀

    • Ara

      Yes! Exactly! Fanfiction is amazing, some of them are better than actual novels I’ve read, and you can always find what you are looking for if you look hard enough, it’s great.

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