Five reasons that writing fanfic is fun (for me)

So, as previously mentioned in this space: I didn't write anything for nearly five years, and then I wrote 300K words of Once a Thief fic in a white heat over the course of five months. And then I got to the end of the story that I wanted to tell (for now?), and now I'm sitting here looking around and wondering ... what next?

I mean, the world's my oyster. I have a computer, fingers, and a brain. All I need to do is start wiggling my fingers over the keyboard again and I could be writing anything.

There is a certain temptation to try throwing a bit of time and energy into writing something original. (I don't love the term "original" fiction, used in contrast to "fanfic," by the way—does anybody know of a term that feels less loaded?) Way back before I discovered fanfic, I did write original stories, and that was fun too. I might try it again someday. But original fiction has one huge disadvantage (seen as an advantage by many!) which is that it is, in principal, publishable. So even if I started out saying "Oh gosh, I'm just going to write this for fun, and maybe show it to my husband and my three closest friends and then stick it in a drawer," I know myself well enough to admit that there's a very good chance that I would quickly start to wonder if I could produce something that I could sell. Because, validation, right? And fame, fortune! (Ha.) But then writing stops being a fun hobby, and starts being work. And I already have a full-time job that I love, so I don't want more work—I just want a fun hobby!

So anyway, right now I want to reflect on some of the things that make writing fanfic, specifically, fun. ( Read more... )