Elliot Hilden, co-executive editor

At this point in my life, I will be the first to admit that I am not the strongest academic writer, but I have found so much enjoyment and fulfillment in the world of creative writing. I have loved the experience of crafting narratives in the chaos that is my own brain, and getting to share my words with the masses. Truly, some of my proudest moments have been reading the feedback I’ve gotten from friends when my writing made them feel something in the exact way I wanted it to. 

I wasn’t always a writer, as I tended to lean towards reading when I was young, but I began finding inspiration in middle school, when I was first introduced to a concept that has shaped much of my literary journey: fanfiction. For those of you who weren’t hopelessly obsessed with fandom culture and cringy media of the mid-to-late-2010s, fanfiction, also referred to as “fics,” is a term that refers to fiction written by a fan of a specific piece of media, that features the characters of said media. In other words, it is taking characters that already exist and putting them in situations that have been formulated in your own mind, and it is AWESOME. For many writers, it is an accessible and approachable gateway into the world of fiction, because you aren’t saddled with the expectation to create these complex, distinct characters and detailed worldbuilding, as that has already been done for you!

This sounded like a perfect opportunity to my middle school self, so I was quickly hooked. Just like any other skill, I wasn’t perfect immediately, but I loved the act of writing, and being able to improve my skills while interacting with my favorite television show at the time was a dream come true. I was so excited about this new world of possibilities I had discovered that I attempted to introduce my friends to it as well. My friends were creative people, so obviously they would be thrilled about this concept, right? WRONG. Unfortunately, I was also quickly introduced to an idea that rocked me to my core: some people find fanfiction weird, cringy, and EMBARRASSING… Dun dun duuuun!

That brings me to my main question: why do people see fanfiction as this taboo, shameful form of literature, when it is easily just as valid and wonderful as original writing? Sure, my writing from eight years ago is not my strongest, but it was a very necessary stepping stone in my creative journey, so why was it ridiculed and made to be a hidden thing? 

I think that some people believe that fanfiction writers lack the originality or creativity to make their own characters or stories, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Take Alternate Universe fics (AUs), which have us finding our characters in any manner of situations that sit outside of their original realm, such as the popular “High School AU,” where characters are reverted back to their teenage years and get into all sorts of wacky hijinks. These types of stories absolutely require the author to have creativity and originality, as you can’t just rely on the things that actually happen in the story.

Maybe people see fanfiction as lesser because it isn’t as fleshed out as a full novel, but again, that is disproven time and time again. There are so many pieces of fanfiction that rival published novels in word count, characterization, development and storytelling. Personally, I would rather read any of the thirteen million fics on Archive of Our Own (an incredibly popular fanfiction site) than anything written by Colleen Hoover, but maybe that’s just me. In any case, there is so much value to be found in the art of fanfiction, and it is so annoying and disheartening to see it disrespected so heavily. The only way to begin is by beginning, and fanfiction is an incredible way to begin a writing journey, so I will personally never again let my writing succumb to the shamers.