A Little Ramblings About Fiction, Fan Fiction That Is

Fiction always open doors to new world, characters and concepts. It has been that way ever since stories where told and penned. No matter what type of medium you indulge in may it be that of comics featuring super-heroes or musicals there is a specific narrative aspect present. 

Even though writers always try and try to strive for perfection, or as close as one can possibly achieve to such, there are always bound to be some hiccups along the way. From plot-holes, under-developed characters, not capitalizing full potential and the list can very well go on depending on what specifically you are keeping in mind. Even though some series and works are stronger than others, things happen. And by no means am I singling any specific series out, but nothing is perfect and not every viewer and or reader is necessary going to like the work. The saying that you cannot please everyone is extremely true.

Everyone has at one point or another found displeased or long for something they have never seen in canon. Having a desire to know what happens after 'the end', wanting to know what happened in the past the caused things to be as they are.

All of these are that of instances that can provoke fan fiction. And lots of it might I add.

Granted, there are seemingly millions of reasons, ideas, thoughts and oh so much more than can draw someone into reading and even writing fan fiction. From wanting to see two vastly different series' realities collide, running with the idea if a character made a different choice than they did, if X ended up developing feelings for W...again, I can go on for a while about this. And what I specifically mentioned is only a tiny sliver of what you can and will find.

Within the spectrum of fan fiction there truly is no limit and now true defined boundaries- and if there just so happen to be any you can always re-write them. I have from time to time joked that writing fan fiction is somewhat like playing around in a sand-box; you have your basic tools of established worlds and characters, but the rest is complete up to you to build and image.

As exciting it is to try your hand at capturing beloved characters by your own hand, it is that reason alone that often draws criticism. Some of it comes from the fact a writer is writing characters they themselves did not create and just general misconceptions about fan fiction being poorly written and filled with, for lack of a better term, adult content.

Is there fan fiction works that have very adult content- yes, but some are actually done rather tastefully.

Is there fan fiction that is poorly written- oh yeah. I am not saying it this to be mean or offensive, but I have to say with truth that fan fiction that is pure and total cringe-worthy, wanting to rip my eyes out horrid fan fiction does exit. Why? Because even my early, early work was at this level.

Short of being a living, breathing writing god sent from a land full of troves of literature, no one starts out being great at writing. For a lot of writers, including that of myself, fan fiction is somewhat counted as a training ground. A good way to really get into writing and being before a large audience of readership and gaining feedback. For that matter much of what I do know about writing and my advancements over the years have been results of my own behalf from continually writing, reading blogs and just the good old classic try and fail. 

As I said before, there is not a single thing that if truly perfect. Even experienced and well-versed writers fan fictioners have technical issues, make rookie mistakes and even turn out crappy works. Writing is art and not every single story is glitter and gold.

Even with piles of poorly written work, there are in fact gems to be found. Naturally the challenge is finding them. Similar to writing any type of fiction, there is never a very detailed formula to find great works. More often than not you will find yourself scrolling page after page trying to find something that strikes a cord.

For the best recommendations are usually that of people you know, or writers that you like. Usually if a skilled author has someone listed as a favorite or follow it might be worth a shot. Short of that TV Tropes' recommendations sections and fan-sites' picks are the only other great tools.

Despite all the contradictions about fan fiction, it really is a great doorway for those who seek out the life of writing to fans who want to express their passion for series they love. Even though you are working with certain aspects of canon there is a lot of range to work with and limitless potential that can really allow someone to make it something entirety of their own.