Rules of FanFiction

Like other writing styles, fan-fiction has its own rules on what makes it fan-fiction. Non-fiction has a rule of not fabricating facts, while fan-fiction has a rule of not tweaking with what has been established about the character.

Fan-fiction is an extended or an alternative story of existing characters, or it could be a pairing of characters - ones that fans imagined. For example, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley or even the the oddly paired Hermione and Draco Malfoy of the Harry Potter series.

Fan-fiction may be defined as fictional writing by fans, rules apply to every writers that wants to publish their writings publicly. The most important rule is to not change a character’s personality - if the writer wants to make the story public, they have to consider other fans of the character who may not agree to the personality change.

After choosing to publish it publicly, the writer will get an audience. By having an audience, the writer can get reviews and feedbacks on their writing. It can be a motivation on writing more regularly and with improvements.

However, being motivated to write more regularly may make the writer want to explore into another world of characters, that can be a good idea if they know these characters well, otherwise it would be a downfall. The best advice is to stick to what you love.