Fanfiction: A freedom to creativity

Fan-fiction writing isn’t a new style of writing as many would be intrigued to find out. It has actually gone on for as long as writing has ever existed. It dates back to famous classic literatures from authors such as The Brontë sisters who wrote Whutering Heights. However it has changed forms throughout the decade.

Famous TV show that fans have not left to wither away is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The show’s final episode ended in 2003, a decade has gone by and the fan of this fandom has continuously kept developing plots and characters from the show.

Chelsea defined fan-fiction as a fantasy coming to life in the form of words. Some of these fantasies often come from the lack of character development or unsatisfying ones. Thus, bringing the alternate or extended version of the movie, TV show, or the lives of boy bands’ to life in the form of words.

"Fan-fiction writing is unique in the way that it uses existing characters in movies, TV shows, etc, as their main characters. While regular writing is to create characters from scratch", said Chelsea. This is where the rules of writing a fan-fiction comes. It is a strict rule that, fanfic writers do not change the character’s personality unless the reason is clearly stated. This is to consider the feelings of its fellow fandom.

Although fan-fiction writing is strict on that particular rule, other than that, writers are free to explore their creativity. Fan-fiction gives writers the freedom to explore other fandom’s world as well, this is called Crossover. It allows writers to take characters from Harry Potter to the set of The Walking Dead. Zombies and Wizards, as weird as that should be, it doesn’t sound ridiculous in the world of fanfic writing.

According to Chelsea, who has written approximately 40 fan-fiction since she was 13, fan-fiction writing has improved throughout the years she has been active. The writing styles of fan-fiction used to childish as opposed to now, the writing can sometimes overpass the books that are published.

On that note, fan-fiction is a great platform for kids to get into writing. Due to it’s existential amount of freedom, kids are not limited from their creativity. The possibility of gaining success from purely fanfic writing still seems dubious at the moment, because not many has had that breakthrough of being published. But it does promote the idea of being comfortable at writing.