An Ode to Fanworks

The first piece of fiction I ever wrote, just because I wanted to, was Mew Mew Power fanfiction. I was 10 or 11 years old. I had taken to splitting my internet time between Neopets and the 4kids TV forums, and started reading the fanfiction other people posted, which inspired me to write my own. It was in script format, and it was about the children of the Mew Mews. I remember all of one scene, which still makes me laugh when I think about it (one of the flying alien “bad guys” appeared outside an airplane window and surprised some of the characters).

Unfortunately, this was back when I didn’t know what a word processor was, so when 4kids wiped their forums years ago, my hard work disappeared.

It’s Camp NaNoWriMo this month, and I’m at about 13,000 words. I don’t often have much luck with Camps. I usually shoot for 25,000 and then drop off along the way. Since November, though, I’ve been writing every day, and I think that’s helped. I’m a little bit behind, but I’m not worried.

I have a rule for myself that I can only write original fiction during National Novel Writing Month. Sometimes I don’t have a plot even a week before the month starts, but I’ve always stuck to that rule. For Camps, though, I’ve given myself free reign. None of the fanfiction I’ve written during the summer programs has seen the light of day, and it probably isn’t very good. For that matter, I’m not sure any of the fanfiction I’ve written is very good. Sometimes I feel guilty for even taking the time to write it, when most of it is unfinished and most of it has never been seen by anyone but me, and never will.

Then I think back to my 10-year-old self, who created something entirely new just because she was excited and wanted to participate in a community. It was incredibly cool, and it still is. Without fanfiction, I may never have started writing at all. I can’t claim to be a well-known author or have much technical skill, but I’ve practiced enough to be decent at it. I have an article published in a worldwide magazine. And I met one of my closest friends because of a fic I wrote and decided to publish.

Beyond that, though, I don’t think I need to look at the positive effects to appreciate it. I want to be able to appreciate the work I did just because it was fun in the moment. I wrote more than 40,000 words of a political drama centered around a minor character from a Yugioh spinoff. I wrote a story about General Grievous’s doctor droid, after watching all of one episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I wrote a modern-day Assassin’s Creed fic where the characters lived in the neighborhood I grew up in, just down the street from where I lived. It was all a lot of fun.

I probably should start writing more “professional” pieces now: keeping up with this blog, submitting articles to other websites and magazines, etc. But I’m not sure I want to ever ban fanfiction from my life completely (reading it, maybe—that can be a huge time sink). Fan works helped make me who I am today, and no matter what negatives there might be, I can’t help but feel grateful.

Anyway, here’s my Camp project’s cover. Cool, huh? You know it’s cool.