I've always written fanfic. I didn't always know it was fanfic, but it fits the definition. I used to write stories with my favourite characters from books (e.g. Lord of the Rings), TV (e.g. Robin of Sherwood), and movies (e.g. Labyrinth). It was fun. I wrote my own stuff too - still do - but the fanfic stuff is easier to write because you already know the characters, and the rules of the world in which they live. Some of it was an exercise in writing characters outside my own experience - in place of essays in English Lit., I wrote pieces from the POV of Lady Macbeth, and Maggie from Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. It stretched my writing abilities - I wouldn't naturally have written those characters, particularly Maggie.

The first time I got involved with fanfic in the wider world - i.e. the Net - was the X-Files. Wish-fulfilment stuff: I wanted Mulder and Scully to fall in love, have babies, etc etc. But then I realised that I wasn't necessarily enjoying the ones that ticked those boxes. Some of the shipper (relationship) fics were so godawful that it didn't matter whether there was M/S romance - I didn't want to read it. The better fanfics were the ones with better plots, characterisation, dialogue, description, and general quality of writing. I found that I didn't mind so much whether there was any shippiness, so long as the journey was fun.

I have a habit of falling into fandoms, and no doubt would do so whether there were fanfics or not. I've been through quite a few (although having a look at other people's stuff makes me look at my own fandom in a different light. How do they find the time?). Watched the first X-Men movie, and decided that I loved the interaction between Wolverine and Rogue - that they'd be perfect for one another, once she's grown up a bit (he doesn't age, so no problems there that I can see). Turns out I'm not the only one. Hoorah - the WRFA (Wolverine and Rogue Fanfiction Archive). Some of them are very, very good. Of course, there's a lot of turkeys out there, too - but hey, everyone's got to learn somehow. Putting your work out there for other people to read and feed back about is a good - and very brave - way of doing it.

Then I ran across the Magnificent Seven TV series. Just the sort of thing that appeals to me - guys, guns, costumes, heroism, angst... Cancelled after series two, though. Fanfic, I thought. Did a search online, trala, there it was. Lots and lots of it. But the thing is, the show's not that good. It's okay, the acting's quite good, as are the costumes, but they're using the same sets used in western shows since the beginning of television, the storylines were better in the original latin, and it's all a little... formulaic. But the fanfic... well.

Some of it is horrible - that's always the case with fanfic, and people learn, as I said. M7 fanfic can be particularly guilty of sentimentalism and tweeness, and is so sugary as to send you into diabetic shock. But some of it is much, much better than the series. Much better than it deserves, somehow. J. Brooks's stuff is hilarious. JIN writes gripping plots. G.M. Atwater writes beautiful dialogue, particularly accents. And there's an epic (around 500,000 words, by my count - that's, like, five books) called 'Moved by Silent Hands' by Painted Eyes, which is just unlike anything I've ever read, in any fandom. It's an amazing piece - and a damn shame it can't be published, as it's 'merely' fanfic. I hope the writer gets published in her real life, because she (he?) richly deserves it.

Confusingly, with the Magnificent Seven, there's an AU universe which is as popular as the canon one, if not moreso. The Seven work for the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms), in a similar setup to the original series, but in modern times. And I got into that, too, because some of these very, very good writers were writing for that AU, as well as canon. And, weirdly for a show that effectively doesn't exist except in the heads and on the computers of fanfic writers, it's a very complete world.

Is it odd to be a fan of a series that doesn't exist? Well, no more odd than to be a fan of a book, or a TV show - it's all fiction, at the end of the day. What difference if the writers are officially sanctioned by the fact that someone pays them? There's more of the unpaid writing, which means that some of it is bad - but it's down to the reader to be their own filter, to read the stuff they like and avoid the stuff they don't. Hey, I can do that. And wow. It's like it's tailored.

Writing fanfic is, for me, a great way of honing my abilities. I want to write my own books, with my own characters and my own world. Okay, yes, perhaps for my own good I ought to concentrate on that a bit more, instead of writing stuff that's inherantly unpublishable because the characters and situations belong to someone else. But, that aside, I do think it's made a significant difference to the way I write, knowing someone out there is going to be reading it. I pay attention to things like language - the subtle differences between American, British, and Canadian (and I still get that wrong all the time - I found out recently that if I refer to 'suspenders', my fellow Brits will understand what I meant, but Americans will think I meant the things that hold your trousers up. Or pants. And if I mention pants, the Brits will think of knickers first... Yeesh.).

It's also made me go out and research a few things. I've always been interested in... stuff. I don't know how to put it better than that. I read encyclopaedias for fun, for instance. I like knowing things about things. Writing fanfic tends to mean I'm writing about worlds I know little about. Since I started writing Stargate stuff, for instance, I've learnt about the US Air Force, and the military in general - something I previously knew nothing about. And I've read up on astronomy, too, and some physics, some chemistry, some field medicine - just the basics, but more than I ever learnt in school. Magnificent Seven taught me about horses and old guns, and some Western history and geography. X-Men... American education system, planes, Canadian geography, er, comic-book history. And so on. And when reading fanfic, I'll often follow up a reference I don't understand - a person, a thing, a phrase, whatever. It's a piecemeal way of educating myself, but I already have a normal, formal education, so nuts - I'm just adding to it. Will it ever come in useful? Who knows. Maybe if I go on a quiz show and will a million. But stretching one's brain is never a bad thing.

I'm trying to think of more to say about this, but I think I'm all written out. Except to say that it's also taught me to type fast, to work on my grammar but not to let it get in the way, to come out of my shell and interact with perfect strangers via email, blogs, etc, to write reviews and compliments and reply to people who review and compliment me, and never to use my real name unless I'm certain: when I Google my name, there's still an X-Files story that comes up, written when I was seventeen. Dammit. :)


Some fic recs, whilst I'm at it:

X-Men:
Victoria P. (esp. The Best-Laid Plans)
Ransom: (esp. The Best-Laid Plans - The Art of War Remix)
Donna Bevan
Terri: Eeeeeverything
jjblazer
Diebin
tinhutlady
Jengrrl
Elizabeth
Ramos (esp. The Lab, Welcome to Genosha)
Ai Kemi: I'm Not In Love
 - all available on the Wolverine and Rogue Fanfiction Archive (see link to right)


Magnificent Seven:
J. Brooks
BMP
G.M. Atwater
JIN
C.V. Puerro
- all available on http://www.blackraptor.net/m7fic/index.htm
Kimberley
Painted Eyes
- available on http://lalibrary.net/m7/index.html