In Defense of Fanfiction
Quite some time ago, I read a really terrible Sparknotes article about how bad fanfiction is. Being the angry fangirl I was at the time (and pretty much still am), I wrote a rebuttal to this article and posted it here, on livejournal. For some reason, I deleted that post along with so many others, and it was lost to the void. I was trying to find some old fanfiction published under this username and found a link to this rebuttal and realized that it had been purged. I thought the text was lost to me forever. And then someone apparently posted the entire thing on tumblr.
The internet is so freaking beautiful sometimes.
So I gave my rebuttal a read-through and cleaned up the typos and tweaked a few things. And voila! Here it is again, in its 2014 glory.
in defense of fanfiction
The following is a dissection of a recent Sparknotes (yes, Sparknotes) article entitled “The Problem(s) with fanfiction.” I recommend you read that article either before or immediately after you read this post. In this post, I refer a lot to “we.” When I say “we” I mean we as fanfiction readers as a whole. It is not intended to generalize or offend, simply to make a point.
“fanfiction isn’t good.” This is the first line of Dan Bergstein’s article, attempting to explain why he has taken such a huge dislike to fanfiction. This is a loaded statement, to be sure. Maybe we’re wasting our time, and maybe we’re all, as one commenter below the article referred to fanfic writers as, “sweaty palmed mouth breathers who haven’t seen the sun in months,” but I have to disagree with this first point. I, for one, have read countless pieces of fanfiction that have brought me close to tears or beyond. I have read stories where the characterization and dialogue are so perfect, I wonder if it hasn’t been written by the original author. I have read AU’s that are so beautiful, I want to give up writing forever.
Perhaps Bergstein’s problem is that he’s limited the fandoms he’s read in to Twilight and Harry Potter. In defense of Twilight, I’m sure there are some good fics out there, probably better than anything Stephanie Meyers has written because, I’ll be blunt here, that series just isn’t good. Now that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have merit because, hey, it’s a series, someone wrote it, she wrote and finished and novel and an entire series and has gone on to write more and be incredibly successful -- and we have to give her credit for that. But Twilight is probably the last place you want to start reading fanfiction because, let’s be honest, there are a lot of different Twilight fans.
Bergstein also read Harry Potter fanfiction, which was the first bit of fanfiction I ever read, so I take great offense to his accusation that it is all, essentially, butt-numbingly awful. That isn’t to say that there aren’t some really terrible Harry Potter fics -- every fandom has them.
However, it isn’t as though an enthusiastic fan sits down at their computer and thinks I’m going to write the shittiest fic in existence. Those people are trolls. I’m looking at you “My Immortal.” I’m looking right. At. You.
Most people who write fanfiction are genuinely invested in the fandom and want to contribute something. They don’t feel as though a character was explored accurately, or they have a relationship they would have liked to have seen and they want to imagine a story in which that would have happened. And that is okay. The problem with this article is that it tries to make fanfiction writers seem like lazy, uncreative, fanatics with nothing better to do. Not only is that a generalization, but to blog about it on Sparknotes is rude, inconsiderate, and a huge jab at a very large part of many fanbases.
Now, no one asked for my opinion about this article, but then, no one asked Dan Bergstein to write up a page about how pathetic fanfiction is, so I figure, fair is fair. Let’s tackle his first point.
1. It’s Awful.
I will, again, direct you to the TV Tropes page. That is awful fanfiction. That is brain-bleach worthy, absolutely horrible, wish I hadn’t read that fanfiction. There is a lot of just not-good fanfiction out there that isn’t on that list because it isn’t something like “My Immortal” or one of the many Final Fantasy fics about having sex with Chocobos. Sometimes a story is just bad. It doesn’t flow, the dialogue is way out of character, the verb tense changes repeatedly - etc.. I will tell you - when I first started writing fanfiction, it was pretty awful stuff. It took me a long time to become a better writer. But we all have to start somewhere.
To say that fanfiction as a whole is “awful” is to say, “Hey. I haven’t actually read a lot of fanfiction. But the few fics I’ve read are craptastic, so I’m just going to assume that all of it is.” This doesn’t mean that I want Bergstein to read every fic out there. I wouldn’t want him to waste his time, obviously. But if he’s looking at the Harry Potter fandom, it shouldn’t be hard for him to find a legitimately good story. There are dozens of recommendation blogs all over the internet - it isn’t impossible to ask and find out about a good or fabulous story written within fandom. It wouldn’t be impossible to find out about Twilight either. I’m sure there are some really gorgeous Bella/Edward or whoever/whoever or just character studies out on the internet, just waiting for a skeptic like Bergstein to find. So the argument that “it’s awful,” just proves how very little research Bergstein put into his effort to read any fanfiction at all.
2. It’s Empty.
I’m just going to quote him on this one because, honestly, I laughed outloud when I read this. I really did:
“I never felt invested in any of the fanfiction stories because I knew they weren’t real. It’s like seeing a Santa Claus at the mall. We all know he’s not the real Santa. Sure, he looks like Santa and talks like Santa, but he’s just a sad man who will let you sit on him in exchange for money. fanfiction is like the mall Santa-a mall Santa who dates Final Fantasy characters.”
fanfiction isn’t real. Excuse me while I recover from this Earth-shattering revelation. Because, for a moment, I was under the impression that I was chronicling my own, true version of the story of two brothers who hunt the weird and unexplainable. Or that I was recording the actual history of the relationship between Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy.
“[fanfiction is] like seeing a Santa Claus at the mall.” This entire comparison kills me to be quite honest, because I don’t think a argument like this has any merit whatsoever when the subject in question, fanfiction, is being compared to a fictional person. I hate to break this to you Bergstein, but Santa? He isn’t real. A Santa at the mall is just as real as the Santa at the North Pole, so when you compare fanfiction to its original, I have to insist that, the story its based off of? It’s usually not real either. That’s why it’s called “fiction.” And that’s why the reasoning behind your lack of investment just doesn’t cut it for me.
I said this before, I’ve read several stories that made me ache for a character, that made me cry openly. If you’re into the Supernatural fandom, and you’d like to read a truly heartbreaking Dean/Castiel fic, I’d recommend “My Eyes Are An Ocean.” If you haven’t read it before, you’ll cry, most likely.
The only reason not to be invested in a fanfiction is if it is legitimately not good. I think Bergstein had assumptions about the stories he was going to read before he read them, and so he didn’t feel any connection because he was probably repeating, “This is stupid, this is stupid, this is stupid,” over and over in his head. I don’t know what he was thinking, but his critique of everything he’s read doesn’t really tell me anything different.
I’m often just as invested in the characters of a Harry Potter fanfiction as I am in the actual books themselves, especially when that fic is well written. Again, I would direct Bergstein to some actually good fics and see if his opinion changes. And ask him to clear his head of any preconceived notions before he starts.
3. Too Much Shipping
I would love to gather a list of stories I’ve read that are not about a relationship between two characters because I have read a lot. I’ve read brilliant character studies that cover the history of a minor character who never got to shine. I’ve read metas about characters who have backstories that have never been explored. Does this mean that a lot of fanfiction is about shipping two characters? Yes. And sometimes more than two characters. We’re human and we love to talk and think about interactions between people. It’s who we are.
And forgive fandom for creating their own word. We apologize, truly. Maybe you can get an apology from Webster’s dictionary, too, for adding a few newly created words over the years.
I don’t think “ship” sounds weird because I am active within fandom. It’s why no one in America thinks you’re strange when you tell them to “just Google it,” because we know what you’re talking about. “Ship” no longer stands for just “relationship” in fandom - it’s an evolving area of fandom. Every kind of subculture or group has its own jargon - this is ours.
4. Slash Fiction Is Wrong (But hilarious!)
I’m just not sure how to comment on this. Yes, there is a lot of slash fanfiction available. Yes, a large portion of it is not canon. Yes, slashers are aware that there is a large population of even fanfiction writers who do not write or support slash. But what about slash is wrong? Is it the fact that there’s homosexuality? Or is it wrong because two characters who are not canonically queer are being paired together? Is it the thought process that’s wrong? Slashing involves a lot of different elements - which part of that do you consider wrong, Bergstein? If people aren’t comfortable with homosexuality, then they should not read slash fanfiction. That’s why there are warnings, that’s where there’s a little note that says who the fanfiction is being written about. It's why AO3 employees such a large tagging system. And if those characters are the same gender or whatever then if you’re not into slash fanfiction, you probably shouldn’t read it.
This is like complaining about spilling hot coffee on your arm when the cup clearly says HOT. If you don’t want to read it then don’t. Enough said.
Calling it wrong is a matter of personal opinion. Not all fanfiction (including slash) is just “homoerotic naked touching and the word ‘throb.’” Again, there are hundreds of well written slash fics that evoke emotion and can be written in character.
To immediately deem slash fanfiction as wrong is to claim that the sexuality of even fictional characters isn’t fluid, that it is set in stone and that slash fanfiction somehow is a sick perversion of that, that it’s “wrong” to write a character as gay because their sexuality is so set in stone and permanent. A lot of times, we as an audience aren’t given enough to determine the sexuality of a character - so to claim that they’d never have sex with someone of the same gender is heterosexist, transphobic, homophobic, and small-minded -- and it assumes that the person claiming this has some greater knowledge of the character than others do.
5. fanfiction Is Small-Minded (Usually)
Bergstein cites “A Very Potter Musical” as a fanwork, and he’s right. It’s a really great tribute by fans - but it’s not fanfiction. It’s a parody of the original work. AVPM is brilliant, I believe, and I love it, but it doesn’t do the same thing as writing a piece of Harry Potter fanfiction does. A fanfic revists a story and can delve into the head of a character or a scenario and comments on might-have-beens or characters that just weren’t highlighted - AVPM goes back and pokes fun (lovingly) at a story.
Bergstein also basically reduces fanfiction into, “Androgynous Spiky-Haired Anime Character A should kiss Androgynous Spiky-Haired Bikini-Clad Anime Character B and they should both have dolphins.”
As someone who writes fanfiction, this is insulting to me. This is telling me that Bergstein thinks that the only reason I write fanfiction is because I just want to get to characters together. A lot of times, if I’m writing a piece of fanfiction about two characters, I’m doing it because I want to explore that relationship in my own way. I don’t ship a lot of canon pairings, and there’s nothing for me to go off of except for what I have in the original medium, so I write fanfiction to explore that relationship for myself. Not just because I want them to get together. This is trivializing and makes very piece of fanfiction that’s been written into a joke. And this entire line is just vastly insulting and assumptive. Why is it “anime?” Why are they kissing? Why is the second character in a bikini? Why are you making all these ridiculous assumptions about a process that you yourself don’t actually care enough about to go out and read some legitimately good fanfiction, Bergstein?
6. fanfiction Is Misguided Creativity
I’ll quote him a bit on this one, too:
“But if all that mental power went into original stories, with original characters, the world would be a better place. Instead of filling the internet with tales of Sonic the Hedgehog’s sex-capades, create new stories about the sex lives of other fast rodents.”
At this point in the article, Bergstein still seems to be under the impression that every fanfic is about sex. Every single one of them.
This isn’t true. I have read a lot of brilliant stories where no one has sex. The article just continues to make the assumption that the only reason people write fanfiction is because they want to write about people having sex. And that just isn’t true. This point also claims that the energy put into fanfiction should be applied to original fiction, but I know that I, for one, have a hard time crafting original fiction. With fanfiction, there are characters there that I can explore on my own. I would love to write original fiction one day, but to be quite honest, I don’t have the life experiences to sit down and start crafting an entire original life for someone else. I’ve hardly lived my own. Fanfiction lets me be creative while I’m still learning and experiencing my own life. I credit it with making me a better writer, and I have friends who will attest to the same thing.
7. Write Your Own Damn Story
This is essentially the same thing as point six. I won’t go further into why I am not writing my own stories. I write fanfiction and, to be honest, I’m very happy with that right now. This entire article so far has been a constant insult to something that makes me and a lot of people I know very happy.
8. The Party Has To End
This point basically says, “Hey. Harry Potter’s over, so stop writing about it.”
You know, that kind of defeats the purpose of fanfiction. Take a look at the LOST fandom, or the Lord of the Rings fandom - still very active, still very creative. That’s part of the reason people write fanfiction. So it doesn’t really have to be over. It can live on in fandom and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It’s a tribute to the original work. No one is trying to make any money off of it, or show any disrespect to the original creator. It’s a fun way to continue exploring characters of a show/movie/book series, etc..
9. Write You Own Flippin’ Story!
You said this already. We get it.
In short, this entire article has been a huge jab at something that makes me happy. It makes a lot of people happy. I don’t know what Bergstein likes to do - apparently blog about things he doesn’t really understand nor care to actually learn more about. I haven’t read the rest of his blog, and I probably won’t. This is a huge turn-off for me and I don’t like the way that a hobby of mine has been trivialized and insulted and made to seem like it isn’t worth my time. Since he’s on the topic of hobbies, maybe he should write a scathing blog post about knitting and make assumptions about everyone who enjoys that.
I don’t want this to seem like a jab-for-jab. It’s just that the entire article is so misinformed about fanfiction writing as a whole that I don’t think Bergstein really knows what he’s talking about. He’s limited himself in scope and to a certain kind of fanfiction in two specific fandoms. That’s no way to write about a topic. I believe that if wants to write a good critique of fanfiction, he needs to read more with an open mind.”
The internet is so freaking beautiful sometimes.
So I gave my rebuttal a read-through and cleaned up the typos and tweaked a few things. And voila! Here it is again, in its 2014 glory.
in defense of fanfiction
The following is a dissection of a recent Sparknotes (yes, Sparknotes) article entitled “The Problem(s) with fanfiction.” I recommend you read that article either before or immediately after you read this post. In this post, I refer a lot to “we.” When I say “we” I mean we as fanfiction readers as a whole. It is not intended to generalize or offend, simply to make a point.
“fanfiction isn’t good.” This is the first line of Dan Bergstein’s article, attempting to explain why he has taken such a huge dislike to fanfiction. This is a loaded statement, to be sure. Maybe we’re wasting our time, and maybe we’re all, as one commenter below the article referred to fanfic writers as, “sweaty palmed mouth breathers who haven’t seen the sun in months,” but I have to disagree with this first point. I, for one, have read countless pieces of fanfiction that have brought me close to tears or beyond. I have read stories where the characterization and dialogue are so perfect, I wonder if it hasn’t been written by the original author. I have read AU’s that are so beautiful, I want to give up writing forever.
Perhaps Bergstein’s problem is that he’s limited the fandoms he’s read in to Twilight and Harry Potter. In defense of Twilight, I’m sure there are some good fics out there, probably better than anything Stephanie Meyers has written because, I’ll be blunt here, that series just isn’t good. Now that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have merit because, hey, it’s a series, someone wrote it, she wrote and finished and novel and an entire series and has gone on to write more and be incredibly successful -- and we have to give her credit for that. But Twilight is probably the last place you want to start reading fanfiction because, let’s be honest, there are a lot of different Twilight fans.
Bergstein also read Harry Potter fanfiction, which was the first bit of fanfiction I ever read, so I take great offense to his accusation that it is all, essentially, butt-numbingly awful. That isn’t to say that there aren’t some really terrible Harry Potter fics -- every fandom has them.
However, it isn’t as though an enthusiastic fan sits down at their computer and thinks I’m going to write the shittiest fic in existence. Those people are trolls. I’m looking at you “My Immortal.” I’m looking right. At. You.
Most people who write fanfiction are genuinely invested in the fandom and want to contribute something. They don’t feel as though a character was explored accurately, or they have a relationship they would have liked to have seen and they want to imagine a story in which that would have happened. And that is okay. The problem with this article is that it tries to make fanfiction writers seem like lazy, uncreative, fanatics with nothing better to do. Not only is that a generalization, but to blog about it on Sparknotes is rude, inconsiderate, and a huge jab at a very large part of many fanbases.
Now, no one asked for my opinion about this article, but then, no one asked Dan Bergstein to write up a page about how pathetic fanfiction is, so I figure, fair is fair. Let’s tackle his first point.
1. It’s Awful.
I will, again, direct you to the TV Tropes page. That is awful fanfiction. That is brain-bleach worthy, absolutely horrible, wish I hadn’t read that fanfiction. There is a lot of just not-good fanfiction out there that isn’t on that list because it isn’t something like “My Immortal” or one of the many Final Fantasy fics about having sex with Chocobos. Sometimes a story is just bad. It doesn’t flow, the dialogue is way out of character, the verb tense changes repeatedly - etc.. I will tell you - when I first started writing fanfiction, it was pretty awful stuff. It took me a long time to become a better writer. But we all have to start somewhere.
To say that fanfiction as a whole is “awful” is to say, “Hey. I haven’t actually read a lot of fanfiction. But the few fics I’ve read are craptastic, so I’m just going to assume that all of it is.” This doesn’t mean that I want Bergstein to read every fic out there. I wouldn’t want him to waste his time, obviously. But if he’s looking at the Harry Potter fandom, it shouldn’t be hard for him to find a legitimately good story. There are dozens of recommendation blogs all over the internet - it isn’t impossible to ask and find out about a good or fabulous story written within fandom. It wouldn’t be impossible to find out about Twilight either. I’m sure there are some really gorgeous Bella/Edward or whoever/whoever or just character studies out on the internet, just waiting for a skeptic like Bergstein to find. So the argument that “it’s awful,” just proves how very little research Bergstein put into his effort to read any fanfiction at all.
2. It’s Empty.
I’m just going to quote him on this one because, honestly, I laughed outloud when I read this. I really did:
“I never felt invested in any of the fanfiction stories because I knew they weren’t real. It’s like seeing a Santa Claus at the mall. We all know he’s not the real Santa. Sure, he looks like Santa and talks like Santa, but he’s just a sad man who will let you sit on him in exchange for money. fanfiction is like the mall Santa-a mall Santa who dates Final Fantasy characters.”
fanfiction isn’t real. Excuse me while I recover from this Earth-shattering revelation. Because, for a moment, I was under the impression that I was chronicling my own, true version of the story of two brothers who hunt the weird and unexplainable. Or that I was recording the actual history of the relationship between Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy.
“[fanfiction is] like seeing a Santa Claus at the mall.” This entire comparison kills me to be quite honest, because I don’t think a argument like this has any merit whatsoever when the subject in question, fanfiction, is being compared to a fictional person. I hate to break this to you Bergstein, but Santa? He isn’t real. A Santa at the mall is just as real as the Santa at the North Pole, so when you compare fanfiction to its original, I have to insist that, the story its based off of? It’s usually not real either. That’s why it’s called “fiction.” And that’s why the reasoning behind your lack of investment just doesn’t cut it for me.
I said this before, I’ve read several stories that made me ache for a character, that made me cry openly. If you’re into the Supernatural fandom, and you’d like to read a truly heartbreaking Dean/Castiel fic, I’d recommend “My Eyes Are An Ocean.” If you haven’t read it before, you’ll cry, most likely.
The only reason not to be invested in a fanfiction is if it is legitimately not good. I think Bergstein had assumptions about the stories he was going to read before he read them, and so he didn’t feel any connection because he was probably repeating, “This is stupid, this is stupid, this is stupid,” over and over in his head. I don’t know what he was thinking, but his critique of everything he’s read doesn’t really tell me anything different.
I’m often just as invested in the characters of a Harry Potter fanfiction as I am in the actual books themselves, especially when that fic is well written. Again, I would direct Bergstein to some actually good fics and see if his opinion changes. And ask him to clear his head of any preconceived notions before he starts.
3. Too Much Shipping
I would love to gather a list of stories I’ve read that are not about a relationship between two characters because I have read a lot. I’ve read brilliant character studies that cover the history of a minor character who never got to shine. I’ve read metas about characters who have backstories that have never been explored. Does this mean that a lot of fanfiction is about shipping two characters? Yes. And sometimes more than two characters. We’re human and we love to talk and think about interactions between people. It’s who we are.
And forgive fandom for creating their own word. We apologize, truly. Maybe you can get an apology from Webster’s dictionary, too, for adding a few newly created words over the years.
I don’t think “ship” sounds weird because I am active within fandom. It’s why no one in America thinks you’re strange when you tell them to “just Google it,” because we know what you’re talking about. “Ship” no longer stands for just “relationship” in fandom - it’s an evolving area of fandom. Every kind of subculture or group has its own jargon - this is ours.
4. Slash Fiction Is Wrong (But hilarious!)
I’m just not sure how to comment on this. Yes, there is a lot of slash fanfiction available. Yes, a large portion of it is not canon. Yes, slashers are aware that there is a large population of even fanfiction writers who do not write or support slash. But what about slash is wrong? Is it the fact that there’s homosexuality? Or is it wrong because two characters who are not canonically queer are being paired together? Is it the thought process that’s wrong? Slashing involves a lot of different elements - which part of that do you consider wrong, Bergstein? If people aren’t comfortable with homosexuality, then they should not read slash fanfiction. That’s why there are warnings, that’s where there’s a little note that says who the fanfiction is being written about. It's why AO3 employees such a large tagging system. And if those characters are the same gender or whatever then if you’re not into slash fanfiction, you probably shouldn’t read it.
This is like complaining about spilling hot coffee on your arm when the cup clearly says HOT. If you don’t want to read it then don’t. Enough said.
Calling it wrong is a matter of personal opinion. Not all fanfiction (including slash) is just “homoerotic naked touching and the word ‘throb.’” Again, there are hundreds of well written slash fics that evoke emotion and can be written in character.
To immediately deem slash fanfiction as wrong is to claim that the sexuality of even fictional characters isn’t fluid, that it is set in stone and that slash fanfiction somehow is a sick perversion of that, that it’s “wrong” to write a character as gay because their sexuality is so set in stone and permanent. A lot of times, we as an audience aren’t given enough to determine the sexuality of a character - so to claim that they’d never have sex with someone of the same gender is heterosexist, transphobic, homophobic, and small-minded -- and it assumes that the person claiming this has some greater knowledge of the character than others do.
5. fanfiction Is Small-Minded (Usually)
Bergstein cites “A Very Potter Musical” as a fanwork, and he’s right. It’s a really great tribute by fans - but it’s not fanfiction. It’s a parody of the original work. AVPM is brilliant, I believe, and I love it, but it doesn’t do the same thing as writing a piece of Harry Potter fanfiction does. A fanfic revists a story and can delve into the head of a character or a scenario and comments on might-have-beens or characters that just weren’t highlighted - AVPM goes back and pokes fun (lovingly) at a story.
Bergstein also basically reduces fanfiction into, “Androgynous Spiky-Haired Anime Character A should kiss Androgynous Spiky-Haired Bikini-Clad Anime Character B and they should both have dolphins.”
As someone who writes fanfiction, this is insulting to me. This is telling me that Bergstein thinks that the only reason I write fanfiction is because I just want to get to characters together. A lot of times, if I’m writing a piece of fanfiction about two characters, I’m doing it because I want to explore that relationship in my own way. I don’t ship a lot of canon pairings, and there’s nothing for me to go off of except for what I have in the original medium, so I write fanfiction to explore that relationship for myself. Not just because I want them to get together. This is trivializing and makes very piece of fanfiction that’s been written into a joke. And this entire line is just vastly insulting and assumptive. Why is it “anime?” Why are they kissing? Why is the second character in a bikini? Why are you making all these ridiculous assumptions about a process that you yourself don’t actually care enough about to go out and read some legitimately good fanfiction, Bergstein?
6. fanfiction Is Misguided Creativity
I’ll quote him a bit on this one, too:
“But if all that mental power went into original stories, with original characters, the world would be a better place. Instead of filling the internet with tales of Sonic the Hedgehog’s sex-capades, create new stories about the sex lives of other fast rodents.”
At this point in the article, Bergstein still seems to be under the impression that every fanfic is about sex. Every single one of them.
This isn’t true. I have read a lot of brilliant stories where no one has sex. The article just continues to make the assumption that the only reason people write fanfiction is because they want to write about people having sex. And that just isn’t true. This point also claims that the energy put into fanfiction should be applied to original fiction, but I know that I, for one, have a hard time crafting original fiction. With fanfiction, there are characters there that I can explore on my own. I would love to write original fiction one day, but to be quite honest, I don’t have the life experiences to sit down and start crafting an entire original life for someone else. I’ve hardly lived my own. Fanfiction lets me be creative while I’m still learning and experiencing my own life. I credit it with making me a better writer, and I have friends who will attest to the same thing.
7. Write Your Own Damn Story
This is essentially the same thing as point six. I won’t go further into why I am not writing my own stories. I write fanfiction and, to be honest, I’m very happy with that right now. This entire article so far has been a constant insult to something that makes me and a lot of people I know very happy.
8. The Party Has To End
This point basically says, “Hey. Harry Potter’s over, so stop writing about it.”
You know, that kind of defeats the purpose of fanfiction. Take a look at the LOST fandom, or the Lord of the Rings fandom - still very active, still very creative. That’s part of the reason people write fanfiction. So it doesn’t really have to be over. It can live on in fandom and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It’s a tribute to the original work. No one is trying to make any money off of it, or show any disrespect to the original creator. It’s a fun way to continue exploring characters of a show/movie/book series, etc..
9. Write You Own Flippin’ Story!
You said this already. We get it.
In short, this entire article has been a huge jab at something that makes me happy. It makes a lot of people happy. I don’t know what Bergstein likes to do - apparently blog about things he doesn’t really understand nor care to actually learn more about. I haven’t read the rest of his blog, and I probably won’t. This is a huge turn-off for me and I don’t like the way that a hobby of mine has been trivialized and insulted and made to seem like it isn’t worth my time. Since he’s on the topic of hobbies, maybe he should write a scathing blog post about knitting and make assumptions about everyone who enjoys that.
I don’t want this to seem like a jab-for-jab. It’s just that the entire article is so misinformed about fanfiction writing as a whole that I don’t think Bergstein really knows what he’s talking about. He’s limited himself in scope and to a certain kind of fanfiction in two specific fandoms. That’s no way to write about a topic. I believe that if wants to write a good critique of fanfiction, he needs to read more with an open mind.”