Fanfiction - Opinion

Personally, I do not write Fanfiction; but at the same time I have nothing against it in itself. I'm a firm believer in write what you want and don't let anyone tell you what you can or cannot write.

Now, about Fanfiction, I don't write it and furthermore, I don't read it. Have I ever considered writing a Fanfiction story? Yes, I once thought of writing a Fanfiction of Stephen King's The Shining and Doctor Sleep, like a story that is set in between those two novels. What stopped me? I always felt that I was, in one way or another, ripping Stephen King. For instance, if I became majorly popular because of that story, I'd feel that I stripped some fans from King. I have a great respect for other writers and personally I don't think it's right to take their ideas and make them your own in one way or another. I know how hard it is to write a popular story and such, and I would rather let them receive all the fandom they can than potentially take some from them, whether it's intentional or not. But at the same time, if I wrote a novel or series that became popular enough for people to write Fanfiction stories about it, I can imagine how that would be a sense of pride for a writer.

Also, like I said earlier, I have nothing against Fanfiction, but I've seen people use it as a crutch. I've seen people write GREAT stories but still use this Fanfiction platform; the story is good enough to stand alone without the Fanfiction tie to a certain popular band or book(s). So I think that in some ways, Fanfiction can be a trap to writers. And also, on Wattpad, Fanfiction is essentially taking over the site. You can't get away from it there, even though there are rules to keep the Fanfiction stories in their own section, they're still everywhere. To the point that other writer's original stories are buried beneath the mass of Fanfiction.

So I guess, my opinion is moderation for Fanfiction.

- Michael Hall