By Kacie Leach
Take note while strolling down the book aisle; there are multiple books on the shelves that have notes to the reader informing them that the book first started out on a fanfiction website. Before you judge the world of fanfiction, take a deeper look. Many best selling novels and movies, such as Fifty Shades of Gray by El James, started out as fanfiction.
Fanfiction is a go-to for the ultimate fan. Stereotypically fanfiction is something with which teenage girls are associated, yet the world of fanfiction is filled with both male and female authors and readers.
When stories like Harry Potter, Twilight or Star Wars come to an end, with the fanfiction genre, fans can take the situation into their own hands to keep the love going.
Fanfiction can be described as novels or short stories written by fans that wish to keep a love and passion growing when Hollywood or a producer ends it.
The world and art of fanfiction is judged negatively because it is misunderstood. Critics believe fanfiction is something that crazy, obsessed fans write because they have no life.
What critics fail to understand is fanfiction carries on a story that has stopped for everyone else. When that escape is taken away, readers long for the feelings that those books or other loved fixations once gave them. The feeling of a being apart of different world is thrilling, and when that excitement comes to an end, many fans can not bear to let go.
To make it more understandable, think of the empty feeling that comes after finishing a series of books or watching every single sequel to a movie: it is an indescribable feeling. Knowing that the fictional world is over hits a fan hard. Because of this, diehard fans turn to fanfiction to keep the love going.
Fanfiction is an escape with the advantage of being able to create the story that tickles the writers fancy. The writer is in control and can even be the main character or have a love interest with Edward Cullen. The story is in the author’s hands.
While the world of fanfiction is still developing, it is not something to judge. Everyone has a passion, or at least should and fanfiction is now a valid genre.
