The Writing Process

4. Fanfiction!

If you've visited my page, you've learned that everything is fanfiction.
If anyone has ever belittled your talents as a writer because you only do fanfiction, I apologize for them. Only writing fanfiction does not mean you're not a writer.
If you're the one that's made fun of a person for only writing fanfiction, sincerely, Screw. You.

Us fanfiction writers face the same issues and struggles as non-fanfic writers. The characters aren't just there to do as we please like puppets.
We have a name.
We have a face.
We have a few preferences.
But what about how they feel? How they think? How they act on a daily basis?
We don't know every little detail of their back story. We don't know how their family functions or if it functions at all. No matter how much we think we know this person, we actually don't. We are only using the image of them to make the life we wish they were living.
There is just as much character building with fanfiction as there is if we make one from scratch because the character is not just a face and a name. A character is all the tiny details I just mentioned, as well as the tiny piece of ourselves we put into them.

besides character building, they're is still issue of actually making a story. Having a face in mind doesn't bippity boppity boo words on the page. We have to do that ourselves.
There are fanfics that are terribly written, and I'd bet my write arm (see what I did there?) That the writers behind the stories wrote them when they were a beginner.

When they first got into that band or that TV show. They used all the obvious cliches that made up the characters because they were excited and falling in love.
Later, they would learn more and the storylines would improve. 
I've done it.
You've done it.
We've all done it.
It's okay to suck in the beginning. As long as you try to improve and learn, even the clichest of cliches can look pretty despite the cringe.
Back to the original reason I started this section.
I write fanfiction because it makes me happy. There's no other reason. Ive made attempts at regular fiction, but I always get distracted by the fanfiction.
I used to feel bad and invalid for not being able to turn out much of anything else.
Then i realized that writing is firstly for yourself. Choosing to show it to someone when you see fit or not at all.

Fanfiction makes me happy, and that's that.