Fanfiction – Building Castles in Another’s Sandbox

I write fanfiction.

Damn that felt good to say.

Anyway. My family circle knew not of this hobby of mine, nor is it known among my circle of sadly number-deficient friends. In fact, only my best friend of 19 years knew of this fact, and that was only after almost a year of writing fanfiction.

I expected rejection or at least derision – it’s a common reaction in Real Life, believe me – which is why I’m relieved when she said she didn’t mind, even going as far as reading some of the stuff I’ve written. She tries to write her own fanfic when she has the time, and I encourage her time and again to do so to hone her skills in characterization and writing style.

And because I enjoy reading her fiction too.

Now I know that a lot of people look down on fanfic writers, especially because there’s a mindset that fanfic writers are tweens who fantasize about their favorite (usually male) character falling in love with them, and that fanfic writers are (still) tweens who fantasize about their favorite male characters going on each other (yes, I’m talking about that BL aka Boy Love – yes, it’s gay). I am not dissing the tweens, nor am I dissing those who write to see those fantasies come to life – it’s fanfiction, it’s supposed to be fun – but fanfic authors are not the same everywhere. Fanfiction everywhere have different reasons for being written the way they are.

Some fanfic authors write to continue the story of the characters. The original writer won’t write forever – stories have to end, regardless of the fandom demands, regardless of human nature that abhors endings - and fanfic authors make it their quest to continue where the author left off. Some fanfic authors want to experiment – how would character A act if he or she was accidentally dropped in cyberspace while his or her parents are in an intergalactic tour? Some fanfic authors want to develop the characters, to redeem or glorify or explain them – these writers weave backstories, or mend plotholes, or create new paths for their characters either by writing in the world of the original story (called canon) or an alternate universe (called AU). Some fanfic authors, admittedly a majority, write to make their favorite characters hook up. Romance-themed fanfics are popular to the majority of fandom (which is comprised by, surprise, surprise – females), the same way that those romance pocketbooks remain popular among the readers.

Of course, the above are simply a few of the reasons why fanfic authors write what they write. Personally, I write because I want to explain what makes the characters tic and why their “chemistry” is “real.” I write because I understand the characters and I want others to understand them too. I write because I love them and they have become a part of my life and I want to add new dimensions to “their” lives. I write because I’m human and I don’t want stories to end. I write because I see possibilities and the possibilities are endless.

Fanfiction is about crossing fantasy with reality. It’s about beginning where it should end. It’s about becoming a part of another world and seeing through the eyes of these characters. Fanfiction is about possibilities. Endlessness.

Fanfiction is writing stories and never letting others convince you otherwise. While some people are content with building castles in the air, people like me are content with building castles in the sandbox of the worlds we pass by. Indeed these sandcastles will be blown by the wind one day, but our hands will remember that we have molded and created and continued the story.  And the story will live on.

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I post my Naruto-related fanfics here in my blog of the same name . Flames are warmly received, but please be gentle.