February 02, 2016 
Kemi Faderin 
It was in my early years of high school that a classmate introduced me to the world of Fan Fiction. I thought it was the most amazing thing ever, because not only did I already have the habit of rewriting the ending to every book / movie I wasn’t quite satisfied with, but I also wondered if there were others like me, people who enjoyed doing something similar. I was happy to find out that there were a million and one!
Many years later, and with the increase of its popularity, there seems to be a debate about the benefits of fan fiction. Does it indeed help writers learn and improve their craft, or is it more of a crutch, preventing them from moving on and creating their own original works?
I will say this: Fan fiction can be helpful, but I think it depends on the writer. Some take the opportunity to be truly creative, experimenting and finding ways to strengthen their skills; others fall into a certain pattern for the sake of getting the most likes/reviews, and it’s not really about the writing anymore. Then, I guess, it’s also what you read. If a person spends time reading things of little quality, then nothing can be gained from it. I think it is important for every writer to keep in mind the ultimate reason for writing fan fiction, which is writing their own original work. And honestly, for some people it’s simply to get more out of their favorite books and there is nothing wrong with that.
I ended up being more of a fan fiction reader than a writer; however, what I did get from it was the first inclination of what I wanted to do when I grew up. I found myself at various times patiently sifting through all the different stories until finally finding one that truly struck me. It was always a gratifying feeling finding that needle in a haystack and those were the moments when I knew I wouldn’t mind doing something like this for the rest of my life (this was way before I knew literary agents existed!).
What are your thoughts on fan fiction? Here’s a list of published authors who have a thing or two to say about fan fiction.
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As an agent, what are your thoughts on P2P (pulled-to-publish) fan fiction? Making money off another author\’s world/characters/plot, but with the names changed so as not to be sued? Betrayal of fan community, whilst using the fandom to promote your work? (Fifty Shades of Grey, Beautiful Bastard, etc.)
It seems what we’ve done here is retitle an old artistic practice known as the “knock-off”; it’s been seen in various degrees of effectiveness in music, movies and books since the Bayeaux Tapestry was mimicked by the Siena Bedspread of 1126. (which resulted in a long-forgotten war and a Papal interdict we don’t have time to recount here) I just tried unsuccessfully to wade through Rainbow Rowell’s fan fiction/knock-off of Hogwarts-and depending on which bestseller list you’re tracking I’m not the only one. I’m not against the practice per se; (some Japanese antique forgeries from centuries ago are worth more than the original) shameless trend surfers like James Patterson provide kids with better stuff than the material he’s hijacked, after all, but let’s call the spade a damned shovel when we trip over it in the graveyard at midnight, shall we?
Three thoughts:
– My eldest kid and I got through her adolescent years by writing pastiches of the Star Trek: Next Generation scripts. It was a way to bond without approaching each other not as parent and child but as two fans who liked to write. We laughed ourselves silly, together.
– I can’t tell you how many famous works I’ve finished reading and thought, “Heck, I can do a LOT better than that!” In my queue (too long, alas!) of projects to be completed are “my versions” of many of them. As Kevin says, above, the knock-off can be respectable, IMHO, provided that what you produce is an improvement over the original in several different respects and also offers something different and unique.
– OTHO, I dislike fan fiction in general because most of it isn’t any good, and — perhaps more important — I don’t believe in giving anything away that I might sell.