The movies, books and television shows we love are particularly good at engaging our imagination because of their rich narratives and complex characters. When fans become fascinated by their favorite media, they naturally want to extend the story and explore other scenarios for those characters. For many fans, the way to do that is through fanfiction. Created by fans solely for the enjoyment of other fans, fanfiction is part of the “gift economy” of fandom, with writers investing a great deal of time in their stories and then sharing them for free. Thus, the culture of fandom has been one of appreciation instead of critique.
Recently, however, fanfiction writers have been criticized by readers for allegedly using AI to generate stories. In the booming Heated Rivalry fandom, fans recently took to reddit to expose some of those writers, effectively pushing them out of the fan community. Fans posted that knowing some of their favorite fictions were created with AI broke their hearts. Many felt deceived and betrayed because the writers had anti-AI tags on the works but had actually used AI, breaking trust within the fandom community.
The comments focused on the harm to readers, but using AI to write fanfiction also involves a loss for the writer. It means missing out on some of the benefits of writing fanfiction the old fashioned way (not using AI). If you’re a fanfiction writer, or you’ve considered writing some new adventures for your favorite characters, keep in mind that there are benefits of writing fanfiction — but not if you don’t do the actual writing.
Fanfiction as Imaginary Play
First, writing fanfiction is a pleasurable way of engaging with the stories and characters we love. Everyone who consumes fictional media engages their imagination when they do, integrating their own experience, engaging emotionally with the characters, and sometimes fantasizing or daydreaming about interacting with them. Just as the pleasure of reading comes from engaging your imagination and thus participating in the narrative, putting those thoughts and feelings into fanfiction is also a pleasurable way of actively engaging with the story.
Writing fanfiction is something done for fun, not for pay – in other words, it’s a form of leisure, which has benefits in terms of stress reduction and sense of well-being. Writing fanfiction is also a creative process that has been viewed as a form of imaginary play, an extension of the pretend play of our childhoods (Barnes, 2015). Fans often describe writing fanfiction in terms of “playing” with the narrative or the characters, taking inspiration from the writer’s own imagination. Any kind of play can be rejuvenating for adults who are often discouraged from engaging in “just for fun” activities. Finding temporary escape from the stressors of everyday life by immersing yourself in fiction has long been a way of reducing stress and coping with life challenges. Writing a story about your “comfort character” is a great way to do just that.
Fanfiction as Self-Expression
All writing, including fanfiction, is a form of self-expression. Fanfiction has traditionally provided a forum for marginalized voices, since it is not as subject to the constraints of mainstream social norms. This allows fanfiction writers to experiment with gender norms, to explore queerness, or to write about taboo topics. Fanfiction has been considered by some to be transgressive and subversive, a way of talking back to or reinterpreting the original media. Individuals who have not seen themselves or the kind of relationships they hope for represented in media can write their own stories and change that. Writing fanfiction is also a way of making meaning out of a text that is personally important, as well as the thoughts and feelings the media provoked.
Fanfiction has been described as directly connected to the id – a more uncensored and unfettered expression of whatever the writer wishes to explore and convey. While a published work may be more widely read, working with a publisher and editor constrains what the writer can express. Writing fanfiction allows expression of themes that may be therapeutic for the writer to explore. All fictional stories, including fanfiction, create a psychological space in which the writer can make sense of their own emotions with some safe distance by looking at those emotions through the fictional characters.
The fanfiction genre of “hurt/comfort,” for example, is quite popular. In these stories, a character is confronted with suffering and trauma, but finds healing through their relationship with another character. In this sense, the research on the psychological benefits of expressive writing can be applied to writing fanfiction as well. James Pennebaker and colleagues found that writing about stressful or traumatic experiences and exploring their emotional impact can lower anxiety and depression symptoms, improve sleep and even lower blood pressure (Gao, 2022 ; Pennebaker & Evans, 2014). But not if you’re not the one doing the writing!
Fanfiction as Writing Practice
Finally, writing fanfiction can also be a rich practice field for individuals who aspire to be writers. The fanfiction norm of having a “beta reader” to edit the story is essentially getting editing services from a more experienced writer without having to pay (or go along with if you don’t agree). Many professional writers got their start writing fanfiction, and credit the supportive community and its constructive critique in helping them hone their craft. The fandom community is a built-in enthusiastic cheering section to encourage the novice writer to persist. There’s nothing like getting a gushing comment on something you wrote yourself — that same comment won’t feel nearly as good if you know it was Claude doing the writing.
So write that Heated Rivalry story you’ve been thinking about. But write your own stories, develop your own voice, and share your creation with the community that will appreciate them, imperfections and all.
