Hi there!

This week's topic is Fan-fictions! Thank you for recommending it -RoseByAnotherName-

Fan-fics here, fan-fics there, fan-fics everywhere!. Whether it's a Harry Potter fanfic, a One Direction fanfic or even a Black Butler fanfic. Point is, a large amount of people love them! But not everyone enjoys their popularity. Some of those people hate them and scorn their writers. They say a fanfiction doesn't count as a story. It doesn't count as writing. It doesn't count as a book you've read. Alright then, let me talk about that in two parts.

-Does reading a a fanfiction count as a legit read?

Since when are there criteria that need to be met for a story to be considered as a countable read? How does that even make sense??? I'll admit that I wouldn't oh so casually look for a fanfic to read, but that's only because I find that most of them are focused on romance and forget to include an actual plot outside of it. However there are some pretty awesome ones. Last year I read this very entertaining and well-written story on Wattpad without bearing knowledge of the fact that it was a fanfiction. Guess what? I loved it! Quite oddly too since I very much dislike One Direction whose fanfiction this was. So yes, it does count as a legit read. Want a way to believe that? Leave your prejudice somewhere far away before starting the book.  (This is, of course, in cases of well-written, well-planned out books. Not any random fanfiction. Yeah, some will suck. Just like some normal books with any other genre will too!)

-Does writing a completed fanfiction make you a legit author?

Okay sure, perhaps authors of fanfics don't create all the characters or control every aspect of the setting, but they are writings. They do account. I'll tell you that as someone who's attempted to write one! 

Let me tell you a little about writing a fanfiction. First and foremost, it's so much fun! You get to express your love and obsession of something in a fairly creative way! You ship two people that never get together? No problem! They can get married and have a million cute babies! Your favorite character dies? No worries, they can live here!
There is difficulty in writing them though. Trying to keep the characters as themselves and making sure their personalities don't go from day to night is pretty darn hard. It almost requires a full study and understanding of the fandom, no joke. There are though a few people who write fan-fics very very freely, disregarding the characters' personalities, the main setting, or any other major fact that the fandom is built on. This might irritate fans of whatever their fan-fiction is about and rightfully so. That's alright though, just keep writing I guess. *sigh*
Again, it's a yes. You write fan-fics? You are a legit author. Yay for you!

Have you ever wondered why people from a certain fandom hate that same fandom's fanfictions? Having abhorred fanfics before writing one (Mhmm, I get both sides, so I'm not too biased.) , I'll go out on a limb and say it's because they don't want their image of the item they love messed with! I mean c'mon, there a number of ships and theories that will get to your head.

Regardless, whether you enjoy reading and/or writing fan-fictions is completely up to you. After all, it's a matter of opinion. Just like anything else though, whatever opinion yours is, make sure to respect others' too.

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I hope you enjoyed this one! What are your opinions on fan-fictions? Are they similar to mine? Or do you have different ones? Tell me in the comments!

~Also, I'm close to starting a writing (poetry, short stories, and short dramas) club! Stay tuned if you're interested in joining!