It was the night before Christmas,
And everyone was sleeping,
Except, of course, the daughter,
Who was reading gay fan fiction. [1]
A 300k WIP MCU OT3 A/B/O MPREG HS AU on Ao3 may sound like complete gibberish to most people but let me assure you that it makes perfect sense to a weathered fanfiction reader. [2] However, this often disrespected and taboo part of the “fan experience” is becoming more and more popular nowadays.
With the multitude of films/books/shows popping up every other week, there’s something out there for everyone. Yet being in a fandom no longer means passive entertainment; simply reading/watching is not enough. The post-modern and participatory culture blurs the line between author and reader, producer and spectator, creating what’s called a “produser”. [3] Therefore, to be part of a fandom, one feels the need to “give back”, by producing transformative works or at least participating in forums or fan conventions.
So, what exactly is fanfiction?
It’s a type of transformative work written by, usually an amateur, fan, based on (but not limited to) a published source text, be it a book, a film, a TV series or a game etc. [4] There is also the RPF (Real Person Fiction) branch, creating stories about real people, mostly celebrities.
There are many websites and online archives which publish fanfiction. The major ones are Archive of Our Own (Ao3) and Fanfiction.net, as well as blogging platforms, such as Livejournal or Tumblr. Based on Ao3’s stats, the fandoms with the largest number of fanfiction currently include: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Harry Potter, Supernatural and Sherlock.
Wordcounts range from drabbles/ficlets (the former originally were around 100 words long) to long-fics, which may be thousands of words long. The longest fanfiction ever written is The Subspace Emissary’s Worlds Conquest, based on the Nintendo fighting game Super Smash Bros. [5] Its current wordcount is over 4 million. To put things into persepctive: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is 257,045 words long. [6] TSEWC is over 15x the length of Rowling’s book. And fanfiction writers do that for free. Let’s talk about being a devoted fan.
There are many different types of fanfiction. The main classification could be: canon (following the events of the original source text), canon-divergent and AU/alternative universe (those might be mixed with elements from other texts or follow completely made-up scenarios). Authors often include other tags, helping their readers filter search results and find a story that’s interesting to them. Or help them avoid it. Like Major Character Death.
There are many different types of fanfiction. The main classification could be: canon (following the events of the original source text), canon-divergent and AU/alternative universe (those might be mixed with elements from other texts or follow completely made-up scenarios). Authors often include other tags, helping their readers filter search results and find a story that’s interesting to them. Or help them avoid it. Like Major Character Death.
After all, if you love a fictional character more than anything, you definitely don't want to read about them dying, usually in a horrible way. In that regard, fanfiction posting requirements are better than those of other media, because the warning system is much more detailed, helping people avoid triggering elements.
Mainstream media are aimed at a mass audience, so they're rarely diverse. Fanfiction is a relatively safe space to explore issues that are omitted or unpopular. Contrary to what most people believe, fanfiction is not all erotica. But it is pretty much all queer. While the reason for the huge popularity of slash fiction (same-sex pairings) is a subject for a whole other discussion, its existence must be mentioned, as it makes up the majority of published fanfiction. Below is a chart of most popular kinds of relationships in fics. As you can see, m/m (male/male) pairings lead.
Fanfiction is a predominantly female domain. Nearly 80% of fanfiction readers and 78% of writers are women. [7] Female writers are also more “adventurous” with their stories, especially when it comes to AU fics, while males usually stick to canonical events.
Nothing new
Writing fanfiction isn’t by all means a new concept. People have been fans and creating transformative works since the dawn of civilisation; just look at myths and their countless retellings and depictions in art. Homer based his epics on “non-canonical oral tradition”. Shakespeare took from Plutarch and Herodotus, among others, then was rewritten to fit current morality in Victorian times. [8] When in 1893 Arthur Conan Doyle tried to kill off Sherlock, fans brought him to life themselves, through stories, plays and pastiches, creating the first official fandom, going strong to this day. Doyle finally gave in to the pressure (and let’s face it: the money was good) and published The Hound of Baskervilles. [9]
Modern fanfiction was popularised through the Star Trek fandom in the 60s. They also introduced the first fanzines. Still, life was harder for fans before the Internet. Fanfiction wasn’t as easily accessible as it is now. Fans rarely interacted with each other outside of conventions, so the only way to get fics to read was to wait until then to buy fanzines or join a mailing group. Everything changed in the 90s, when the first online archives appeared, though they were topic-specific. In 1998 fanfiction.net was launched which further helped in the democratisation of fandom. [10]
Just one more chapter…
That’s what we keep telling ourselves, as we burrow in beds with our laptops or cell phones. There’re responsibilities awaiting us in the morning, places to be, things that need to be done. But we just can’t put the story down…
There are many reasons for reading fanfiction. As with all stories, it all depends on the mood we’re in or our personal needs. Some people only look for stories they know they will like, some like a challenge, braving fics that may clash with their view of certain characters or canon events. As with any story, we read to escape the real world and its problems. We also read for our self-care. There are fix-it stories that attempt to correct what has been done improperly or hasn’t been done at all in canon, to provide catharsis for the reader. There are crack fics that make us laugh at the sheer silliness of them; there is PWP (Porn Without Plot) or fluff (cute, romantic stories featuring our favourite characters). [11] Whatever story you need, you will most likely find a relevant fic.
The good, the bad and the ugly (of fanfiction)
Fanfiction has a little advantage over other texts, precisely because it borrows from them. It doesn’t need to establish its position; the reader is already invested in the story or the characters. That’s why a mediocre fic might still be popular, even though an original story following that scenario would fail. Then again, there are many fics that are way better than their source material.
There are also Very Bad Fics, which may or may not be trolls. It’s the case with the universally agreed to be the worst Harry Potter fanfiction of all time, My Immortal, featuring one Ebony/Enoby Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, a goth Slytherin student, Harry “Vampire” Potter, Lord Vlodemort and other colourful characters.
“”U c, Enobby,” Dumblydore said, watching the two of us watching the flame. "2 c wht iz n da flmes(HAHA UREVIEWRS FLAMES GEDDIT) u mst find urslf 1st, k?”
“I HAVE FOUND MYSELF OK YOU MEAN OLD MAN!” Hargrid yelled. dUMBLydore lookd shockd. I guess he didn't have a headache or else he would have said something back.
Hairgrid stormed off back into his bed. “U r a liar, prof dumbledoree!”” [12]
However, the impact My Immortal had on culture is undeniable. The fic has its own wikia, analysing the characters and the author, as well as a web miniseries.
Fanfiction vs copyrights
Mostly, fanfiction is a work of love by the fans for the fans, published for free and making no profit. Sometimes though, it turns out to be a great career-booster. We all know the story behind 50 Shades of Grey (if you don’t, take a look here). Either way, to paraphrase a saying: the copyright is the limit.
Technically, fanfiction is a violation of the author’s copyrights, whether it creates profit or not. [13] Luckily, most fanfiction writers don't get into any trouble. Rarely do these cases go to court; mostly the issue is resolved through a cease and desist letter sent by the publisher, requesting that the work in question is taken down. The truth is, the spread of information via the internet is unstoppable and going to court would be expensive, so there’s not really a way to stop it.
However, despite its popularity, fanfiction is often considered worthless. Some published authors claim it to be ‘lazy’ writing, stealing characters and worlds because the author is not imaginative enough to write their original stories. [14] Others ignore it entirely or, quite to the contrary, encourage fans to write it. It’s true that some people take the characters and “make them do things [...] that are wildly out of character”, as George R. R. Martin, a known critic of fanfiction, put it. [15] No one wants to see something they’ve worked on for years warped and misinterpreted. However, Mr. Martin had a change of heart after having read The North Remembers. Apparently, he couldn’t put it down since the very first chapter and decided that maybe fanfiction isn’t all that bad. [16] Moreover, once published, the work is no longer solely the author’s property. In his essay The Death of The Author Roland Barthes argues that the intention of the creator should not be part of the reader’s interpretation of the text, simply because we can’t ever be sure what the intention was. [17]
Whatever you might think about fanfiction, it is a huge part of the “fan experience” and shouldn’t be dismissed. While a lot of stories are centered around sexual relationships, they also explore a variety of subjects: from kinks (many people claim writing/reading erotic fanfiction has improved their sex lives) to important social issues: like representation, mental health problems or disabilities. [18] It gives people of all ages, genders, races and sexualities voice they otherwise lack in mainstream media. Moreover, by creating transformative works, people stop taking the media they consume for granted; they approach them in a critical way, using or rewriting them to their own needs and experiences, proving that what they present might not be flawless or the only way things need to be. [19]
[1] Available at: http://fanatic4fanfiction.tumblr.com/post/71097400746/it-was-the-night-before-christmas-and-everyone.
[2] A 300-thousand-word long work-in-progress Marver Cinematic Universe one true threesome (a relatioship between three characters) fanfiction including Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamics and male pregnancy, set in an alternative universe, where the characters attend high school; published on Archive of Our Own.
[3] Katrin Tiidenberg. “Single, taken or in love with a fictional character?” or how fanfiction could help us understand (digital) reading. Available at: http://kkatot.tumblr.com/post/133863911327/single-taken-or-in-love-with-a-fictional. [Last accessed: 4 March 2016].
[4] ibid.
[5] Joseph Bernstein. “Meet The College Junior Behind The Longest Fan Fiction Ever” in Buzzfeed, 2 August 2013. Available at: http://www.buzzfeed.com/josephbernstein/meet-the-college-junior-behind-the-longest-fan-fiction-ever#.kfNQolZX1. [Last accessed: 4 March 2016].
[6] Available at: https://wordcounter.net/blog/2015/11/23/10922_how-many-words-harry-potter.html. [Last accessed: 4 March 2016].
[6] Available at: https://wordcounter.net/blog/2015/11/23/10922_how-many-words-harry-potter.html. [Last accessed: 4 March 2016].
[7] Available at: http://ffnresearch.blogspot.com/. [Last accessed: 4 March 2016].
[8] J.E. Reich, “Fanspeak: The Brief Origins of Fanfiction” in Tech Times, 23 July 2015. Available at: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/70108/20150723/fan-fiction-star-trek-harry-potter-history-of-fan-fiction-shakespeare-roman-mythology-greek-mythology-sherlock-holmes.htm. [Last accessed: 6 March 2016].
[9] Anne Jamison, Fic: Why fanfiction is taking over the world (BenBella Books, Inc., 2013), p. 75-77.
[10] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction. [Last accessed: 6 March 2016].
[11] Tiidenberg.
[12] Available at: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5835837/1/My-Immortal-The-Return. [Last accessed: 4 March 2016].
[13] Available at: http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html. [Last accessed: 3 March 2016].
[14] Natalie Bochenski, “George R.R. Martin: Hands off my characters“ in The Sunday Morning Herald, 8 Novermber 2013. Available at: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/george-rr-martin-hands-off-my-characters-20131108-2x6fb.html. [Last accessed: 4 March 2016].
[15] ibid.
[16] Available at: http://qqueenofhades.tumblr.com/post/116479065919/hello-all-this-is-hilary-formerly. [Last accessed: 6 March 2016].
[17] Roland Barthes. "The death of the author.", p. 5-6. Available at: http://ncadjarmstrong.com/year-2-media-cultures-print/the_death_of_the_author.pdf. [Last accessed: 6 March 2016].
[18] Anon, “How writing erotic fan fiction changed my sex life” in Offbeat Home & Life. Available at: http://offbeathome.com/2014/03/writing-fan-fiction. [Last accessed: 5 March 2016].
[19] Jamison, p. 18.
[8] J.E. Reich, “Fanspeak: The Brief Origins of Fanfiction” in Tech Times, 23 July 2015. Available at: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/70108/20150723/fan-fiction-star-trek-harry-potter-history-of-fan-fiction-shakespeare-roman-mythology-greek-mythology-sherlock-holmes.htm. [Last accessed: 6 March 2016].
[9] Anne Jamison, Fic: Why fanfiction is taking over the world (BenBella Books, Inc., 2013), p. 75-77.
[10] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction. [Last accessed: 6 March 2016].
[11] Tiidenberg.
[12] Available at: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5835837/1/My-Immortal-The-Return. [Last accessed: 4 March 2016].
[13] Available at: http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html. [Last accessed: 3 March 2016].
[14] Natalie Bochenski, “George R.R. Martin: Hands off my characters“ in The Sunday Morning Herald, 8 Novermber 2013. Available at: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/george-rr-martin-hands-off-my-characters-20131108-2x6fb.html. [Last accessed: 4 March 2016].
[15] ibid.
[16] Available at: http://qqueenofhades.tumblr.com/post/116479065919/hello-all-this-is-hilary-formerly. [Last accessed: 6 March 2016].
[17] Roland Barthes. "The death of the author.", p. 5-6. Available at: http://ncadjarmstrong.com/year-2-media-cultures-print/the_death_of_the_author.pdf. [Last accessed: 6 March 2016].
[18] Anon, “How writing erotic fan fiction changed my sex life” in Offbeat Home & Life. Available at: http://offbeathome.com/2014/03/writing-fan-fiction. [Last accessed: 5 March 2016].
[19] Jamison, p. 18.
Comments
There's a wonderful fic called Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, in which Petunia married a biochemist, and Harry grew up reading science and science fiction. He can't comprehend magic at all ;)
I still like the idea of people writing literary works for others to judge. Seems like a good way to get better at writing fiction. Some of those stories are crazily long.
About its criticism - as it is open for everyone to write fan-fiction, I imagine most of it ('statistically' speaking) actually is of bad quality (as are blogs and many other creative works on the internet), but it doesn't mean that the whole concept is completely wrong.
The idea of fanworks is tricky because its existence is part of a much larger discussion: what is art and who can be called an artist. While by many definitions, an artist creates an original piece, history's shown us that basically everything is fanfiction/adaptation of some previous work. Ideally, as you said, a person who writes fanfiction/creates fanart gets enough practice to move on to their 'own', original art. However, you cannot really say that no effort went into conceptualising/realising those fanworks, which, again, is a characteristic of art. So, a never-ending discussion ;)
Thank you for commenting!
Also because creating fan fiction is easier than writing something from scratch, its just modyfing someone elses idea often to be more edgy.
While it sure can be a good excersise for aspiring writers, its not something I would enjoy reading and/or watching.
According to the subject - I don't know much about it and it was quite new to me. I wonder what is a quality of the work that people post – when the book is published there are plenty of people looking after the book and check the quality. I am afraid many texts are just poor, and as you said - full of sexual threads, that is not quite a subject that would interest me. The whole idea sounds to be good, I personally very often feel sad when I finish a book and I crave for more :D But I don't have an experience how I would take continuation that is not an official one and is not written by the same person. Can you share any of you experiences? How do you find the quality? Have you ever enjoyed a fanfiction more than a book? Can you give an example? :)
However, in my experience I've read a lot of fics which borrowed from the source and still created new stories nearly from scratch. That's mostly the case with Alternative Universe stories. Sometimes they only borrow names from the original and then give the characters new traits and new situations to see what the outcome might be. It's really interesting, because, as I've said in the presentation, we can look at the story/characters from a different perspective. It might even change our whole view of the original text.
Although I'm not sure what you mean by 'something more based on real life'?
As I've said in one of the other comments: canon and fanon exist separately. You can satisfy your continuation/narrative gaps needs (and in so many versions) and it might still not affect the way you perceive the original :)
Hahaha, the answers to your questions could fill another presentation... I've been reading fics for over a decade now and I think they roughly constitute about 50% of my reading material. The best part is that I learnt *a lot* of English, reading it. Like, I was so curious as to what's gonna happen in the story I sat there with a dictionary checking every word I didn't know. I think it paid off ;)
I don't remember many stories I read at the beginning but I assume they weren't terribly good. I joined fanfiction culture when fanfiction.net was very popular. Since then, a new archive appeared, Archive of Our Own (Ao3). The unofficial opinion is that you'll find more quality stories there. Why that is, I'm not sure. An additional help in finding a good story is the kudos (<3) or comments number (though it's not always reliable). The more kudos a story has, the more popular it is (and probably the better). There are also a lot of blogs which post reviews of fics and recommendation lists. It's really similar to regular book culture. Fun fact: this is the most popular fanfic on Ao3 [link]. Is it good? I'll leave it to you to decide xD?
As to enjoying a fanfic more than the original text - yes! I've read a lot of stories which stayed with me for years. They usually dealt with some serious issues, like mental health, abuse and disabilities. It helps to really get engaged in the story if you care about the characters. One of my all time favourites is the retelling of Harry Potter series from Remus Lupin's point of view up until part 5. I LOVE HP books to bits but this story was so well-written and affected me a lot; I treat it nearly as canon. It was very serious and grown-up (as compared to a more naive POV presented in the books) & it filled the gaps in Harry's parents & friends storyline.
On the other hand, I think that could be a hobby for some people or maybe a way to practice their skills in writing, so if they don't write some weird creepy thing, I hope that they have a lot of fun doing this.
I'm sure your friends might be very critical of their work, but how many people do you know who made a freaking Star Wars film all on their own, in high school, just because they loved the universe that much? That's really awesome! And it helped them become better animators too. It's a win-win for me :)
However, why is the fact that the most readers are female 'self-explanatory'?
As to your question: martial arts aren't really copyrighted, despite their name (unless some of them are and I don't know about it?), but I think we could call them some sort of fanwork. I think it's a bit like with languages; they change and evolve constantly, there's no canon from which you can diverge (or maybe there is, but let's say it's period-specific canon).
Plus, look at comicbooks. There are thousands of issues of eg. Batman or Superman stories. There are multiple Earths/universes and crossovers in them because otherwise they wouldn't be able to accomodate all the different ideas the authors have for the characters. Some of them make less sense than others, some - more. We're talking about nearly 70 years worth of text for just one dude in a cape. Everything can be an inspiration.
I admire the world of fanfiction from a safe distance but sometimes I can't help but read short stories (mainly tumblr posts posted on imgur) that are then considered as headcannons or some user sumitted explanations or deliberations of meaning of some things from a fandom. I love Harry Potter world with all my heart and sometimes I can't stand the thought that it's over and these little things help me deal with it;)
There is a saying that there are no original writing ideas left and everything new is just an adaptation or transformation of the old stories. Fanfictions are just a little less sneaky.
Inspiration of this people is really impressive for me. They simply write extensively stories, it is amazing.
It goes with the trend so I’m not surprised that same-sex pairings are popular there.
Ahahaha- My immortal- Harry Potter- it is very funny.
In fact I’ve thought about copyright, it is the next intriguing question.
Have you ever written there?
""What else can you do?"
Professor McGonagall turned into a cat.
Harry scrambled back unthinkingly, backpedalling so fast that he tripped over a stray stack of books and landed hard on his bottom with a thwack. His hands came down to catch himself without quite reaching properly, and there was a warning twinge in his shoulder as the weight came down unbraced.
At once the small tabby cat morphed back up into a robed woman. "I'm sorry, Mr. Potter," said the witch, sounding sincere, though the corners of her lips were twitching upwards. "I should have warned you."
Harry was breathing in short gasps. His voice came out choked. "You can't DO that!"
"It's only a Transfiguration," said Professor McGonagall. "An Animagus transformation, to be exact."
"You turned into a cat! A SMALL cat! You violated Conservation of Energy! That's not just an arbitrary rule, it's implied by the form of the quantum Hamiltonian! Rejecting it destroys unitarity and then you get FTL signalling! And cats are COMPLICATED! A human mind can't just visualise a whole cat's anatomy and, and all the cat biochemistry, and what about the neurology? How can you go on thinking using a cat-sized brain?"
Professor McGonagall's lips were twitching harder now. "Magic."
"Magic isn't enough to do that! You'd have to be a god!"
Professor McGonagall blinked. "That's the first time I've ever been called that.""
It also reminds me of an Absolutely Most Horrible Fanfiction Ever (to be honest, I highly doubt My Immortal isn't a troll). It's about Tokio Hotel brothers, but it's set in the times of WWII - one of them is the SS officer, the other one is a prisoner... and YES, it's as horrible as it sounds. An absolute ignorance pouring out of it:
http://niezatapialna-armada.blogspot.com/2011/07/133-siekiera-motyka-pika-szklanka-czyli.html
However, I don't doubt there's a lot of good fanfiction online; I guess it's just not my cup of tea. :)
I think I'd have the same reaction as you at first, if someone changed a crucial element of the story. I think people must have been absolutely shocked when the Elementary series came out, with female Watson. It's very hard to accept that other people's ideas differ from yours when it comes to something you love. And not agreeing with them is absolutely okay too :)
I absolutely love reading meta too. Especially the HP fandom has a LOT of them. It makes every rewatch/rereading even more interesting. Some things you don't notice or you don't even know you could notice and it's great that today's technology allows us to communicate in such an easy way about things we love and share knowledge.
Re: 'there are no original writing ideas left and everything new is just an adaptation or transformation of the old stories'. It seems very true, doesn't it...? For me, it's especially visible in music: a lot of it these days are covers or borrow elements from other songs. Still, I enjoy a fresh view on old stories. It keeps them alive, I think.
I see fan fiction very often, usually in the form of fan art on Tumblr and DeviantART, rarely in written form as I'm not very interested in this form of fan creations. In general I have mixed feelings about this topic. Not that I'm against it. I create some fan art myself from time to time, and I see a lot of some really beautiful works done by other artist on the Internet. But just like with anything on the web you see awesome stuff and then there is the cringeworthy or outright horrible stuff you never wanted to stumble upon. Usually created by thirteen year olds who tend to have crazy ideas and makes you roll your eyes or just scream. I know I have to be careful. :D
Anyway, thanks a lot for the presentation! It was very interesting and informative.
I sometimes love reading those kinds of quotes, cause they're so ridiculous & keep you laughing for hours.
Yes, I sometimes have a feeling that thirteen-year-olds are far more 'imaginative' than many adults (and I don't think I mean it entirely positively)... You definitely have to be careful on the internet. Luckily people put a lot of warnings on their art/writing these days, so it's a bit easier.
Still, people are SO talented. I love browsing through their art, be it original or fanart.
As to writing fanfiction myself, yes, I did :) It was actually how my best friend and I became such good friends; we started writing a Harry Potter fic together. It was years ago and we never finished it but it helped us in many different ways. Since we were writing in English, we had to learn a lot. We also had to learn to compromise to write a story we'd both like and really work hard to create a story that would be canon-compliant. We also made friends online with people who'd beta-read the story for us. So, those are good memories.
I have to agree with you about the sexual side of fanfiction. There are so many erotic stories out there it's actually hard to avoid them, very hard. There are some tags I avoid like the plague. Still, I keep a collection of my favourite stories and actually a lot of them don't contain any explicit scenes. They are good enough not to be based on porn. However, there are many stories which explore sexuality and help people deal with their own issues, which I think is wonderful. It's true that the Internet is probably 80% porn (some even say it was created precisely for that purpose), but there is some kind of freedom in being able to speak about all shades of people's sexuality and not be judged.
My interest in fanfiction has ended when I was 15 but I’m far from „hating” on them. Some of them are ok reads, some of them actual are worthless waste of space, but I guess that might as well apply to original texts. The only ones I ever read were Harry Potter fanfiction, and I think that writing fanfiction is a good way to get some experience in writing, it expands your skills and imagination and may lead to great works of your own. They also build great communities of likeminded people. I definitely like that some young people prefer writing or reading over mindlessly watching tv.
On the other hand – I’’m glad that fanfiction doesn’t get published, I believe that original authors should hold rights to their worlds and characters.
Anyway I don't really mind people exploring their sexuality, talking or writing about it. I just don't get the appeal of reading a story of a sexual act when porn is so widely spread and people can find and watch anything there is to imagine.
Anyways, yes! Fanfiction is so trope-y! There's nothing more tropy and cliche most of the time. I used to read a lot of coffeeshop/high school AUs, but not anymore, because I felt I've outgrown the high school/student phase and now prefer to read about older people. Though it's funny sometimes to see characters from a big, epic story thrown into very domestic and mundane lives too ;)
Plus, it still requires effort and skill to achieve the effect you want. It's not an exact analogy, but if you think about fanfiction like about drawing pictures using references, would you think it's unoriginal? A majority of artist do that; due credit is given and we get beautiful things.
I mean, say, Paradise Lost is an adaptation of the Bible, a fanfiction, if you will. It's based on the hard work of the 'original' authors, yet its influence on culture and philosophy is udeniable. It's studied at univerisities. There are countless papers written about it because it dared to be canon-divergent and revolutionised thinking about religion.
Of course, the original authors should have all their due rights. Luckily, fanfic writers put disclaimers on their works and are generally okay about it.
I can definitely agree about young people creating/reading transformative works being a much better option than mindlessly consuming what the mass culture is trying to sell them. Obviously, a lot of fanfics fall into its traps and cliches, but if the readers become at least a little bit more aware of the mechanisms that rule our culture, it's something, right?
I guess that everyone knows this feeling of bad ending and You can not stand it and wonder why and how it could be if something had happened differently. So why not write own version of this story. From the other hand if we decided to watch story which someone else created and we accepted whole plot then we have to accept happy or bad ending too.