by Christine Morris

Created on: January 16, 2007   Last Updated: May 14, 2007

Writing and reading fanfiction can be a really fun diversion. As someone with over 12MB of the stuff on my hard drive, I have had a lot of fun. It's a great thing to do when you're really into a show, movie or book and want to take the characters on adventures of your own. It also doesn't carry the pressure of writing regular fiction because the world is built, the characters are living and it's not expected to be professional. Since you already love the story and know the characters better than anyone this side of their creators, you are but a few short steps from starting on your own 12MB (because that's what everyone wants, isn't it?)

1. Think of a good adventure. Put Han Solo in charge of taking a spoiled diplomat's child to another planet. Give Indiana Jones a grown son or daughter. Heck, you could do almost anything with Firefly's cast since the show was so sort lived. But you're not restricted to sci fi. You can bring a new doctor into Cook County Hospital on ER. You can have a new neighbor move in beside Jerry Seinfeld. I once sent Adrian Monk to solve the crime on Roald Dahl's Lamb To the Slaughter. Who doesn't want to see the defective detective solve the perfect crime?

2. Write your story. If you're doing it for yourself, the mechanics don't matter.

3. Once you've written the tale, you made decide you want to post it someplace. Fanfiction.net is probably the largest repository, but there are others. Poke around the net and you'll find all kinds of places. I would ask that if you are going to publish on the net, please, please pay attention to your mechanics. Grammar counts when you're trying to decipher something on a glowing screen. You should also read other people's work using the same setting. In addition to giving you a sense of how other people have handled things, it'll make you feel better because there's going to be a range of capabilities and you'll probably find that you fit right in.

4. Ignore critics. When you first start out it's easy to be intimidated by by flamers and even people trying to be helpful. If you're only doing this for fun, don't read the comments (unless they're positive. Then read them repeatedly and make friends with those people ; D)

The most basic thing to remember about fanfiction is to have fun. This is not professional and it's not going to be. It's an exercise. It's a chance to play in someone else's playground. Just relax and do what you want.

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