This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UPR chapter.

At one point in our lives we’ve dabbled into the art of writing. Maybe you’ve written poetry, a song, an article, a blog post or a status on some social network. The point is, you’ve written something for someone else to read. Inspiration comes from different places: a movie, a tv series, another book, or maybe something that happened to you.

Fanfiction is all about taking that inspiration from your daily world and turning it into something that someone else can enjoy. The accepted definition (let’s face it, it’s the one on Wikipedia) says that fanfiction is a broadly defined term for stories about characters written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator. If you were to tell a less formal definition of the concept, it’s basically taking a celebrity, a character from a book, or someone you know, and writing them into situations or settings that come from your mind. Usually authors or celebrities don’t even know of the existence of these stories and, if they do, they don’t tend to read it.

Many authors have addressed the concern over having their characters taken from them and written about. Authors like Anne Rice (Interview with a Vampire), Raymond Feist (The Riftwar Cycle) and George R.R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire) have stated their displeasure towards fanfiction. These are just a few of the many authors that have asked that all stories related to their published works be removed from websites such as FanFiction.net. Many writers have expressed this discontent towards this genre of writing believing it is a form of copyright infringement and it leads to false interpretations of their characters and universes they’ve created.

It is interesting to know that, because of how actively people have been reading fanfiction, the government has had to expand copyright laws and incorporate fanfiction into them. Copyright works the same for music, art and books since it protects the expression of the idea and not the idea itself. As long as you give credit to the right people (for example: credit J.K Rowling if you’re planning on using Harry Potter as your main character) then you can do anything you want. When does a fanfiction writer fall into copyright infringement? Simple: To prove infringement, an owner must present evidence establishing that the accused has copied protected elements of the original work. Therefore, if J.K Rowling herself told you something about the Harry Potter Universe, which you use later on in your work, she could probably sue you.

But, is everything revolving fanfiction bad? Certainly not! While some authors do not approve the idea others, like J.K. Rowling herself, support it as long as the writer (you, me or your next door neighbor) does not profit economically from it. Writers would never want their fans to feel exploited by fellow readers that have created alternative universes for their characters.

Most of the time, if the writer is going to financially profit from their fanfiction, they make name, plot, and other changes to avoid copyright infringement. This is the case for E.L. James, writer of the critically acclaimed Fifty Shades of Grey series. If you didn’t know, she wrote the series initially as Twilight fanfiction and then evolved into these amazing books she has published. Another author that has successfully made this crossover is Anna Todd. She wrote the acclaimed After Wattpad series based on Harry Styles, member of One Direction.

It’s different with celebrities, though. They are not protected by copyright most of the time, therefore, it’s easy to write fanfiction about them. Some celebrities have been asked about their awareness of this and some read them but, normally, most don’t. They understand imagination is not something that should be condemned by law and, as long as they do not profit from their name, it’s okay.

Why do people read fanfiction? I’ve taken the time to ask around the fanfic (as most people refer to it) universe and it’s quite funny how shocked people were when asked this question. For some, it’s a habit it is something they’ve been doing for so long they feel it’s like going into Barnes and Nobles and buying a book (slight difference: reading it online is for free!). Other people write it to see the interesting ideas people can come up with and, some like myself, read fanfiction out of pure entertainment. These writers are uploading their original ideas, words and scenarios and it’s amazing to look into their world and how they see celebrities, movie or even book characters.

Since I’ve started reading fanfiction 5 years ago, the culture has grown and more talented people are writing. Fanfiction is not something you need to repeatedly explain anymore because, with each year, more people are aware of it’s existence. And it’s something you should be acquainted with now considering that Fifty Shades of Grey and After are already hitting the big screen. For fanfiction readers and writers: it’s a huge deal.

Fanfiction Culture

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