After the website Archive of Our Own received a Hugo award, the public conversation around fan fiction has started shifting. Previously considered a province of the young, inexperienced and immature writers, the publishing community has started to take fan fiction seriously. This is an incredibly good thing. In an article published on October 1st, The Atlantic published a story titled "What Fan Fiction Teaches That the Classroom Doesn't". It's a detailed article outlining both individual and mass research results that show just how much a writer's skill can improve by writing fan fiction.
What struck me most was the section on constructive criticism, and how it is noted as both a "welcome and integral part of fan fiction websites". As a writer, the ability to provide clear and concise constructive criticism is what I look for in an editor. As an editor, my goal is to turn that around and be the one providing clear and concise constructive criticism. In an era where social media has taken hold of the public consciousness, the thought that we can provide feedback without turning it into personal attacks seemed like a thing of the past. Brandjacking, creeps, doxing, swatting, newsjacking, flaming and trolling are just a few examples of terms for things that either didn't exist or were severely limited before the advent of social media. They have become so commonplace that we now expect them to some degree whenever we publish content online, from a simple tweet to a multi-page news article. Dealing with negative responses has become business as usual.
It amazes me that fan fiction writing is still considered something of a "safe space" where people can write without automatically assuming what they write will be torn apart by their peers. And yes, The Atlantic is correct in pointing out that this is very like a classroom setting. The difference, however, is that the writing topics are ones writers are already passionate about because they are fans of the original works. These are people choosing to write stories about their favorite characters rather than having a writing topic handed to them by a disinterested professor who is expecting a hundred words worth of meaningless tripe. It's an open class with no tests and no failing, where even the worst writing can find an audience and garner enough peer reviews to improve. Fan fiction has become a place where writers can start, before they have a wall covered in rejection letters from publishers uninterested in their unsolicited works. So to those who write fan fiction, I say: don't stop. Use our comments to help grow your stories, your skills, and your confidence. No matter how bad you think the writing is, just keep writing.
We'll keep reading.