By Angie Kibiloski
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Fanfiction. It is one of the most wide spread phenomena on the Internet today. There are thousands of sites devoted strictly to the distribution of fanfiction. Think about your favorite book, movie, or television show. Now, go online and type the title into any search engine, along with the plus sign, and the word "fanfiction," and yes, it is all one word. I'll bet that you get at least one site to pop up, and depending on the general popularity of the movie, book, or show, you might even get dozens. For some larger franchise movies and television series, the amount of fanfiction stories is almost infinite, as more are added each day by budding authors.
What is fanfiction? It is the title given to stories that are based off of already published work. The authors take the characters, situations, and/or plotlines, and create their own, new stories, incorporating the original elements. Sometimes, fanfiction can be so-called "missing scenes" that were not included in the original film, episode, book, etc. Other times, the fictions are a "what if" scenario, and branch off drastically from the original piece. The stories also come in all variety of rating categories, just like movies. There is generally G-R, with the occasional Adult rating thrown in, but you can easily avoid any of the more graphic storylines, as the ratings are clearly marked in the description of the plot. A friendly tip from me to you, if you don't want to read anything beyond R, is to stay away from anything labeled PWP. The authors do not own the characters or titles of the original work, which they include in their stories, and must always include a disclaimer to that effect within their own text, usually to be found alongside the aforementioned rating and plot synopsis. They are also not making money off of their writing, so no legal infringements are likely.
As stated previously, fanfiction is a wide spread craze, but not everyone holds the same opinion of it. There are basically two camps. One, which I belong to, thinks it is the greatest thing since the VCR. This is because it allows the fan to further enjoy their favorite obsession, and explore the lives of their favorite characters to a greater extent. And, in some cases, fix the things in the original story that were not to their liking, and participate in a community of others who hold their same interests. The other camp consists of those people who think that fanfiction is a corruption of the perfect original, and shouldn't exist at all. These fans hold the belief that to want to change the story, plot, character development, or any aspect of the original show, movie, whatever, is almost a sacrilege to the genius of the original author, moviemaker, etc. I have run into a good number of this camp over the years. Each group has valid points, of course, but as a member of the first group, I maintain that fanfiction is a great creative outlet, and can be nothing but harmless fun.
Harmless, that is, except maybe to your free time. Yes, like all other Internet time killers, on line casinos, and video games being a prime example, fanfiction can become an obsession. Though, if you are going to form an obsessive habit, I think that reading stories about your favorite characters is one of the most innocuous ones to cultivate. So, I encourage each and every one of you to go and search out fanfiction from your favorite film, series, book, etc, and join the every growing community of avid fanfiction readers. And, if you feel creative, try your hand at writing some. I have not known many fanfiction sites that will turn away a good writer.
My recent obsession have been Pride and Prejudice, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and here are two of the best sites for each of these, just in case your interests run the same lines as mine. Enjoy! For Pride and Prejudice, the two best are http://www.austen.com/derby/ and http://www.pemberley.com. For Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I suggest starting with http://home.att.net/~lubakmetyk/crypt.htm and http://www.spuffyfantasy.com. Just remember, read the story descriptions carefully, to screen for any content that you may not be interested in.