I caught a thread on Romance Divas that was talking about fan fiction. After I noticed my seven year old had take a piece of paper and written his own story using Anakin and the Jedis, it got me thinking. I’ve written my fair share of fan fiction.  I just realized that the first thing I wrote as fan fiction used the characters from The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. But when the intial wave of renewed interest in the original Star Wars film hit, I found myself writing an entire new story that revolved around the beloved characters. I’d devoured Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire trilogy and wanted to create my own characters in his post-Palpatine universe. Actually, I just wanted Luke to have a romantic leading lady. I never considered what I wrote in my free time between classes as anything more than strictly for my enjoyment. Community boards and forums were just taking off back in those days. But those online communities, that’s where the fan fiction was brewing.

I am willing to admit that it was writing fan fiction for myself that sparked my desire to join this crazy writer’s life. In college, I read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, and of course, fell in love with her hero, Jamie Fraser. I have entire notebooks filled with fan fiction devoted to that red-headed Scotsman. In waiting for the next book in the series and failing to find anything that came close to the love story, I decided to write my own historical romance – which is still sitting in about four notebooks and few computer files to be rewritten and finished. But it was the start. The little light switched flipped on, and I’ve been writing and working toward publication ever since. Basically, I went from writing just for me to wanting to write something to share with everyone. 

Today, there are hundreds of sites devoted to fan fiction – Twilight probably having the largest. And I will again admit I have a few pages of my own Edward fantasy. Someone on Romance Divas said that fan fic was a great way to get the juices flowing because you don’t have to worry about developing a character or a setting. I agree with her. And I think it is a great way to work on the fundamentals of story crafting - plot, theme, conflict, arcs, ect.

So, what do you think about the huge mass of fan fiction out there today? Did you start writing fan fiction? What did you cut your writing teeth on?

You can check out Star Wars fan fic here – http://www.theforce.net/fanfiction/

Here is a great place for Outsiders fan fiction – http://www.fanfiction.net/book/Outsiders/

And of course, one of a gazillion Twilight devoted fan fiction sites – http://www.twilighted.net/

Or you can just got to www.fanfiction.net and type in what you’re looking for.

I personally haven’t reviewed all the posts on the sites, and some may contain more mature content.