In Praise of Fanfiction: How Fandom Made Me a Better Writer

Before I ever wrote a novel, before I understood world building, character arcs, or the intricacies of pacing, I wrote fanfiction. And I will never be ashamed of that. Fanfiction was my training ground, my playground, my workshop, and my refuge. It taught me how to write, helped me find my voice, and gave me a community of readers who genuinely cared about what I had to say. Fandom became my found family, a space where I could explore the weird, the funny, the sad, and the downright silly things that make writing fun.

I owe so much to fanfiction. And I want to take a moment to throw all the love and praise at it that it deserves.

How Fanfiction Taught Me to Write

Let’s be honest: no one starts as a perfect writer. First drafts are messy. Early stories are riddled with clichés. We struggle with dialogue, pacing, and plot holes you could drive a truck through. But fanfiction? It gave me space to fail.

When I first started writing fanfic, I didn’t have to build a world from scratch. That meant I could focus on things like:

• Character Voice – How do people talk? What makes dialogue sound natural?

• Pacing – When should a scene linger? When should it move fast?

• Emotional Impact – How do you make readers feel something?

  
  

I got to learn all of this without the pressure of inventing an entire universe. The world already existed—I just had to play in it. More importantly, fanfiction gave me instant feedback. In traditional publishing, you write alone, edit alone, and maybe years later, someone reads your work. But in fandom? You post a chapter, and readers react right away. They tell you what they loved, what moved them, what made them scream into their pillows at 2 AM. That kind of immediate response is golden.

And unlike a creative writing class, where feedback can feel like being graded, fandom was full of polite, thoughtful critique. Readers wanted me to succeed. They encouraged me to keep going. I wasn’t just writing into the void—I had a community.

Finding My Voice and an Audience

The hardest part of writing is figuring out what kind of writer you are. What themes call to you? What kinds of characters do you love? What do you keep coming back to, over and over?

Fanfiction helped me answer all of that.

Because here’s the thing: when you’re writing in a fandom, you’re not writing to please a publisher, a market trend, or a faceless audience. You’re writing for yourself and for people who share your interests. That kind of freedom lets you experiment.

I wrote tragic stories. I wrote fluff that was basically 3,000 words of characters drinking coffee and holding hands. I wrote absurd crack fics that made me laugh until my stomach hurt. And through all of that, I learned who I was as a writer.

Fandom also taught me how to build an audience—not in a cynical, numbers-driven way, but in a real, personal way. I formed relationships with readers. I learned what kept people coming back to my stories. I learned how to write in a way that mattered to people.

When I finally started writing original fiction, I already understood something that takes many writers years to figure out: how to connect with readers.

Fandom as Found Family

Beyond the writing itself, fandom gave me something even more important: community.

When I first started, I wasn’t just posting stories into the void—I was making friends. We screamed in the comments about our favorite ships. We shared headcanons. We stayed up way too late discussing character motivations like we were solving world-shattering mysteries.

Fandom was where I found people who got me.

And it wasn’t just about fiction. These were the people I could talk to about everything. We supported each other through hard times. We celebrated each other’s successes.

Fandom was where I learned that writing didn’t have to be a solitary act. It could be collaborative. It could be joyful.

The Dark Side of Fandom (And Why I Didn’t Let It Break Me)

Now, does this mean fandom is perfect? Absolutely not. For every wholesome, supportive comment section, there’s a troll waiting to tear people down. For every beautiful fan community, there’s a pocket of fandom that thrives on drama, cruelty, and toxicity. I’ve seen people get harassed for writing the “wrong” ships. I’ve seen death threats over fictional characters. I’ve seen entire communities implode because someone decided they had the moral high ground and everyone else was beneath them.

It’s exhausting.

And yet… I stayed.

Not out of stubbornness (okay, partially out of stubbornness), but because, at its core, fandom is still a place where people come together to celebrate stories. Even when things got ugly, I had friends who had my back. And when people told me my writing was “wrong” or “disgusting” simply because it wasn’t what they wanted? I doubled down and wrote harder.

Fandom taught me resilience. It taught me to write what I love—not what other people demand from me. It taught me that stories are meant to be explored in every ridiculous, heartbreaking, and joyful way we can imagine.

Why I’ll Always Be Grateful for Fanfiction

I don’t write as much fanfiction anymore, but I still carry everything it taught me. My original stories wouldn’t exist without the years I spent writing fics, experimenting with storytelling, and connecting with a community of readers who wanted to see me grow. Fandom gave me my voice. It gave me confidence. It gave me friendships that have lasted for years.

And most of all, it reminded me that writing should be fun.

So if you’ve ever written a fic, left a comment, or screamed into the void about a story that meant something to you—thank you. You’re part of something bigger than just words on a screen. You’re part of a tradition of storytelling that goes back centuries, where people take the tales they love and make them their own.

And that? That’s beautiful.

Until next time,

Oregon J. Sinclair