I’ve seen a lot of discussion of fanfiction over the past year or so.

I am, quite intentionally, the kind of person who does not partake in online discourse. I do have a lot of thoughts on various things, but generally never strongly enough to go argue about it.

However, I would like to chew on some of my own thoughts about fanfic now that I have a blog to ramble on. This is of course all my opinion, and I’d like to preface this with the fact that I’m only really familiar with the F/F side of things.

So here goes.

In Defense of Fanfiction

I almost titled the blog post with this heading, but defending fanfiction isn’t my main point — it’s merely an entry into it.

The reason I begin with this is because I’ve read “reads like fanfiction” used as an insult over and over again. And that’s not to say the accusation is entirely unwarranted — by its very nature, fanfiction is a playground for all types. That includes novice writers (as it very well should)!

Honestly, I don’t think I will say anything groundbreaking in this respect; there’s probably as many defenders for fic prose as there are critics. But I do have to agree with the sentiment of “I’ve read some fics that were just as good as (or better than) a published work*”. I’ve read fics I would have paid for. And that’s not really a surprise — some fic writers are extremely skilled, and there has always been highly competent people in fandom spaces.

^{*We’ll get back to this point later.}

Though I admit that those fics that stayed with me are few and far between; generally fics sit in the middle of the road, either bogged down by clumsy grammar (which I can forgive to an extent), strange pacing, a lackluster story, or poor characterization. Below average fics might lose readers swiftly through rookie errors like not using paragraphs or constant spelling mistakes.

But that’s the nature of the beast: great work stands out because most people don’t write at that level.

Fanfiction criticism perhaps stems from the fact that it’s, at its core, self-indulgent and has no barrier to entry. Unless it’s an AU, all the worldbuilding has been done for the writer, meaning they get to jump into the sandbox and push their dolls together. This makes it more accessible for both the reader and writer.

And then there are the clichés — the “oh. oh. oh.” moments, or “she let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding”, or similar examples… but I argue that this isn’t only a symptom of fic writing. I’m sure there’s published books that have done the very same clichés (perhaps they were even the originators), especially nowadays.

Ever since the internet became commonplace, a lot of younger contemporary authors have probably grown up reading fanfiction. A good amount probably even wrote some.

The Line Between Fanfic and Original Work

This line is blurring, but I’m sure most readers realize this already.

In fact, it’s been happening for a decade or two, though I feel it’s been growing more and more common as the popularity of fanfic has exploded. I don’t really want to list examples, as I don’t mean to dissect it entirely, but it seems more published works these days are very open about filing off the serial numbers. Like, to the point where readers can say “published story X was previously fic Y”.

I don’t know what my take on that is, really. Is it a disservice to writing as a whole? Arguably every work of art is inspired by something, whether the creator is transparent about it or not. I’m hardly a literary snob, so I don’t really have an opinion beyond it being sad that something originally borne from a labor of love is now being commodified, and the question of how derivative is too derivative.

And also: at what point does something “read like fanfiction” or not? Will more and more original stories “read like fanfiction”, the more its influence is felt? Perhaps they already do. But I hardly think every traditionally published story pre-fanfiction has had some untouchable seal of quality, either; I think clichéd writing has always existed.

Fanfiction does have a great distinction from traditionally published work in one facet: there is, by far, more LGBT+ content (and writers!) involved in this space than there has ever been in the mainstream.

The Historical Dearth of Sapphic Voices

I grew up in a small town in the aughts. Two decades ago doesn’t really sound that long in the grand scheme of things, but in terms of queer acceptance, and subsequently queer representation in the media, society has progressed leaps and bounds.

There was a time as a child I believed that it was physically impossible for a man to love a man, or a woman to love a woman (romantically). Which sounds crazy, in retrospect. But that’s just it — I didn’t have internet access in my house until I was about 10 years old, and before that, it was decidedly not that common to hear about gay people (or see them on TV, in books, wherever). Though that might just be how it is growing up in a rural community.

So, yes. Enter the internet.

As were my interests, I hung around Youtube, played Club Penguin, and scoured art sites. And, surprise! I discovered t.A.T.u., and also fanart of gay ships.

(At that point t.A.T.u. was already known as “fake lesbians” — but that did not stop me to clinging obsessively to their discography. As far as lesbian music went, there weren’t many options.)

Anyway, all that to say I soon discovered fanfiction around age 12. About girls who loved other girls! (I was going to tongue-in-cheek call it “life-changing”, but… perhaps it was, for me?) I still called myself straight, or bi-curious at best, though I was oddly fascinated by anything F/F. Hmmm. Wonder why.

Spoiler: (…well, you know by the title).

Anyway, that led to a rabbit hole where I began consuming anything I could get my hands on that was remotely sapphic. And… there was not all that much. Initially I watched a lot of yuri anime, eventually I watched some movies/shows (very hit or miss at the time). It was hard to find F/F-centered media that wasn’t 1. Only implied/subtextual 2. Negative in some way (as in, uncomfortable power dynamics, or wishy-washy couples a la South of Nowhere, and/or men were involved for some reason).

And that’s where I discovered fanfiction as a shining beacon: here was real, sincere work written by actual sapphics (generally). And to this day I still appreciate the authenticity that can only be found in this sort of space, where you don’t have to censor anything or make it palatable for a large audience like traditional media might have you do.

I think a part of me will always like the idea of art that is made out of pure self-indulgence rather than “how much money can I make from this”.

That said, where I used to hungrily try to consume any media with a hint of lesbian rep, I’ve long fallen off that wagon. Perhaps because I stopped being a teenager and have less free time, but also because there is a lot more work out there about lesbians/bi women these days (when it isn’t being cancelled after one season).

It does put me in an interesting position as I’m on the cusp of releasing my first original sapphic novella, where I’m learning about the sapphic book world as an outsider. Honestly, I’ve hardly read within the genre — beyond This Is How You Lose The Time War and my current read of Fingersmith. I sort of eclectically pick books to read via whatever catches my interest (most recently it was The Left Hand of Darkness and The Time Traveler’s Wife). Despite being an avid reader up until adulthood, I wasn’t reading much traditional work at all for a long time, though I’ve been remedying that.

About a decade ago I read a tradpub sapphic novel, but it felt… how should I say it? Sanitized? Mediocre? Perhaps I just made an unlucky choice. It didn’t get my hopes up, though, in terms of sapphic stories that get published. So I kept reading fanfiction.

From what I’ve heard through the grapevine, quite a few sapphic novels can be attributed to what was originally a fic — or at least the couple dynamic of a common fic pairing.

And am I shocked?

No, not really. I imagine, like me, many WLW writers out there also had nothing to sate their desire for F/F representation except for fanfiction. Where I had talked about it more generally earlier, I’m sure it’d be quite difficult to find a sapphic writer who has never touched fanfiction in some way.

F/F is historically underserved compared to M/F and M/M, and that’s been known (and squabbled about) for a while*. In some ways this is unfortunate, but F/F generally comes from a place of authenticity because of this. If your goal is to gain the most money (or clout) possible, F/F is probably not where you want your niche. But for me, it’s almost the entire reason I write.

^{*Honestly I could probably make a whole separate tangent on this. For now, you are spared.}

I do wholeheartedly believe that readers should be more open, though: sapphic stories can and should be read by people other than sapphics, although it’s obvious why that’s the main demographic. I read books featuring M/F (unavoidably, perhaps, in a heteronormative society) and M/M couples, so long as the premise catches my eye. A good story is a good story, even if I can’t fully “relate”.

Anyway, I’m not sure this is a well-composed blog post. I owe F/F fanfiction a great debt, though I’m excited to start my self-publishing journey and contribute some original sapphic work into the world, even if it’s not decidedly lucrative.

The Elephant in the Room

The elephant’s name is “GenAI”. I don’t love treading on this topic — I had a WIP blog post on it, and I’m unsure if I’ll finish it, but it’s a hot-button issue right now within the fanfiction community. As a longtime online creator it depresses me, and it’s been discussed so much I’m not sure I have anything valuable to add to the conversation. I don’t expect my words to be the ones to persuade anyone on how they feel; all I can say is my own stance is exceedingly cautious, and for creative work, I do not want to touch it. I don’t want to delegate my words to a LLM.

However clumsy they may sound, my words are my own. I write because I enjoy doing it.

As previously mentioned, I adore things created as a labor of love, so I lament its presence in fandom. I love watching people improve their craft through concentrated time and effort. AI, to me, is the antithesis of this. It is unfortunate that creative spaces that were rife with camaraderie and support have been stained with such suspicion.

I personally work at a snail’s pace when writing because I reread my own words exhaustively and tweak them constantly. People using AI can post and post and post, nigh endlessly, depending on if they do any quality control (not a guarantee, despite outsourcing the work)!

I don’t think the internet needs more “content” for content’s sake. I want things to exist because someone cared enough to put in the work to make it exist.

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Ahem. That may have been beside the point. To end it on a lighter note: I am very grateful that it’s easier than ever to find sapphic content. On TV, in books, in video games (and yes, in fanfiction)! I’m glad no lesbian has to dig deep for a crumb of representation anymore.

I’m also grateful that self-publishing is an option — I get to contribute to a niche I love dearly as an indie author!