Fan Fiction, Interested?

Some people will probably scoff at the idea of fans writing stories about popular fictions or idols or something like that. They might even say, "What's the point of that? It's just a waste of time!". Then they might not understand that people write because they are feeling creative, and if it's an idea pertaining to things that are already owned by others, then the only way these people can satisfy their creativity is by writing fan fiction.

I suppose people could say that this is just like fan art, except it's in writing. The writers themselves do not earn anything of worldly value from writing, expect their own enjoyment and perhaps the enjoyment and reviews of others...

I have always wanted to write a book, ever since I first read the first Harry Potter back when I was 11 years old. However, I don't have any idea of what I want to write about, but I can practice writing creatively with fan fiction. I suppose that is a major reason for myself and quite a practical reason as well.

From what I understand from my talks with other collage students, no one really likes to write purely for the sake of writing. Many people get bored and stagnant, if not out right falling asleep trying to write a 5000 word essay. However, these same people, myself included, could sit down and write a fan fiction story just as well written in most cases, if not better because of how organized one could be with one's own ideas, and write stories that go upward to 100,000 words or more.

I remember browsing one lazy, rainy day, through a fan fiction database, and seeing a story over 1.2 million words in length. Like any rational, modern person, I first concluded in my mind, before even looking any further, that this person has no life, will be a virgin until he's over 50 years old, and all that jazz that our society brushes onto people we label "nerds" and "geeks".

Well, I suppose it is to my surprise and the surprise of many others, that that person who wrote such a length, was only 16 years old. Sure he was a studious person, but to write so much and be so organized with his writing... Well, I cannot think of anything negative about it. It is only good experience, after all.

Writing, on its own, is an essential tool that people use everyday, in every society, and in every civilization. As my English teacher so elegantly put it, "I don't fucking think civilization would fucking exist if not for written language!" I have to respectfully agree. Communication cannot work without writing. Computers cannot work with written language, since computers are just another machine that uses its own language. Planes would crash without any language... In fact, this blog would not exist if not for written language! Ah... I seem to have drifted off topic...

In short, I think I will continue to write fan fiction, because it is something I like to do and I see benefit in continued writing, as well as enjoyment.