I’m NOT Obsessed!
Nope, definitely not obsessed about anything in my life. There’s not a television show, a book series, a movie universe, or anything else in my everyday life. Certainly not ice cream or Trader Joe’s Joe-Joe cookies.
Truthfully…I do have one fairly all-encompassing obsession. It’s something I’ve been into since college, which means pretty much since the beginning of Internet popularity (as I’m older than I look!). It’s safe to say this is my longest running obsession.
Fanfiction.
Truth.
Yes, I said it. I’m obsessed with fanfiction.
For those who don’t know, fanfiction is stories written by fans of a show, movie, book, or video game using the characters from that show, movie, book, or video game. Fans don’t make money with their writing, which is why it doesn’t infringe on copyrighted material that belongs to the authors or creators. You can find fanfiction of all different kinds on the Internet. Here’s a small sample of television shows from one of the fanfiction sites I spend a lot of time on, Fanfiction.net:
Glee (105K)
Supernatural (95.5K)
Doctor Who (62.2K)
Buffy: The Vampire Slayer (47.7K)
Sherlock (46.6K)
NCIS (37.5K)
Vampire Diaries (31.0K)
Stargate: SG-1 (27.6K)
CSI (27.1K)
Criminal Minds (26.4K)
The links will take you to the pages of fanfiction written for that show. The numbers beside each title are the number of pieces of fanfiction. Glee has over 105,000 stories written for it! Links for the most popular movies, their numbers included again, are here:
Star Wars (32.2K)
Avengers (24.7K)
Pirates of the Caribbean (19.8K)
High School Musical (18K)
X-Men: The Movie (16K)
Star Trek: 2009 (12.1K)
Rise of the Guardians (11.1K)
Labyrinth (8.5K)
Thor (8.4K)
Newsies (7.1K)
I don’t know how I got started reading fanfiction; I know that I started writing fanfiction one semester when I was avoiding studying for exams. The story I wrote, which was based on the television series Highlander, was handwritten in the space of several notebooks and at least 100 sheets of loose leaf paper in a binder. I don’t remember specifically what it was about, other than immortals, but I can tell you where it is: the clear tub with the green lid, currently under my bed. There are also random stories I have written for various fandoms on different sites on the Internet.
My favorite types of fanfiction are the ones which are well written, with a clearly defined background, a good plot, and characters I know written the way they would act in their respective shows. Much of the fanfiction on the Internet is, truthfully, awful. If the grammar is bad, I usually can’t read it.
I suppose, since I’m confessing, I should tell you the fandoms I tend to read. I know it started with Highlander, but I’ve come a very long way since then. At the moment, I’m fairly embroiled in the Marvel Studios world of Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor.
This includes all of the movies made at this point; covers the main characters, some of the supporting characters, and sometimes original characters. I’ve also spent a lot of time reading fanfiction for Stargate (the movie, SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe), Star Trek (all of the series, as well as all of the movies), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, Doctor Who, and The West Wing–among many others. I also enjoy a well done crossover: Harry, Ron, and Hermione running around with Colonel O’Neill and SG-1 can be pretty fun as well.
Why do I read fanfiction?
- It’s fun to see where the characters I’m familiar with go from author to author.
- I love reading just about anything fiction; using characters I know and extending storylines is a bonus.
- Most of the stories written are less than 10,000 words, so they’re not a huge time investment.
- I can read them on my phone on a break from work, on a bus, waiting for an appointment, or anywhere else I can get an Internet connection.
Why should YOU read fanfiction?
If you are easily addicted, you probably shouldn’t.
If you want to know where to find the good stuff, start at Fanfiction.net. They have a huge variety, including crossovers you would never think are possible. A smaller site with a lot of quality writing is Archive of Our Own, and it is where I’m finding most of the Captain America fiction.
What are YOU obsessed with?
