The Fascination with Fan-Fiction

I don't get it.

Why do people write such mass volumes of fan-fiction?

Okay, maybe I get it a little. When I was fifteen or sixteen I fell so in love with Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind and it's more controversial sequel Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley, I then attempted to write a few chapters of what happened next. (If I'm honest with myself Scarlett is just overblown authorized fan-fiction, so I guess I have a love/hate relationship with it).

Don't judge me. Gone with the Wind is awesome, and frankly my dear I don't give a damn who knows it.

JUST TO GET DISTRACTED FOR A SECOND: STUFF CHRISTIAN GREY- I'm still hoping Rhett Butler is real.

But seriously - what makes a person so devoted, that they waste a tonne of time and energy, and then have the courage to post it online?

Now I'm not judging you. Really I'm not. On one hand it's great that the characters authors create inspire so much enthusiasm that their fans simply can't stop thinking about them. There are some authors who don't mind that sort of thing like the legendary J.K. Rowling (so long as it's kept PG). Whereas authors like Raymond Feist and Anne Rice are strongly against it.

Now let's not cry about it - authors aren't mean people who don't appreciate the support of their fans. Considering authors like Feist and Rice have built entire concepts, universes and relationships, the worlds they write in have the potential to expand all the time. It is as if they're writing a story that's never ending, and at the end of the day they have the right to fight fan fiction, as no one else knows their characters better than they do. Could you imagine someone ruining the legendary Lestat? Uh-uh. No thank you.

But fan-fiction is a big monster of a thing. After all, Fifty Shades of Grey started out as Twilight fan-fiction (I've never read the Twilight series but to my shame I have read Fifty Shades). So I am still undecided on whether Twilight was a gift that kept on giving, or whether I should be sorely disturbed that it inspired an erotic romance that made billions.

So what is your opinion on fan-fiction? Waste of time? Or way to keep the characters you love alive?

+Anne Rice +Fifty Shades of Grey +Twilight +Harry Potter +Gone With the Wind