#foefiction is valid

Fanfic is a sacred space for me. Having a shared, collective, protected space to take pop culture characters and tell new stories continues a proud literary tradition, just like Dante did with the Divine Comedy or the stories the Greeks and Romans wrote about the gods. We write our crackfics and satire in the style of Jonathan Swift or Mark Twain. We write anonymously and freely about our deep-rooted beliefs, our religious traumas, our pain, our politics. We take well-known characters and we tell our own stories through them.

And with every story I write, I get louder and braver and more passionate in the telling.

Writing is revolutionary in nature. We see the world through our own lens and we dream up new words to shape and share that experience. Writing a transformative work is at its root an act of defiance. We take what is written and we write more. We don't get permission or licensing approval. There are no gatekeepers like there are in the publishing industry. We have a large, accessible platform to share these thoughts and ideas at no cost for others to read. And those words are protected as free speech, and fiercely defended by the legal team at AO3.

When I was in college, I had a film professor tell us over and over that all art is political, and it took my whole life to fully understand that he's absolutely right, and I see that clearest in fanfiction. Fandoms with problematic creators take their works and shape them into something new in defiance of the original pieces. In a world of over-saturated heteronormative romance in the media, we have a space to take all those same characters and tell our own new queer stories. I've read more deeply satisfying, positive LGBTQ+ fiction on AO3 than any other traditional publishing space. We thrive here.

Any fanfic I write is not because I unconditionally love the fandom I write about. Most often, I have some big problems with the original work, huge unanswered questions, and I use fanfic to write that all out. I've heard that described as "foe fiction" and I absolutely love that phrase (even though there's so much I love about canon, too.)

The main issue I have with the anger in these fandom groups is that often we are mad at executives and media conglomerates and the patriarchy and capitalism, but we can't reach them, so folks "punch down" and take that anger out on each other. Fanfic helps me keep that anger where it's most productive in making new stories. Transformative works are an important civic tool that helps us "punch up" just like parody and other protected works of free speech.

And fanfic writers are under attack. We spend hours writing stories where it's hard to get visibility, and then we get hateful comments from bots, or bots impersonating us, or bots trying to scam us, and it weakens our resolve and motivation to continue to create new transformative works and challenge those traditional narratives. And that's all before the attacks come from within our own fan circles.

So I'm here to say I support writers. Write what makes you happy. Be brave and vulnerable and hit "post" even if you're not sure if it's perfect or if people will like it or read it. Post it for fun. Post it for revenge. Post it because you can and no one can stop you. And support other writers, too. Give them all those non-bot comments and kudos they crave. There's enough hate in the world.