I've always loved the idea of reading. Grabbing a thick book of your favorite genre, taking you away from the present world and pulling you into the universe of your imagination. You're so absorbed into your reading yet to the world outside, you look so at peace and so calm, with the occasional giggles. But sometimes, there are situations or events in your favorite story which you would like to have happened a different way, or perhaps, you would have wanted your beloved character to end up with a different lover. The possibilities are endless, don't you agree? It doesn't only apply to your favorite books but also to your favorite drama shows, anime, heck even games. It's literally free real estate!
This is how fanfictions (fanfics) are born. Random authors on the internet squeeze their little creative juices and make delicious drinks to quench us readers' thirst, feed our imagination. Of course, fanfic authors aren't legally allowed to publish their works so they alternatively release them on places they can and websites that allow them, such as Deviantart, Archive of your own, Wattpad, and others.
My first encounter with fanfic was with Fifty Shades of Grey. If you haven't known, the author E. L. James was a huge fan of the Twilight novels by Stephenie Mayer. She used to write erotic fanfics about Edward and Bella and publish them on Twilight fans forums. It was told that these fanfics eventually became the famous erotica novels.
Furthermore, my obsession with Sasuke x Sakura was too much yet their interaction in the anime was not enough so I started to search for fanfics about them. In fact, I would search for fanfics of the pairings I like from the anime shows on my watchlist. For some time, I continued enjoying my hetero-pair fanfics (mostly of Sasuke x Sakura and Grey x Lucy) until Free! Iwatobi Swim Club anime came into the picture. Boys and water should not be in the same setting and should be illegal but Free! made it happen. One teenage girl drooling on teenage swimming anime boys is too much to bear and so, I discovered a new domain in the fanfic world - x Reader fanfics
x Reader fanfic is basically a fanfic about your favorite character being paired to the reader, to you. Upon the rise of All-boy and all-girl characters in an anime comes the rise of x Reader fanfics. It didn't stop there and continue to spread all over the anime universe. You know what they say, if you can't find it, make it yourself. I literally did so due to my love for Makoto Tachibana and Rin Matsuoka of Free! Iwatobi Swim Club. What triggered me to write my x Reader fanfics with Makoto and Rin (which I have published here) was I dreamt of them because I was excessively reading fanfics about them. I wrote them a long time ago but only had the courage to publish them till now. Dreaming about not one but two anime characters was new to me at that time and dreaming about anime characters still continued even until now (coughGojoucough). It would give me inspiration for plots for future fanfics. Currently, I'm stirring the pot for inspiration to write about Gojou Satoru, Getou Suguru, and Nanami Kento.
Fanfic authors write fanfics as their hobby. Sometimes they would be unappreciated for shipping certain characters and worst, be told harsh words. I have always wondered if there would be a way to compensate them for their, essentially, free labor of love. When I started blogging on crypto-platforms, it was always in the back of my head but I wasn't able to publish fanfics since I was just uninspired. Now that I am back in the blogging-verse and finally have the courage to post my fanfics, it doesn't hurt to receive some sort of reward for writing things you love, right?
Somewhere in the middle of my obsession with fanfics, I realized I would have missed a whole different world if I had not known what fanfic is. The sense of liberation in writing fanfics and the sense of fulfillment in reading those fanfics were like gifts from a higher power. It wouldn't be a complete loss if I have never known fanfic but I am thankful I did. It has given me an outlet to express my love for my beloved anime characters other than drawing them and allowed me a chance to share with others the inspiration they have given through the handful of fanfics I have written myself.
Do you read fanfics? If you have just known fanfic from this article, why not start searching the internet for some fanfics of your favorite characters?
Crossposted on read.cash, Steemit (