Dear Nonspecific Fanbrat of the General-You Variety,

You say you're writing fanFICTION and can thus write whatever the Hell you want without any comeback whatsoever? What if I told you that you're actually writing FANfiction and therefore can't do anything of the sort?

Why can't you?

Because the rest of the fen will EAT YOUR HEAD if you try.

You see, when you people talk about 'fanFICTION!' as if the word 'fiction' were some universal get-out clause, you're rather missing the point. In fact, you're drastically missing the point. Yes, we know you're writing fiction and that's important, because otherwise we'd TOS your ass for non-story content. But it's nowhere near as important as the 'fan' bit. Hence FANfiction, not fanFICTION.

Simply - when you're writing fanfic your audience comes pre-packaged and ready to wear, because you're writing for your fellow [Insert Story or Series Of Choice Here] fans. Preaching, as it were, to the choir. You don't have to convince us, your fellow fanthings, that the characters are interesting or that their world is plausible because we're sold already. Generally speaking we already like these people and the world they live in and you know that because we're reading fanfic in the first place. Most people don't read fic for shows they don't like.

But. Just because your audience is there already, that doesn't mean you can take their attention for granted.

Fanbrat, your readers are here because they like the show/series/whatever you're writing about. That's why they want more than the original creators gave them. That's why they're interested in the ifs and maybes that good fanfiction can and does explore. They like exploring different, non-canon angles. They like hearing about the original characters to the extent that they want more time with them than the series provided. In fact they just plain want more, period.

Which, dear fanbrat, is why some of your readers get so pissed off when you go wildly OOC. Or neglect the regulars in favor of your super shiny Sue. Or whatever it is you're doing to provoke the complaints you're trying to excuse courtesy of the word 'fiction'. Because - tough though it is to realize this - they're not reading your fic because you wrote it. They're reading your fic because you're writing about [Insert Story or Series Of Choice Here] and they really like [Insert Story or Series Of Choice Here]. That really is absolutely all they want.

That's why your readers can and do object to the fact that the canon characters have been sidelined or are totally unrecognizable or (God forbid) both. Not only are the canon characters what they came there for in the first place, but they happen to rather like the canon characters.

Yes, you're telling a story, but you're telling a story using characters that already exist. Who already have pre-determined characteristics, likes and dislikes, talents and failings, ambitions and what have you. If, in writing that story, you're choosing to disregard any or all of those pre-defined factors, you're either going to have do a Hell of a lot of damned hard work to convince us that the character in question would think or act like that, actually, or find another way to tell your story which doesn't rely on wholesale character-rape. Because if you don't do either your fellow fans will call you on it and I wouldn't exactly blame them for it either.

They want to read an [Insert Story or Series Of Choice Here] fanfiction. Expecting the characters therein to actually be vaguely recognizable as the cast of [Insert Story or Series Of Choice Here] is not an unreasonable request.

If you want to write whatever you like, create your own goddamn fictional universe and stop raping other people's.

Disrespectfully yours,
laila