We all have at least one TV show, film or book that gets our motor running. Some people have dozens. I have the odd one or two and my passion tends to run in short blasts. I adored Buffy and then Angel, I’m enamoured with Game of Thrones (only just on the fifth book and not seen any of the shows, so Shhh, no spoilers) and have a particular soft, sticky, hot spot for the 10th Doctor. Now for me, I’m happy to let the authors, script writers, show or book creators to do the hard work for me but some people like to take things into their own hands and write their very own fan fiction.

What is fan fiction?

Also known as fanfic there’s a lot more of it around and one especially famous example is EL James’s Fifty Shades of Grey which originated as Twilight fan fiction. Now it’s all well and good to have your own adventures with someone else’s characters in your own head but there’s all kinds of legal problems with writing them down on paper and I’m afraid it’s not that simple to tell you whether your particular imaginings would be legal or not.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Did you know EL James Fifty shades of Grey series started out as Twilight Fan Fiction?” quote=”Did you know EL James Fifty shades of Grey series started out as Twilight Fan Fiction?”]

Again, you need to check this precisely for your character as some have been copyrighted by film companies so you still can’t use them. Some authors don’t mind fan fiction so if you just want to write for shits and giggles check out if the author of your work likes fanfic or not first. I think most authors, if not all, get grumpy at the point where you might make money using their characters but some don’t mind if it’s out there for free.

Now the only way to create works of appreciation based on someone else’s book/film/TV show is to completely change names, situations and places. It’s very hard to prove someone has taken a specific character unless they are named as such simply because traits, ticks, turns of phrase etc aren’t exclusive to one person only. This is the route EL James eventually took, taking her Twilight based stories and making a whole new world for them to exist in.

Why write fan fiction?

So there are ways to write new stories using your favourite characters legally but it’s not easy so remember to do your research. Especially if you’re planning to get down and dirty with them. There’s even a special area of fanfic called slash which concentrates on putting established favourites into sexual scenarios. There’s an overall bent (pun not intended) to slash as being male on male but the word is also used for straight sex and lesbian couplings too.

I think, for many, this is the attraction of writing about established characters. You can take them wherever you want, whenever you want and have your own filthy way with them. No matter the age rating of a TV show or film you’re very unlikely to get full on sex scenes with nothing blanked out or hidden away. The author might not get your two favourite characters together, they might tootle off in a different direction completely and that’s frustrating. So writing your own scenes, creating new endings can be a fun way to get exactly what you want.

Even I’ve written a kind of fan fiction in my time. When I was in my teen years I read a book, sent to me from my Japanese penpal about an angel coming to earth and falling in love with the teen girl he was protecting. I wrote my own version of this with the guy I was crushing on as the main character. Thankfully this was all written on paper and has since been destroyed. Phew. There’s a story in the very first Coming Together anthology, written by yours truly, inspired by a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode. It might not be full on fanfic or slash but it has it’s origins in the show and I’ve definitely taken the idea and made it work for me in a distinctly erotic way.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Even in fiction you’ve got to practise safe sex” quote=”Even in fiction you’ve got to practise safe sex”]

There is a saying that there’s nothing new in this world and you can argue that everything created is, in part, a homage to something else that already exists. There is a difference between taking inspiration from something and taking the idea as a whole and using it as a basis for your own work. Fan fiction is fun to read and write, so enjoy but be careful. Check for consent from the fictional characters you’re using and respect their privacy. Also check with their significant other (author) that it’s okay to use and abuse them as you see fit. Even in fiction you’ve got to practise safe sex.

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