I'm here today to talk about my opinions on a topic I've seen usually talked about with anger, embarrassment, or at the very least light confusion: fan fiction. I don't know what the general consensus is on it, but having seen the uproar after the recent announcement of Amazon permitting the sale of certain types of fan fiction, and mulling over the idea in my head some, I wanted to put my two cents out there.
In short, I think fan fiction is a good thing.
Mostly.
If you'd like, I can recommend a few good places to buy torches and pitchforks to use against me.
But enough ranting. I enjoyed my time as a fan fiction author, I'm glad to no longer be one, and I'm glad anyone who wants to write has the opportunity to do so in this fashion.
(P.S. You'll note that I completely ignore the topic of erotic fan fiction in this article; I did this because I do not feel particularly qualified to do so, and am honestly a little frightened of it. I respect it's existence, but I have a harder time arguing that fan fiction should exist when said fan fiction involves Jean-Luc Picard and Inspector Gadget double-teaming a sentient Rubik's Cube, not that I've ever seen that particular grouping, but given the nature of Rule 34 it probably does in some dark, weird corner of the internet.)
And as always, please drop me a line on Facebook or Twitter! I'm big into liking/following back!
Facebook: http://facebook.com/mattcarterauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MCarterAuthor