It happens more than I’d like to admit. I’ll watch a show, a movie, or read a book, and immediately become so immersed in the fictional world that I never want to leave. After spending countless hours strolling the corridors of Hogwarts, leaving wizard school for my mundane muggle life is nearly impossible. I can’t just stop hunting demons with Sam and Dean after marathoning the entire series in a single month (for those of you interested, that’s 172 episodes, roughly 7052 minutes of continual monster hunting in just 30 days). After being exposed to the universe with the Doctor, I could never leave and continue my ordinary life as if my mind hadn’t just been blown apart into a thousand pieces. For me, finishing a series is like severing a tie that holds me to sanity, almost the equivalent of cutting out an addiction. Some people say they could never cut out caffeine, but I could never cut out my journeys into fiction.
Unfortunately, there is only so much screen time, or so many books, to love and watch or read. Once you turn to the final page, or watch the credits roll up the screen for the final time, that’s it. The world, as shaped by the official show creators, is gone. So where does that leave us, the die hard fans? This is where the creativity that has made us fangirls/boys so famous steps in. Thinking about it, our ideas are almost ingenious. Why should we have to settle for what is written in canon? The good news is, we don’t. That’s why fanfiction was created.
Fanfiction allows fans, who may be discontent with the official canon universe or simply looking for an expansion to their favorite stories, an outlet to release their creative juices and share their work with an online community. It exists in several formats, like alternate universe, fluff, crack, or crossover. Alternate universe, or AU, is a story that exists completely outside the realm of canon, like having the Doctor prescribe medicine instead of travelling the universe. Fluff is a bit more romantic, where authors choose a pairing of characters and write them into sweet and sickeningly cute romantic scenarios. Crack-fics exist to make light of a fandom, putting characters into situations that are incredibly ridiculous, and often times, absolutely hysterical. Crossover fics are my personal favorite, as they create a universe where two, or maybe even three, of my favorite fandoms can exist together. In one story we can see the Doctor meet the Winchesters, or have Katniss Everdeen receive an acceptance letter to Hogwarts. The possibilities for crossovers are absolutely endless.
Fanfiction exists primarily on the internet on several different platforms, the most popular being fanfiction.net and archiveofourown.org. Both sites offer thousands of different fics for your reading pleasure, coming from a plethora of different categories ranging from Harry Potter to Thomas the Tank Engine, and no, I am not kidding. I tend to frequent the Doctor Who and Supernatural archives, but there is certainly something for everybody.
Occasionally there will come a time when you search and search for a plot that you want to read, but it doesn’t seem to exist anywhere. Hours and hours of endless scrolling, searching desperately for that one story that will quell the all consuming need for that one particular plot. But it doesn’t exist, no matter how hard you try, you cannot find it. So write it. Put fingers to keys and write your own fanfiction.
