Fanfic....Here we go....

I am a member of many, many fandoms. I have my own perfect romances and ideas on what would be awesome if things happened in a world, or even in between worlds. So, I get it. I do. Fanfic is a great way to express those thoughts. But, I have to say, I am not a fan of fanfic as it seems to currently exist.

Here's Why: 99% of the fanfic I see is incredibly disrespectful to the original work.

Yep. Now, hear me out.

Most fanfic is about a romance that isn't a part of the original canon. I have no issue with this, I'll be the first to tell you that I wanted Neville and Luna to get together in the world of HP. Didn't happen. I would have loved Dean and Charlie to get together in Supernatural. Didn't happen. And this couple brings me to my point. Charlie is gay. Her character is not into men. It's one of the things that is super cool about her, she just openly loves other women. And she makes no bones about it and neither does the show.  I love Charlie. She is easily one of my top five favorite characters in the Supernatural verse. But, as much as I love the idea of Charlie and Dean together, I will never write that story. I will never put it into the world,  because it is disrespectful of Charlie.

Writing Charlie in a straight relationship with Dean would be the same as forcing my lesbian friend to date my straight guy friend just because I thought they would be good together. Can you even imagine the backlash that kind of stubborn, rudeness would have?  So, why is it any different with fictional characters? If we love them as they are written, then we are accepting them as they are. When you take an authors character and rewrite something so integral to their makeup, like their sexuality, personal preferences in love, ect. Then you are saying that you don't love the character as they are. You are imposing your own ideas on someone else's work.  And that is so disrespectful, to the original author and to the character.

So, does all of this mean that I don't think fanfic should be written? Not at all. I love that fanfic happens. That people are so inspired by something that they in turn write something or draw something creative and beautiful. But, I do think that if you are going to write fanfic, you should be respectful of the character who you are writing about.