As any writer will tell you, writing is a process. It takes time to create a masterpiece, it doesn’t just happen overnight. Then the question is, what can inspire writers? A contributing factor is fandoms.
Why does anyone write? Maybe to get attention, or show their passion for a show. One of the main reasons is fandoms. A fandom is a community of people who all love the same thing. Virtually every show, game, or book has a fandom behind it. Fandoms inspire fanfics, fanart, fan theories, etc.
How are Fanfics Tied in?
I’ll bet there’s a fanfic for just about anything in the mainstream media. Even more underground fandoms have fanfics written about them. A fandom can inspire creativity through their sense of community, as well as the content provided by the show, game, or book.
As a collective, there could be a pocket universe within the fictional universe. Using Star Wars as an example, fans as a collective could create a new planet within that universe. Then they’d populate that planet with new and old characters, even their own. This process could inspire one of them to create a story based on the collective knowledge of this new planet.
There could be a theory that Kylo Ren and Rey are actually siblings. Writers will jump on that train and conceptualize how that would look, leaving readers in awe. Fanfiction can be inspired by anything.
The Addition of Fanart
Fanart can spruce of a fanfic. You don’t have to be an amazing artist though. Fanart can often inspire a fanfic as well. If you see an amazing drawing of Sonic the Hedgehog on Deviantart, you might be inspired to write something. The Sonic movie has recently been released and there has been a mass of fanfics about Sonic and peoples’ OCs.
Writing’s just another form of art after all, so why not use art as inspiration?
Fan Theories
There are many out there. An example of a more popular one comes from Pokemon. The theory says that the main character, Ash, has been in a coma this entire time. This theory came about because Ash never ages in the show, he’s always been a 10 year old kid.
Someone could spin this and tell the story of what’s going on around him. Even how extreme his adventures could be given that they may not be real. Theories like this one serve to inspire writers to imagine what this may be like.
Fandoms as a Whole
Fandoms are an amalgamation of everything I’ve discussed in this post. All of these elements of a fandom can help or hinder a fanfiction writer. More often than not people tend to embrace fandoms. By embracing them, they soak in all of the content and have something to say. Generally, people are involved in a fandom for many reasons. Reasons range from being hardcore fans to wanting something new.
Creativity stems from our own thoughts and inspirations. Fandoms can serve as that inspiration. Writers and artists alike can get help from the community to help create their content.
The Reality of Fanfiction 