Fanfiction stories worth reading

Screenshot of reviews on the "Questioning" fanfiction story.

There tends to be a stereotype that fanfiction is low quality writing. In some cases, that may be true, but there are also a number of well-crafted, well-written stories.

Fanfiction takes quite a bit of creativity, regardless of whether the writer is trying to navigate within the confines of the original author's world or creating their own expansions and twists to the narrative. It takes even more effort to ensure that their fanfiction is properly edited, especially if they don't have beta readers.

The following stories are all of reasonably good quality. Two of them are stories I've read, and two of them are stories I wrote as a teenager.

Stories I've Read

I feel a bit vulnerable sharing the fanfiction stories I used to read in high school, but I can't deny the quality of writing for either of these stories.

Even with them being stories that I probably wouldn't take the time to read today, and I certainly haven't read them in full since high school, "The Mating Games" and "Kissing Quinn Fabray" are two of the most memorable and well-edited stories I've read in the realm of fanfiction.

The Mating Games

"The Mating Games" is essentially "The Hunger Games," but with... well, aged up characters and sexual content.

The story centers around the idea that the Capitol requires all individuals 18 and older to immediately get married and start having children to repopulate after the devastating loss of life in the previous war.

Anyone who doesn't pair off has to participate in the Mating Games, which is a televised event where contestants pair up with each other by any means necessary.

The story is a bit odd and pornographic, but the plot is creative in its efforts to reimagine the original story. Likewise, the story is very well edited and easy to read if erotic content happens to be your cup of tea. If not, just skip it.

Kissing Quinn Fabray

"Kissing Quinn Fabray" is a fanfiction story based on the TV series "Glee," specifically about Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) and Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron) becoming a couple.

It's a soft romance story between the two characters and is exceptionally well written, so much that I wouldn't be surprised to discover that the author pursued a creative writing career. The story was also one of the first LGBTQ+ fanfics I ever read.

The story is a fluffy foray into the wildly popular Faberry relationship and adds its own interesting content to the mix.

There's a story within the story about "Chuck Bunny and Daisy Bunny" that I still find both hilarious and adorable, and I have to remind myself that it doesn't exist outside the context of this fanfic, which means I can't just go around quoting it.

My Fanfiction Stories

It feels a bit discomforting to share my fanfiction, especially with how far I've come as a writer since then, but both stories are something I was proud of at the time they were written and they're an integral part of my evolution as a writer. They're also two of the longest stories I wrote in the vein of fanfiction.

Awakening

"Awakening" is a fanfic that takes place during and after the events of Richelle Mead's "Blood Promise," which is the fourth book in the "Vampire Academy" series.

The story diverges from the canon narrative by having Dimitri Belikov turn Rose Hathaway into a Strigoi, whereas the canon plot sees Rose escape before he has the chance. Despite the divergence and the introduction of new plot points, the plot does continue to interact with the real series' plot.

"Awakening" spans 38 chapters and, while not as polished as my current writing, is still easier to read than many of the other fanfics I've had to wade through since I obsessively self-edit even as I'm writing a story, a quality that was particularly noticeable during my fanfiction era.

Questioning

"Questioning" takes place after the events of Richelle Mead's "Silver Shadows," the fifth book in the "Vampire Academy" spin-off series "Bloodlines."

"Silver Shadows" ended on a cliffhanger and the next book in the series wasn't due to be published for another month, so I wrote "Questioning" to keep myself and others entertained.

The plot initially focused on characters questioning the authenticity of Sydney Sage and Adrian Ivashkov's marriage, but it evolved into an even bigger story spanning 17 chapters. One reviewer even said they liked my story more than "The Ruby Circle," which was the real sixth book in the series.

Fan edits: The musical form of fanfiction

Photos from "Wednesday," "Legacies," and "Codename: Kids Next Door."

If you frequent places like Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, you've most likely seen a fan edit in some form. Long or short, scenes from shows and movies are set to music as a way of highlighting a narrative.

Sometimes, that narrative didn't even happen in the show or movie the clips are from, and scenes might even be taken from multiple shows or movies to make a certain narrative work. That's basically just musical fanfiction.

#wednesdaynetflix enid sinclair wednesday addams wenclair edit fancam fc #wenclair death by a thousand cuts taylor swift wlw sapphic lesbian pic.twitter.com/syv4Duxeq9

— @shaunacore (@maikotaras) November 24, 2022

This fan edit that sets scenes from the popular Netflix series "Wednesday" to the tune of Taylor Swift's "Death by a Thousand Cuts" is a prime example of Wenclair fanfiction. That is, fanfiction that highlights the friendship and potential romance of Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) and her roommate Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers).

Even beyond the caption, the edit features specific scenes that showcase the two characters' chemistry and forms a narrative that isn't directly seen in the context of the show—though the cast does ship it and the showrunners said they're open to exploring the relationship in a future season.

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A post shared by Noelle ♔ TVD | TO | LGC (@thewickerybridge)

Another interesting example is the style of fan edit that frequently tends to be found on Instagram. The way these are edited tends to feel almost like an acid trip with the way the visuals and instrumental are cut together to showcase the feeling the editor wants to invoke.

The video above is an edit of Hope Mikaelson (Danielle Rose Russell) and Lizzie Saltzman (Jenny Boyd) from "The Vampire Diaries" spinoff series "Legacies," set to an unspecified song.

While the scenes are all from "Legacies," some of the context may be skewed, namely the fact that the scene with Lizzie saying she loves Hope might also be interpreted as sisterly for those who have watched the whole series.

Likewise, the line stating, "A vampire only bonds to her sire when she has feelings for her, before she turns. Human feelings! Vampirism only heightens those emotions," is actually an edited version of a quote said in "The Vampire Diaries."

The original quote is, "A vampire only bonds to her sire when she has feelings for her sire before she turns. Vampirism only heightens those emotions."

The quote is said in reference to Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder) and Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev). Sire bonds also form automatically with hybrids and heretics regardless of romantic feelings, and Lizzie is a heretic.

Sometimes fans will even make an entire music video on YouTube. For instance, I explicitly remember that when I first started watching YouTube, I stumbled upon heaps of fan made music videos for the Cartoon Network show "Codename: Kids Next Door."

There was one music video set to Lou Bega's "Mambo No. 5" that paired Numbuh 1 (Benjamin Diskin) with every female character under the sun. Another was set to t.A.T.u.'s "Loves Me Not" and paired Numbuh 362 (Rachael MacFarlane) with Numbuh 86 (Jennifer Hale). Unfortunately, I couldn't find either of those.

I did find the above example that makes the odd choice of using Martina McBride's "Concrete Angel" to represent Numbuh 5's (Cree Summer) quote about how "We work hard every year but no matter what we're going to turn into a teenager."

For reference, the show is centered around children's conflict with adults and teenagers, with the Kids Next Door's goal being to fight "adult tyranny."

Regardless, it feels a bit odd to pair that with a song about child abuse, but sometimes the logic of these fan edits centers more around how a song feels than what it's actually about.

'Fangirl' by Rainbow Rowell is an interesting look at fanfiction culture

The book cover for "Fangirl" by Rainbow Rowell.

"Fangirl" by Rainbow Rowell is a novel about a fanfiction writer named Cath who's trying to adapt to life in college while dealing with social anxiety and growing apart from her twin sister.

Cath also makes some friends, most notably her roommate Reagan and her love interest Levi, both of whom frequently try to get Cath to come out of her shell. So essentially, it's a classic college coming-of-age story.

Likewise, there's somewhat of a story within the story since readers get to see snippets of the fanfiction that Cath is working on, which is slash fiction based on the fictional "Simon Snow" series. The "Simon Snow" series seems reminiscent of "Harry Potter" and the fanfiction Cath writes feels similar to a Drarry fic.

"Fangirl" is widely acclaimed for its accurate representation of fan culture, so much so that Tumblr chose the novel as its inaugural book club selection. And indeed, I felt like I could relate to aspects of the story, especially as someone who wrote fanfiction as a teenager.

Sometimes "Fangirl" even embodies the connotation of its name a little too well and fills me with twinges of cringe.

When Cath submits some of her fanfiction for a creative writing assignment, Professor Piper won't accept it because the purpose is to write something original. Cath then starts to argue that it is original because she's the one who wrote what she turned in, but that argument really doesn't work in this context.

While I've written many a fanfiction, I'd never submit any for a creative writing assignment. Why? Because while fanfiction is a great form of writing exercise, you didn't build the world or characters, so unless you know how to creatively repackage it à la "Fifty Shades," "The Mortal Instruments," or "After," it doesn't fulfill the point of the assignment.

Fanfiction can be a great outlet for people who like writing; if part of an existing story isn't finished or doesn't go the way you want, you can write what you want into existence, and it gives the opportunity to practice creative writing.

But it's just one form of creative writing, and usually college is meant to help you expand into other genres, so if your professor wants you to practice world building through original fiction or encourages you to write in other genres such as nonfiction and poetry, you shouldn't shoehorn your fanfiction into it.

Regardless of that aspect, "Fangirl" is very enjoyable because it provides an interesting look at fanfiction culture that's appealing to readers of all ages. Plus, the popularity of the novel spawned the creation of two spin-off novels based on Cath's fanfiction, "Carry On" and "Wayward Son."

If you want some insight into fanfiction culture and a feel-good, romantic coming-of-age story, I highly suggest reading "Fangirl."

'Supernatural' episodes that delightfully address fanfiction

In season four of "Supernatural," episode 18, also called "The Monster at the End of This Book," has a fun literary premise: Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean's (Jensen Ackles) adventures from the last several years have been turned into a series of novels with a small cult following.

Sam and Dean discover this when a comic book store owner mistakes them for cosplayers larping as the characters. They then buy as many copies as possible and start reading about themselves.

Sam also does online research that introduces them to fanfiction, including "Sam girls" and "Dean girls" and even slash fans who ship Wincest. I sympathize with the disgust when Dean says, "They do know we're brothers, right?"

And the fanfiction references don't stop in that episode. As the series goes on, Chuck Shurley (Rob Benedict) continues to write stories about Sam and Dean's adventures. And with more books comes more fans with even more of the world to explore.

For instance, in season five, episode nine, also titled "The Real Ghostbusters," Sam and Dean are lured to a "Supernatural" convention by their superfan Becky Rosen (Emily Perkins), with a bunch of other people dressed up as them hunting fake ghosts while they have to hunt a real ghost.

Likewise, in season 10, episode five, also known as "Fan Fiction," Sam and Dean investigate strange disappearances at a high school that's putting on a musical performance of the "Supernatural" books, and this leads to the director of the musical telling Dean about Destiel, which is a gay shipping of Dean and Castiel (Misha Collins).

Dean is yet again annoyed by the gay slash fiction while Sam finds the whole thing entertaining.

There are other, more subtle references to fanfiction throughout the series, most notably episode titles such as "Slash Fiction" and "Meta Fiction," which aren't necessarily about fanfiction, but they do play on the idea of it.

The way the show includes and playfully pokes fun at the concept of fanfiction and fan culture as a whole is delightfully entertaining. While I've never been a die-hard fan of the show, I've always had an appreciation for the world building and creativity.

I especially love episodes that hint at things in the real world, such as these fanfiction episodes and "The French Mistake," which brings Sam and Dean into the real world and references things that have happened in their real lives.

I highly recommend all of the episodes listed here, most of which can likely be watched with minimal context thanks to the anthological way most episodes are crafted.

Movies that are based on fanfiction

Fanfiction has become increasingly popular in recent years, and sometimes it even gets converted into new, seemingly original content. Let's take a look at some movies that are based on or inspired by fanfiction.

Fifty Shades of Grey

As I'm sure everyone knows by now, "Fifty Shades of Grey" is an erotic BDSM movie trilogy based on books of the same name by E.L. James. And those books are based on "Twilight" fanfiction.

While the quality of the narrative may be questionable, Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan's performances as Anna Steele and Christian Grey, respectively, were of solid quality. So props to those two and the rest of the cast.

And yes, I actually do have a solid working knowledge of both the books and the movies. In a bizarre incident, I spotted an acquaintance of mine reading "Fifty Shades of Grey" in my middle school cafeteria. Why a girl her age was reading that, especially out in the open at a school in notoriously religious Utah, I may never know.

I was previously unaware of the series and couldn't exactly glean much from the grey tie on the cover. So I asked her what it was about, and her response was to peer her eyes over the book, wiggle her eyebrows suggestively, and say, "You'll have to read it to find out."

And now I've read all three books in the trilogy and watched all three movies. The sexual scenes don't really spark my interest, but the plot itself is wild and fun bad. Anna's inner monologue in the books, the inaccurate depiction of BDSM, figuring out which "Fifty Shades" characters correspond with which "Twilight" characters.

Also, mad respect to Anna's friend Kate (Eloise Mumford) for consistently calling Christian out and being the funniest character in the books for the right reasons. At least until "Fifty Shades Freed" when she just sort of stops questioning everything. Also props to Christian's mom (Marcia Gay Harden) for confronting Mrs. Robinson (Kim Basinger).

After

The entire "After" movie series is based in Harry Styles fanfiction. And it's not subtle, either, since the character based on Styles is named Hardin Scott and other characters based on the members of One Direction also have names starting with the same letters as their real-life counterparts.

I haven't watched any of the movies since I feel like fanfiction based on real people is a little weird, not to mention that toxic romances aren't exactly my cup of tea, but it's clearly loved by a lot of people since the fifth installment in the series, "After Everything," comes out this week.

Everything I've heard about the series sort of sounds like the dynamic in "Fifty Shades," but with less sex scenes and not as much "fun bad" value. I might just watch it anyway since it seems so popular, but I make no promises.

The Mortal Instruments

While "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones," based on the novel of the same name by Cassandra Clare, isn't directly a fanfiction itself, it apparently does draw a lot of inspiration from Clare's days writing fanfiction stories such as "The Draco Trilogy."

I've watched the movie, and while it didn't draw me in as much as "The Hunger Games," "Divergent," "Harry Potter," or the endless list of other teen movies coming out around that time, I did think it had its moments, especially with the soundtrack. Demi Lovato's "Heart by Heart" in particular is a favorite song of mine.

The end of the movie does feel mildly disturbing if you haven't read the books though. The way Clary (Lily Collins) rides off with Jace (Jamie Campbell Bower) feels romantic, which is weird because at that point they've been falsely led to believe that they're siblings.

That isn't actually true, and they're actively doubting it, but that's what they've been told at that point, so it's a little weird.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

At first glance, you might not think of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" as fanfiction. Just a parody, or a new spin on an old classic. But that's essentially what fanfiction is.

"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" just gets to use the actual characters and settings commercially without paying royalties because the original Jane Austen novel is in the public domain.

And while I haven't gotten to watch the movie myself yet, it's one I look forward to because of its creative AU (alternate universe) take. It's literally just "Pride and Prejudice" set in a world facing a zombie apocalypse.