This is a post from my defunct blog, topazadine.com, that I’d like to share here. Enjoy!
Let’s talk about some of my favorite little guys. Unless you are Japanese or a weeaboo, you have never heard of them. That’s fine! They’re actually not that important to what I want to explain.
Mikazuki Munechika (left) and Tsurumaru Kuninaga (right) are two characters from the Touken Ranbu franchise. They are also the whole reason I have written the Eirenic Verses.
They’re not in the book, of course, because that would be a copyright violation. In fact, my original fiction has nothing to do with Touken Ranbu.
I call them the inspiration for my novels because of an undeniable fact: writing about boys kissing taught me how to craft a book.
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Fanfic Reignited My Creative Writing Fire
All it took to get me excited about writing fiction again was one singular scene from an anime called Touken Ranbu Katsugeki. This scene, actually.
This scene comes at the end of the series; we’d already seen these two characters doing cool things, but they’d never interacted before.
Something about seeing them together … enticed me. Mostly because of one odd, out-of-place convo during that battle:
“It has been a while since we fought side by side.”
“Not since we were partners, huh?”
Partners, you say? Like, are these exes? If they are, then it’s a pretty amicable divorce, given that they’re killing a monster instead of each other. Hmm.
It’s never explained, throughout the whole series, what that was supposed to mean.
Now I’m annoyed. I have to make sense of this! I must explain it, to myself and to the world. So I did.
I made them “business associates” that later fall in love, get caught in an extradimensional time trap, become possessed by evil Japanese demons, almost die of mysterious cherry-blossom related diseases, and finally hitch the knot.
Very normal things that happen in the course of any healthy relationship.
Along the way, I learned a lot about Japanese history, particularly the Heian and Sengoku periods. I flex this in “May the Chain be Unbroken,” which explores the butterfly effect caused by failed infidelity. That’s right, someone honoring their marital vows almost causes the end of the world. Isn’t that fun?
So, from this one singular interaction in one anime came my first fanfic since 2015, and from that …. well.
In 2022 alone, I wrote one million words of fanfic. The next year, I wrote
659,751. Technically I have written 1,724,022 words of fanfic overall, but some of those came from almost ten years ago so they don’t count.
Over the course of 122 works, posted from 2022 to 2023, I created an entire alternate canon. All the stories are interconnected, from one-shots to multichapter works. Some, like “A Tale of Two Citadels” and “Burden of Truth,” are the length of published novels, clocking in at about 100k each.
(Look, I’m wordy. You’ve noticed that by now. I’m not sorry.)
There are cheesy stories that show the characters doing relatively mundane things, like making coffee or playing tricks on each other. Others are dramatic examinations of serious issues like sexual assault, abusive relationships, mental illness, PTSD, and, of course, politics.
The whole spectrum of the life of a community, shown through the eyes of many different characters.
Including my very favorite, this guy.
That’s Uguisumaru. He’s green and drinks tea and spends half his time doing absolutely nothing. Of course I would love him: he’s me as a thousand-year-old sword spirit. And a man, but we’ll ignore that.
He, and his beloved husband Ookanehira, are the reason that I created Uileac Korviridi and Orrinir Relickim, though the two couples aren’t really much like each other at all except physically. A scene in my fanfic “Memory of Bizen,” which focuses on how Uguisumaru and Ookanehira met, also partly inspired 9 Years Yearning.
Anyway, I can hear your dramatic sighs all the way here in Cleveland, over the ever-present roar of Bessie trying to escape containment.
“Cameron, that’s so cringe! Fanfic is stupid!”
And I really have to ask you … why?
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Fanfic Is Just as Much Writing as Original Fiction
The only difference is that you can’t sell it, and honestly? I think that’s wonderful. You’re creating something beautiful, knowing that you will likely never receive any material benefit.
Of course, many successful authors, like EL James, started out writing fanfic. But for many fanfic writers, that won’t happen. Either they are content to continue making fanfic, or their fandoms are so specific that adapting them to avoid copyright claims would be impossible. Touken Ranbu, for example.
And fanfic writers can be so incredibly creative that they almost surpass the canon material. I’ve read some of the most amazing stories in the Touken Ranbu fandom, such as “A Collection of Verbal Flowers” by Galiko or the utterly terrifying “eat me” by redcarnations. Every writer takes these characters in entirely different directions, sometimes in very disconcerting ways.
Let’s be honest. If I had not told you that my stories were fanfic, you’d think I was describing a book.
“Getting stuck in an interstitial space between timelines and being erased from the universe, wreaking havoc on the world as a result? That’s nuts!”
“History is changed by a failure to commit infidelity, forcing a character to choose between his marriage vows or his mission to save the world? That’s so weird, but so spicy!”
“Two identical people from parallel universes are switched, but one lives a terrible life and the other lives a great one, and now they have to switch again out of love for those they’ve left behind? How tragic!”
Those plotlines would be interesting no matter the medium; they’ve been done by original writers too. And even if they weren’t, fanfic is wonderful, wonderful practice if you want to eventually write original fiction. Here’s why.
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You Make the Mistakes Before Trying to Publish
The only way to learn how to write is to write.
That’s pretty obvious, right? It’s the way you learn everything on the planet. You do it over and over again until you’re good enough to show your work to anyone else – or to take it to a professional level.
Unfortunately, many new writers do not seem to agree with me, and society at large has some weird beliefs around writing, too. It’s one of the only mediums where people assume your first product should get published and that you’re wasting your time if it doesn’t.
So a newbie writer will finish their very first novel and begin firing it off into the cosmos, only to get rejection after rejection.
Now they’re crushed. They made a masterpiece! Why can’t anyone see that? Writing no longer seems so appetizing; maybe they never write again.
But that’s normal. With the clarity of age, you’ll come back and see that your first attempt at writing a novel was … not very good.
I cringe when I see people excitedly posting snippets of their first novels for agent pitch events, knowing they have a snowball’s chance in hell of even getting a polite response. The writing just isn’t good, and the author hasn’t gotten enough distance to see that yet.
Fanfic is an excellent way to get all of those mistakes out before you try to publish because, well, you literally cannot sell it. Over time, you’ll read up on the craft, work with beta readers, and begin making more palatable stories. Only then, when you realize how far you’ve come, can you think about sending those queries.
I did not attempt to write my own novel in earnest until I had reached the golden milestone: the first million words. (I then went a teeny bit over it because I’m an overachiever.)
Some of the most excellent writers of any era have held true to this, and I agree with it completely. Those first million words are to get all the kinks out of your craft and develop your writing style.
Fanfic lets you screw up so your first original story has a fighting chance. I certainly made a lot of mistakes during my fanfic days, such as the extremely wordy sentences in “A Tale of Two Citadels.” But that’s okay, because I was learning. Now I’m much more mindful of my sentence length and try to keep every sentence to three lines or less.
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If You Can’t Make Your Own Characters, Storebought Is Fine
In addition to writing, I’m a knitter. I’ve made some pretty cool patterns on my own now, such as a brand-new sock heel.
However, I didn’t start doing this off the jump, as few knitters do. For years, I relied on the kind people on Ravelry who provide their patterns free of charge.
That is essentially what you are doing when you write fanfic.
Characters, as we have discussed before, are hard. Many new writers have very flat characters because they haven’t figured out how to add depth without being overdramatic, or they make characters overpowered to the point of noxiousness.
That’s why fanfic is great: you have premade character patterns to play with while you learn to develop your own. You get to explore their mentalities and figure out how to put them in different circumstances without being OOC.
All along, you’re building your understanding of what a character is so that you can eventually build your own.
I knew I was ready to embark on the Eirenic Verses when I got this comment on a story, which focuses on two original characters, by a wonderful reader who is very dear to my heart.
“This was so fantastically endearing and hilarious to read through and my gosh I don’t think I’ve so fervently rooted for the characters in fanfiction before.”
What better sign of go-time than that? Shortly after that, I began writing Poesy, now the sixth in the series, before going back and writing the first five. 9 Years Yearning, now the first in the series, was my next project, and I’m pretty happy with the results.
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Enjoy Some Instant Gratification
Speaking of amazing readers, there is nothing more encouraging to a new writer than getting positive feedback from strangers about their work. I have even seen people who print out every kind comment on AO3 and turn it into a scrapbook as constant motivation.
When you use those storebought characters, you’re writing stories with people that your readers already love. They’re more likely to engage than if you had two randos, because your readers also care about these characters and want them to succeed.
Or suffer. Or both.
OC stories on places like AO3 don’t get much traffic unless they are particular fetish content (which is fine, I’m not judging). No one knows these little creatures you dreamed up, so they better be fascinating right off the bat. If you’re a new writer, they probably won’t be.
In fact, most people search in their own fandoms and never dip their toe into the original fiction section of these websites. You may get the stray commenter, but it’s unlikely unless you’ve already developed a following through fanfic.
When writing original fiction, you will need to hunt down betas or paid editors, wait for them to get back to you, and then revise a million times. You won’t get much traffic on your stories if you’re not willing to build up a strong media presence and advertise your work elsewhere.
People have to know you, and know that your writing is quality, before they are willing to spend their precious time learning about strangers. And, of course, that’s assuming you’re giving it away for free.
My first three books have only a handful of reviews, and that’s perfectly okay. I glutted myself on praise during my fanfic days, and now I know I’m a good writer, which makes it easier to stay motivated as a self-published author.
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Learn to Hype Up Your Faves
Or torment them. You can do that too.
Uguisumaru, my favorite, isn’t very popular in the Touken Ranbu fandom because people think he’s boring. The thing is that he’s not boring, at least to me. He’s low-key and quiet. In a world that is so flashy and loud, he’s a breath of fresh air.
So I became one of his biggest advocates: psychoanalyzing him, propping him up, exploring all the nuances of his personality. In doing so, I realized what it’s really like to feel so much love and respect for a character that you want to champion them.
My character Cerie Korviridi, is also low-key. She doesn’t always do badass things, though she has a sharp retort in most instances. As a protagonist, she is not always going off and fighting battles, but she gets the job done anyway (sometimes reluctantly). And I love that for her, just like I love it for Uguisumaru.
I sublimated that passion for someone else’s OC into my own; I look at my character like I do my beloved blorbos from Touken Ranbu. Just as I react with fist pumps when my fave does something, I do it for Cerie, Uileac, Orrinir, and the rest of the gang.
Right now, I am a fandom of one. But that passion oozes out of me in every page, because I love my characters and I want to share what makes them so special with others. Having that fandom mentality has served me so well while writing the Eirenic Verses, and I know it will carry me through the rest of the gauntlet, too.