The Usefulness of Fanfiction

I am finding fanfiction to be extremely useful to writing. I love reading within my fandom, it's fun, entertaining and an all around lovely way to waste an evening.

I prefer to write not fanfiction. I have characters whose stories need telling. I know this because they told me so. But I have a flood of ideas that don't relate to them. And I have no where to put them.

So it is with reluctance that I admit to committing Fanfiction.

I have nothing posted yet. I will put up a link when I do. Because there will be stories. So many stories.

The best thing about fanfics is your ability to create a storyline without having to worry about the characters. They are set, they are prepackaged with personalities, quirks, families and backgrounds. All you have to do is drop them in a situation and see what they think of it.

I have ideas I don't know if I like. But by exploring them using fanfiction, I can figure out if I want to put the time and effort into developing a random plot bunny into something real.

I have two out of about 30 that I like and am willing to work on. But it's fun anyway.

I am also working on a straight bit of fanfiction. Conceived and intended for nothing other than the fandom. I hope to have it out by Christmas. It's a holiday piece.

I was stuck on it for a few days, fearing that it was too formulaic and trite. But I realized it's a classic holiday story redone in fandom, it's going to be trite. Just go with it.

So hopefully something for you to unwrap this holiday.