The Best Place to Start Writing Is a World You Already Love
- Sep 18, 2024
- 6 min read
You know that feeling when you close a book and you're just not ready to say goodbye? (This happens every time I re-read Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series!) When you just want to stay in the world a little longer, or even start imagining ways the story could be expanded or even changed?
Many writers, including myself, started by playing in worlds someone else built (for me it was rewriting old fairytales!) because we didn't want to leave. We borrowed. We tinkered. We asked "what if" about stories we already loved... and then we wrote the answer.
You might have heard about it before. It's called fan fiction (yes, even when you're playing around in old stories and ancient myths!) and it honestly might be one of the best on-ramps to writing there is.
What is fan fiction, anyway?
Fan fiction (or "fanfic") is a story you write using characters, settings, or worlds from something you already love. It can be a book, a show, a video game, a movie. Maybe you mix things up by sending one character into a completely different story's world (what might Hermione do if she was dropped into District 13?). Maybe you write the conversation two characters should have had. Maybe you just keep a story going long after the last page.
People have been doing this basically forever. (Even Shakespeare borrowed most of his plots.) And a surprising number of published authors (yes, writers whose books are on shelves right now!) got their start writing fanfic. It's not cheating. It's practice. It's play.
Why it's such a good place to start
Here's the thing about a blank page: it's terrifying. When you're staring at nothing, you have to invent everything at once — the world, the people, the rules, the history. That's a lot to carry.
Fan fiction hands you most of that for free. The world already exists. You already know the characters like old friends. So you get to skip straight to the fun part: the actual writing.
Voice: making a character sound like themselves.
Dialogue: writing conversations that feel alive.
Pacing: knowing when to slow down and when to hurry.
Emotion: making a reader actually feel something.
You already care about these characters, which means you'll try harder to get them right, which is a REALLY fun way to learn.
Writers who started right where you are
Remember how I said a surprising number of real, published authors got their start writing fanfic? I wasn't kidding! Here are a few of my favorites:
Marissa Meyer wrote more than forty Sailor Moon fan fictions (under the pen name "Alicia Blade") before she ever published a book. One of them, a version of Sailor Moon reimagined as a sci-fi fairy tale, grew into Cinder and her bestselling Lunar Chronicles series. She's said fanfic is where she actually learned the craft: how to finish a story, how to take feedback, and how to keep going when a draft gets hard. She even wrote about it on her own blog.
Rainbow Rowell loves fanfic so much she wrote a whole novel about it! Fangirl follows a teenage girl who writes fan fiction. Rowell ended up liking those characters so much that she spun them into their very own book, Carry On. (She's written Harry Potter fanfic herself, too.) If you read one book about what it feels like to be a young writer, make it Fangirl. It might feel like looking in a mirror. rainbowrowell.com
Naomi Novik took it a step further, she actually helped build one of the biggest fanfiction sites out there. AO3 (Archive of Our Own) exists in part because of a blog post she wrote calling for a real home for fan writers, and she's now an award-winning novelist. (Heads up: most of her books are written for grown-ups, but her Scholomance series is written for teens and is a great place to start.)
Every one of them was once a kid or a fan who loved a story enough to keep writing in it. That could be you!
A few tips to get you going
Start with a "what if." What if your favorite character had made a different choice? What if two characters from two different books met? Follow the question and see where it goes.
Write the scene you wish existed. Is there a missing moment? A character you wish hadn't died? Two characters you think should have ended up together who didn't? Write it!
Don't try to be perfect. First drafts are supposed to be messy. Mine still are. Just get the story down, you can always fix it later.
Read it out loud. It's the fastest way to hear what's working and what isn't.
Be kind to the original. Fan fiction is a love letter to a story, not a way to make money off someone else's work. Keep it free, and give credit to the creators who inspired you.
Where to share it (and how to stay safe)
When you're ready to let other people read your stories, there are some wonderful communities out there. But I'm going to be a real, honest author-mom for a second, because the internet is a big place and not all of it is built for you.
Safest places to start: these are made for young writers, and real people keep an eye on things:
Write the World: a community for writers ages 13–19 with prompts, contests, and feedback, moderated by actual teachers and editors.
Teen Ink: a long-running magazine (print and online) that publishes writing by teens, and even has a fan fiction section.
Storybird: great if you're a little younger, or if you love pairing your words with art. (2026 update: Storybird has moved a lot of its features behind a paywall, so check the current policies before signing up).
The big fanfic sites: this is where most fan fiction actually lives, and there's amazing stuff on them. But they're built for everyone, including grown-ups, so plenty of the content is written for adults. If you visit these, go in with your eyes open and pay attention to the content warnings!
FanFiction.net: one of the oldest archives. It uses content ratings, so stick to the "K" and "T" (kid- and teen-friendly) stories until you're ready for more. (2026 update: this site has gotten glitchy lately! Make sure you keep backups of your work if you use the site).
Wattpad: hugely popular with teens, but it has lots of mature stories mixed in. Use the maturity filters, and keep your own drafts private until you're ready.
Archive of Our Own (AO3): the biggest fanfic library anywhere, but it does not filter out adult content on its own. Great for older teens.
A few rules that keep the whole thing safe and fun:
Talk to a parent or trusted adult before you make an account anywhere.
Never share your real full name, age, address, phone number, or school.
If a story is labeled "mature," "explicit," or "18+," scroll on by until you're ready. There's lots of stuff under those labels I don't even like to read and I'm a fully grown adult!
Be very careful in comment sections, and don't go searching random tags; you'll turn up things you didn't go looking for.
You never have to post anything. I wrote for years just for myself, and only shared my writing with people I trusted in real life. Your writing doesn't have to be public to count.
If your grown-ups want to read more about all this, Common Sense Media has a really honest guide for families about fan fiction.
You can learn a lot when you read fan fiction written by others set in worlds you love:
Pay attention! Does reading the story keep the magic of the original books alive? Does it sound too different from the author? Are there things they did with the characters that feel wrong or strange? Does the writing need more polish? Are there spelling or punctuation mistakes that pull you out of the story?
You can learn a LOT from reading all levels of writing (it's what your teachers are trying to do when they make you work through essays in a group!). Online, it's good to practice the golden rule and try to be supportive if you leave feedback or comments on fan fiction sites, but you can quietly learn from their mistakes, too. Note what works and what doesn't and then work on those things in your own writing.
One last thing
All of the authors you love were once readers who didn't want their favorite stories to end. For many of us, that was what tipped us from reader to writer.
The very first story I ever changed was called The Waking of Helen, by L.M. Montgomery. It was included in a collection of short stories called Along the Shore. The ending made me so sad, I rewrote it! (Don't read it if you don't want the story spoiled).
So! You're allowed to keep living in our worlds (and even write in our books - gasp!) So what are you waiting for? Start asking those big what if questions and write what happens next.
