In Defense of ReaderX

     You may or may not know what I'm talking about with the title there.

     To start, some of you may have read my ode to fanfiction sometime back, in which I espoused the joys and even intimated the necessities of the craft.  Fanfiction is in my heart and soul and there's pretty much literally no downside; it allows fans of a work to express their love for it, critique its flaws, play around in the sandbox that was left to them, and even advertises the original work--there's more than one story/webcomic/movie I've read/watched/consumed primarily because my friends were writing fanfiction about it.

     Of course, fanfiction, like all fiction, has its downsides, like the dreaded (or maybe overblown?) Mary Sue character that wrankles everyone's hides, or the inevitable kinky stories that come about, inspiring nosebleeds and squick in roughly equal measure.  But perhaps most divisive, and extremely unique to the fanfiction genre (medium?) are ReaderX stories.

     These are stories that are typically told in the second person (the "you" form), and insert the reader as a character into the world of the story (or often an AU), as a potential love interest or current paramour to one or more of the characters within.  Occasionally these stories are told in a platonic sense, the Reader just hanging out with their best buds or going on an adventure, but it's usually romantic and often sexual.

     These types of stories take Mary Sue to the next level--Mega Sue perhaps?  MarySuetron?  Sailor Maryoon?--and don't even try to disguise the self-insert into the narrative; it is blatantly and purposefully an adventure of wish-fulfillment in romance land, often poorly written and more than a little clunky in execution.  This is largely because these types of stories are usually written by young (usually teen or preteen), inexperienced writers still trying to get a feel for how to write a story in general.  To compound the issue, that very phenomena creates an echo chamber of young, inexperienced writers with very few solid examples of how to pull off certain techniques which are in actuality quite advanced--the very idea of a ReaderX, while an old tradition, is still experimental, seldom done, and more extremely seldom done well.  How often have you seen someone write well just in the second person?

     R.L. Stine, Andrew Hussie, and a few fanfiction writers are the only examples I can think of.  Then you add an attempt to actually make it about the audience member sitting at home--not just a character which the audience member assumes the shape of in the telling--and it becomes a thousand times more complex.

     But many are still enjoyable despite the clunkiness, and some are even excellent in quality!  Like any other genre of fiction, there's a whole spectrum of quality.

     And yet, regardless of the quality of any individual piece, the ReaderX is a genre which is extremely polarizing; it seems like you either love it (in which case you consume and produce it voraciously) or you absolutely detest it, in which case you either distance yourself from it or make it part of your life's work to shit on it.

     To be clear, there are a lot of very valid reasons for people to hate the genre; some people don't care for second person, some people can't separate certain conventions of the genre from the potential that lies beneath, some people just don't care for it, and that's fine.  I'm not writing this to insist that everyone love ReaderX stories; what I am doing is entreating you to listen, open your mind, and allow me to make my case in their defense--and thereby, in the defense of those who write and read ReaderX.

   
     There's this thing that's very prevalent in the fanfiction community in which people are unable (or unwilling) to separate a fictional work from its author, so when something bothers someone they take it out on the person who wrote the piece.  Sometimes this is rooted in validity--when an author writes something that very clearly promotes queerphobia, misogyny, or racism, for instance, the desire to correct them stems from a good place, and is usually the right thing to do.

     But often the issue isn't with the author at all--the reader just doesn't like the genre of the fic, or the way it's written, or something about it squicks them, and instead of just saying, "I don't like this" or trying to give the author constructive criticism, they take it out on the author for having the audacity to write something so atrocious, how dare they, and they lump anyone and everyone who writes in that genre into this category of HORRIBLE BAD EVIL and toss them in the public fires of shame.

     Again, there's nothing wrong with not liking something!  But publicly shaming an entire group of people for the things they like to read and write isn't a solution to the problem; the solution is to not look that thing up.  Put it on Tumblr Blacklist, read the tags or summary before you dive in, and avoid it if you know you don't like it; don't beat kids up for liking something.  Because that's what you're doing, in this specific instance; beating up kids.

     ReaderX fics are silly, self-indulgent, are often poorly written, contain too little substance, and can on occasion develop their own cultish subfollowings that are breeding grounds for toxicity (like any and every work of literature that has ever existed), and they're difficult at times to take seriously. but they aren't meant to be taken seriously!

     In my experience, ReaderX fics are written and read by preteen and teenage girls that are absorbed in a fictional work to the exclusion of social lives they probably didn't have to begin with.  They have crushes on the fictional characters in a given work--as many people of all ages, sexes, and sexualities do--and they want to explore that attraction in the only place possible; fiction.  There's no chance that they'll ever meet these characters in real life, let alone have a relationship with them, and they know that.  They're not deluding themselves into thinking that the laws of reality will bend so they can smooch APH Germany or go superhero hunting with Megamind.

     The kids who wind up deeply entrenched in ReaderX culture are often depressed and isolated.  They're the type of person who has always retreated to fiction because the real world didn't want them, and all they want is to be wanted; they need that outlet, those twenty minutes of smiling as they pretend that this person they've attached themselves to cares about them.  It's no different from pretending that you're your favorite character as you read a book, except the story in question was specifically written with that in mind.

     To kids like this, ReaderX stories can be very therapeutic.  It's like daydreaming on paper, but sharing that daydream in such a way that others can experience it too, exposing themselves to daydream scenarios that they never would have thought up by themselves while simultaneously allowing themselves to step outside their own heads.  

      As one of those kids myself, ReaderX stories helped me survive depression.  It definitely wasn't the prevailing reason that I lived through it, but it helped; in the seven and a half years during which my depression was at its worst, I probably put in enough hours reading ReaderXes to fill up at least a month.  ReaderXes allowed me to leap into the head of a blank template that had friends that loved her and a romantic interest that valued her, and because it didn't just happen in my head, like a daydream, I wasn't beholden to all the things my brain insisted were Cold Hard Fact--the "you're unloveable"s, the "this is stupid"s, the "everyone hates you"s that often made daydreams unsustainable and entirely unsatisfying.

     Even if a kid isn't depressed and has no mental health issues, if they're just a perfectly healthy child with an active imagination and they want to indulge themselves in a fluffy adventure of which they're the central figure, so what?  It's as healthy as daydreaming, and more productive, since any writing at all is practice in story-telling and reading can teach a great many things (even if it's just what not to do).

     Actually, it may be healthier than daydreaming, which has been linked to Alzheimer's; daydreaming can cause false memory paths to be created which go nowhere--they trail off and wither, taking up space in the brain.  At least if it's written down, it has a basis in the concrete world, and when read it's neurologically no different from reading a short story.

     Reading and writing ReaderXes is really no different from playing pretend as a child and trying to save the princess from the tower, though admittedly it is a less physically active pursuit.

     Are ReaderXes the pinnacle of literature?  Hell no!  But there's nothing wrong with them, and I think it's time we stopped acting like there was.  More to the point, it's time we stopped acting like there's something wrong with reading or writing them.  When you attack someone for reading/writing something you don't like, you're telling them that it's not all right to like that thing, and in my experience the kids who revel in self-indulgent literature are the ones who are most likely to believe you when you badmouth them.  Saying they're shitty isn't revealing new information, you're just reinforcing what they already believe about themselves, and shoving them deeper into the very mindset that made many of them flee to self-inserts in the first place.

     I mean for Christ's sakes, just let kids be kids!  The act of enjoying a story about themselves isn't hurting you, or anyone else for that matter.  You liked ridiculous stuff when you were that age, too, and no matter how far you try to run, you'll never be able to escape that; nor should you.  Interest in things that seem silly or unproductive is nothing to be ashamed of; we're all human, and we all like to indulge ourselves from time to time.

     So next time you're thinking about tearing someone down for reading or writing ReaderX fanfiction, type "Reader/[your favorite character]" into AO3 and see if you still hate them when you're done.

     Or better yet, just don't.  Keep your complaints to the fics themselves if you have to, and away from the people who write them.  Otherwise you might have to put up with me *cracks knuckles* Tourette's Girl, protector of outcast children everywhere!

     (But seriously guys, being mean to kids isn't cool and it doesn't make you "edgy" or anti-establishment; it just makes you a bully.  Grow up.  Learn to separate the wrongs of an author from flaws in their artwork.)

The Importance of Fanfiction

   The first story I ever wrote was called "The Hecatense Goose;" I was three and could neither read nor write, so my mother wrote it down and it was eventually lost.  I have no idea what the story was about.
     But my second story was a series of scribbles that told a tale of Peter Pan's post-Hook adventures, and my third was a sequel to the then-unfinished Series of Unfortunate Events books.  At the time I did not, of course, know anything about fanfiction or copywright laws, but since then I've done a lot of growing as a writer--yet still fanfiction calls to me.
     It's a polarizing issue.  As a once-B-rated-star of the Megamind fandom, I am very biased in favor of fanfiction, because it's fun, it's flattering (I can't think of anything better than having such a wide fan base that they take inspiration from and write about your world and characters!  How great would that be??  ((Super great is how))), and reading/writing it can help you grow as a writer.
     Here are a few ways it's beneficial to a writer.

     Fanfiction can....


1.  Be great place to start

     At any level of writing skill fanfiction is great practice, but it's especially good for beginners, since it allows you to create stories with pre-established characters in a pre-established world, often in a pre-established style, which gets you comfortable with developing plot, using detail to your advantage, and using correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, and format.
     Once you're comfortable with the writing basics, it's easy to rocket through the ranks, stepping up one rung at a time rather than going in all at once--you start deviating in style, then move the characters from one world to another, and finally start creating OCs (usually either using author inserts or child-of-PC characters at first).  Before you know it, you're creating fanfiction that's only tangentially related to the original story--sometimes barely related at all.
     When writing original content there's a very sharp learning curve--you essentially go from zero to three-sixty in nothing flat, but fanfiction allows you to build at a pace you're comfortable with, without feeling pressured to be your best most original self right off the bat.

2.  Offer a source of feedback

     One great thing about fanfiction is that, at least when published online, it offers you a source of feedback through the fandom.  When you do well, this means instant gratification, which can make you feel amazing, but arguably the more valuable form of feedback comes in the form of constructive criticism and suggestions from the audience.  You learn a lot about spelling and grammar--always useful--and even more about story structure and character development.
     Whether what you're writing is offensive, or just poorly executed, it's always nice to have eyes on your words, people who can tell you when your characterization is inconsistent or when you need to plug a major plothole or if your "super secret" ending/plot twist is visible from a mile away.  And while beta readers and critique partners are great after the fact, feedback from the community usually occurs as you publish each chapter, which allows you to make changes as you go forward rather than having to double back--and by implementing changes as you go forward, you'll remember to implement them in future projects, too.

3.  Be inspiring

     Fanfiction is great even if you don't write it.  Just reading fanfiction can be inspiring, as I mentioned here; good fanfiction makes you want to run out and write a story based on X idea or Y character arc, and bad fanfiction makes you want to write something amazing just to prove to yourself that you can do it.  It's a good idea.  You should do it.

4.  Give you a sense of accomplishment

     Fanfiction is, I find, relatively easy to produce--there's a lot of work that's already been done by the original creator, which means that a lot of your characters don't need descriptions, a lot of places don't need explaining, and a lot of events are already common fandom knowledge--yet there's still a TON of work that goes into making a truly quality fic.  When you finish a fic, or a fic chapter, it feels amazing--when people respond positively, you feel like you're on cloud fucking eleven; it helps with your sense of self and it increases your confidence, and when you feel good about yourself it becomes a lot easier to make progress on the next or concurrent project.
     Progress begets progress, so sometimes it's great to use a little project (like a fanfic oneshot) to jump-start a larger project--like a couple thousand word down payment on your new MS.
     Plus, again, you feel really great, and who doesn't like feeling really great?

5.  Community

     Because the entire basis of fanfiction is that you're writing in a world someone else has created, the people you're trying to reach are already fans of what you're watching/reading, and, as fandom flocks together just like birds of paper feathers, you're not just pitching to individuals but to a ready-made community.
     One of the best ways to become a fully realized member of a fandom community (and through doing so find a place where you belong, people to help you in your quest for perfection, friends to see you through until the end) is to write fanfiction (or make fanart but, while I am very enthusiastic about art, this is not an art blog).  The more obsessive you are about a fandom, the more fanfiction becomes something akin to a need, and the best fillers of those needs are gods on high for a fandom nerd.  If you're fanficcing on the same account where you present your real life persona, it also creates a community that revolves around your work, which can be a great marketing platform when you start launching original content.

6.  Make someone else's day

     You know you have done your job as a writer when someone tells you that you have made their day.  The only thing that even comes close to describing the feeling is "euphoria."  This, like before, creates an increased sense of self, a greater feeling of self-confidence, and a driving desire to continue working.  Writing is an addiction, and like all addictions, the more you do it, the more you want to do it--and the more people agree with your addiction, the better it feels to give in.
     Also...

7.  Fear of disappointing your fans keeps you trucking along at a good speed

     One of the things I have trouble with is meeting my own deadlines.  This is really bad for a writer.  I do, however, do very well at meeting deadlines when someone else is waiting for the update with bated breathe.
     When I was especially absorbed in the fanfiction world, I could pump out several chapters a week in a good month--sometimes several a day, because when you know people are enjoying your work it, again, encourages you to work more, but it also encourages you to work toward not disappointing them.  The last thing you want when you have fans is to lose them.  Worse than just losing them is losing them not to your own incompetence, but to laziness, of all things.  It's definitely an incentive, and if you smarten up and get organized with your attempts to deliver quality content at death-defying speeds (I didn't), you can put the same updating strategies you use with fanfiction on your writing.
     Maybe you have a flow chart, or a friend you can submit chapters to the same way you'd submit to your chosen hosting website--whichever way, organization in one realm of your writing life should definitely lend itself to organization in others, and as they say, an organized life is an organized mind (or something like that), which lends itself to productivity.

8.  No limits, no consequences

     Addendum:  There are no limits in original writing either, and there are some minor consequences to writing (and publishing) bad fanfiction.
     hOWEVER; it's easier to write without limits when you're playing with someone else's characters.  It feels like there's less to lose--you can't screw it up, because the worst thing that happens if you do is you need to write something else, or maybe apologize for a few mistakes.  You're more likely to follow tangents and do silly, seemingly unnecessary things, or kill off or bring back characters at will, playing with the rules when it seems convenient (or refusing to ever play with the rules, whichever isn't your default), which can be goldmines for your creativity.   Just because it's not being used in a "real" project now doesn't mean you won't use it later.
     There are a lot of pressures fanfiction allows you to let go of, which is important practice for when you need to forget about society while you write your magnum opus.  One of the best things you can do for your writing is allow your creativity to run wild, because you can always--and should always--edit later.

     The long and the short of it is, fanfiction is amazing.  Use it as an outlet, use it as practice, use it just for fun--any way you dice it, it's worth whatever time you do--or don't!--want to put into it.

A Few Methods for Stirring Up Story Ideas

     Sometimes you need story ideas.  Sometimes you don't know how to get them.  Here's a list of things you can do to try to get your brain moving!


1. Play The Sims

     You can laugh all you want, but I once wrote a 500+ page novel based on characters I created in the Sims 3, and the slew of crazy shit that happened to those characters after I created them.  The Sims is a great way to get your creative juices flowing--and the more expansion packs, the better.
     The Sims allows you to make your own characters (or randomize, if you need help creating the characters, too), and in order to stay interested in the sandbox gameplay you're essentially forced to make up a story about said characters, in your head and sometimes in their bios.  There are also dozens of worlds, thousands of trait combinations, and tons of character types to choose from and interact with, which can help you .
     There are so many variables in the Sims (with expansion packs, at least) that it's almost impossible not to come away with at least enough inspiration for a short story premise.
      I suggest using the Sims 3, but to each their own.

2. Read some one-shot fanfictions
 
      Whatever fandoms you might be into, I pretty much guarantee that, somewhere on the internet, there will be at least one good one-shot.  For inspirational purposes, I lean toward sadstuck, since there's a lot out there and a surprising amount of it is well-written (plus I'm a masochist and sad stories tend to resonate with me.  And I write a lot of tragedy), but one-shots of all kinds can be rife with ideas (AUs, fluff, smut, friendfics, whatever gets your mind working overtime).
      One of the best things about one-shots is that they not only deliver a concentrated punch of idea right to your brain (if you're lucky), they're also rarely longer than five or six thousand words, meaning they don't take up a lot of your time.  Longer stories, fanfic and otherwise, are great for ideas, and provide excellent insight into how to execute story and character arcs, but they consume a lot more time and energy than the shorter version.
     I also suggest fanfiction rather than short stories (though short stories are great and you should totally read as many of those as you can, too) for two reasons--one, you already know the characters, which makes it easier to immerse yourself in the story and quickens the pace of it (since you don't need to read through a description or question their personality or motives), and two, bad stories can be just as inspiring as good ones, and you're less likely to find published works that stink of amateurism.  Have you ever been reading a really bad fic with a really good premise and gotten so angry that you decided to write the same basic fic only a mILLION TIMES BETTER??????  Yeah, that's why fanfic.

3. Watch cartoons

     Cartoons are great for the same reason one-shots are great, only usually less weighted down by those pesky laws of reality--I mean, Adventure Time has KNIFE STORMS.  When was the last time you read about a world with knife storms?  Never?  I thought so.
     Sometimes the best thing for a writer is to just let go of all sense of reality, especially if you write sci-fi or fantasy, wherein anything can happen.  Cartoons are also good if you're trying to write family-friendly content, or if you need help writing child characters (or from the perspective of a child).  It can also be great for developing mythologies.  Imagine Adventure Time as a pantheon: Princess Bubblegum, creator of all Gods (through science, of course); Finn the Adventurer, God of travel and battle; Jake, Lord of Reality Manipulation; Marcelline, Queen of the underworld.  That would be pretty dope, right?

4. Go for a walk

     Exercise stimulates brain activity; it can help you retain information, recall information, and develop new ideas.  I suggest listening to music while you go out (that's how I get into the zone), but some people do find it distracting, or find that they gain more inspiration from the sounds of nature than from the rhythm of music.  Either way, it's also good to get away from all the distractions provided to you by the cozy insides of your teched-up, probably loud house.  Plus, you never know what you may encounter on your walk--maybe you'll see a skunk making friends with a bird, or some kids scaling up the side of a house, or witness the encroaching Singularity from a safe distance, any of which could be put to use on paper.

5. Take a nap

     I really really really truly do advocate that you try the radical curative powers of some good old fashioned nap.  It can refresh your mind and body, restore you to stress-point-zero, and you never know what you'll dream of while you're out.  Dreams can be quite the source of inspiration, I am told.
     I've also has some of my best ideas while perched upon that precipice between waking and sleeping, so make sure to take your notebook with you!


     Are there any other methods you use to stir up inspiration or capture ideas?  I'd love to hear them!