From the ages of twelve to eighteen, I wrote seventeen stories for the Harry Potter genre, seven of those being around novel-length (approx. 100,000 words). During the majority of that time, I published a chapter a week with a month-or-so break in-between stories. I was a freaking dynamo. No shame.

Except now... I feel a sort of shame. 

When I was fourteen, I lost a really great friend because of some major fight and it was all very "high school." She had read my fan fiction and I really thought nothing of it until she started telling people that I wrote Harry Potter porn. Which, frankly, I didn't. I mean, I was young so naturally I was curious about that stuff and wrote a bit about it but it wasn't anything serious and was always a part of the plot. I had a few people come up to me and make fun of me, call me names, etc., because of the scornful things that a former friend said. After that, I never really talked about my fan fiction or shared it with anyone unless I really and truly trusted them. Thankfully, this incident never deterred me and I kept writing. I was just a lot more quiet about it.

I stopped writing fan fiction in college when I didn't have the time for it. At that point, I already had an idea for my first original novel and wanted to spend my time more on that then on fan fiction. It was then I realized that that part of my life was over. No longer could I rely on the already developed characters of J.K. Rowling's magical world. It was my turn to create things from scratch. A scary process, let me tell you.

But that was the end of it. Until recently, I had never really talked about it aloud. Last semester, I listed fan fiction as writing experience for a class. My professor had us write facts about ourselves and any writing experiences we had on note cards . Up until that point, I had really only finished writing fan fictions so I wrote that down. Then my teacher asked me about it in front of the class. Mortified, I talked about it in the context of "I wrote seven novel-length stories about my take on Harry Potter." I don't even think I actually used the word fan fiction. The fear of being judged again was too overwhelming. 

Then, yesterday in class, the topic of fan fiction came up. My professor asked the class if anyone had ever written any of it. I raised my hand. And so did two other girls. Respectively, they listed their genre of choice and the professor was genuinely intrigued by their answers. Let me be clear that this is one of the best professors that I've ever had. He's such a nerd so it came as no surprise that he knew about fan fiction. When he asked me, I said that I used to write it but didn't anymore. When I listed Harry Potter as my genre, he asked what the best story I'd ever written was. I lied and said that I look back on them now and laugh because I think they're all kind of ridiculous. The truth is I'm very proud of all that I'd accomplished in those years of writing. So why did I lie? It's simple: I'm still scared to talk about it.

So, what better way of getting rid of this fear than writing about it on the internet? Man, have I come full-circle or what. 

I hope one day I can talk out loud about that huge chunk of my writing life with fondness and pride like I am now. It is my true belief that fan fiction is a wonderful tool for anyone to express their passions for something. Hell, if my writing ever gets its own fan fiction sect, I will be tickled pink. I got my start there. Fan fiction is what made me realize how passionate I was about writing. I can name two famous authors today who also got their start by writing about already published works. I'm not going to preach that everyone who is interested in writing should try their hand at fan fiction - but I am going to encourage it. 

Fan fiction is a great tool to practice writing in general. In most instances, the characters and the world are already developed for you so all you have to worry about is your style, the plot, and the dialogue. Writing incorporates many elements so it's hard to immerse yourself into it without fumbling around with at least one of its many parts. Fan fiction is a good way to gently test the waters. 

Long story short: Never be ashamed of your writing. Any part of it. Ever.

(I'll let you know when I take my own advice.)