A Wattpadder's Guide (Rant/Tips)

Two words: Fan Fiction

Ah, fan fiction. It seems as if everyone here either has a passionate love for it or a passionate hate.

Most of you probably read 'fan fiction' and instantly thought 'One Direction.' Don't lie. But that's where all of the misconceptions are.

Sorry, but One Direction isn't the center of the fan fiction universe. *shocker* What about Percy Jackson; The Hunger Games; Harry Potter?!?!

But no. When a [not talented] boy band is thrown into the mix, the passionate love/hatred starts.

Ideally, there's nothing wrong with fan fictions. They're just a way for fans to write about something they really love. And there's nothing wrong with a good Harry Potter fan fiction with an altered ending, or even a One Direction one that follows a nice plot line.

But I'm not an idealist. I know just as well as everyone else that a good chunk of the fan fictions on here are messed up in some way. Even the world of fan fictions has now seemed to have been tainted.

Example 1: Porn.

Now, I've never read a book on here that has porn, nor will I ever want to. But I'm not a complete idiot; I know they're out there. And honestly, it's sick in my mind.

You can say, "But Rebecca! Everyone is entitled to their freedom of press! They can write whatever they want!"

Sure, write whatever the hell you want. Write about alarm clocks, or bad boys, or five pages author's notes. Write porn if that makes you, uh, content! Doesn't mean I can't bash it.

But when I hear of detailed explicit rape threesome torture Harry-Styles-screwing-a-baby fan fiction, then I get a little worried about the author's mental sanity.

I mean, of all the possible things in the world to write about, WHY THAT? It really shows how messed up our society became.

And don't think it's just 1D people promoting rape and kidnapping and explicit torture! I've seen My Little Pony fan fictions that, by glancing at the covers, are about the same exact thing! A rape pron fan fic about innocent ponies spreading friendship! Now, if that's not sick, I don't know what is.

So my point is, know your limits with these fan fictions, or any stories even! Especially ones with real celebrities. Why?

Because celebrities are real people who I hope are not associated with crimes like kidnapping and rape. And imagine if Harry Styles or Justin Bieber read one of those? They'd be horrified and probably phone a mental institution. They're just normal people and they wouldn't want to be written about in that sort of light. It's demented!

Example 2: Ratio of Fan fictions (especially 1D) to other genres- 1,000,000,000 : 1

[If you don't know how to read a ratio, I'm not explaining].

Anyhow! One thing that pisses me off is that fan fictions have begun a military invasion and are starting to conquer the free land of Wattpad! And they're not even confined to their own genre. They're like parasites or viruses- getting into a host so they can reproduce!

I've clicked 'discover' and scrolled through each genre. Even if it was horror or poetry, I still managed to find fan fictions! And in teen fiction and romance, they're pretty much all I find! Especially One Direction fan fictions.

And since the ratio of writing is so high, the amount of readers will also be astronomical. And I can't make sense of it.

And these readers, (not all the gazillion readers before y'all attack me with pitchforks), defend their fandoms to the death. They love anything to do with it so much that they make reads on any fan fiction sky rocket! And while it's not bad in essence, it is bad when people get reads on stories that are awful. That pisses me off.

So... I'll end with some advice, since I don't feel like writing anymore.

If you want to write a fan fic, go ahead! Nothing is stopping you! Overall, it's not a bad community to be a part of, and if you love your fandom, then go for it! I really can't give that great advice, since y'all have the freedom of the press. But just limit yourselves, perhaps? Especially celebrity fan fics, because they're real people. Just think, "would Harry Styles or Justin Bieber be ashamed if they read this?"

See y'all next time.