âWhy are fanfictions always so much better written than canon??â
Because theyâre catered to you and your ideas of what the characters, story, etc. should be, which doesnât always line up with canon.
Itâs not a matter of which one is objectively better, but of audience.Â
Fanfiction is made for fans by fans with copious amounts of fanon concepts made to appeal to, well, the fandom. This is not inherently bad, and obviously the amount of fanons and which ones will vary from fic to fic, but given that the quote above generally only applies to fics the poster likesâŠyeah. That fic is written specifically for you and the people who agree with you. Again, not inherently a bad thing.
BUT that is not the case for canon. Canon is not written for the fandom; the fandom canât form until after the canon exists. How that fandom changes as different people come and go as they decide they do or donât like the directions canon takes is another story, but nonetheless unlike fanfiction it is not written to cater to fanon concepts and preferences. And ânot catering to fanonâ is not synonymous with âbad writingâ.
Now that said, yes there are obviously fanfics out there that are objectively very well-written and creative, and yes there is canon material out there for whatever book/movie/tv show/etc that objectively isnât so great.
But most of the time, your perception of fanfics is better because theyâre tailored to your biases. Not because theyâre objectively better-written.
Again, thereâs nothing inherently wrong with thatâitâs completely normal to prefer/enjoy things that fit your opinions/headcanonsâbut maybe step back and consider that a moment before you go and bash the creators of your favorite book/movie/show for not following the same plot of your favorite fic.
This! Fanfic is wish fulfilment. Itâs indulgence. Itâs leaping straight for the id and ignoring everything else. 80% of fics are (made up number) romance centred or porn. Every now and then you get a fic that explores larger ideas, but theyâre in the minority. Fic is all emotive aspects, it hones in on story elements that are most likely to produce pleasurable emotions. So of course itâs going to seem âbetterâ even if the writing is amateurish or if itâs a story weâve already read thousands of times. Itâs all the condensed pleasure without any of the work. Itâs joy without theme. Which is great. We all need joy and fun and pleasure. But every time I see one of those âfic is better than most published fictionâ posts I want to beg the OP to challenge themselves to read better published fiction.
