“Why are fanfictions always so much better written than canon??”
Because they’re catered to you and your ideas of what the characters, story, etc. should be, which doesn’t always line up with canon.
It’s not a matter of which one is objectively better, but of audience.
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 likes…yeah. 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 can’t form until after the canon exists. How that fandom changes as different people come and go as they decide they do or don’t like the directions canon takes is another story, but nonetheless unlike fanfiction it is not written to cater to fanon concepts and preferences. And “not catering to fanon” is not synonymous with “bad writing”.
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 isn’t so great.
But most of the time, your perception of fanfics is better because they’re tailored to your biases. Not because they’re objectively better-written.
Again, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that–it’s completely normal to prefer/enjoy things that fit your opinions/headcanons–but 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. It’s indulgence. It’s 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 they’re 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 it’s going to seem “better” even if the writing is amateurish or if it’s a story we’ve already read thousands of times. It’s all the condensed pleasure without any of the work. It’s joy without theme. Which is great. We all need joy and fun and pleasure. But every time I see one of those ‘fic is better than most published fiction” posts I want to beg the OP to challenge themselves to read better published fiction.
