Originally I titled today's journal entry Writing Fanfic for ONC.
And yes, writing fanfic for ONC is allowed.
It's the only thing I write for ONC every year, but I wouldn't say it's easier. In fact, I'd say those of us who write fanfic are dealing with the same issue anybody writing a spinoff piece to one of their existing original fiction pieces is having to deal with for ONC in that all of us - fanfic writers and original fiction writer alike - are creating a piece that is derived from an already existing canon where there are predefined rules within that piece regarding how the universe operates.
On top of this, we need to make sure the work can stand on its own.
Meaning what?"
It means that our work should be accessible not only to those who've read/watched the already existing work - in the case of us fanfic writers, the fandom we're writing for - it needs to be accessible to those who've not ever read the series before. So in this, it is to our advantage during ONC to have people who've never read the original piece read our ONC piece to say they get it. Or, in the case of our fanfic writer, we never read or watched the fandom we're writing for
The reason for this...
Well, who would want to read a story where their understanding of what is going on is dependent on having read (or watched) another story? Nobody wants to put in the extra effort to enjoy the story, but this extra effort does include the judges - definitely with original fiction and, to a major degree, with fanfic, but a bit more on that in a bit.
This places any writer writing a spinoff piece at a disadvantage of sorts. First off, particularly with fanfic, getting readers who will read one ONC entry for that year is less likely compared to someone writing something completely new simply because not everyone is willing to give the work a chance to make sure it can stand on its own. So we're left getting feedback from them.
That's the first problem, the second being that I don't think most writers stop and think about someone who hasn't read/watched the works one is writing a spinoff for coming in to read their story without getting lost because the piece is unable to standalone. They're super reliant on the reader having that knowledge, that they're not actively thinking on how their piece can actually stand on it's own.
Particularly fanfic writers. Even among those of us who know fandom there are works where the writer simply relies too much on the readers nowing the fandom which in turn is to the stories disadvantage. Yet, I think one of the changes I saw to my own work once I started participating in the Ambassador run contests here on Wattpad is I did start to think off and on as I write about that off chance reader that doesn't know the fandom.
And it's not because I expect this to happen - in fact, unless I'm participating in a contest with fanfic, I don't ever expect my story to be read by someone who doesn't know the fandom.
No, it has to do with the fact this makes the story richer. I'm not taking advantage of the readers having knowledge of stories I've already written, let alone knowing the fandom I am writing for. If, for example, magic works a certain way, I have the way that magic works play out in words in the story rather than simply saying it happened.
But one way to think of it is this. Let's say I've got a character whose job is that of a plumber. I could simply say, "The plumber fixed the pipes," which does work if the MC (main character) wasn't the plumber and that's how they would think of the incident if it was written from their point of view, but if the story were written from the point of view of the plumber, this wouldn't work. It would be boring not getting some detail of what he did. Because that's the story.
Of course, getting back to when I said that people not knowing our fandom is important to a degree when it comes to fanfic - well, with original fiction, it can be trusted that the original writer knows their stuff, and if they decided to change something - well, they decided to change it. Not so much with fanfic, so while it's important that people not knowing our fandom is important, so is people knowing our fandom.
By this, I mean for those of us who write fanfic, the Ambassadors judging our work will, in fact judge it as if it were a standalone piece, but they're also going to judge it based on its adherence to canon.
And before you think - oh, but what if the Ambassador doesn't know my fandom - they judge it based on what they do know. They'll take a quick look at a fandom wiki, for example. As for fandom not being big enough to have a fandom wiki - I really don't know if this places them at an advantage or a disadvantage when it comes to judging. I simply don't.
What I do know is the more popular a fandom is, the more likely you'll get an ambassador who knows the fandom in some capacity, but there is a definite difference between actually writing an AU and pulling stuff out of thin air.
Which, I'd say one major irony to what I've just said is we may this year have some writers who think pulling stuff out of thin air with their fanfic is "okay" because this last year, we've seen professional writers pulling stuff out of thin air for the IP we love. But these writers doing this to the existing IP doesn't make it okay - it's still bad writing whether it's done by a professional working with the original canon material and officially sanctioned or us mere fanfic writers.
Anyways, there's the food for thought for this journal entry.
Oh! Almost forgot. If you're not wanting to read spinoff works for ONC, keep in mind they're supposed to be able to stand on their own, and if they can't, the writer needs to know.
