NaNoWriMo just ended last week. For those of you who aren’t familiar, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel-Writing Month, and it runs from November first through the 30th. Participants try to write 50,000 words or more in a month, with the prize being glory (and a t-shirt). I’ve completed NaNoWriMo three times, each time with an original novel, but this week I thought I’d recognize how I got to that point: By practicing the much-maligned art of writing fanfiction.

Fanfiction gets a bad rap in popular culture, and it’s not entirely undeserved. Even people who’ve never frequented Fanfiction.net have heard of the infamous "Harry Potter" fanfic “My Immortal” (and of its lesser-known but no less heinous cousin, “Legolas by Laura”), and the prevailing image of fanfiction writers is of a tribe of fangirls who can’t come up with original ideas. Even authors get in on this fanfiction-bashing: George R.R. Martin of "Game of Thrones" fame has an entire rant about it on his personal blog, as does Diana Gabaldon, author of the "Outlander" series. Anne Rice, author of "Interview with a Vampire" and former bizarre, erotic fantasy writer, is perhaps the most vicious, actively hunting down and suing authors of fanfiction. And I get it – sort of. These authors are rich and famous. They like their current position in the world, and the idea that anyone below them could do new and inventive things with their worlds and characters sets their nerves a-jangling. But a) it’s not their decision, b) some fanfiction is better than the original work, and c) fanfiction has been and will continue to be the training ground for new generations of writers.

Writing an original novel – even thinking about writing an original novel – is a daunting task. There’s the sheer length to deal with, followed shortly after by plot, characters, and setting. And should you get through all of that, you have to actually write the thing, wondering the whole time if it’s worth anything, or if anyone will ever want to read it. Once the novel’s written, seeking feedback is difficult, if not impossible. The only way to get feedback on your novel is to attempt to publish it and watch as it’s rejected, again and again, in the hopes that someday the scant feedback you get will help you to publish it.

Fanfiction makes for good practice because it’s basically training wheels for writers. It allows you to practice the steps you need to practice – plot, or characterization, or setting – without having to deal with the others all at once. When I started writing, my struggle was with characters. I could write a plot that kept people on the edge of their seats, but I had a hard time convincing them to care about the characters. I posted my work on the internet. I got feedback about how to make my characters more engaging without sacrificing the plot. I took it to heart. I got better.

Now I’ve moved out of the realm of writing fanfiction and posting it online. I work on my original novels instead, and I’m lucky to have a brilliant and talented critique partner whose own work inspires me and whose feedback helps me get better. My critique partner got their start writing fanfiction, too, and now we’re both writing original work that we’re proud of and hopeful for. This is what fanfiction’s supposed to be for. It’s not supposed to be a crutch. It’s supposed to be training wheels, and after a while, it’s only natural to leave the training wheels behind.