Fanfiction has been a notable part of fandom since the beginning of mythology, lore, and the written word. Hell, if there was a story, someone probably had a fanfiction for it. Thus, it’s something we should probably address in our cultural vernacular, right?

I am personally one of those people who sees fanfiction as a Very Good Thing (caps intended), as it allows for the freedom of expression for many fandom-lovers the world over while also giving people who love fandoms an extra outlet for when the canon sucks (hey, Supernatural fandom), when there’s a long hiatus (and here’s the Sherlock fandom), when the world and the networks are the ones who suck (hi, Firefly fandom), or when readers want more of a book/film/show/etc. that’s done and over with. Fanfiction is the medium through which writers can write about characters they love and readers can read about characters they love: it’s generally a pleasant experience for everyone involved.

But I believe fanfiction serves a purpose even beyond these noble pursuits. You see, in the recent backlash against Marvel involving Captain America secretly being HYDRA all along (see: relevant memes), a lovely Archive of Our Own user who goes by the penname itsstuckyinmyhead posted a fanfiction that is only fifty-five words in length to sarcastically and tiredly fix the canon. And while this was generally an experience used mostly for a laugh and to display displeasure, which was then echoed fabulously by others in the Captain America community on AO3 in the comments, it did denote something that fanfiction is incredible at doing.

Many people are angry with filmmakers, writers, and other creative minds behind their favorite mediums for rampant wrongs in the media, including issues ranging from bad writing, plot holes, and other more “minor” offenses to things as large as miscasting, lack of POC representation, queerbaiting, misogyny, ableism, etc. So what is someone to do? Some like to rant on the internet, which is fine, because the internet is actually a good vehicle for picking up momentum behind these kinds of feelings within fandoms and bringing their attention to the creators in question. Others, like me, are far less inclined to actually rant about something, and instead go looking for something better.

Fanfiction is not only a perfect scapegoat in general when the canon gets shit—some of the fanfictions churned out are even better than canon work—but they have also recently been used as a genie’s lamp of exciting possibility. Fanfiction writers sometimes write what are called “fix-it fics,” which do as their name implies: they fix things in the canon. Whether it be the death of a character, a sudden plot twist, or even the circumstances in general, fix-it fics—and many other fics not explicitly labeled as such—do a wonderful job of expanding the fictional universe in ways that many people don’t think of. What if your favorite characters were figures in Greek mythology? What if your favorite characters worked in a café? From meet-cutes to epics, from modern alternate universes to introspective character studies, fanfictions unlock fandom access into their favorite worlds and characters and allow the fandom to engage with the content themselves—and the results are often breathtaking.

And more recently, fanfiction has also become a way of calling out creators on their bullshit. If fandoms are unhappy, fanfiction writers tend to go about cleaning up the mess and publishing it in AO3, usually with large amounts of success. Fanfiction has become a powerful tool in expressing fandoms’ interpretations of their favorite worlds and characters: in essence, fanfiction has become a sophisticated and subtle way to debate authorial intent, as well as to provide unique perspectives and richly imaginative narrative alternatives.

While I’m not trying to vouch for the infallibility of fanfiction (I nod to all of you who witnessed and survived the exquisite train wreck that is My Immortal), I nevertheless see a great amount of good in fanfiction. Many people have experienced the feeling of reading a fanfiction late into the night and not noticing the time going by, or indeed noticing the time going by but being unable to put the story down. That kind of love can’t be written off as a fluke.

Fanfiction has made great strides from simply being escapist fantasy to culminating its own subliminal grander narrative, and it has thus become a great tool to see how fandom culture is functioning, what people in fandoms are thinking or seeing, and, perhaps most importantly, allowing writers and readers to grow and culminate a new love for their favorite characters while also consuming and creating valuable media.