Meta essays in defense of fanfiction

This page lists meta and other written discussion that celebrates and defends fanworks (and notable arguments for the contrary position). 
:For meta essays covering legal defense of fanworks against copyright, which somewhat overlaps with this topic, see Timeline of Fanwork Copyright and Legality Meta. For a broader summary of all fanfiction meta, see Timeline of Fanfiction Meta. 
:Other related topics may include: Timeline of Fandom and Profit Meta.
==Overall Topics / Themes==
See Attitudes Toward Fanfiction, particularly sections Fic Writing as a Hobby and Fic Writing as Practice for two dominant in defense of fanfiction.
====Creativity/Originality====
* And Now For Something Completely Different: Fanfiction as a Genre of Literature
* I’m done explaining why fanfic is okay.
====Unique Genre====
====Self-publishing====
"professional art and works often exclude people
professional art and works often do not take risks" 
====Some fanfic bad != all fanfic bad / Community worthwhile n and of itself...====
* In Defense of Crud
==Notable commentary against fanworks & responses==
Much impassioned defense is written in response to impassioned attacks.
* Robin Hobb and The Fan Fiction Rant (2005)
* Anne Rice and Interrogating the text from the wrong perspective (2006)
* Fan-Fiction and Moral Conundrums by Diana Gabaldon and followup: George R. R. Martin and his post Someone is Angry On the Internet (2010)
==Timeline of Meta ==
===1983===
* Shady Thoughts: "Why Do You Waste Your Time Writing This Stuff?" by Roberta Stuemke (1983)
===1985===
* Shady Thoughts: Why I Like Reading/Writing Fan Fiction by Misty Lackey (1985)
===1995===
* The Generic Slash Defense Letter covers rebuttals to many arguments against slash and remains relevant 25 years later
===1997===
* The Advantages of Fan Fiction as an Art Form and The Advantages of Erotic Fan Fiction as an Art Form by Koimistress
===2000===
* Fanfiction: A New Form Of Internet Literature
===2001===
* Philosophy of Fan Fiction
===2004===
* (2004)
* Writing fanfiction is a HOBBY. I do it because it is FUN. by Shieldmaiden of Encinitas (mirabellawotr) (May 2004)
* (2004)
* by Melusina (2004)
===2005===
* , November 9, 2005 (In response to The Fan Fiction Rant by Robin Hobb
* Fanfic: Electrifying the Oral Tradition, essay by Red Hen on their website (May 2005)
===2007===
* The Fan Fiction Phenomena: What Faust, Hamlet, and Xena the Warrior Princess have in common. by Cathy Young
* In Praise of Fanfic by Cory Doctorow (May 2007)
===2009===
* 
* [Archive Link] [Archive Link], posted July 2009
===2010===
==== Diana Gabaldon Post & Followups ====
Several posts by Diana Gabaldon, referred to as Fan-Fiction and Moral Conundrums, lead to a huge uproar in fandom as well as responses from other authors (see: Someone is Angry On the Internet by George R. R. Martin). Extensive meta rebutting these criticisms and sharing their own thoughts here is linked on the page.
====Other Meta====
* Professional Writers vs. The People Who Love Their Work, Round Umpty-Snout by thefourthvine
* My take on the "Pro Authors Who Don't Like Fanfic" rants... by rap541
===2011===
* Creativity in Common: Fandom and the Ownership of Ideas (2011 or 2012?)
* Some uses for fanfiction by Patricia C. Wrede (May 2011)
* In Defense of Fanfiction by “Contributor” at Spark Life (May 6, 2011)
* Culture of the Future: Adapting Copyright Law to Accommodate Fan-Made Derivative Works in the Twenty-First Century (December 2011)
===2012===
* ,Ivy Blossom's Tumblr, May 2012 -- a post using the example of a transformative fanwork of The girl with the pearl earring
* Fan fiction is more than smut, post at Club Jade (2012)
* An Academic's Defense of Fanfic by Emily for Tosche Station (April 18, 2012)
===2013===
* Fanfiction: A Rant Before We Begin
* In Defense of Fan Fiction by Alex Willging (July 2, 2013)
* In Defense of Fanfiction: getting beyond a weird bias by Brent Newhall for I.M.H.O. for (November 11, 2013)
* In Defense of Fanfiction by Rebecca Coffindaffer (December 16, 2013)
===2014===
* In Defense of So-Called “Bad” Fanfiction by Emmy Ellis for The Mary Sue (August 7, 2014)
* 365/365 Day 112: Defending Fanfiction by Will Watson at gameinformer (April 22, 2014)
* In Defense of Fanfiction by Kat Giordano for Geek Insider (May 27, 2014)
* Let's talk about fanfic.
===2015===
* In Defense of Fanfiction by Jane Smith for the Morningside Review (2015)
* In Defense of Fanfiction by Mckelle George (January 15, 2015)
* Ngl actually one of the coolest things is reading fic by someone who is super knowledgeable about a specific field (buckyballbearing/eye-of-orion/cryogenia, 28 Oct 2015)
* , comments that begin about the article It's a Fanmade World: From One Direction to Soderbergh, but diverge later into a big discussion about fanfiction (March 2015)
* In Defense of Fanfiction by Brianna H. for Electronic Literature (March 15, 2015)
* by Jenna Burne at Geek Mom (April 10, 2015)
* Is Fan-Fiction Wrong? by sockii (2015)
===2016===
* In Defense of Fanfiction by Kaitlyn Booth at WatchPlayRead (January 18, 2016)
* In Defense of Fanfiction: Part 1 + In Defense of Fanfiction: Part 2 by Carlyn Greenwald at Neon Tommy (February 2016)
* Fanfiction isn't about muting the original stories. It's about heightening them. by Constance Grady for Vox (June 6, 2016)
* I don’t care what anyone else says–writing fanfiction is goddamned educational. (dinovia-grant, 7 April 2016)
* by Andy Krouse (August 1, 2016) 
* , Susan Polo (September 2016)
* In Defense of Fanfiction – A Convert’s Tale by Ryan (November 22, 2016)
* In Defense of Fanfic by Sophia Simon-Bashall for Spark Movement (November 28, 2016)
* on why fanfiction is superior to commercial romance (and some other thoughts on fandom) (1 June 2016)
===2018===
* In defense of fanfiction by LightningStreak (February 2018)
* (March 2018)
* ON BENEFITS OF FANFICTION; OR, VETERAN OF THE FLAME WARS by Mason Chennells (April 2018)
* When I say “Fanfiction is free”... by kedreeva (December 1, 2018)
===2019===
* Another thing that’s cool about fanfiction: it’s as long as it needs to be.
* Fanfiction: The Infinite Free Buffet by Alexandra Rowland, (August 2019)
==References==
Category:Meta Timelines
Category:Fanfiction Meta