actually that fits w my theory that fanfiction is closer to literary analysis than it is to creative writing. like i feel like so much of fanfiction is more about “this is my interpretation of the text, and i’m teasing out the complexities of this interpretation by writing it in the format of a creative writing piece” than it is about an original piece of fiction
I have often commented that so much of my fanfic is either “here are all of my headcanons about this setting, in 30k (or 300k) fic format” or “I spent 10 hours of my life trying to get into the head of this character to make sense of their motivations, and y’all get to read the conclusions”
The tag “You gotta GET the original before you can translate it” is SUCH a Very Good Take
