World of WarCrafts: Guide to fan fiction
World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music, fan fiction and more. Sample the whole spectrum on our Arts and Crafts in WoW page.
Of all the various and assorted Warcraft-related crafting that people do, there is none quite as prolific as the world of Warcraft fan fiction. Artwork, jewelry making and knitted crafts require at least some small amount of artistic talent, cake and cookie decorating take at least a rudimentary knowledge of baking basics, and things like music, home decorating, and other projects require creators to know an incredible amount of information about their various areas of expertise. But with fan fiction, all it takes is a piece of paper and a pen (or a computer and a word processing program) and your imagination.
What is fan fiction?
Fan fiction is the term used to describe stories written about characters, whether already defined or completely made up, in the setting of a pre-established world. World of Warcraft is an immense universe with infinite possibilities for future stories. So for people who play WoW or even people who are just fans of the Warcraft universe, fan fiction provides a fun opportunity to write stories about that world. Some fan fiction stories involve lore characters that already exist in Warcraft; some involve characters that are completely made up.
The important thing to remember about fan fiction is that it is not canon by any stretch of the imagination. No matter how well-written that piece about the fall of Illidan Stormrage was, it's still not what "really" happened in the Warcraft universe; it's simply a piece of fiction. That shouldn't stop you from enjoying it, however!
Can I get in trouble for writing fan fiction?
Not really -- as long as you're not publishing your pieces and selling them for money or claiming them as original works. There was an excellent The Lawbringer written last year about this subject that detailed the various legalities of fan fiction. It's well worth the read if you have any questions regarding legality and the stories you want to write.
Where can I find Warcraft fan fiction?
Fanfiction.net is easily the largest repository of Warcraft fan fiction out there today. Warcraft has its own section on the website, and you can find thousands of works, both completed and in -progress, by searching through the site. Some pieces are written with original characters; others use existing characters from lore. The nice thing about Fanfiction.net is that you can sort by genre, length, language, rating, or even by whether the stories have been completed or not.
Alternatively, one of the other places you can find fan fiction and stories is on the various official Warcraft forums. Please note that although stories may be written and posted on the official Warcraft website, this does not mean that they are canon or should be taken as such. Only stories officially published and posted by Blizzard are canon. The official story and RP forum on the Warcraft website is called World's End Tavern; it includes not only stories but also open RP threads and event announcements for roleplaying.
Is roleplaying the same as fan fiction?
Not exactly! While fan fiction and roleplaying kind of share the same roots, fan fiction consists simply of stories, while roleplaying is an interactive process between several players. Some roleplayers write fan fiction about their characters, however -- and you can sometimes find fan fiction lurking on the various roleplaying forums. The roleplaying servers in World of Warcraft are:
While some servers may have fan fiction pieces directly on the realm forums, others may have roleplaying events and stories present on a separate, player-run fan forum for roleplaying and storywriting. Most official Warcraft roleplaying forums make it a point to link to these offshoot forums, if they exist, via a thread.
Whether you write fan fiction or just enjoy reading it, it's definitely one of the largest sources of Warcraft related craft material. Check out the various listings and see what fan fiction is all about -- or take the opportunity to start typing up a story of your own!
If you are a fan fiction writer or enjoy making any kind of Warcraft-related craft projects and would like the opportunity to showcase your work on World of WarCrafts, we'd love to hear from you!
World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including arts and crafts, fan art, WoW-themed recipes, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself by emailing anne@wowinsider.com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations.
