When we say fanfiction, people are like “Do these things exist? Are they works of fiction? Do they count as stories?”
So first off, “What is Fanfiction?”
Laymen would be like “Fiction made by a fan or a group of fans for the fandom.” I totally agree with this definition; easy to interpret and understand than the ones given on Wikipedia or Merriam Webster.
To show their love and interest as a fan, people incorporate their writing skills and create fanfiction. There a lot of places where you can read them; Wattpad and Fanfiction.net are some really popular ones.
Fanfiction usually uses fictional or real-life people/ characters and they are subjected to any form of situations or even to an Alternate Universe (AU).
I personally read and write a lot of fanfiction as well, and I really do enjoy the work of some authors. But one thing that is common in most of them is Angst. I’d suggest you have a box of tissues at hand when you read those.
There are some that aren’t frequently updated, abrupt endings and even with weird grammar. I’m not saying that feeling slight discomfort isn’t ideal, but do respect those who make the effort to write them (unless you think the plot is dumb; that’s totally your opinion)
On the whole, I’d rate this genre a 10/10, cause I feel that it does require a bit of creativity to construct the plot for those characters. I would highly suggest that you read fanfiction if you are fans of any bands or if you like fictional characters.