If you have decided that you want to try your hand at writing fanfiction and posting it online, the first thing you need to do is make sure you are writing legal fanfiction. Fanfiction is when a writer takes the story and/or characters from a movie, TV show, book, comic, or other work and repurposes them in their own story.

Step One

The first aspect of making sure your fanfiction is legal and above board is making sure you have permission to write it and to make sure you remain within any guidelines imposed by the work’s original author. Legal fanfiction requires permission from the original work’s author. This permission does not have to be given to you directly if the author has made a statement about allowing fanfiction and any requirements online. You are all set as long as you keep to those rules. For instance, J.K. Rowling (author of the Harry Potter series) allows her fans to write fanfiction as long as it is not pornographic and another is Terry Pratchett (author of the Discworld series) who allowed his fans to write fanfiction as long as the fanfiction writer does not claim that it is official.

The best way to find out if the author or creator of the original work allows fanfiction is to search on Google. Just type in the name of the author or creator and then the words 'fanfiction policy.' If the author or creator has a policy for fanfiction, it should pop right up. If there is no policy, that is when things can get a bit tricky as then you need to contact the author or creator to request permission and they can sometimes be hard to reach. The best way to contact them is through their publisher, social media account, or website. Make sure to request permission and to ask for any requirements the author or creator has for your fanfiction.

Step Two

The second aspect is making sure to include a disclaimer right at the top of your story stating that the characters, settings, etc. do not belong to you and that you are not profiting from it in any way. A simple disclaimer will often solve most of your possible legal issues before they can begin. The disclaimer does not have to be in straight up boring legal language; you can spice it up a bit or add a bit of humor to it. For example:

This work is 100% fanfiction and is not an official representation of the XYZ series or its author; I make no profit from this work nor do I own any of the characters, settings, or plot lines from the series. If I did own it then I would not be writing fanfiction; instead I would be sitting on the beach in Hawaii, sipping smoothies and not watching the clock for when I have to go to work!

Step Three

The third and final step to making sure your fanfiction is legal is to make sure you are not profiting from it. That means your fanfiction should not be posted on any site that pays you for views or allows advertisements. To avoid these issues, many fanfiction writers post their fanfiction on fanfiction archives like FanFiction, Archive of Our Own, Kindle Worlds, and WattPad.