World of WarCrafts: Guide to fan fiction
by Anne Stickney 
Mar 3rd 2011 at 5:00PM
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:
- Argent Dawn
- Blackwater Raiders
- Cenarion Circle
- Earthen Ring
- Farstriders
- Feathermoon
- Kirin Tor
- Moon Guard
- Scarlet Crusade
- Sentinels
- Shadow Council
- Silver Hand
- Sisters of Elune
- Steamwheedle Cartel
- The Scryers
- Thorium Brotherhood
- Wyrmrest Accord
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.
Filed under: World of WarCrafts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jaq Mar 3rd 2011 5:06PM
Fanfiction.net is still around? Wow. I used to post really amateurish Final Fantasy fiction there back around 2000 or so. I figured they'd have gone under by now, so much else I used to visit back then is.
I've considered writing about my main, but I honestly don't have the time to do it "properly"-meaning actually finish something, not quality of writing. I have no doubts about the quality of my work, lol.
Ametrine Mar 3rd 2011 5:11PM
FFN's been around for a long time and shows no sign of slowing.
Kylenne Mar 3rd 2011 5:54PM
The Pit of Voles is alive and kicking. It's pretty much the Jason Voorhees of fanfic archives, I'm not sure anything could kill it at this point.
Amaxe Mar 3rd 2011 9:37PM
I'm just sad that MSTings of Fanfiction.net have apparently died out
Suncatcher Mar 3rd 2011 5:07PM
I feel like I am going to regret this, but http://arkslaw.blogspot.com Several members of my guild and I interact with our fanfics.
Sarah Bee Mar 3rd 2011 5:18PM
Shameful self-advertising, but I like writing a little fan fiction. I wrote one story about Garrosh and Vol'jin, then another little one about Nefarian and Al'Akir. It's actually really fun doing silly little stories, it gets your brain thinking creatively. The one thing I don't really like about fanfiction and role-playing in general is self-inserted characters. I only like hearing from characters that already exist in the universe. I'm kinda funny like that. Please have a little read here if you like!
Garrosh was Alone!
http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/916822399
Enthralling the Winds!
http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/1689709266
calicojack Mar 3rd 2011 5:20PM
Argent Dawn EU hosts many [though not all] of the server's fan-fiction writers, of all calibres and styles, on the server's "rp web portal," the Argent Archives. http://www.argentarchives.org/
calicojack Mar 3rd 2011 5:23PM
And to make finding it easier, http://www.argentarchives.org/adventures is the URL specifically for the fiction archive. And yes, even I have some material on there, if you hunt for it.... Not under this name, of course.
Rai Mar 3rd 2011 8:27PM
*Argent Dawn-EU brofist*
Likewise, but also not under this name. The picture however...
Anyway! Plenty of great stories to be found from our server here.
Revnah Mar 3rd 2011 5:48PM
Um, where's The Sha'tar on that list? Or is this another of those "Americans only" things? :-/ We're here, too, ya know, mon!
Léona Mar 4th 2011 12:06AM
I was just about to post this very same thing!
Give The Sha'tar some love! D:
Marcosius Mar 4th 2011 5:25AM
Darn americans *shakes fist*
Sha'tar pride!
Omacron Mar 3rd 2011 5:55PM
I'm, personally, not a huge writer nor consumer of Fanfiction, but a lot of Scrolls of Lore have serialized fanfiction in our forum, if you'd like to take a peek.
http://www.scrollsoflore.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=18
Kurtis Mar 3rd 2011 6:02PM
I've published a few stories on FF.net, my guild forums and a personal site. FF.net is pretty cool from an audience perspective, but some of their ads are a little annoying.
My characters' "personal" site is http://trolldruidsblog.blogspot.com - it has most of the stories from other locations, plus some stuff specific to it.
Kylenne Mar 3rd 2011 6:05PM
For people who are unfamiliar with fanfiction.net, please be advised that it's the 800 lb gorilla of fanfic archives, is FRELLING HUGE and encompasses way more fandoms than just Warcraft. It's pretty much the Walmart of the fanfic world: being so large, it's the easiest place to find Warcraft fic, but at the same time quality will vary wildly. You can find some gems in there, but Sturgeon's Law definitely applies. Be prepare to wade through a crapload of fic about people's ridiculous Sues to find anything good.
AO3 (http://archiveofourown.org/) is another, much newer panfandom fanfiction archive that tends to have much better quality because it's smaller and a bit less well-known, and its Warcraft section is pretty decent.
Eddy Mar 3rd 2011 6:57PM
I'm sure the beta-invite only helps keep out some of the less dedicated writers as well. I hope that AO3 continues to be the quality hosting site and FFN the less... reliable one, because I'd hate to find my otherwise pretty amazing experience there sullied.
I think there's also... Darknest? But the time I peeked in there, I got scared off.
Drakkenfyre Mar 3rd 2011 7:24PM
Frelling? Do I detect some FarScape here?
Darknest is more of an adult-centered site. Stay away if you don't like porn, basically. Or adult stories. I don't read anything there, but I know the site's reputation.
Kylenne Mar 3rd 2011 8:31PM
I just happen to be wearing my Aeryn Sun t-shirt right now. :)
Kylenne Mar 3rd 2011 8:33PM
Also: Darknest is like AFF.net with even fewer standards. It's for the cybering in Goldshire set, pretty much.
Drakkenfyre Mar 3rd 2011 9:53PM
Off topic, but on StarGate: SG-1, another one of my favorite shows, when Claudia Black and Ben Browder both popped up on it, it blew me away. You generally don't see the main characters from one scifi show pop up as the main characters on another, already-established scifi show.
From what I know, Darknest is owned and ran by a woman who does, uh, adult art for a living. I knew it was primarily a message board and image center, but was not aware it had a large fan fiction section.