Captain America and Me: How Fanfiction Changed My Life
by -florianraven

On a surprisingly cold spring morning in October, I was driving the short fifteen-minute trip to school. The end of my senior year was hanging over my head like a dark cloud. I'd been on Wattpad for about three months by this morning with two failed projects under my belt and a measly one hundred followers that was decreasing by the day.

I was upset. I was saddened that things weren't swinging my way. I needed inspiration. I was hungry for a tale to tell. I was desperate for a successful story—in every sense of the word.
In the beginning, fanfiction was the last genre I was ever going to dunk my toes into. I'm not afraid to admit that I looked down on it like a snob. I always saw fanfiction as something that desperate fangirls wrote—stories that were terribly written, terribly developed, and, well, were terrible in general. Until I joined Wattpad. Until I read a fanfiction that changed my view on this genre entirely: a Marvel fanfiction about a character that shaped my childhood. This fanfiction showed me that authors in this genre can write, can create wonderfully developed characters, and can tell a great story.

And I wanted to write this kind of story. I needed to write this kind of story.

I've always been a Marvel fangirl. I grew up reading the comics since I was seven. I still vividly remember the day my cousin took me to the comic book store for the first time, and I still remember the feel of the first ever comic I held in my hands: Captain America #267, an issue so close to my heart, a tale with a message so deeply ingrained in everything I do since the day I read it.

That drive to school was the day after I finished reading that special fanfiction. That drive to school was the most important day of my Wattpad career. It was the day I made a very important decision: to take the plunge and write a story in a genre I looked down upon for so long. To look past the reputation of the genre and write the kind of story about a character that I love so dearly.

I spent that entire day planning—making decisions, checking which path to take, building and building and building. This single day turned to more days, which turned into weeks, and then a month, nose to the wheel, grinding and hammering and polishing a character, a story, a series into something I wanted the Marvel community—Wattpad—to read and embrace.

By September, I was ready. I was armed with a story I felt would change my Wattpad career forever. I took the plunge and wrote a story I never thought I would write in a genre I'd turned my nose up at for a long time. With a press of a button, I was going to begin the journey of not just a time travelling superhero in a world of super soldiers, web slingers, metal-suited vigilantes, gods and monsters, and Infinity Stones, but of an author who was taking a risk.
I've never pressed a button so hard.
Out of Time was published.

Months rolled on and Out of Time updated regularly, spreading Andi's story to the Marvel community. I was seeing something. I was seeing attention. People were reading my book. People were reading my fanfiction! Other readers just as in love with Marvel and Captain America as I was were voting and commenting on my work.

Early 2016, a high-ranking member of the Wattpad community approached me. Out of Time was to be featured. This was the day everything truly changed. The day I slapped that featured sticker on the cover of my book was the day my world erupted. Everything skyrocketed: my follower count, my reads, my votes. Every morning, I was waking up to beautiful comments from readers reacting to Andi and her story, and her interaction with the stories told in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There's even a lyric chain. Three of them! And it's still going strong after four years! Be Our Guest, Uptown Girl, and Don't Stop Believing has never been more alive.

2016 flew by as the sequels When Time Collides and The Path of Time came to a close, the former winning an award for Best Captain America story. By the time 2017 ended, the final story had been told, comments still waking me up in the morning notifying me that Fall of The Mighty has completely broken readers.

With the end of four years, Out of Time is powering towards one million reads. My Wattpad family is growing every day. I still get messages on my profile and inbox telling me how the Time Walker tetralogy has changed their lives. I'm so grateful for comments telling me that this is the second, third, fourth time a reader has read Out of Time and still loves it.
And to think, during that spring morning drive to school four years ago, I wasn't going to write this fanfiction.

This fantastic journey has taught me a valuable lesson. It's taught me to never judge a genre by its low points and its dark corners and submissions. It's taught me that sometimes you need to take a risk, to step out of your comfort zone to write something fresh. That daring to dream big is important and reaching the summit of that dream will make a difference. The first act of this voyage into fanfiction has ended, but the journey isn't over. It's never over. The sky is always the limit (yes, cliché, I know).

So I leave you, dearest readers, with a message: write what you love, never mind those who look down upon our genre. Write about what makes you happy, whether it be Marvel or Doctor Who or Sherlock or Harry Potter and everything else in between. Write a story you want to be told.
As Captain America said in that important issue:

" Reach out. Dare to dream the highest dreams and you will make a difference. „

What was your first opinion on fanfiction before you started to read/write it?

P r o f i l e S p o t l i g h t:

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