harrypotterfanfiction forums: What HPFF Means To Me - harrypotterfanfiction forums

HPFF has probably been one of the most amazing things in my life. This might sound dramatic or cliched, but it's true. I never thought that my sanctuary would become a place on the internet, but it has. HPFF has given me amazing opportunities to expand my writing, my love for Harry Potter, and most importantly, it's allowed me to adventure into a new world and escape from my own. Writing fanfiction started as a mere hobby for me, but HPFF quickly changed my hobby into a passion for writing that I never dreamed I would have.

When I was twelve or thirteen, I liked to write. In school, we always had writing assignments for extra credit, and I would always do them. It was fun creating characters, molding them into people, giving them personalities, emotions, life. It was hard for me to come up with my own characters, though. Everything I wrote seemed to be a simple imitation of what I had just read. I thought my writing wasn't unique, and that I wasn't cut out to be a writer. When my hopes were getting low, I discovered HPFF. It's easy for me to say that it changed my life, and I'm not making an overstatement. It fueled my writing, and in turn, my writing has changed my life. HPFF was just one of the many websites I visited at that time, and at first, it didn't seem like anything special. Then I tried my hand at my first work of fanfiction, and it became something addicting. I loved writing stories, adding tweaks to J.K Rowling's characters and creating my own. It was fun to read others' stories as well, to see what they thought about Voldemort and the ever discussed Dramione ship. I had found an online world that allowed me to create and explore, without actually having to go outside of my house.

My friends didn't understand my new love for HPFF. They had never read Harry Potter, or any of my writing for that manner, so I guess they wouldn't understand. I wanted to explain to them all the things that I found wonderful about HPFF. It was hard to explain, though. How do you tell someone about the adrenaline rush you get when you right a story? How was I supposed to tell my friends about my eagerness while my story was in the queue? I found myself looking forward to getting on HPFF, because it meant that I could check the status of my story and read everyone else's. While waiting, I read many stories, that fueled both my writing and my imagination. To say that HPFF was just something to pass my time would be an understatement.

I remember reading the Harry Potter books and wondering if Rowling was in her right mind. Sometimes when I read them, I could imagine stories with the characters in them in my head. I could imagine alternative versions of what she had written. HPFF allowed me to expand on all my ideas. It's not a place strictly for one genre, or one pairing, or one era. You can do anything with the characters on HPFF, or invent your own. That's probably what I like best about HPFF. It allows everyone to do their own thing. Your story doesn't have to end in the same way that Rowling's ended. You could take your story in a completely different direction, one that's all you, a direction that allows you to fully express yourself.

Looking back through all these years, I've realized something. It's important to write, to maintain your ability, but writing isn't worth anything if it's forced. All that time when I was younger I spent trying to force my writing to come out of me. HPFF gave me an opportunity to write freely. It allowed me to toy around with ideas that already existed. Originality is important when writing, but imagination is just as key, and that's what HPFF gave to me. Thank you, thank you HPFF.