OT: It's Fan FICTION - A Quick Rant
(Mostly inspired by a response made in another thread. Rated PG for mild language. It's Offtopic because it doesn't refer to Mary Sues particularly. However, I guarantee that 90% of the sporkings in here got the below quote in response at one point in time. If it's too OT, feel free to delete.)

"What you need to realize is that this is fan FICTION. That means the writer can do whatever they want."

This is, by far, the most redundant and moronic excuse I have ever heard in defense of a story which was criticized for omitting certain canon details from a fanfic. First of all, the many writers of this excuse fail to realize that they are modifying the wrong part of the compound word. Fiction is fiction -- meaning it is about people and events that are not real. It was fiction when JK Rowling wrote it down, and it was fiction when Warner Bros. made it into a movie. It's still fiction, even when other writers are writing about it, and artists are drawing on it.

Fan fiction, or as spelled by others: fanfiction, fan-fiction, fanfic, ficcy, etc. Note that it has a cognative (I might be using the wrong word here). Fiction. Meaning that what the person is writing is not based on real life events, and nothing else. What those intimidated by criticism fail to realize is that they needn't remind anyone -- specifically not a fan of a book who actually read it -- that their work is fiction (because half the time, the reviewer would rather not believe the story was ever written, much less whether it's real or not). What a reviewer is actually questioning is the merit of the writer's fandom; whether or not they are a true fan.

Sure, you can claim to be a Draco fan. You can have seen and bought every film Tom Felton was ever in. You might have all the figurines, the posters, the desktop background, and even all the Harry Potter books and movies with his face pasted over Daniel Radcliffe's.

Doesn't mean you are a Draco fan.

Especially not if you're publishing fan fiction where for no reason he is in love with Hermione and dressing in Hot Topic clothing.

Why? Because it's not the character. You may like Tom Felton but you obviously know shit about Draco Malfoy.

You are not a fan. This is Fan Fiction. Do the things you supposedly love some ruddy justice. If you have to change the character you supposedly love in order to make them "fit" into your story, then you obviously don't "love" them as much as you think.

I repeat. You are not a fan. You're not showing your love. You're boggarting off of someone else's talent to promote your own original story -- which, face it, no one would read if you didn't slap names like Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger on it.

Should you stop writing altogether? No. But you should be open to research and, most importanly, revision and improvement.

Try, for Merlin's sake!

I have written lots of fic, and I have made canon mistakes because I didn't know better, but I'm at least willing to improve and do drafts. It won't kill you.

Try.