Good afterevenmorn, Readers!

I’m afraid my Doom hyperfixation is still in full effect. And as with all things that has my attention for longer than a few days my brain has latched onto it and created a story out of it. This one is set in the Doom universe, and deals specifically with Doom Guy/The Doom Slayer. Which means it’s not actually an original. It is, I made the realisation late last week, a fan-fiction (cue horror stinger). I have complicated feelings about this. Let’s dive in.

First and foremost, I don’t actually have anything against fan-fiction. While I don’t read it myself, and really haven’t ever written it, I recognise that it’s a great field for many reasons. It is, for example, an excellent way to practice writing. For writers who are yet to venture into their own originals, it’s fantastic for learning to write within constraints. Playing in an established world helps writers understand world building; how important character consistency and rule adherence is. Also, how to break rules in a believable manner or provide adequate justification for doing so.

It’s also great for learning the more mechanical aspects of writing; for working out flow and voice and all the wonderful things about writing.

As an added bonus, it’s great for developing a platform. If you’re a newbie writer and you’ve been cutting your teeth in fan-fiction, chances are you developed something of a following. This can only help your writing career should you start to publish your own IPs.

Given all of this, you would be forgiven for scratching your heads at my hesitancy at this new, clearly fan-fiction idea that has jumped into my mind.

And for good reason. There’s no real reason why it would sit so uneasily with me, except that it simply does. You see, I’ve never been in the fan-fiction world. I have truly, genuinely loved many IPs deeply, but never once read anyone’s fan-fiction set in them, or sought to play around myself in those worlds. My imagination has never before drawn from a world that already exists outside of my own creation, and played around in it in this way.

This is new for me.

And it feels a little like theft, and a little like an abdication of my duty as a writer to come up with something more original. I’m also not new to writing. I kinda have a grasp on the mechanics of the craft (or I like to think so), and pride myself on creating worlds and characters that are my own. And by pride myself, I mean, it’s only ever been that way.

Of course there were influences. The Lioness of Shara Mountain (out early next year) is heavily influenced by the various Chinese dramas that I’ve watched. So is the serial I’m currently writing (titled The Bear for now). The last serial I wrote, which is being retitled to The Timbercreek Incident for publication was heavily influenced by literally every zombie/plague story ever. I have unpublished books that are essentially The Chronicles of Narnia, but with Celtic deities and laser guns. Human is a vampire story and is influenced by every vampire story ever. I have a lot of books. I won’t go over them all here.

The point is, though I can point to influences, none of them are based in anyone else’s worlds or use anyone else’s characters. They’re (relatively) original.

So colour me surprised when this new story popped into my head. Set in the universe of Doom, starring Doom Guy. And a new character (who is entirely my creation).

I’m trying to unpack my hesitancy with writing fan-fiction. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it, particularly since there’s no way I’d seek to publish this one and sell it at all.

Part of it, I’m sure, is my age. I grew up in a time where fan-fiction was much less accepted and acceptable than it is now. This isn’t to say that there aren’t some horrid snobs who look down their noses at it today. There certainly are. But there are a lot more voices (rightfully) defending fan-fiction then there were when I was practicing my writing.

Maybe I’m just in need of shaking off that internalised stigma? Maybe I’m just need to get over myself (quite likely)?

It won’t matter either way. This story will get written. My brain is a jerk and will not let go of a story until I’ve gotten it all out on paper (digital or otherwise… Let me rant once again about how Human got written). The issue is whether or not I will share it at all.

Perhaps when I’m finished writing it, I’ll put it up on AO3 and let the people judge me. Or maybe I’ll approach Bethesda/ID Software to ask if that’s alright, to help ease my conscience. Or maybe I’ll write it to get it out of my head and bury it away never to see the light of day.

In the meantime, I’ll be confronting my complicated feelings over fan-fiction and interrogating why it makes me, personally, so uneasy to be writing it, when I know it’s a net positive. Personal growth because of a weird hyper-fixation. Why knew?

As I’m still puzzling through this for myself, I’m absolutely interested in your opinion on the matter. What do you feel about fan-fiction? Why? Sound off below!

Until next time!

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When S.M. Carrière isn’t brutally killing your favorite characters, she spends her time teaching martial arts, live streaming video games, and cuddling her cat. In other words, she spends her time teaching others to kill, streaming her digital kills, and a cuddling furry murderer. Her most recent titles include Daughters of Britain, Skylark and Human. Her next novel The Lioness of Shara Mountain releases early 2026.