The Middle Distance

I see what you mean about synthesis in writing. I think that a lot of people, in appreciating any kind of art, have a desire to break it down and reorganize it. I know that when I discovered fandom at the tender age of thirteen, my first thought was "This is what I've been looking for. These people get it." 'It' being my need to image what happened after the movie was over or in between the chapters of the book.

These days I write more original fiction than fanfic, but I see the influence of all the fanfic I read coming out in all my writing. I may create a character or write a line of dialog and realize that it bears similarity to something I've picked up in fanfic. Nothing can be completely original, and one of the benefits of reading so much is that I can find more ideas to draw on. Sometimes it's even fun for me to take a plot line or idea that I feel has been overdone and challenge myself to write it differently. I don't feel that that's plagarism at all.