Fan fiction is the lifeblood of fandom

Fan fiction's strength isn't based on its literary merits, but on the fans that it brings together

Images: Lucasfilm, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox. Graphic by Nate Herzog

When I was a teenager, Star Wars was everything. I watched the films constantly, I read every book I got my hands on, spent an ungodly number of hours on message boards, and wrote for a bunch of fan sites over the years. And when I ran out of stories to re-read …