I'd don't write fan fiction but I don't scoff at it. I mean, many people love it both reading and writing it. So, nothing to scoff at. You are writing what you enjoy and what your audience does as well. You may not have created the characters but you still need to write them and your story.

I guess I write what I want to. I think the best thing I've written is The Searcher. It's a sweeping adventure/fantasy and I had high hopes for it, but it wasn't well received really. I'm grateful to the people who did read it and a couple have asked for more.  I'd love to go back to that world to write a sequel for them and for me. Give Stravor and Keter their voices again.

Some people seem to be able to write in the same world and the same characters forever, but I don't want to. I like to explore worlds, people and creatures. I like to challenge myself and discover how I can make even the most outlandish idea believable. Will people accept, fairies, goats, and salamanders who talk ... and the answer is yes, they will and they have. I'm grateful to those who let me take them on those adventures.

I've written the real world stories also. Doing that was difficult, because it had to be right and real. The Changes stories were deep, emotional and at times very hard to write but the result was worth all the hours of research and writing.

I think you need to write what is right for you, things that make you feel good, or to give voice to something you need to say.

I got my start writing fanfiction, then inched out into original works after that.  I tried my hand at fanfiction again a few years ago and Christ, it was much more difficult than I remember it being.  Kudos to those who do it.  

I write mostly for myself.  If I write something and it gets a favorable response, then I keep that in mind, but mostly I write what I like.  If I wrote something just to feed the audience, and it wasn't something I was at all interested in, 1) it would suck and I wouldn't have fun, and 2) I think my lack of enthusiasm would show in the finished work.  Neither of those alternatives are acceptable to me.       

Writing to feed an audience makes me think of the aquarium I used to visit. Hundreds of fish would go into a frenzy swarming around a scuba diver while they pulled chum out of a bucket. It seemed that if the bucket never ran out, the swarm would never end.

When I was much younger, I felt motivated to write even though the vast majority of it never met another pair of eyes other than my own. I didn’t consider that another soul might lay eyes on it. Actually I would have been mortified if they did. I still have a few projects going like that. They’re just not intended for anyone else.

Now that I’m more interested in writing things that I intend to share, I think more about what others might want to see and read. I don’t know if I’d keep writing these without a few fish in the water, so to speak. 

Of course, it is easier and better to write what you want. When you write sincerely, the audience will obviously like it and read with pleasure.