Can't escape FanFiction

I've seen t dozens of times with my fellow fanfiction writers who have turned pro. Two of my closest friends, both fanfic writers who became independently published authors have repeatedly dipped their proverbial quills back into the wells of their fanfiction origins and turned out stories that are better than ever. I have also written a couple of one offs since publishing my first couple of books. What is it about fanfiction that keeps us writing them?

For me, fanfiction is a way of expanding my favorite storylines or fixing plot lines that I was never quite fond of. I really enjoy mixing my worlds. You know, combining normally non-compatible worlds within one story. Most recently, I combined a children's show with science fiction. It was funny how it happened. I was trying to catch up with Dr. Who while my granddaughter was watching Handy Manny on her Kindle right beside me. As any fanfiction writer will tell you, incidents like that can create some interesting stories.

I think I've always written fanfiction, even before I knew there was such a thing. When I was a kid, I was always writing stuff down while watching my favorite TV shows. Whenever something happened on The Rockford Files or later Hill Street Blues, I would grab a pen and paper and write down what I thought should have happened. Some times if they showed the characters doing one thing and then in the next scene show them in a completely different place, doing something else, I would write a scene showing what happened in between the scenes.

It seems like TV is my favorite source of fanfiction material. Right now, I'm watching NCIS and the backdoor pilot for NCIS: New Orleans. It's too soon to tell, but since NCIS is one of my favorite worlds to write about, I'm pretty sure I'll end up putting King and Gibbs into another story some time in the future.

But that's enough about me and why I love fanfiction. What do you think? Do you read fanfiction? What do you look for when you do?