"When someone tells a fanfiction writer that they’re “not a real writer,” I say to that person, “You don’t have the slightest idea of what it means to write a scene and a character in the English language, with images and words chock full of received meaning.”"

Literature is defined not by [i]what[/i] it is but [i]how[/i] it is. Is its plot written well? Do its characters feel real? Is the world plausible? Is the prose balanced? Does it have meaning? Does it strike home? A story is literature when it is written well. To dismiss all fanfiction as non-literature would be to completely ignore the amazing works that people have created. Epic sagas that span huge, complex, and real world-scenes built off of what was originally a small set. Short stories that hit the heart like any professionally written one would. Comedies that rival Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. Masterfully written prose. Sagas longer than any published series in existence. If you can look at the really good meat of fanfiction and dismiss it as non-literature, then you dismiss [i]all[/i] literature.