Using Fanfiction to Help you Write

So I've been working on an anthology. A bunch of people will be trapped together and will pass the time by telling stories. One thing I'm debating doing is taking a fanfic I wrote a while ago and using it for one of the stories. The characters will be renamed and some references to the original work will be removed. I'm starting to wonder whether or not this is a good idea. It seems to me that rewriting a character to be someone they originally weren't intended to be can result in some odd characterization. Couldn't this character just come off like a knock-off? Have any of you guys rewritten old fanfics for a current writing project? If so, did it help you write?

Edited by SharkToast on Nov 18th 2018 at 11:10:43 AM

Just letting you know that snipping off the "fan" part of "fanfiction" is perfectly reasonable, and recycling plots is Older Than Print. I do it all the time when my fanfiction ends up wandering too far from canon.

If you need a confidence boost, have a look at Fifty Shades of Gray—it is well-known to be a former fanfiction of Twilight, has really shitty writing, and a blatantly terrible portrayal of BDSM, but the writer is still a millionaire.

The ibe thing I DO like about 50 Shades. You are so great Sharysa. Made my day.