Have you ever wondered what happened to your favourite television character once the screen went dark, or even worse, the series ended?

Or perhaps you’ve gotten so involved in a story line only to have it veer off into a totally different direction than you wanted it to go.

If that sounds like you, never fear, nowadays you can right any wrongs done to your favourite characters or continue to read about their lives just by logging onto the internet.

Fan fiction has become so popular that it’s only a matter of a quick search before you can once again delve into the lives of the fictional characters you’ve grown to love.

From Harry Potter to Xena: Warrior Princess, general to adult storylines, the list is endless when it comes to everyday people putting pen to paper (or in this case finger to keyboard) and bringing the stories and characters back to life.

And it doesn’t end there.

If you’d rather see character X involved with character Y instead of Z you’re probably not the only one, so chances are someone else has written about it. From cannon stories (those that follow the relationships etc. as set out in the show) to unconventional (relationships using characters that are not featured as part of the original storyline,) from slash (same gender pairings) to uber (uses the same characteristics/features as set out in the original but places them in new characters) the choices you have are limitless.

Of course if by chance you can’t find what you want, or would rather put your favourites into an entirely different situation you too can give it a try and see if you can write your own fan fiction story. With the multitude of sites available for both submission of your story and to get any help you need, it’s quite possible that your fan fiction will be read by millions of others. And not just online, do a search through places like Amazon and you’ll see that many novelists got their start submitting stories to the internet only to have them, or future novels, published.

A quick peek into places like Yahoo Groups and you’ll soon be satisfying any cravings you may have to catch up with some of your favourites. You can join or start your own discussion group, read the latest snippet of what of your favourite characters/television shows are having written about them, or even come across a pairing that you never thought possible. In many cases the writers are able to take the characters to places that while not possible on television are incredibly easy to envision.

So if you’ve been wondering about what your favourite television character has been up to, put the kettle on, find a nice comfortable spot in front of your computer and be prepared to be amazed as you get carried away with the imagination of thousands of other like minded people.