[why does fanfic have to be so complicated]

This may seem like a stupid question, but... why should anyone care about writing in-character fic?

I mean, it's a philosophical stance, almost, isn't it, and therefore debatable and of subjective importance? It's easy to get caught up in the innate superiority of 'canonical correctness', but it's not like anyone's going to win a prize. People say, 'but why write fanfic if you don't care about writing OOC', but what does it matter what someone's reason is? It's not like anyone's is infringing on anyone else's personal rights (except maybe the author's, depending on the author's feelings) by writing whatever kind of fanfic they want.

So leaving that alone... why should anyone care if they don't? And yet... it does annoy me to hear claims about characters I know that I find unbelievable (like... uh... Harry's always had a crush on Lucius, why not), I admit, because... I hate it when the world doesn't make any sense on a basic level. Like, a fic needs to make basic sense, and of course everyone's definition of 'basic common sense' differs, clearly.

I'm specifically talking about the idea that people should care though, not why anyone would want to in the first place. Obviously, there are plenty of reasons, like that writing fanfic is an exercise in using another author's world, and to write that successfully, you'd need to use as much of it as you can. So to complete the exercise, the idea is that one does certain things... it's a linear process. Add writing ability, attention to the events and behaviors in canon to an intriguing and believable plot-line and you've achieved a Pretty Good Fanfic, right.

( But nothing is so simple. )