“Readers...have a strong incentive to continue to elaborate on these story elements, working them over through their speculations, until they take on a life of their own.”―Henry Jenkins[src]
Fan fiction is a broad term referring to stories about characters, events, settings, and other items written by fans of a published work rather than by the author of the original work. Fan fiction is almost never commissioned or actively approved by the owner, publisher, or creator of an original work, and they are very rarely published, however most original authors turn a blind eye to fan fiction so long as fan fiction authors are not receiving a profit from their stories. Because of this, fan fiction is both related to the canon of the fictional universe it is set in but exists outside of that universe's canon.
Although some authors, such as Anne Rice, forbid fan fiction based on their stories, Lucasfilm, Ltd. has permitted fan fiction so long as it does not make a profit for its authors. Star Wars fan fiction, despite the assumptions of some Star Wars fans, will not be published by Lucasfilm, as all official Star Wars work is commissioned work; if the publishers want someone to write an official Star Wars novel, the publishers will seek out an already published author, not the other way around.[1]
Star Wars Fanon[]
For the purposes of Star Wars Fanon, fan fiction is defined separately from fanon, the latter of which is defined as articles that do not relate to a narrative, literary work. Fan fiction on Star Wars Fanon is made up of two different elements: literary works—short stories, novellas, novels—and articles that directly relate to corresponding literary works, such as an article for a character who appeared in a literary story a user wrote. These articles are not required to be sourced as they would be if they were canon and on Wookieepedia, though some users choose to do so anyway. This allows fan fiction to function as an encyclopedia of a user's own fandom, with the purpose being to try a serious attempt to fill in gaps in canon or basic literary exercises in the hopes of writing your own fiction.