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It's a crutch if you don't make it solid enough to stand on it's own. Write good stories that can be read in any context and you'll be able to mitigate that. Don't let yourself get stuck in niche...
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#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/1345 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
It's a crutch if you don't make it solid enough to stand on it's own. Write good stories that can be read in any context and you'll be able to mitigate that. Don't let yourself get stuck in niche fanfic cultures. Don't write stuff that requires people having read every other fanfic on the forum to understand. And don't let fanfic be the only type of story you ever write. Understand that you're just choosing the constraints and backstories of your world. People that write non-fantasy use the real world as their source material. It's not a crutch for them, it's a choice.