Honestly I just like to write, and fanfiction is a very specific way of writing. I see fanfic in 3 ways:
1. A love letter to the original
2. A re-write of the original
3. A spinoff of the original.

Mostly I’d say my fanfics fall in category 1. I like the original work so much that I just want to see more of it! I like the characters and the themes and I want to add supplementary text to areas that aren’t as explored.

Category 2 I rarely dip into, this could be the so called “fixit fic” and quite frankly it’s nothing but disrespect for the original. It’s the “the current writing is awful, here’s how I would make it better” of fanfic. To be honest I usually don’t write from a place of contempt and spite. I can’t say I never have, though. One fic comes to mind in particular where a canon plot point made me so mad I had to rewrite it in a way that made sense to me. The other times I’ve written from this place of emotion were because of a distaste for popular headcanons that I just didn’t agree with, so I had to put my own ideas out there. I dunno, I feel like this kind of fic is a slippery slope of negativity, at least when I write it. Funny enough, I actually hate the source material of this fic I’m thinking of. I didn’t when I wrote the fic. I do now, due to repeatedly poor narrative choices. Do I regret writing that fic? Eh. I just don’t think about it.

Category 3 I also rarely dip into and this is where I would classify pretty much all AUs since there’s no relation to canon other than characters and maaaybe some parallel plot points. I actually don’t care much for AUs because I like the established character relationships in-universe. I do like my own AUs but I find I have a really hard time caring or getting into other ppls AUs because I’m so picky.