Yes, and yes.

Writing about characters other people have developed is no different than writing about figures from history or folklore, although some leave you more to work with than others.  Writing a fanfic about how a character deals with the aftermath of the events of the story they came from, or examining what their lives were like before the story, or just getting inside their heads if a story doesn't give you enough of that, leaves a lot of room for character development if you do it right.  There's also the extra challenge that you don't get with an original character of balancing staying true to the characters roots while at the same time adding something of your own. 

The first role-playing-game I ever played all the way through was Lunar: The Silver Star, and I did so because I liked the characters and the story.  Of your party of five heroes, all of them had a family or family figure, save one - not even a hint of who or what his family might have been.  I liked this particular character, and wrote a story about his own background and family (tying it in with an adventure story set months after the events of the original game).  Pulling off that fanfic, which was the length of a novel (over 100,000 words), was not only a confidence booster that I could write something of that length, but it was indeed an exercise in character development (along with other aspects of writing).

--edited by Ian Nathaniel Cohen on 6/29/2013, 9:39 AM--

I'd say yes and no.

It helps because the character you are writing about has already been fully built out - so you already have an idea of their personality, background, desires, dislikes, etc.  So in my opinion writing within this already created set of "rules" helps you learn how to stay within a character and stop to think about how all these different elements may impact a character's decision or reaction to something.  I think this is a valuable skill to have later with your own developed characters - the skill to stay true to each individual character, use their unique voice and really place yourself in the mind of that character.

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The no part comes with the actual "development".  I think this gives little to no practice in the important areas of developing your own characters.   You are using a fully created character template, and then just adding new thoughts/actions/story to it.   For me at least, that template is the hardest thing to create. I have a large history of roleplaying, and play by post fanfiction roleplaying.  I have to say after that it is really difficult for me to create unique characters that don't somehow fall back into being too similar to an existing character I loved that someone else created. 

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So, it really depends on what your strengths and weaknesses are as well I suppose.  Since my weakness is the original character development or template so to speak, this creates bad habits of falling back on what I like and may not be original.

--edited by May on 7/7/2013, 12:52 PM--

Working with other people's characters is totally fine. You spin your own take on it anyways, and if you are creating completely new experiences they take a life of their own.

The only exception may be using a fictional universe that was created by someone else, especially if it is sci-fi. Relying on someone else's universe to write yours will make it nearly impossible to personalize it at a later date.

I have never written fan fiction. I have read where published authors started out imitating their favorite authors (not really using characters from other works, merely imitating voice), and somewhere along the way, they created their own, unique style of writing. So, I'd say if it helps you grow as a writer, to discover what it is that you care about, and what it is you want to write about exactly, it is beneficial. Personally, I wouldn't invest a great deal of time in it, becuase I want to spend my time creating characters and universes of my own. 

Where TV reviewer and writer Robert Smedley might find benefits in the practice, author Jasper Fforde believes it to be a waste of time. Smeldy states in his article (http://www.fuelyourwriting.com/fan-fiction-worth-a-writers-time/) that it might be useful for practice, warming-up before diving into your actual WIP, or for fun.

So, the question, I suppose, is figuring out what your intentions are with writing fan fiction, and then decide if you should be exerting your energies elsewhere.

--edited by Toni Smalley on 8/6/2013, 12:13 AM--

(I'll confess something about me. I've never been much into being a fan. I'll like things and be a fan and talk about it, but I don't usually own merchandise or post pictures on Pinterest or create fan art. I actually don't get the appeal, but I respect those who do. I'm not some snotty hipster who is like, "Oh, you like them." If you have posters and T-shirts, than good for you.)

I think Fanfiction can help with character development on two conditions: 1. The person is serious about writing and 2. The person is serious about being a fan. 

After years of reading fanfiction, I found many people didn't care about actually capturing the characters they professed to be fans of. Instead, they were writing their own original characters disguised as the canon characters. I have read my share of Hermiones who come back from summer break suddenly blonde, busty, into fashion, boy-crazy and dumb. 

I found serious writers and fans will want to grasp the canon characters and at the same time, want to make their original characters fit the canon. Like me. So I studied the characters and did my best to keep them true to the source material. My greatest compliment was when people told me that even though I was writing a romance involved Severus Snape, I kept him very in character and believable. While my original characters at the time were weaker, I used what I had learned striving for authenticity in the canon characters to create better original characters. 

So, yes, I believe fanfiction helped me with my character development. And I think it has the possibility of helping others. By capturing one character, they can help identify the tools needed for their own writing. Of course, I'm not saying fanfiction is the only resource they'll need. Of course not! But no resource should be ruled out until judged on whether or not it can work for you. 

I think starting out writing with another creator's characters can give a new writer a feel for what works.  If you're a fan of a book series and trying your hand at writing for the first time, using existing, developed characters could be the writing equivalent of training wheels.  You know the characters so slipping in character to write can help the writer concentrate on learning the process of plotting, dialog, and so on.

Here's my geek confession.  I started out on a Dragonriders of Pern MUSH. The roleplayers on those games are hardcore and if you got any of the canon wrong, God have mercy on your soul.