I read plenty, but you're still missing the point. Fan fiction is a form of inspired work, but inspired work is not necessarily fan fiction. Almost all authors, including Tolkien, drew ideas and inspiration from fantasy authors before them - and legally speaking there is nothing wrong with that. Fan Fiction, however, is the production of fiction based upon somebody else's work, and technically is almost always a breach of copyright.
Why just Tolkien? What makes you think they didn't draw upon the same inspiration as Tolkien did? Or maybe they took ideas from more recent novels (eg Terry Goodkind and Robert Jordan)? I just find it strange why you would draw the line at Tolkien, when (for example) one of his favourite childhood books was a fantasy novel written 20 years before he was born.
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