The Secret Lives Of: Fanfiction 101

A New Take On It: Fanfiction

For children and teens, interest in a TV show or a video game usually denotes a limited reading resource. Sometimes the same holds true for a book series - hype may interest someone into reading one series, but that interest may not carry over into branching out to read other books. Fanfiction creates a bridge between the non-literary and an impossibly vast world of literature.

While “fanfiction” may not be considered by all to be literature, it is words on a page - words that may be more interesting to a reluctant reader than a published writing. Fanfiction brings     characters to life in a whole new way that is more understandable to struggling readers because they might have been written by that reader’s peers.

Fanfiction not only encourages reading, but it can inspire writing as well. Fans of a series will often want to know more about characters and events - and fanfiction gives them a chance to decide what that “more” is for themselves.

What IS Fanfiction?

Fanfiction refers to writing created by fans of a particular series. They can be short drabbles or epic-length, and now they can be found mostly online and for free. Fanfictions encompass a range of topics: They can be written about books, comics, TV shows, video games, real life, and more.

Fanfiction encourages developing both reading and writing skills and is a great way to introduce reluctant readers to enhanced language arts skills.

Essential Skills

Advanced Writing Skills: Anyone can write fanfiction. Many aspiring writers in their teens and early 20s began their interest in writing by dabbling in extending their favorite stories when they were much younger. They are given characters and settings they already love, which makes it easier to jump into writing. They are given building blocks that they can take and use to learn good characterization, plotting, pacing, and other skills.

Writing fiction encourages a larger vocabulary and more complex syntax. Students learn to use active voice over passive voice, how to use grammar in tricky situations, and how to vary paragraph and sentence lengths, all of which pay off in writing nonfiction such as essays and papers for school. As with reading interest mentioned earlier, practice makes perfect, and the more a child writes, the better his or her writing over all becomes.

Taking Critique:  Writing any work means someone is likely to read that work. Fans can be tough critics - but they are often friendly toward fellow fans. Because of that, praise is given as often as critique, making the critique easier to swallow. Learning to take critique in this way shows that it is necessary for growth and makes it much easier to hear - even desirable as writers strive to flourish and become better at their craft. It also makes it a little easier to see red marks on school work and want to fix those mistakes as well.

Reading Interest: If it exists, there is fanfiction of it; that is an unwritten rule of the internet. Because of that, if a reluctant reader shows interest in a series, be it book, TV, or otherwise, further reading can be encouraged through sites like fanfiction.net. These sites often have a rating system so parents can find suitable reading material. Since they build on material the reader has been shown to enjoy, it is easier to entice him or her into reading. Practice makes perfect, and reading more makes reading easier and, hopefully, more desirable.

Community Discussion: There are large communities for fanfiction writing, like fanfiction.net and figment.com. These communities offer messaging between users, forums that encourage sharing ideas about writing and fandoms, and comment sections where readers can communicate with their favorite writers. All of the above can help young people learn to communicate on a large scale and individually in a respectful way. They also provide encouragement for writers - fans give a great moral boost when they ask for more writing from an author, giving even more incentives to write.

Interested in More?

A New Take On It: This is a series of brochures, with at least one issue found on the desk outside of the Teen Room, and other issues available upon request (there are currently three issues, covering Tabletop RPGs, Graphic Novels, and Fanfiction). They are designed to show the benefits socially, academically, and personally of areas that might not seem to have a true educational bend to them.

Fanfiction Workshops: The Palm Harbor Library will be offering Fanfiction workshops, exercises, discussions, contests, and more through the website Figment. We are running a private group called The Secret Lives Of, in which we will promote reading, writing, and sharing. You can find it here: http://figment.com/groups/12684-The-Secret-Lives-Of The group officially opens on January 1 with shared books, discussions, and a contest! Please feel free to sign up today and get ready to start the new year off with a bit of magic and wonder.