Discussion Article- How FanFic Inspires Kids to Read and Write and Write and Write

I found this great article that talks about how fanfic inspires and helps kids read and write. The article talks about things like representation, language development, community, etc. It also talks about Star Wars quite a bit! I thought it might be fun to talk about it a little bit!

Article Link: How FanFIc Inspires Kids to Read and Write and Write and Write

One of the parts that really resonated with me (and there were several) where it talked about English Language Learners:

While English is my native language, I have a few learning disabilities that always made it difficult. I used to be so embarrassed to let anyone look at anything I wrote in school because my spelling and grammar were terrible. And while they still aren't spectacular, my mom (who was a teacher before she retired) still talks to this day about how much of an improvement she saw when I started writing fanfic, that it was a marked difference. Having a supportive community (which the article also talks about) who encourages and helps without making things embarrassing really did a lot for me when I was younger, and still does today!

Fanfic was kinda always this underground thing hiding in shadows so I'm really encouraged to see in the article that there are teachers who are embracing fanfic and using it as a tool to help kids learn.

 

Oh man,i would've given anything to write fanfic in school.

 

Something else that I thought was great in the article was the person who said it brought kids that said they didn't like to read into a reading world. I really think that the vast majority of people who say they don't like it don't dislike to read but they just haven't found what they like to read. If reading fanfic is what gets a kid who otherwise wouldn't read to do it, that should be celebrated! We all know that some fanfics can be better written than some published stuff!

Right?! That probably would have changed a lot for me.

That's very true, I remember writing such things as well! I've debated with people many times that fanfiction is in a lot more things than most people realize, and assignments like that are one of them. RPGs of TV/Movies/Book= fanfiction. New stories with media that's fallen into public domain (Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes stories, etc.) are all fanfiction in their own ways.

I think this sentence is so important. Everyone has the opportunity to be a writer. Not everyone will ever publish something, but it gives everyone the opportunity to be read and bring joy to other people through their writing.

 

My favorite parts of this article?

1. The shameless plugging of Fanfiction.net and AO3.

2. The picture at the top, which includes Spock riding a tauntaun. Spock. On a flipping. Tauntaun.

 

I tell my students that the reason I moved my English mark in high school from a C- to an A- was because of Fanfiction. I don't care what they think, it's more about letting them know that any writing of any description is good. I'll cheerfully tell them that my first fic was awful (because it was) but that wasn't the point, the point was the feedback and the community. I once got very, very angry at an author whose workshop I'd paid to go to who said that fanfic writing wasn't real writing while simultaneously being paid to write 'official' books for StarGate. Lady, you are a fan fiction writer. The only difference between you and I is age and the fact you have found a way of getting paid to do what I do for free.

 

Great article! I've mentioned this before but my English education was SEVERELY lacking in high school and I think, of all my english classes in high school I had one "write a short story" assignment (and I only took one intro to English class in university - it was all about writing for academic purposes. There was a creative writing class I always wanted to take in undergrad but it never fit into my schedule). Thankfully I was already an avid reader but Fanfic really helped me develop my writing and gave me a really fun hobby and a creative outlet. As Mav and devil and others said, not everyone will become a published author, but that doesn't mean we cant have fun writing and sharing stories.

I'm still a bit shy when it comes to my fanfic and letting people I know in real life read it... not that anyone would understand the context of my proudest works (both West Wing and SW Legends fics) but it's nice to see fanfic becoming a bit more mainstream both for educational and entertainment purposes.

 

Fanfic was definitely the thing for me that got me out of my shell and led to me starting writing regularly. Before January 2019 I'd barely written a word for years. But getting into a specific fandom eventually led me down the garden path into Fanfic. Lots of fanfic. I spent a few months basically bingeing anything and everything I could find in that one fandom.

Eventually I found a short fic I really enjoyed. Only problem was it was like 2000 words, and a one-shot. I wanted more. Much more. So, one night with some time to spare, I decided that if no-one else could make more, then perhaps I could.

A year and half later, with over 600,000 words under my belt, I'd say yes, I could make more, definitely

I think there are several in-built advantages fanfic has over traditional publishing that make it so attractive. For one, there's no need to deal with the nightmare of securing a book deal. Anyone can write and publish there work for anyone to see, a rapid turning over from initial conception to release.

The common nature of shorter chapters or one-shots supports short-form fiction, something that's not as readily available elsewhere. It's easy to bash off something short, rather than toiling away on a single longer work that might never see the light of day. And the existing framework of a story you enjoy can make crafting plots and characters easier with some of the heavy-lifting taken care of (and an in-built audience who already have attachments to the setting).

That said, it can be hard to branch out and eventually make the jump to original fiction, something I'd like to try someday. It takes time and effort, while my muse prefers to expand on concepts I've already worked on in my fics. Who knows though, anything could happen. For now I'm content continuing writing whenever the mood strikes, knowing I can turn it from idea to finished work without anything other than my own steam is very freeing.