From a shameful, secretive, and shallow hobby to a whole cultural phenomenon, fan fiction has undeniably influenced the identities of a whole generation of young female readers. I still remember stumbling upon my first piece of fan fiction on Quotev.com for the Maze Runner series by accident – just because I desperately wanted a world where (spoiler alert!) my favorite character, Newt, hadn’t died. From then on, I fell into the rabbit hole for fandoms, and am contently sipping drinks with the others at the bottom of the abyss.
To put it lightly, fan fiction changed the course of my life.
Going to an English-speaking school as a second-language speaker, English lessons were my worst nightmare. My extremely strict teacher didn’t help either — she loved group projects where we read our writings out loud to each other. As we all know, middle schoolers do not hold back: peer review sessions often ended in snickers and steaming red cheeks (on my side). Thankfully, it was around that time when I conveniently discovered fan fiction, and I soon wanted to try writing for myself.
I had always thought of writing as a romantic concept: an opportunity to immortalise your thoughts and craft a world of your own. Although I knew I sucked at writing, the romanticisation of writing down my thoughts overcame my self-consciousness. Along with the fact that I continuously devoured any fan fiction or book that I could find, words gradually began to effortlessly flow out of my fingertips. The skills and vocabulary I had gained through writing soon translated into my academic work.
Fast forward to high school, English is now my best and favorite subject. Writing has now become my form of therapy: a way I navigate my emotions to find solace, something I would have never expected 10 years ago. Reading this article helped me better conceptualise how being a participant in the fan fiction community helped me in so. Many. Ways. It details the importance of “communal tutoring,” calling fan fiction “one big giant workshop.” This led to me recalling the amount of constructive feedback that helped me improve, or just the generous showering of compliments that motivated my creativity.
In fact, a study carried out by the Information School of the UW in 2019 has statistical data to support the overwhelming positivity and acceptance of the fan fiction community, and how it allows for “distributed mentorship.”
As conversations around reading fan fiction are lifted with its de-stigmatization, my appreciation for this community has only grown. As my most important English teacher, sex educator (albeit controversial), and therapist, fan fiction writers have guided me through different stages of life. Although fan fiction still remains controversial due to its dependence on another work form, I will always consider it as a form of literature.