Fanfiction: Why It's Useful to Teach Your Kids How To Write

Do you ever wonder why your kid, pre-teen, or teenager, spends hours on a writing forum called Wattpad? or Archive of Our Own (also known as AO3)? or the less popular sites such as Fanfiction.net?

It's because they've discovered something called fanfiction.

Like the photo above, it basically means if you like a certain fandom (either a TV show, book or movie) and you either wanted something different to be in the story (like a protagonist's sexual orientation, or the person that they ended up with), you weren't happy with the ending, or you simply wanted to add a character of your own making to the plot, then you could write it your way and basically live vicariously through the story.

The definition of fanfiction, according to Wikipedia, is "fictional writing written in a amateur capacity by fans, unauthorised by, but based on an existing work of fiction". To me, I guess, I'm not quite an amateur at this style and genre of writing. I've been doing it on Wattpad for three, going on four years now. I'm a member of a lot of fandoms, such as Marvel (aka. the MCU), the TVDU (aka. Vampire Diaries, The Originals and Legacies), Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit, the Once Upon a Time (OUAT) fandom, the Arrowverse fandom, the Shadow and Bone fandom, and the Game of Thrones fandom. I've read a lot of great fanfictions, and I've read a lot of bad ones too.

But I'm not here to tell you about my experience, and obsession, with fanfiction. I'm here to tell you about why it's good for your kids to write fanfiction, and why you should encourage it. And in this article, I'm going to give you three simple reasons why. In my next few articles, I'll be giving you tips and tools of the trade to really perfect your fanfics. I'm still learning, but hopefully, whether you've been writing for only a couple of weeks or months, or whether you're a total expert at this genre, these tips should help you up your game in the world of fanfiction.

Reason 1:

It's good for your kids to write fanfiction because it helps them with basic grammar, punctuation and sentence structuring.

As a child, I was born a writer. I've written original stories of my own making since as long as I can remember, and while I look back on them and they were a bit cringey and pretty silly at times, it makes me think how far I've come in my writing journey. I learned to take inspiration from stories that I'd read and relate that to my own writing, as I got older and began to read books in different genres.

Through my writings, I learned grammar through and through, as well as punctuation, and where to use it. By writing fanfic, you're writing about something that you love, and I highly believe that writing about a topic you're passionate about increases your strength as a writer, and helps you learn more about grammar and punctuation, let alone sentence structuring, which was always a nightmare for me as a young writer.

Reason 2:

It's good for your kids to write fanfiction because it helps them with building characters and the importance of character development.

Let me start this portion of this article by saying this: character development is not a flat line. It ebbs and flows, like a river or even a rollercoaster. It can be smooth, yes, with a few bumps, like a wild stream in the forest, or it can be hard and rocky, like open seas in the middle of a storm. Whatever route you take with fanfiction, your characters are the most important thing at the heart of the story. You don't have a good character with a solid backstory and a compelling character arc, the story won't take to your readership.

I primarily like writing female characters. That's been the easiest thing for me. I'll have male side or partially lead characters, but they're usually part of the original story (book, movie or TV show), so they're already fleshed out as characters, but I've often found I can flesh them out more and add new dimensions to their characters. You can write any characters you want, whatever race or gender, but they have to have a compelling character arc.

I'll go ahead and admit it. I'm one of those writers that thrives off of pain and heartbreak for my characters. It's a pretty bad habit of mine, but then again, not everyone's story on Planet Earth is perfect. Not everyone's life is a fairytale that can be fixed with a fairy godmother or a true love's kiss. And I've often found that tragedy can really define a person, and for most of my characters, they come out scarred and bruised, but not broken. They have low moments, but are most often able to come out of the dust and put themselves back together. And yes, they do have dark sides to them. But I also try to juxtapose those dark sides with the light sides of those characters, and most often they'll interact with harmony, with the light side staying mostly in control.

I could rant lots about character development, but what I will say is that the characters you build have to have a solid character arc and significant development. Not everyone is a Mary Sue.

Reason 3:

It's good for your kids to write fanfiction because they get to meet and support other like-minded authors.

If you're on a platform like Wattpad, there can be some toxic people and some awesome people. Every public forum like that has their fair share of each. I'm glad to have such an awesome readership, a group of people that read my stories, add them to their reading lists, vote on my chapters and overall, comment some really nice things (or better yet, ask questions). And while they comment on your stuff, go ahead and read their works, and comment, like, follow their Wattpad page, etc. This kind of back-and-forth between writers drives home the importance of a community. A community where there are writers that think about the same things that you do on the daily, and are just as passionate about writing the same things as you are.

I love just looking up certain fanfictions for the fandoms that I love and finding fanfictions from people for those certain fandoms. I love posting on my Wattpad announcements about certain fanfictions that I really enjoyed, such as the Alchemy Jones series by fandomsoundsinnocent, which is a Marvel fanfiction that takes place during Captain America: The First Avenger and goes all the way through to Captain America: Civil War. Or The Ties that Bind series by Polkadottedgiraffe11, which follows a human from our world who crosses over to the world of New Orleans and the Original family to fill her destiny as a soulmate to the four Original vampire brothers Niklaus, Elijah, Kol and Finn Mikaelson (Vampire Diaries/The Originals AU, or alternate universe). Or the Fallen Warriors series by solobarnes (also a Marvel fanfiction), which follows a shapeshifter named Soroya Roberts as she teams up with the former Winter Soldier, James Barnes, on a mission to reclaim who they are and eventually, kindle the flames of a stirring romance.

I can't recommend these stories more highly. They're fun, they're riveting, they're edge-of-your-seat kind of stories, and at times, they're incredibly hilarious. But the moral of this one is: support other writers and they in turn will support you. Writing fanfictions on public forums means you get to put yourself out there to a global fanbase, and when you support others, you will also be supported. I can't explain enough how grateful I am to my wide fanbase of supporters from all around the world on Wattpad who enjoy my stories.

I hope you've all enjoyed this article on why you should let your kids write fanfiction, or in the very least, read it. But definitely keep them away from inappropriate content until they're a lot older!! That's why they have filters on sites like Wattpad and Archive of Our Own, so you can get tailor-made fics to your liking, regardless of the length of the story.

If you want to follow me on Wattpad, my username URL is down below:

https://www.wattpad.com/user/WinterPhoenix123

And if you'd like to see reading lists of my stories, just go on my profile and you'll find them at the bottom of the page.

Also, please subscribe, pledge or even tip with whatever small amount of money. Every cent counts, really. I'm trying to make some side cash off of this, so hopefully this article blows up. Bigtime.