What Parents Need to Know about Fanfiction, the Pop Culture Phenomenon Teens Love

If you’re a parent of a teenager who loves to read, there’s a good chance they have probably come across fanfiction. They can’t get it at the library or the bookstore, but these sometimes book-length pieces of fiction are an increasingly popular way for young people to consume literature. 

Maybe you’ve overheard your child discussing the popular Dramoine pairing (which imagines a world where Harry Potter characters Hermoine Granger and Draco Malfoy end up together). Or scrolled past a TikTok explaining why Adam Driver lookalikes started appearing on real-life book covers (it’s because the relationship between Star Wars characters Kylo Ren and Rey became a full-blown phenomenon on fanfiction websites). All these pop culture moments stem from fanfic, and solidify its place as a central facet of teen culture. 

But what exactly is fanfiction? And is it safe and appropriate for your kid to read? Simply put, fanfiction is reimagining of books, movies, and television shows written by and for fans that is posted and read online. We spoke to two experts to help answer all the rest of your fanfiction questions.

What Parents Should Know About Fanfiction

Before we go any further, it’s important to get key facts about fanfiction out of the way. Fanfiction is exactly what it sounds like: fiction written by (and for!) fans. These stories can range in length and are inspired or based on by characters or stories that already exist or have been professionally published. Harry Potter, Teen Wolf, Star Wars, Supernatural, Doctor Who, Marvel comics, and more popular media have all inspired fanfiction stories. 

Fanfiction reimagines these already existing characters and universes, building on their storylines or creating new ones, elaborating on relationships they wish had existed in the original material (those are called “ships,” short for relationships), sometimes creating entirely new, alternate universes for their favorite characters. 

Some popular books even started as fanfiction like After by Anna Todd which was inspired by One Direction, Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James, which started as Twilight fanfic, and even best-selling novel The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, which is an alternate universe (AU) Star Wars-inspired story.

Because fanfiction is consumed primarily online—the most popular sites include Archive of Our Own (AO3), Wattpad, Tumblr, and FanFiction.net—it might be a little bit more difficult for parents to actually track what their kids are reading because they won’t be bringing home a physical book—and not all fanfiction is kid-friendly.

Should Your Kids Be Reading Fanfiction?

Fanfiction can be a normal way for kids to delve more deeply into the shows and books they love while expressing their creativity—it’s not uncommon for young people to become obsessed with a certain show and seek out other people who have the same fixation. 

Older teens especially have strong emotions, and exploring their sexuality, and to a certain extent its likely developmentally normal for them to seek out risque material that might reflect their feelings. But parents need to keep a close eye on what types of media their kids consume. Fanfiction websites actually make it pretty easy to stumble across material that is far too mature for young people. 

But that doesn’t mean parents need to ban fan fiction from their household. When it comes to asking whether or not your kids should be ready this material, there is some room for nuance.

“It depends on what type of fanfiction (slash fiction for instance is usually sexual in nature) and your kid’s maturity level,” says Gayle MacBride, PhD, a licensed psychologist with Veritas Psychology Partners. 

She notes that many of these sites offer filters for specific stories, so as a parent, you can filter out fanfiction that includes darker or more mature themes—as long as your child is open about what types of material they are reading, which isn’t always going to be the case. 

Tamara Soles, PhD, psychologist and director of The Secure Child in Montreal, Canada, echoes Dr. MacBride, adding that fanfiction can be a great way to encourage kids to read and engage with some of their favorite stories and characters in new ways. 

“[Reading fanfiction] also allows them to flex their creativity, especially if they are inspired to write their own,” she adds.  

What Age Is Best for Reading Fanfiction?

Because of the array of themes that fanfiction covers, the stories you allow your teen to read may be on a case by case basis. While Dr. Soles says much fanfiction may be better suited to older teens, tweens might be able to handle fanfiction stories that are filtered for non-sexual relationships between characters, adventure, or humor. Remember, not all fanfiction is romantic, so don’t worry if you discover your tween has been reading it.

“Some fanfiction sites include ratings and theme warnings to help readers and parents make informed decisions. Parents can use these tools to curate appropriate content for their kids who aren’t ready for mature themes or whose critical thinking skills are still too emergent to make good choices for themselves,” Dr. Soles adds. 

She notes that teens are often already exploring themes about sex and relationships through other forms of media and fanfiction may be a safer way to immerse themselves in that exploration without the “graphic intensity of explicit visual material as seen in TV and movies.”

She adds that if your teen is already engaging in unsafe behaviors, it may be best to limit their exposure to explicit themes overall.

Communication with your child is crucial 

When in doubt, you may want to read the story your kid is interested in beforehand to make sure the content is okay for a younger audience—but that would requite an honest and nonjudgemental conversation about your child’s interests that feels like an attempt to understand and compromise them, rather than control or shame them.

Ultimately, Dr. Soles says having safe and open lines of communication with your child can allow you to discuss fanfiction in a thoughtful way that acts as both a teaching tool and a safety buffer. Your child is likely to be closed off or even hide that they are reading fanfiction if they feel judged or think they will get in trouble—which doesn’t help parents monitor their media consumption at all.

“When parents have a track record of approaching situations with genuine curiosity and a desire to understand our children’s needs, interests and desires, children trust that they can be open with their parents safely, which allows for more honesty and transparency,” she explains. 

“Parents should maintain that stance of curiosity to understand what it is about the fanfiction that interests their child,” she adds, “allowing them to discuss ways to engage with fanfiction safely.”

10 Fanfiction Terms Parents Should Know

• Canon — The original source material that fanfiction is based on or anything that exists and is true in the original source material; ex. Hermione Granger being a Gryffindor is canon in Harry Potter
• Crossover — A combination of multiple canons; ex. Nancy Drew joining the Supernatural brothers on an adventure
• Dead Dove: Do Not Eat — This is code for check the warnings before deciding to read as the content in the fanfic may be disturbing
• Drabble — A fanfic that is exactly 100 words, although some use it to describe shorter fanfics in general
• Dubcon — This term stands for “dubious consent” to describe gray areas within a sexual relationship in the fanfic; ex. If a college student is having relations with their professor, they might not be able to give true consent due to the power dynamics
• Fluff — Used to describe fanfiction that is cutesy and low-conflict; usually romantic fanfictions without gore or graphic depictions of sexuality
• Hurt/Comfort — This is used to describe a type of fanfiction in which one character suffers and is then comforted or helped by other characters
• Ship — This is a shortened version of “relationship” and is used when readers support two or more characters getting together romantically in a story, whether it is canon or not; ships are often denoted using a slash between the name; ex. A fanfiction story might pair up Niklaus Mikaelson and Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries
• Slash — This is one of the most common fanfiction terms, indicating that two characters are romantically involved, as opposed to an ampersand (&) which implies a non-romantic relationship; some fanfiction writers specifically use it to describe shipping male characters and use femslash to denote shipping female characters
• Smut — This term refers to a story that contains explicit sexual content