Young fanfiction writers and readers have been active in fandoms and have influenced fellow readers for decades. Fanfiction, the practice of members of a specific fandom writing and uploading works containing characters, settings, etcetera from a preexisting work, has the young generation fascinated by the alternate endings and point of view that it presents to its readers. 

The three most popular fanfiction platforms at the moment include Fanfiction.net, Archive of Our Own, and Wattpad; however, most readers prefer Archive of Our Own, more informally known as Ao3, to the site’s competitors. On Archive of Our Own alone, there are over 4.2 million works from over 30,000 writers and over 40,000 fandoms. 

These sites allow their readers to search the presented works by fandom, tags, relationships, and age maturity level. All these factors contribute to the growth of fanfiction within the past few decades. To elaborate, currently, the most popular fandoms within these sites currently are Marvel, Supernatural, and Harry Potter.

Additionally, many authors are originally discovered due to their fanfiction. Cassandra Clare, the well-known author of The Mortal Instruments series, originally wrote The Mortal Instruments as a Harry Potter fanfiction on Fanfiction.net titled The Draco Series. In this series, the names and other identifying information of the Harry Potter series were removed and the now well-known author was published. 

Fanfiction has offered writers and readers a place to create their own stories with settings and characters that are familiar to them. It also offers a space for members of a fandom to connect and share their thoughts on the newest book or movie being released. Overall, fanfiction is a way for young authors to connect and do what they are passionate about while also receiving criticism and comments on their works.