In the fanfiction world (or fanfic) everything is possible. It’s a place where writers turn over the literary stories they’ve grown up with – anything you can imagine can happen! Do your children create or read these kinds of stories? If you’re not super familiar with the art and literature behind fanfiction, you might want to pay attention.
As a priority, we should love the idea that our children write and read and this world encourages it. Many fanfiction writers end up becoming more creative later in life, which is important for many fields. Many also go on to self-publish works or creating novels. When it comes to fanfiction, a place with no greater limit than imagination; however, there is one thing you’ll want to keep an eye out for when it comes to fanfiction in particular.
Much of the stories in the fanfiction world have violence or sex. The content is freely available across fanfiction websites. If your child is a writer or a reader of fanfiction, they will likely come across some more mature stories.
Faced with this, it’s best to talk to your child about these issues. In adolescence our children begin to be interested in sexuality and the most serious thing is that sometimes they use social networks to get information, as they expose in this post of Being Parents. In this article they comment that “in some studies it has been observed that 20% of teenagers use social networks such as Twiter, Facebook and the Internet to broaden their knowledge about sex”. Others simply talk to their peers about sex, which opens up many doors for disinformation.
There is no shame in talking about sex with our children. In fact, if they like to read and write, they’re likely pretty mature and can handle some of these issues. And who better to tell them about sex than you?
Those friends or people you meet in real life. Because publishing makes you exposed and makes you vulnerable. It could attract a type of user who doesn’t exactly mean well, and sharing it with, say, classmates could lead to unpleasant consequences. In this line, don’t let him share personal information, recommend that he use a code name and limit comments as some followers may become obsessive. Using a pseudonym or username that doesn’t include his or her real name is typically the best way to go to stay anonymous.
They are one of the most used in the fanfiction world. If you find out that your child is, familiarize yourself with them, research their privacy settings and sit down with the child to review them together and know how to use them correctly.
The most popular apps and fanfiction sites for Star Wars are as follows: Commaful, New Moon, WordPress, and Wattpad.
Ask your child which one he or she is using and find out what the terms and conditions are. It’s also great that you encourage your child to write and draw if that’s what he likes but you shouldn’t try to invade his privacy by insisting that he show you his fanfiction content. Remember that as a teenager she needs your support more than ever and just as you ask for respect, you have to give it to her too. At the end of the day, reading and writing is amazing and it’s important to encourage your teen to be creative.
That’s what they say in the post on this subject on the Psychologically Talking blog.
What you must keep in mind is that fanfiction is another channel for your children to express themselves, but you must know it to avoid surprises because, as in everything that concerns the Internet, there are serious risks that imply the privacy of children.
