fanfiction.net,
which is only one
of many fanfiction hubs.
Now compare that with the amount
of fiction written in the English language
that’s been traditionally published
in all of human history ...
80 billion.
So this is an incredible
outpouring of creativity.
And on this site, it's written
primarily by young people.
This site’s 15 million members
write in 44 different languages,
and their median age is 15 and a half.
Most of the authors are between 13 and 21,
and most are teenage girls.
73 percent identify as female,
and interestingly,
more fanfiction authors identify
as gender nonconforming than male.
Authors we interviewed
told us they wrote fan fiction
because they love
the characters and worlds.
And over and over again,
they told us how much
they learned about writing
from participating in these communities.
Here’s an example.