When first given internet, your naive little self will immediately have the urge to search for things that should never pop up for a child your age. Let’s be honest, the majority of us, considering how times have changed and Gen Z/Alpha being the tech generation, would’ve been still a young child when you’re first able to surf online.
Welcome to the internet, have a look around.
There’s no guide to assist you—or rather, no parent, to tell you what to search, to tell you what’s wrong or what’s right, or to tell you that you’ll probably find it eventually.
Your first couple of searches and your latest will mention your interests, hobbies, fandoms—if we’re really going for a deep dive. With all this communication and constant uploading there are bound to be things you’ll find that’ll pique your interest and also kickstart newfound passions.
All this knowledge, at our grubby little fingertips. The cause of our generation’s downfall, according to our parents. We’ve experienced countless industrial revolutions, with the iPhone, iPad, computers, and now AI. All being connected to the World Wide Web.
Any answer to the questions on your homework, any address to any place in the world, an endless store that sells anything you may or may definitely not need. Or more used for more innocent but infamous reasons. Websites that hold files of artwork and discussions upon discussions, and with these websites, fandoms were born.
Being a geek pre-Internet led to more closed off conversations, if your friends didn’t share the same interest as you, you couldn’t talk or fantasise. Of course, you can always talk to yourself or write all this stuff down, but with the internet, entire apps were made for geeks.
Somewhere to write or spread all your love for this one particular thing, you became a part of a family almost—being a part of a fanbase. Along with the word ‘fandom’ and ‘fanbase’ came along more new phrases or staples of the communities; headcanons, theories, fanart, OCs. They all came along with the help of the internet, bringing people together for the love of this one particular thing. Tumblr, Wattpad and Reddit were all places to host conversations and threads for fandoms to talk and theorise.
On Tumblr would be art of your favourite characters, Reddit holds millions of headcanons and theories about your connected universe, and Wattpad—gifted us a place to write fanfiction.
The imaginary pen in your hand and your original characters in your head, all set in the vivid landscape that’s been drawn on your mind by another. Yet now it is your turn to write your own story in this place. And by your own story, you mean through your OCs, of course. Original characters—OCs, one of the many terms that came along with fandoms. Whether they’re a Slytherin in the common rooms after a win against Gryffindor, flying in the sky above Pyrrhia with your fellow winged friends, or being sold to a boyband by your own mother.
It was a mandatory phase for all young geeks to pick up a pen, choose the cover, set the tags, write for hours and hours—and then forget about it in a week, if you’re like me, anyway.
There’s something human about it. Maybe it’s the plain self insert of yourself in a world you dream to be in, or being able to be a part of something bigger than yourself. And soon, it became a part of everyone’s childhood, or at least Gen Z’s.
Back to being human.
It’s something I’m assuming you’ve been, whether it’s the vulnerability that comes with it, the fear of putting yourself out there, going through heartbreak, love. All those boring things. We could always hide away behind the internet. Behind the fandoms and passions, you pour your heart out into your self-insert writing.
Fanfiction and everything fandom has become is an important part of our youth’s society. Because, let’s face it: with Gen Z being the internet generation, of course we’d find the weird things ourselves. Not exactly ‘weird’ per se, but something the past generations haven’t even begun to fathom themselves.
It unites us. Something surprisingly niche.
Something so amazingly human has now almost been taken over by the harsh, cold fingers of AI. And it’s sunk its claws in deep. Websites that once flourished with fanart like DeviantArt have taken part in the trend of having their own AI draw for them. Art—it’s in the name. Art has always been human-made, drawn and given.
Now it lies lifeless, no personal style or anything. This has affected the real world as well—AI ‘artwork’ now is hung in museums. And AI has come for fandoms that contain more than fanart. AI has come for writing.
Not just fanfiction, but as regular printed books in real life, just like in the museums—they have infected the bookstores. Many authors have been exposed as using AI to adjust, edit or straight up write their ‘own’ work. It’s pitiful, really. All these things that made us human—fantasising, world building, brainstorming. All thrown out the window because apparently, AI makes everything easier.
I’m not coming for analytical AI, that assists algorithms like Google or Siri herself. That assists us. But generative AI? Bland. No heart, head or pencils picked up. You are no artist if you use AI.
I hopped onto Wattpad myself a while back and started scrolling through my recs that I saved. To help me kickstart my brain to get over writing block, I clicked on a book with a title that intrigued me. I read the description and paused.
Just something I made with AI to amuse myself.
AI has come for my beautiful fanfiction, and it will not stand.
I used to hide the fact I write fanfiction in intermediate, it’s come so far from being something weird and too nerdy to something that is now accepted as a fun way to write. AI could never beat the proud look on my face when I finally publish my fanfic to the internet and see people leave comments about how they wish it went on longer.
AI will not win.
I write this now as a dedication, but also a rallying cry. Pick up your pencils and paintbrushes. I would like to thank what fanfiction did to help poor, little, given-internet-a-bit-too-early me. It helped me establish my love for writing, and now I shall defend what has now become my safe space.
Cossar Salesa-Lee – Year 11
