Abstract
Fanfiction has always been popular, but through the expansion of the internet, it can be viewed as well as published anywhere at any time. Fanfiction written by young female authors tends to follow similar themes and tropes across the age group, and often, are self-insert fanfictions. Self-insert is a term to describe a character who is the author’s surrogate character. In my research, I wanted to determine what the appeal of writing these types of characters would be. By extensively looking at many research papers and published fanfictions, I have determined that the main appeal for young women to write self-insert fanfiction is how the creative media gives them the ability for author expression, escapism, and experimentation throughout different stories. While certain problematic aspects are present in adolescent written fanfiction, such as sexually explicit content, they are not something that can be linked directly to fanfiction as a cause for the controversial aspects because they can also be seen in different online communities outside of fanfiction.
Semester/Year of Award
Fall 2023
Mentor
Dr. Susan Kroeg
Mentor Department Affiliation
English
Access Options
Open Access Thesis
Document Type
Bachelor Thesis
Degree Name
Honors Scholars
Degree Level
Bachelors
Department
English
Recommended Citation
Miles, Kerra, "I Know What You Did on Wattpad: Understanding the Adolescent Desire to Write Self-Insert Fanfiction" (2023). Honors Theses. 979.
https://encompass.eku.edu/honors_theses/979
