by LINA GU
STAFF WRITER
Get excited because Chadwick’s English Department has a big announcement regarding their plan for learning next year: the integration of fanfiction nov-
els as core novels in all English classes.
What used to be a hobby for students who have developed parasocial relationships for celebrities or characters in their favorite movies, books and TV shows will now be a required genre of literature that will take up the topics of future discussions, in-class paragraphs and literary analysis papers.
This course will be available to all upperclassmen.
Popular to many students, fanfiction is a form of creative writing that typically features characters from works whose copyright is held by others.
Throughout the advent of the internet, fanfiction has been transformed into many variations.
One notable variation being “Y/N,” short for “your name,” where the author allows the reader to insert themselves into the story and imagine a new life in
the fictitious realm.
“I’m excited to bring fanfiction to the English curriculum because I think it’s time we get rid of all this classic literature that’s really hard for students to read,” says English teacher George Ramos, who has been teaching at Chadwick for the past 27 years.
“And you know, we don’t teach enough about romance here at Chadwick, so students should learn a lot more about romance through literature.”
Romance in fanfiction knows no limits and transcends heteronormativity, romantic human relationships and archetypal romance tropes.
For example, in 2016, Wattpad’s top fanfiction novel was a Y/N romance novel with Nick Wilde (the fox from Zootopia)
Next school year, Wattpad, the fanfiction app, will be downloaded in every Upper School student’s computer.
Wattpad is an online space where anyone can upload their very own fanfiction novels.
Because Wattpad is a free resource, the accessibility of fanfiction novels has skyrocketed all around the world.
“I use Wattpad everyday,” Ramos says. “As a matter of fact, I have pretty much stopped writing on Quora because I spend so much time on Wattpad.”
Ramos loves Wattpad so much that he has already made plans surrounding the usage of the tool for his classes next year: “When I do creative writing with my 11th-graders, I think we are going to try to get some things published on Wattpad.”
Says fellow English teacher Min Kim, “Wattpad sounds excellent. You know, there’s nothing like pages and pages of internet fanfiction to really be excited about.”
When asked about the impact that fanfiction can have on a student’s learning journey, both Ramos and Kim seem to be hopeful about the future implementa-
tion.
“I think fanfiction will do a good job explaining a student’s interior lives to others,” Kim said. “Anytime you get students to write anything they care about is
a positive … even if it’s something, as outlandish as fanfiction.”
Along with the positive learning effects for students, fanfiction will also allow Chadwick to grow an innovative image.
Adds Ramos: “I think we are a school that thrives on innovation, and adding fanfiction to the curriculum is something that is not being done anywhere else. “So I think we can be on the forefront of a tidal wave of new readers reading romance in fanfiction.”
The Mainsheet 