What Girls Write: The Art of Being a Teenage Fangirl

by Fangirl

Hello great big amazing world of readers and writers! I am not Elizabeth Lynd! (Insert dramatic gasp here.) But, I haven't kidnapped her or anything. (Relieved sigh here.) Wonderful world of writers, I am her daughter. Codename: Fangirl! Today I will be giving you a treat! (Add excited squeal-y noise here.)  I am going to talk about being, as the codename states, a fangirl.

Me! In a hat!

I am an avid reader, writer and obsess-er. I prefer the tittle "Fangirl." For those of you who don't know what this is, I will explain. If you Google the term "fangirl," one definition you might get is: An obsessive female fan (usually of movies, comic books, or science fiction). In many senses this is very accurate. In all senses really. You've most likely heard of fanart--if not, it's exactly what it sounds like--and fanfiction. Fanfiction is one of the most common types of writing young writers do today. One simply takes the character(s) of a book and sets up different plots for them. For many young writers, this is their start of writing. Maybe they're not quite ready to tell their story yet. So, they elaborate off another's, practicing, churning ideas for their own books in the future.  In many ways, it's a beautiful process many young fangirls go through.

Me again. Another hat.

Of course, another thing fangirls do is read. And read. And read. For me, that's the best part of the day. Doing an excessive amount of reading can make one a little bit crazy though. Which explains me. I am crazy about some books. The characters leaping off the pages, the words swirling around me pulling me deep into the book, the places surrounding me as I sit on my trampoline chair in my rather messy room. The things that really pull me into a book stay with me. The things I dislike about a book also stay with me though. Which helps me know exactly what I want to write.

Being a teenager, thirteen almost fourteen, many people I've met don't take me as a serious writer. It's not just adults. The biggest naysayers are people my age. But the thing is, I have the same problems that I think all writers have. I can't get motivated to sit down and actually write. I stumble over words, not sure exactly which to use. I get writer's block. I'm busy. My first chapters are always a mess. I keep writing, though, because I enjoy it. I write and so do my friends. We're serious.

I want to bring people the pleasure I got while reading the Percy Jackson series. I want to have people experience the awe I felt while reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I want people to sob and rejoice the way I was while flipping the pages of  To Kill a Mockingbird. I want people to hear the story I have to tell and to feel something.

And, that my friends, is the art of being a teenage fangirl.