Going Public: AN ADOLESCENT'S NETWORKED WRITING ON FANFICTION.NET

Building upon research exploring adolescent writing in technology-mediated contexts, this article examines writing and sharing in the online space of Fanfiction.net. Drawing on qualitative data from a longitudinal inquiry with a 16-year-old who writes in multiple contexts, this study explores the writing opportunities afforded on Fanfiction.net and how the fanfiction public shapes one adolescent's practices and perspectives as a writer. Grounded in a view of literacies as social practices and contemporary theories of audience and networked publics, this instrumental case study presents the particularity and complexity of writing within the Fanfiction.net public. Findings reveal how fanfiction's access, anonymity, and conventions create a multifaceted experience of writing for and sharing with audience in ways unavailable to this adolescent in school. The article conceptualizes networked writing and offers recommendations to foster classroom writing with a similar emphasis on audiences.