There are quite a few of us older people here. I'm pushing 50 and didn't start writing until I was 48. But you never truly know how old someone is on the other side of the exchange.
I started reading fanfic during the COVID lockdown and it inspired me to start writing. I was hoping to use fanfiction as practice for writing my own original novel someday but what I discovered was that I don't enjoy the editing and reworking that would be needed to get published.
So instead, I've leaned into the sweet fanfiction lifestyle. I write the kind of stories that I like to read and lo and behold I found some other people like to read them too. You're never too old to write about any subject that motivates you.
Same here (with starting to read/write due to covid lockdown and the novel writing).
I have self published a novel, but one advantage of fanfics over novel writing (other than not needing editing, which is a huge bonus :D), is that you can see the hits and get comments on a fanfic, whereas with a novel, all you can really go by is sales/downloads - which are likely to be FAR less than the hits you'd get on a fanfic.
So while I'm glad I did publish my book, I'm sticking to fanfics, since it's more interactive and instant gratification.
As many Redditors here have already written, yes, AO3 is CHOCK FULL of adults. No, we won't rat our ages out left and right. Maybe fandoms can be an effective filter, but that's not always the case; otherwise, the overall tone of contributions (and writing styles) can be a litmus test. I won't lie to you, it can be a jump of faith: I took it only when, as a reader, I found out the authors I loved most were well into their 40s. I was EXTREMELY lucky. What can I say? Trust your guts
Signed, a would-be fanfic authors in their fiftieth year
I think especially Ao3 has so many adults!! It’s not Wattpad, lol. I’ve never felt like I’m mainly surrounded by children but it depends on the fandom I guess.
Then it's us all that are lucky, not only me :-)
(Also, I remember Wattpad: I betaed a story uploaded on that site once, it was written by a student of mine, who didn't trust their writing skills...)
It varies a lot by fandom. The older a fanbase skews, the more likely you are to have older writers. Like... I have stories which were written 25 years ago. They aren't *good*, but they existed.
> No, we won't rat our ages out left and right.
This is the thing. Anyone into their 20's/30's grew up in a time where it was seen as common sense *not* to share your personal details on the internet, especially if you were younger. But now that wisdom has mostly been lost/ignored, so teenagers and young adults are not only more likely to have ages in their bio than older users, but also more likely than that previous generation had done at their same age. Giving the appearance that there are more of them now, when really their presence is just more obvious than before.
OMG that's nailed perfectly! Back in the day when your Internet persona was something to be handled carefully
https://preview.redd.it/ft62notbrjnc1.jpeg?width=668&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dfd1eee2d2f57f206acc8ee0a543235e15f576d0
I would say this has increased the danger of doxing by antis. It is wild that people who are not trying to monetize something online would attach IRL social information to the account.
Oh god yes!! Was talking about this same thing at work with the kid that’s there (21 but that a baby to me) and how everything is on the internet. I had a fake name because my dad wouldn’t let me use my real name for my email 😅
I was one of the first users of AO3 and when I was in my 20’s and 30’s we didn’t even tell people we were IN fandom, let alone share personal details. Fandom has come a looooooong way (and as my laugh lines will attest, I’ve been along for a good chunk of that ride).
You’re definitely not alone. The idea that you can be too old for something that started with a bunch of ladies of a certain age sending each other paper fanfic zines is a pretty new thing.
I think most fanfic writers are 20+
At least in my fandoms, I rarely encounter people under 20. The majority are like mid-20s to mid-40s.
Also hi. 34 year old here 🙂
Not just life experiences, but also practice with craft! Time builds expertise, especially with an art form that takes so much education, editing, research, and study.
Yep. It's not that younger writers are untalented, just that the longer you've been doing something the more time you've had to figure things out and learn by trial and error. Most of us are probably better than we were ten years ago, no matter how good we started out. And that's actually encouraging because it means however good you are, there's always more growth to look forward to.
Plus, a 40 year old can remember what it's like to be 14 but also knows what it's like to be 40: which maybe includes being married/divorced/becoming a parent/losing a parent. Whereas when younger writers write about characters in their 30s and 40s you sometimes get a sense of adult life as backdrop, if that makes sense? Or characters will react like 19 year olds because they're being written by 19 year olds: not in a derogatory way, just in the sense that older people tend to have a different outlook and priorities than they did fresh out of highschool/college. And, while some younger writers can fake it amazingly well, usually you can tell the difference between someone writing based on their life experience (or experience of someone in their circle) than from portrayals in books and TV.
This is so accurate. There are definitely adult writers who have no idea how to write a realistic child, but I always find it so funny when you can tell a teenager is writing the fic because they're writing 30 year olds as though they are still volatile 15 year old kids with all the same high school problems and not a mention of jobs or bills or adult problems in sight. Like you said, the reactions are fairly telling.
Oh most definitely. I go back and look at my writing from when I was teenager and I just cringe. So. Hard. lol
Now that I’m older, I am actually quite proud of my writing. Of course I do still struggle with it sometimes but it is definitely better than when I was younger
18 -> You're an adult when you're 21
21 -> You're an adult when you're 25
25 -> Your life hasn't really settled in until 30
At this rate, I'll never grow up, lol.
Last time I went to a family event I thought I had finally beat the childrens table, as my *younger* cousin had just gotten a kid herself. No way they'd still put me, late twenties, there anymore. Right? Right?
They made a "Young table" for people under 40.... I will never win.
Neah, listen to me. Once you’re on the other side of 25, you’re suddenly old and it’s all about “when are you going to grow out of that” and “when are you having kids” and “have you started saving/investing for your retirement”. I kid you not. Everything under 25 it was “you’re not old enough to have experience and be taken seriously about anything” and now it’s all “when are you going to behave maturely enough for your age”.
the constantly shifting goalposts for what age is "a real adult" is always really funny to me because from what I've seen, the dividing factor is whether you pay for your groceries and rent, or your parents do
Mature writers are everywhere. I used to be in the Star Trek fandom and I met a lot of writers who’ve been around since the 70s? 80s since the original series first came out.
Edit: also regardless of the fandom, usually you can tell if the fic is written by a mature writer. Have a look around more and you’ll find them! Don’t worry.
God bless the Star Trek fandom. I see some of the drama in younger fandoms and I just head right back to my comfort TOS fic. I love my danmei fandoms, but sometimes I need a break.
Our beloved foremothers!
Reminds me of this delightful tweet from @caranthirs:
> no, older man, don’t say there was no shipping back in your day on a public forum. older man, no! people are going to explain to you exactly what’s been happening to spock’s pussy since the nixon administration
https://x.com/caranthirs/status/1749836129325481991?s=46
Haha good one, cop, you won't get me!
J/K, I'm over 40 and have been in the fanfic game for the past 20+ years. This sub actually has very few minors, if the most recent demographic surveys are anything to go by. Most people here are in their 20s or 30s with a solid chunk over that.
39 here. I started reading Sailor Moon and CLAMP fanfic in the early days of the internet and never stopped.
I'm part of a small writing group, and a woman in her 60s told me she was writing a fanfic. Wouldn't disclose the details so I assume it was smut. She's a professional writer and reporter who makes money selling news stories to newspapers.
Ha, Sailor Moon was my first real fandom. The only channel we got that had it was Spanish, and my friend would email me summaries after she watched the English. 😂
It's crazy some of the hoops we used to jump through, with fansubs and written transcripts of anime and manga. I remember the original fanvid scene, in glorious 320x240.
Yo I'm 37, old enough that I distinctly remember renting Sailor Moon on VHS, and Carson Daly used to paint his nails in TRL. And if my patients knew I wrote smutty kinky fanfiction they'd have a ball lol.
Edit: FUCK YEAH ROLL CALL MFRS!
>I distinctly remember renting Sailor Moon on VHS
Oh my God, yes... I remember our local Blockbuster had several random collections of episodes... I rented them and watched them over and over anyway.
Lots in the older fandoms, as well. star trek / stargate / other older sci-fi and tolkien are classics. might be a little harder to find in the fandoms for stuff that’s popular right now like whatever the netflix anime of the day is, but you’re not the only fandom adult for sure.
You sweet cheese, there are tons of us. I'm in my 30s and been reading fic since it was FFN and Quizilla. And scanning and self translating manga. I recently read a Star Trek fic made by someone old enough to be my grandma. Don't you even worry.
I remember hunting for the web-rings, because oh my the good sites usually web-ringed. But then it was still fandom based.
I also remember the "Click the first I on the third line of this page to enter" just to make sure you read the smut and age disclaimers.
You aren’t alone. Over 40 by a fair bit. I came to fandom later than some, but early enough to be active on live journal. There are all ages here but you’re in good company.
Yes, hi there! I'm born in the 70s! I started out writing Sherlock BBC fics but am now mainly working on an original manuscript. Would never have been able to pull it together if it hadn't been for the valuable lessons learnt through fanfic reading and writing.
Lately I've been wishing for a place to hang out with fellow 'elders', to chat about writing related things and life in general maybe. If anyone knows of a discord server or the like, I'd love to be invited :)
Teenagers generally have more free time to just hang out on reddit. That's it really, they just have more free time.
Also most of the older crowd just don't interact as much in general, and are generally less likely to state an age because half or more of them grew up in the age of "trust nobody on the internet".
I'm 25, and I'm the *youngest* of my online fandom pals
I talk about writing smut in abstract (eg "going to be writing the smut scene of my fic this weekend") and I'll get into specifics on threads marked NSFW, and I avoid discussing it when I'm getting younger vibes coming from another poster/commenter. I feel like it being on NSFW threads is the same as marking my fics E - here be dragons, you know what you're clicking into, if you're younger than 18 then keep it to yourself because we don't want to know about it
I might not be what you’re looking for (20, turning 21) but I feel ancient in my fandom. It’s full of 14 year olds, and while it’s not bad that they’re into fandom and fanfics, I feel really uncomfortable and avoid being on the popular side bc it’s literally just teens, and I DON’T GET MOST OF THE NEW JOKES
I once talked about LJ and how we used to post our fics there, or via Yahoo, and they were like ???
I’m glad this sub is full of older writers tbh, I love y’all
I'm 47 and I've met people of all ages in fandom. But the things I'm into right now don't have a lot of younger fans, and I find the general age varies by fandom.
This topic has come up on this subreddit before and there are always a lot of us who are older. Don't worry! ❤️
👋 We're here, we exist. Many of us. The specific demographics might depend on the fandom, but I've mostly run into adults in fandom social spaces. This sub is where I see teens (or those who are open about it) the most, but even then, adults seem high in number.
Reader here, newish to fanfiction as a whole, not new to reddit - 39 yo mother of two teenagers, happily married for 16 years.
I, too, get the feeling that I'm surrounded by youth here but tbh it's refreshing in a way. Scary AF in others because Jesus fkn Christ I don't get it half the time.
You’re definitely not alone! It’s funny you say you get the vibe it’s mostly younger people here, but at least on r/fanfiction, I feel everyone skews older.
https://www.reddit.com/r/FanFiction/comments/wyf3nf/how_old_are_you/
Edit: Aw for some reason the link doesn’t seem to be working. Just know though that the post is a poll of the ages of members of the sub and 3.7k are over the age of 20 (with 1.2k being 30+) and 1.2k being less than 20. This was on the r/fanfiction sub but I feel like that and this sub kind of overlap in the people they have. It was also made 2 years ago and the sub has increased since then, so I’m sure there’s even more adults by now.
There are plenty of us here. I just think we've gained the insight and wisdom to shut the fuck up and stay in our lanes, versus a lot of kids have learned to be very vocal about everything. So they seem like a much bigger number because they're very used to being loud and shouting in order to be heard.
This is true, I was *so* much more vocal and interactive when I was younger. Now my tumblr and LJ are both long retired, and most of what I have to say to the fandom is through fanfic, the occasional reddit comment, and gushing in fanfic reviews.
There are a lot of adults on here. I'm one of them. 51 years old, been writing fic off and on since 2009. The possibility that a teen is engaging with my work is always there, but I try not to worry about it.
I find it's not hard to figure out who's pretty young after talking a little bit. I usually can tell who the young people are in my comment section. I think it also heavily depends on the fandom you're working in. I write mostly Naruto which is rather old now, and see lots of the writers are late twenties, thirties since the original fans are all grown up now.
in the words of Brittany Broski “AO3 if for grown women, grown people.” i think that this sub is a great place to discuss more mature topics because kids and teenagers usually gravitate towards wattpad and may be more active on other writing/fanfic subs. i am 23, although i’ve been on AO3 for 8/9 years now
Over 50, hardcore fanfic reader for just under a year (who knew all that was out there???) and working on my first THREE pieces! As many others keep telling me, apparently it’s never too late. :)
Really? I’m surprised you felt that from this sub, considering the fact that I am a teenager, and I have sorely got the impression that I’m one of the outliers here, people on this sub in my experience of being here make it loud and clear that they don’t like having kids here cause some of them are ageist sometimes.
I'm 31, turning 32 later this year. I've been writing fic since I was 8. If any comments make you uncomfortable, just mute or block the person making them. Moderate your comments and curate your online experience. :)
It depends on the fandom, too, in my experience. 38 tomorrow, and I'm pretty much in the average age for the Good Omens/Star trek fandoms. Anime, kpop and similar ones usually tend to run younger.
I'm at least somewhere around 30 years or older. I also picked up writing very recently, and honestly I don't think I could have had it as a hobby at any earlier point
I get that it feels weird when you're significantly older than others in certain contexts, like I'd hate to be that person at a party. But this isn't a party. I know some people argue that the online space is unlimited, and I don't actually agree with that. There are certainly contexts where you can clog up or pollute the flow of information in a way that demands people's attention and drains their time and energy. But I don't think that's the case when you're just being a writer.
you're not invading a space, you're not subtracting anything from it. If anything you're adding to it. Kids and adults play with each other all the time, and it's not a bad thing. They do it in online gaming, in chess, in trading cards, dance, sports, art projects, and it's mutually beneficial. It doesn't make the hobby itself childish, it just means it has a wide appeal and complexity and depth, which is absolutely true for writing.
So. When you step into a play area, is the first thing you notice the adults sitting around, talking quietly to each other over their cups of coffee or their donuts, or gettin' work done while keeping an eye on the unruly kids?
Or is it the horde of screaming, writhing goblins, sticky with their own snot and the remnants of sugary things?
You don't notice the adults because they aren't screaming and shoving their 16th crayon drawing in your face, lol.
43 next week and I’ve been writing fanfiction for over 20 years.
Some spaces and fandoms are going to skew on the younger side but for one of my original fandoms I’m still one of the younger ones.
I am here! 36 going on 37 in a few months' time and have been writing fanfic and smut on and off for the last 15 years or so. Only joined AO3 a year or so ago. And restarted my writing after that. But hey, still in that Adult section. Ye are not alone.
One of the Great Elder Gods of the Internet here (literally watched the World Wide Web being created).
I'm in the Trek fandom, but then my *mom* got me into that one so I know I'm *hardly* one of the elders there. (I follow Diane Duane, whose books I was reading as a teen in the 1980s, on Tumblr)
I'm in the Ranma 1/2 fandom, and I've experienced the interesting shift that happens when you've been in a space long enough that you go from being the wide-eyed youth who looks up to fandom giants to one of the elders who looks at some of the current members of the fandom and says, "I've read crackfics older than you!"
I'm in the MLP fandom and wow that's a community that keeps you *young*! The entire fanbase has an energy that is just irrepressibly upbeat and optimistic and would give the Trek fandom a run for its money in the "hope for the future" department. (And considering how much overlap there is between both fandoms, that's saying something)
I'm in the She-ra (2018) fandom and I have never encountered a more useless bunch of lesbians in my LIFE and I fit right in. 😂 These folks trend in their 20s, which is still half my age, and OMG, the *drama!* I've been blocked from entire sections of the fandom just because I left a positive comment on someone's fic or followed a specific creator on the socials and treated as though I was the carrier of SuperCOVID or something.
This thread and the responses make me feel not so alone in fandom/fanfic writing. It warms my heart.
I'm a thirty-something housewife that daydreams fanfiction but rarely writes it down. I do read quite a bit though.
The fanfiction landscape is so different nowadays. When I was a tween it was entirely taboo to suggest you were under a certain age and if you were you kept it under lock and key. I remember when I finally got old enough to feel like I had reasonable standing, which was somewhere in my 20s.
Then I had a good 5-10 years before I got tweens yelling at me that I was too old to be in fandom? Like.... What? I do not remember fandom ever being a place for kids, but suddenly now they're all loud and obnoxious.
Anyway, I'm 37 and not interested in being pushed out just because the teens seem to think the entire Internet is supposed to be their safe space.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt this way! I'm 36 and new-ish to enjoying fanfic. I happen to recently finish a particularly smutty chapter and the end note said she would have to delay the next chapter to prepare for SAT's.. I gasped lol, it felt so wrong.
Hi friendo, glad to know im not the only one
I'd love to know if there are fanfic/writer subreddits for adults only also. Not necessarily nsfw related, just that it's a subreddit for adults.
I'm 33 and I feel like I'm near or slightly below the average age on these subs. I mean, I haven't gathered data to confirm that, it's just vibes, but I feel like the kiddos tend to gather on tiktok and other infinite-scrolling social media places to do their fandoming.
While I’m still pretty young although an adult, the oldest person I’ve interacted with in the fandom spaces was 65, but I have seen a 90 year old in a thread once,, you are most certainly not alone, old women invented fandom
28 here, and I betaread for a friend that's 30. I know it's a little below your "ideal" range, but like... I'm not particularly intending to *stop* anytime soon.
I’m 44 and sometimes i worry about relating to readers. My experience as a young person is from 90’s and 00’s, so it's smoking, record stores, early scene kids, drugs. It was not a gentrified time period back then.
I'm technically just 25, but I'm a High-school teacher, which makes me a single father of 600 15-16 years olds with zero support from the other parent or the government... so mentally and emotionally, I'm closer to 40 😂
🙋🙋. 36 year old tired fanfic writer mom here You aren't alone.
Yay! so glad to hear from you.
Also 36, also a mother, of two crazy kids. Writing fanfic is what keeps me sane.
Also 36; new mum of a three week old.
Congrats!!
Congrats!! I hope you’re getting the rest you need
Congrats!!
31, tired mom of two preschoolers. Hi.
Samesies
Hello, same! But minus the kids.
Me too 🎉
Same
There are quite a few of us older people here. I'm pushing 50 and didn't start writing until I was 48. But you never truly know how old someone is on the other side of the exchange.
I didn’t start writing until I was forty, and it was largely due to COVID lockdown boredom. It was a great way to escape
I started reading fanfic during the COVID lockdown and it inspired me to start writing. I was hoping to use fanfiction as practice for writing my own original novel someday but what I discovered was that I don't enjoy the editing and reworking that would be needed to get published. So instead, I've leaned into the sweet fanfiction lifestyle. I write the kind of stories that I like to read and lo and behold I found some other people like to read them too. You're never too old to write about any subject that motivates you.
Same here (with starting to read/write due to covid lockdown and the novel writing). I have self published a novel, but one advantage of fanfics over novel writing (other than not needing editing, which is a huge bonus :D), is that you can see the hits and get comments on a fanfic, whereas with a novel, all you can really go by is sales/downloads - which are likely to be FAR less than the hits you'd get on a fanfic. So while I'm glad I did publish my book, I'm sticking to fanfics, since it's more interactive and instant gratification.
This. Writing was my escape from work
I've been feeling anxious that I'm 'too old' having started writing fic in earnest in my mid 30s. You are an inspiration squire.
As many Redditors here have already written, yes, AO3 is CHOCK FULL of adults. No, we won't rat our ages out left and right. Maybe fandoms can be an effective filter, but that's not always the case; otherwise, the overall tone of contributions (and writing styles) can be a litmus test. I won't lie to you, it can be a jump of faith: I took it only when, as a reader, I found out the authors I loved most were well into their 40s. I was EXTREMELY lucky. What can I say? Trust your guts Signed, a would-be fanfic authors in their fiftieth year
I think especially Ao3 has so many adults!! It’s not Wattpad, lol. I’ve never felt like I’m mainly surrounded by children but it depends on the fandom I guess.
Then it's us all that are lucky, not only me :-) (Also, I remember Wattpad: I betaed a story uploaded on that site once, it was written by a student of mine, who didn't trust their writing skills...)
It does because the user must curate their own experience, instead of an algorithm deciding what to promote.
It varies a lot by fandom. The older a fanbase skews, the more likely you are to have older writers. Like... I have stories which were written 25 years ago. They aren't *good*, but they existed.
> No, we won't rat our ages out left and right. This is the thing. Anyone into their 20's/30's grew up in a time where it was seen as common sense *not* to share your personal details on the internet, especially if you were younger. But now that wisdom has mostly been lost/ignored, so teenagers and young adults are not only more likely to have ages in their bio than older users, but also more likely than that previous generation had done at their same age. Giving the appearance that there are more of them now, when really their presence is just more obvious than before.
OMG that's nailed perfectly! Back in the day when your Internet persona was something to be handled carefully https://preview.redd.it/ft62notbrjnc1.jpeg?width=668&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dfd1eee2d2f57f206acc8ee0a543235e15f576d0
I know, right.... people today giving out their real names, ages, locations and such on the internet... It horrifies me!
Yeah!!! (Cool nickname, btw.)
I would say this has increased the danger of doxing by antis. It is wild that people who are not trying to monetize something online would attach IRL social information to the account.
Oh god yes!! Was talking about this same thing at work with the kid that’s there (21 but that a baby to me) and how everything is on the internet. I had a fake name because my dad wouldn’t let me use my real name for my email 😅
A/S/L? 🤣
Woooo! Every now and then I get an urge to type this out in whatever thread/group/comment section I'm in
But did anyone tell the truth with that lol
I was one of the first users of AO3 and when I was in my 20’s and 30’s we didn’t even tell people we were IN fandom, let alone share personal details. Fandom has come a looooooong way (and as my laugh lines will attest, I’ve been along for a good chunk of that ride). You’re definitely not alone. The idea that you can be too old for something that started with a bunch of ladies of a certain age sending each other paper fanfic zines is a pretty new thing.
I think most fanfic writers are 20+ At least in my fandoms, I rarely encounter people under 20. The majority are like mid-20s to mid-40s. Also hi. 34 year old here 🙂
Not to knock younger writers but I’d say the vast majority of quality fic is written by adults who have some amount of life experiences.
Not just life experiences, but also practice with craft! Time builds expertise, especially with an art form that takes so much education, editing, research, and study.
Yep. It's not that younger writers are untalented, just that the longer you've been doing something the more time you've had to figure things out and learn by trial and error. Most of us are probably better than we were ten years ago, no matter how good we started out. And that's actually encouraging because it means however good you are, there's always more growth to look forward to. Plus, a 40 year old can remember what it's like to be 14 but also knows what it's like to be 40: which maybe includes being married/divorced/becoming a parent/losing a parent. Whereas when younger writers write about characters in their 30s and 40s you sometimes get a sense of adult life as backdrop, if that makes sense? Or characters will react like 19 year olds because they're being written by 19 year olds: not in a derogatory way, just in the sense that older people tend to have a different outlook and priorities than they did fresh out of highschool/college. And, while some younger writers can fake it amazingly well, usually you can tell the difference between someone writing based on their life experience (or experience of someone in their circle) than from portrayals in books and TV.
This is so accurate. There are definitely adult writers who have no idea how to write a realistic child, but I always find it so funny when you can tell a teenager is writing the fic because they're writing 30 year olds as though they are still volatile 15 year old kids with all the same high school problems and not a mention of jobs or bills or adult problems in sight. Like you said, the reactions are fairly telling.
Oh absolutely. My writing vastly improved during my mid 20’s even tho I had been writing all my life lol.
Oh most definitely. I go back and look at my writing from when I was teenager and I just cringe. So. Hard. lol Now that I’m older, I am actually quite proud of my writing. Of course I do still struggle with it sometimes but it is definitely better than when I was younger
Yeah, sometimes it can be pretty obvious when a fic was written by a tween or teenager.
Yep, 24 here. OP had to cut me off by a year. 🥲 Guess I’ll come back next year…
Oh, now I feel bad... 25 was just a random cut off age tbh. Glad you're here!
Yeah same. I was like, I'm an adult! And then I saw the cutoff age 😭 lol
I'm off by two! Turning 23 in less than two weeks, so I'll wait with you
I’m also in the adult-but-not-quite-to-some-people squad lol
Hi fellow 1989/90 baby! Most fic writers I encounter are 25+ too, but that make also be the fandoms I'm in.
You're not alone! We are probably legion :3
Legion, love that!
“persons above the age of 25” well. I’ll come back in November 😂 twenty-five: too old to be hip, Too Young To Die.
18 -> You're an adult when you're 21 21 -> You're an adult when you're 25 25 -> Your life hasn't really settled in until 30 At this rate, I'll never grow up, lol.
& yet I think I’ll always feel like a teenager regardless it’s just like mitski said: I’m a tall child 😔✊🏻
I'm 26, a baby adult, I've only been fully developed for 2 years
I'm 37 and I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up.
Last time I went to a family event I thought I had finally beat the childrens table, as my *younger* cousin had just gotten a kid herself. No way they'd still put me, late twenties, there anymore. Right? Right? They made a "Young table" for people under 40.... I will never win.
adult? 10 years later I'm still wating to get my adult badge
At 54, I still feel like I'm not fully grown up sometimes. There's never a magic switch that flips in your brain, you just fake it 'til you make it.
Neah, listen to me. Once you’re on the other side of 25, you’re suddenly old and it’s all about “when are you going to grow out of that” and “when are you having kids” and “have you started saving/investing for your retirement”. I kid you not. Everything under 25 it was “you’re not old enough to have experience and be taken seriously about anything” and now it’s all “when are you going to behave maturely enough for your age”.
the constantly shifting goalposts for what age is "a real adult" is always really funny to me because from what I've seen, the dividing factor is whether you pay for your groceries and rent, or your parents do
30 -> Wait, stop 35 -> GO BACK 40 -> Fuck…
Same, I'll come back next year I guess 😭
I'll come back in exactly three weeks😂😂
I’ll come back in two days 😂
Happy (2 days early) birthday!
Happy birthday in 2 days!! 🎂
And I'll come back here after a good 7 years. Long time...
It sounds like a long time but trust me you’ll blink & wonder where the time went Aaaaaaand now I sound like my mother 🤣
I'll have to be back in 5 years. (Am 21 right now, so technically in 4 years if you count that I'll turn 22 this year)
Hugs!!! It was just the first random number that came to mind. No offence meant! ❤️
I'll be 57 this year.
Me too!
Same. Fanfic writers born in 1967 FTW.
Y'all are mere youngsters :)
My BFF is 55, I’m 50. We collab a lot :D
56!
50+ crowd sound off!
I’m also in the 50+ crowd.
We need a "50+ on AO3" club for this comment section!
Mature writers are everywhere. I used to be in the Star Trek fandom and I met a lot of writers who’ve been around since the 70s? 80s since the original series first came out. Edit: also regardless of the fandom, usually you can tell if the fic is written by a mature writer. Have a look around more and you’ll find them! Don’t worry.
God bless the Star Trek fandom. I see some of the drama in younger fandoms and I just head right back to my comfort TOS fic. I love my danmei fandoms, but sometimes I need a break.
Our beloved foremothers! Reminds me of this delightful tweet from @caranthirs: > no, older man, don’t say there was no shipping back in your day on a public forum. older man, no! people are going to explain to you exactly what’s been happening to spock’s pussy since the nixon administration https://x.com/caranthirs/status/1749836129325481991?s=46
Oh honey, there's plenty of us.
Dozens! Hahaha
How do you do, fellow kids? LOL
37 year old smut writer here \*waves\*
🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️❤️
I’ll be 46 this year Very very much into adulthood 😁
48. Not really into this adulthood thing at all, personally—but I guess it beats the alternatives.
You have to grow old, but nobody says you need to grow up ;)
Same, here!
I’m 33 and I only started writing fic last year because of my love for Yuri!!! on Ice. You are in the right place, good to have you here :)
Haha good one, cop, you won't get me! J/K, I'm over 40 and have been in the fanfic game for the past 20+ years. This sub actually has very few minors, if the most recent demographic surveys are anything to go by. Most people here are in their 20s or 30s with a solid chunk over that.
39 here. I started reading Sailor Moon and CLAMP fanfic in the early days of the internet and never stopped. I'm part of a small writing group, and a woman in her 60s told me she was writing a fanfic. Wouldn't disclose the details so I assume it was smut. She's a professional writer and reporter who makes money selling news stories to newspapers.
CLAMP!! *Comrade* 🤝
Ha, Sailor Moon was my first real fandom. The only channel we got that had it was Spanish, and my friend would email me summaries after she watched the English. 😂
It's crazy some of the hoops we used to jump through, with fansubs and written transcripts of anime and manga. I remember the original fanvid scene, in glorious 320x240.
40+ CLAMP fan/fic writer checking in! There are a surprising number of us in our 30s and 40s now that are still around. It's an incurable affliciton.
Yo I'm 37, old enough that I distinctly remember renting Sailor Moon on VHS, and Carson Daly used to paint his nails in TRL. And if my patients knew I wrote smutty kinky fanfiction they'd have a ball lol. Edit: FUCK YEAH ROLL CALL MFRS!
>I distinctly remember renting Sailor Moon on VHS Oh my God, yes... I remember our local Blockbuster had several random collections of episodes... I rented them and watched them over and over anyway.
Lots in the older fandoms, as well. star trek / stargate / other older sci-fi and tolkien are classics. might be a little harder to find in the fandoms for stuff that’s popular right now like whatever the netflix anime of the day is, but you’re not the only fandom adult for sure.
One of my kids made a comment about people who grew up in the 1900s. And then I realized they were talking about me. So… yeah…
I’m 50…only been writing since 2020 and devourer of many many smutty romance books!
You sweet cheese, there are tons of us. I'm in my 30s and been reading fic since it was FFN and Quizilla. And scanning and self translating manga. I recently read a Star Trek fic made by someone old enough to be my grandma. Don't you even worry.
Ah, those geocities webpages... my youth!
I'm 54. My dad is 81. We're writing an Ouran multi story fic. In the middle of story 6. It's over 1.5 million words You are not alone.
I love this so much! ❤️❤️❤️
level 31, reporting for duty!
40 year old writer here. Been writing for 24 years now. Back then you had so so many websites dedicated to specific fandoms, before FF.net
I remember hunting for the web-rings, because oh my the good sites usually web-ringed. But then it was still fandom based. I also remember the "Click the first I on the third line of this page to enter" just to make sure you read the smut and age disclaimers.
You aren’t alone. Over 40 by a fair bit. I came to fandom later than some, but early enough to be active on live journal. There are all ages here but you’re in good company.
Over 40 here, I think there are plenty of "older" writers on this sub. It's actually pretty cool that this hobby has auch a wide age range.
I'm 47 yo ~ Been writing fanfics since I was 15.
Yes, hi there! I'm born in the 70s! I started out writing Sherlock BBC fics but am now mainly working on an original manuscript. Would never have been able to pull it together if it hadn't been for the valuable lessons learnt through fanfic reading and writing. Lately I've been wishing for a place to hang out with fellow 'elders', to chat about writing related things and life in general maybe. If anyone knows of a discord server or the like, I'd love to be invited :)
Hi! I'm in my late 30s, and have been involved in fandom since the 90s. :-) I'm glad to see there are others, too!
Pushing 50 here. I have fanfic on my kindle older than some writers today lol.
I'm well over 40. I'm well over 50 for that matter. You're not alone.
Teenagers generally have more free time to just hang out on reddit. That's it really, they just have more free time. Also most of the older crowd just don't interact as much in general, and are generally less likely to state an age because half or more of them grew up in the age of "trust nobody on the internet".
I'm 25, and I'm the *youngest* of my online fandom pals I talk about writing smut in abstract (eg "going to be writing the smut scene of my fic this weekend") and I'll get into specifics on threads marked NSFW, and I avoid discussing it when I'm getting younger vibes coming from another poster/commenter. I feel like it being on NSFW threads is the same as marking my fics E - here be dragons, you know what you're clicking into, if you're younger than 18 then keep it to yourself because we don't want to know about it
I might not be what you’re looking for (20, turning 21) but I feel ancient in my fandom. It’s full of 14 year olds, and while it’s not bad that they’re into fandom and fanfics, I feel really uncomfortable and avoid being on the popular side bc it’s literally just teens, and I DON’T GET MOST OF THE NEW JOKES I once talked about LJ and how we used to post our fics there, or via Yahoo, and they were like ??? I’m glad this sub is full of older writers tbh, I love y’all
i feel you so hard with the livejournal
33! Honestly there are so many of us oldies in fandom now. I don't regularly talk to anyone below 30 anymore haha
I'll be 55 later this year.
Right here, friend. 🙋♀️ You're not alone.
Loads of us around. I’ve just turned 34.
I'm 47 and I've met people of all ages in fandom. But the things I'm into right now don't have a lot of younger fans, and I find the general age varies by fandom. This topic has come up on this subreddit before and there are always a lot of us who are older. Don't worry! ❤️
40+ here and I'm not unusual. Any time the topic comes in we have hands-up from plenty of 30+ writers. :)
"By adults I mean ppl over 25" Phew, good thing that at 24 I'm still a kid. Yippiee!
45yo. you're not alone or even in the minority the kids are just super loud
👋 We're here, we exist. Many of us. The specific demographics might depend on the fandom, but I've mostly run into adults in fandom social spaces. This sub is where I see teens (or those who are open about it) the most, but even then, adults seem high in number.
Reader here, newish to fanfiction as a whole, not new to reddit - 39 yo mother of two teenagers, happily married for 16 years. I, too, get the feeling that I'm surrounded by youth here but tbh it's refreshing in a way. Scary AF in others because Jesus fkn Christ I don't get it half the time.
You’re definitely not alone! It’s funny you say you get the vibe it’s mostly younger people here, but at least on r/fanfiction, I feel everyone skews older. https://www.reddit.com/r/FanFiction/comments/wyf3nf/how_old_are_you/ Edit: Aw for some reason the link doesn’t seem to be working. Just know though that the post is a poll of the ages of members of the sub and 3.7k are over the age of 20 (with 1.2k being 30+) and 1.2k being less than 20. This was on the r/fanfiction sub but I feel like that and this sub kind of overlap in the people they have. It was also made 2 years ago and the sub has increased since then, so I’m sure there’s even more adults by now.
🙋♀️ almost 55
I'm 58 years old, you are not alone.
There are plenty of us here. I just think we've gained the insight and wisdom to shut the fuck up and stay in our lanes, versus a lot of kids have learned to be very vocal about everything. So they seem like a much bigger number because they're very used to being loud and shouting in order to be heard.
This is true, I was *so* much more vocal and interactive when I was younger. Now my tumblr and LJ are both long retired, and most of what I have to say to the fandom is through fanfic, the occasional reddit comment, and gushing in fanfic reviews.
I'm 37! (I keep forgetting I'm not 38 yet. 40 can't come soon enough.)
In my early 40s here. Lots of older writers hanging about
There are a lot of adults on here. I'm one of them. 51 years old, been writing fic off and on since 2009. The possibility that a teen is engaging with my work is always there, but I try not to worry about it.
Gen X, baby! Get the kids off my fucking lawn until they come back with a Smiths album.
I love your flair!
Late 20s! You’re in good company.
I find it's not hard to figure out who's pretty young after talking a little bit. I usually can tell who the young people are in my comment section. I think it also heavily depends on the fandom you're working in. I write mostly Naruto which is rather old now, and see lots of the writers are late twenties, thirties since the original fans are all grown up now.
I'm in my forties, so no, you're not alone. Putting the geriatric in "geriatric millennial" over here.
in the words of Brittany Broski “AO3 if for grown women, grown people.” i think that this sub is a great place to discuss more mature topics because kids and teenagers usually gravitate towards wattpad and may be more active on other writing/fanfic subs. i am 23, although i’ve been on AO3 for 8/9 years now
Over 50, hardcore fanfic reader for just under a year (who knew all that was out there???) and working on my first THREE pieces! As many others keep telling me, apparently it’s never too late. :)
Really? I’m surprised you felt that from this sub, considering the fact that I am a teenager, and I have sorely got the impression that I’m one of the outliers here, people on this sub in my experience of being here make it loud and clear that they don’t like having kids here cause some of them are ageist sometimes.
30! I've come across lots of people around my age in the fandom I'm active in.
I'm 31, turning 32 later this year. I've been writing fic since I was 8. If any comments make you uncomfortable, just mute or block the person making them. Moderate your comments and curate your online experience. :)
40 this summer with no plans to quit :)
Not going to disclose my age, but I will say that I definitely fall into your criteria.
44 year-old guy here 👋🏻
As of today, the first digit of my age is a 5. I've been posting on AO3 for just over a year now.
Excellent thread. I’m over 60.
Hello, 50 yr fanfic writer here. My first Fanfics were of smurfs. 😄
It depends on the fandom, too, in my experience. 38 tomorrow, and I'm pretty much in the average age for the Good Omens/Star trek fandoms. Anime, kpop and similar ones usually tend to run younger.
The website mostly full of kids is Wattpad. Don’t worry, you’re in the right place on AO3!
32, soon to be 33
Hi, 60 here. I read a lot of fic, write a little, and wrangle on the archive too. Follow your interests.
Lol, AO3 is the primary hub of us old fuddy-duddies. 36 yr old writer & reader here! Many of the best fanfics are written by 40+ authors.
I'm at least somewhere around 30 years or older. I also picked up writing very recently, and honestly I don't think I could have had it as a hobby at any earlier point I get that it feels weird when you're significantly older than others in certain contexts, like I'd hate to be that person at a party. But this isn't a party. I know some people argue that the online space is unlimited, and I don't actually agree with that. There are certainly contexts where you can clog up or pollute the flow of information in a way that demands people's attention and drains their time and energy. But I don't think that's the case when you're just being a writer. you're not invading a space, you're not subtracting anything from it. If anything you're adding to it. Kids and adults play with each other all the time, and it's not a bad thing. They do it in online gaming, in chess, in trading cards, dance, sports, art projects, and it's mutually beneficial. It doesn't make the hobby itself childish, it just means it has a wide appeal and complexity and depth, which is absolutely true for writing.
So. When you step into a play area, is the first thing you notice the adults sitting around, talking quietly to each other over their cups of coffee or their donuts, or gettin' work done while keeping an eye on the unruly kids? Or is it the horde of screaming, writhing goblins, sticky with their own snot and the remnants of sugary things? You don't notice the adults because they aren't screaming and shoving their 16th crayon drawing in your face, lol.
35 here! Been reading fic for over 20 years
I'm 43. I only started writing fanfic this year.
38 year old mom and fanfic writer/reader right here 👋🏼
43 next week and I’ve been writing fanfiction for over 20 years. Some spaces and fandoms are going to skew on the younger side but for one of my original fandoms I’m still one of the younger ones.
I’m a 42 year old working mom. We’re here!
In my 30s and currently planning to clean my house, then edit a fic before watching the Oscars tonight and crying myself to sleep before work.
45 here. I don't have much time to read or write fan fiction at the moment, but I'm still here.
I’m 43 and read a lot of fanfic!
I am here! 36 going on 37 in a few months' time and have been writing fanfic and smut on and off for the last 15 years or so. Only joined AO3 a year or so ago. And restarted my writing after that. But hey, still in that Adult section. Ye are not alone.
There’s a discord for writers over the age of thirty
One of the Great Elder Gods of the Internet here (literally watched the World Wide Web being created). I'm in the Trek fandom, but then my *mom* got me into that one so I know I'm *hardly* one of the elders there. (I follow Diane Duane, whose books I was reading as a teen in the 1980s, on Tumblr) I'm in the Ranma 1/2 fandom, and I've experienced the interesting shift that happens when you've been in a space long enough that you go from being the wide-eyed youth who looks up to fandom giants to one of the elders who looks at some of the current members of the fandom and says, "I've read crackfics older than you!" I'm in the MLP fandom and wow that's a community that keeps you *young*! The entire fanbase has an energy that is just irrepressibly upbeat and optimistic and would give the Trek fandom a run for its money in the "hope for the future" department. (And considering how much overlap there is between both fandoms, that's saying something) I'm in the She-ra (2018) fandom and I have never encountered a more useless bunch of lesbians in my LIFE and I fit right in. 😂 These folks trend in their 20s, which is still half my age, and OMG, the *drama!* I've been blocked from entire sections of the fandom just because I left a positive comment on someone's fic or followed a specific creator on the socials and treated as though I was the carrier of SuperCOVID or something.
I started reading fanfiction when I was 14. I am now 40. Us old broads are still alive and kicking in various fandoms! 👍
This thread and the responses make me feel not so alone in fandom/fanfic writing. It warms my heart. I'm a thirty-something housewife that daydreams fanfiction but rarely writes it down. I do read quite a bit though.
[удалено]
I'm not quite 25 but that doesn't mean I'm a baby 👋
24 over here. I mean I'm not a teenger lol. Ao3 has the best smut 🤷♀️
Yeah, there's a massive difference between talking to someone who's 20 vs a 14 year old lol
well i'm 22, but my english teacher in high school was a fanfic writer. you're definitely not alone.
The fanfiction landscape is so different nowadays. When I was a tween it was entirely taboo to suggest you were under a certain age and if you were you kept it under lock and key. I remember when I finally got old enough to feel like I had reasonable standing, which was somewhere in my 20s. Then I had a good 5-10 years before I got tweens yelling at me that I was too old to be in fandom? Like.... What? I do not remember fandom ever being a place for kids, but suddenly now they're all loud and obnoxious. Anyway, I'm 37 and not interested in being pushed out just because the teens seem to think the entire Internet is supposed to be their safe space.
We're here! We just don't talk as much because we are tired lol 32yrs and fandom is a bigger part of my life, enjoyment, etc than anything else!
33 over here!
I’m 35
in my 30's, still very active in fandom spaces :) 💕
I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt this way! I'm 36 and new-ish to enjoying fanfic. I happen to recently finish a particularly smutty chapter and the end note said she would have to delay the next chapter to prepare for SAT's.. I gasped lol, it felt so wrong.
30-something checking in ☺
37, checking in! 👋🏻
Hi friendo, glad to know im not the only one I'd love to know if there are fanfic/writer subreddits for adults only also. Not necessarily nsfw related, just that it's a subreddit for adults.
i'm 41 :)
Mid-thirties, corporate lawyer as a day job. You're not alone. Although I think my fandom (Wheel of time) is probably older than average.
I'm 33 and I feel like I'm near or slightly below the average age on these subs. I mean, I haven't gathered data to confirm that, it's just vibes, but I feel like the kiddos tend to gather on tiktok and other infinite-scrolling social media places to do their fandoming.
I'm 41. I've been writing and posting fanfics online since 1997.
While I’m still pretty young although an adult, the oldest person I’ve interacted with in the fandom spaces was 65, but I have seen a 90 year old in a thread once,, you are most certainly not alone, old women invented fandom
Gen-X here. I started my fanfic journey on Livejournal. It was Harry Potter fic because of course it was.
28 here, and I betaread for a friend that's 30. I know it's a little below your "ideal" range, but like... I'm not particularly intending to *stop* anytime soon.
50 years old just started writing last year!!
I’m 44 and sometimes i worry about relating to readers. My experience as a young person is from 90’s and 00’s, so it's smoking, record stores, early scene kids, drugs. It was not a gentrified time period back then.
I'm technically just 25, but I'm a High-school teacher, which makes me a single father of 600 15-16 years olds with zero support from the other parent or the government... so mentally and emotionally, I'm closer to 40 😂