Helpful Tips Series: Writing Good Fanfiction

[Weasel Freak]

Yet another thread, this time focusing on writing the actual fic and not just OCs.

I claim none of the following. I copy&pasted this from another website.

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A popular way of being a fanatic about something is to write fanfiction about it. A fanfiction, sometimes spelled fan fiction, is a story about the characters and/or settings of a fandom written by the fans. For example, if I were to write a story about Harry Potter going to a mall and buying a skateboard, it would be a fanfiction.

There are many websites for fanfiction writers to post their stories on. For Harry Potter fans, I recommend harrypotterfanfiction.com or Mugglenet Fanfiction and for Eragon fans, I recommend Shur'tugal fanfiction. The one website that is the best for any fan of anything is Fanfiction.Net. This website has fanfictions for everything, even videogames.

Most fanfiction writers enjoy getting reviews and comments about their works, so that they know how to improve them. An impolite and negative review is called a flame. When reviewing, constructive criticisms are fine, but try to avoid flames. They cause the authors to lose self esteem and can just cause tension rather than improve the author's writing. To avoid getting a flame yourself, you should follow these tips.

Stick to Canon - Canon is the fandom you are writing about. Characters in certain fandoms act a certain way in the books, movies, etc. for a reason. If you make a character act differently than they should, then you are messing up the canon and your story. It also helps to keep the setting the same. If you want to have a lake made of silver in the middle of the Forbidden Forest, write your own original story with a different forest.

Exception: If you are writing a humor 'what if?' story, it is okay to have the characters act out of character. For example, if you were writing a humor fanfiction about Voldemort wearing fuzzy pink bunny slippers, it is fine if you make him act out of character. Just do not go off Canon in a serious fanfiction.

Avoid Mary Sues - A Mary Sue is a character that is flawless. They usually have perfect hair, teeth, figures, etc. and have extraordinary voices. They may have a 'Cute Animal Friend' that they can talk to and that helps them. They also might have a magical item, such as a locket that has all their magic in it. Mary Sues always end up in a romantic relationship with the main character, or the most attractive character. A male Sue is called a Gary Stu or a Marty Sam.

Mary Sues completely ruin stories by stealing the limelight and being completely unbelievable. If you are going to write a fanfiction with an original character, your own character, in it, make sure that the character is believable. They could be skilled at one weapon or at magic, but not a lot of weapons and magic at the same time. Also, if you have to have romance, add another original character instead of messing up the Canon.

Use Spell Check and Proper Grammar - It is a lot easier to read a story if it uses proper grammar and has correct spellings. It is easier to read 'The group felt as if they had been traveling forever.' than to read 'They lyk wlaked and walkde 4 ever.' Grammar also affects how professional your story looks, and how much people enjoy it. In addition, do not use chat speak and abbreviations; "Ur hawt!" is not as good as "I find you attractive." It does not take that long to Spell Check your story, so use the Spell Check on your computer.

Learn the Proper Names of Nouns - It may be hard to remember the names of the lesser characters, but that is why we fans buy the books and movies. You are more likely to get a flame if you spell 'Denethor' as 'Dinithore' than if you spell it correctly. It goes the same for places and things. People would prefer 'Uru'baen' to 'Orobani', and do not forget that 'Nazgul' sounds far more menacing and intimidating than 'Nuzgul'.

Update as Often as Possible - People like to read fanfictions and hate to wait too long for a story to be updated. Most of us are busy people, and that is understandable, but when you do not update without an excuse, it is not acceptable. If you have writer's block, try going outside or getting a change of scenery for a while to get your brain going. It will definitely reduce those 'When will you update?" reviews.

Remember the Disclaimer - A disclaimer states that you do not own something. Saying that you own something that you do not is plagiarism and is illegal. When you write fanfiction, you add a disclaimer before the first chapter, or preferably every chapter, that states that you do not own the book, movie, etc. A disclaimer could be a simple as 'Don't own, don't sue." or it could be longer. It could also be humorous such as, "I humbly bow before J.K. Rowling, who wrote the Harry Potter books that I do no own even in my wildest dreams." Sometimes a funny disclaimer actually acts as a hook for your story.

Do not add In-Story Authors Notes - People are reading your fanfiction for the story, not for your opinion. If you want to say something, put an author's note at the start of the chapter. It ruins a story when people have to skim around the (AN: lol)s and the (*wink wink*)s. It makes a story less interesting when the author inserts their two-cents every three sentences.

Keep it PG-13 - Some people actually enjoy reading M rated fanfictions and disgusting NC-17 "scenes", but most of us want to enjoy a story without losing our lunches. If you write more about the plot and less about the sappy romantic crap, you are bound to have a wider audience. It is not about the romance, it is about the story, the quest or adventure that the characters are on.

Rate It Right - This really annoys many people. If your story has many bad words in it, it should be rated T. It should not be rated lower than K+ if it has any swearing at all. If it has any "scenes", it should have a rating of at least T, based on what is in the "scenes". Do not put any M material in a T fanfiction, because you may just scar someone for life, or give him or her bad ideas.

Keep these tips in mind and you should be fine. Writing fanfiction is fun, but it also takes some effort. Do not just slap something together for the purpose of having something to post. Have fun writing!

[The Forgoten One]

wow that really helps

[Weasel Freak]

So you’ve just seen the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie, read the latest Harry Potter book or really wish the West Wing hadn’t been cancelled. You have a great idea
for where the story should go next, a theory that closes a major plot hole or really just wish more attention had been paid to your favorite character, whoever that might be, and try as you might you can’t fend off the inspiration to write fanfiction that is slowly stealing over you. There’s only one problem: you’ve never written fanfiction before and you have no idea how to begin to not only create a good story but one that other fans will read. Not to worry, as a veteran Internet nerd and fanfiction writer, I can help.

First, let’s focus on the story. For first time fanfiction writers shorter is definitely better. This is not the time for a novel-length piece of fanfiction. Try to keep your fanfiction to five to ten pages. If nothing else, it means you’ll finish your piece of fanfiction, and there’s nothing the fannish hate more than great stories that are unfinished. In fact, Work in Progress (WIP) fanfiction from writers who are not known in a fandom often goes unread, because people worry the writer won’t ever manage to finish it – and this can be even more heartbreaking than the stories that don’t’ get told in the original work.

Try to focus on a single, major character. Obviously, the other characters in the universe you’re writing about will be present, but first time fanfiction writers usually write more coherent stories if they stick to a single viewpoint. After all, creating one believable tone is much easier than creating three.

Limit your use of Original Characters (OCs). Fanfiction from unknown writers that have a lot of OCs generally make other fans nervous, because of the Mary Sue factor. Sure, it’s easy to make up a new character for the Harry Potter universe, especially if they are cast as the latest in a line of Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers, but even a quick search on fanfiction.net will show you just how many hundreds of people had that same thought and then decided the character should be an American housewife. You wish I were joking. I am not. Fanfiction, and fanfiction.net in particular, can be an ugly place.

Put off OCs for now – force your fanfiction to work with what the original author has given you. Similarly, avoid turning cannon characters in your fanfiction into OCs. Just because you are an angsty teen with cutting issues doesn’t mean Harry Potter is. He also probably doesn’t share your taste in music. Fictional characters are compelling for the ways in which they are their own people; try to let them continue these independent existences in your fanfiction.

Even though your fanfiction can never be sold or be considered professional work (unless you are writing on something out of copyright) spelling and grammar still matter. At minimum, use spell check. Never post your fanfiction until you’ve walked away from it for a few days and reread it for awkward or unnecessarily contorted sentences.

Consider using a Beta Reader (beta) who is familiar with the universe you are writing fanfiction about. They can look for not just spelling and grammar issues if you wish, but can also double-check your fanfiction for consistency with the universe you are writing about. In the Harry Potter fandom, British betas are highly preferred because they can eliminate Americanisms from the place they least belong – dialogue.

Try to write your fanfiction in the third person. Getting inside a particular character’s head can be hard, and for your first fanfiction foray, you may want to focus more on what happens and less on the inner turmoil factor.

Now, what can you do to make sure someone, anyone, reads your fanfiction?

For all my maligning of it, there’s something to be said for fanfition.net. It takes most genres and subjects of fanfiction (although no stories with a rating above an R and no stories about real actual people, often known as actor-slash or real person slash (RPS), is free, and isn’t hard to use. It also has a search engine allowing people to discover your work on their own and leave comments.

There are also many fanfiction archives for specific fandoms, ratings and topics of stories that you can find with a quick google search. More unusual or extreme stories may find a better home on such archives. Additionally, the specificity of these fanfiction archives helps get your fanfiction story in front of a more relevant audience more quickly.

These archives often have very specific requirements, both in terms of content and story quality. Some only take fanfiction that the maintainer personally likes. Others will only accept completed fanfiction (remember my warning about WIPs), and still others will only accept fanfiction that has been reviewed by a beta.

A good place to promote fanfiction is on the relevant groups at many blogging sites. Livejournal, in particular is overrun with fanfiction focused communities. Additionally there is a blogging service called JournalFen geared specifically to fannish pursuits. Remember to always read the rules of a community before joining it and to try to participate in ways more meaningful than just promoting your own fanfiction – this often means reading and providing feedback on other people’s fanfiction.

When promoting your fanfiction, it’s considered standard to let people know some basic information, such as its title (no untitled fanfiction please, that makes your story very hard to discuss in a sea of untitled fanfiction works), the characters it focuses on, its rating, and a brief summary. If it contains exceptional violence or sexuality or something that you feel may be disturbing to some readers, providing warnings is always a nice touch, because let’s face it we all have something we really, really don’t want to read about – in fanfiction or anywhere else.

It is also considered appropriate to always put a disclaimer on your fanfiction, acknowledging the actual copyright owners and creators and stating that you’re not making money, but just playing in a world that you love. Many fanfiction writers try to get creative with this particular courtesy and some fanfiction disclaimers are highly amusing.

Finally, sex sells. If you’re into fanfiction for those sorts of reasons, the fact remains that stories with more adult ratings get read more often and receive more feedback. This can range from funny to annoying depending on what types of fanfiction you like to read and write, but the fact remains.

[Weasel Freak]

littlecalamity.tripod.com/HowTo2.html

www.waynesthisandthat.com/writefanfic.htm

[Fisi]

Man, this helps.

I hate it when people spell a Canon wrong like Sauske from "Avatar".Lol, forgot how to spell his name to. I'm ashame. XD

[Fisi]

Yeag, I just realized that Spikey, don't worry. <3