Writing Tips for Fanfiction Writing

One- This is one I still struggle at even today despite having written for about 6 years now, make sure you get spelling and grammar right in your work, even if your story and characters are done well. If the grammar and spelling is way off, it puts people off your fic, so get it right even in the summary. Basic stuff, but yet so easy as I found the hard way to get wrong. I still get thing's wrong to this day as i often skim edit, skim check or rely on autospelling or Word to catch my mistakes. If you still find yourself lacking confidence in checking for grammer or spelling, then a good course of action is to ask either a friend you know is good at checking for spelling and grammer mistakes to look over it for you. Ask a beta reader to check it over for you. There are quite a few out there who will do it for free on sites like ff.net or on DA as well.

Two- Make sure your summary is done right, common advice is not to say my summary sucks and it's 100% truth, because quite a few readers will judge your story depending on how well you sell yourself, so sell yourself, your story and your characters in this section. It can make the difference between someone reading your fic or deciding not to. Make people want to check out your story, think on which film/tv/novels pulled you in from their poster, from their cover or how they sold their product to you personally. Think how someone who has never read your work or series you write for might read your summary and feel about what you are telling them about your fic.

Three- When you do a fic, think about what your story is about. What does it have that will draw people in? What makes it different from the other fic's out there? Take Code Geass, how many Lelouch goes back to Britannia, stay in Britannia, goes back through time, has a code fic's there are on the internet? A lot is the answer so what can you do that no one else does? Or better question, how can you tell a story in that category that plays with those concepts in interesting ways. Make sure you have a unique selling point to your story that makes it stand out from other fics that cover the same characters and subjects.

Four- Romances in fic, now this one I feel is where many writers fall down on why? Because they either give it too much attention, too little attention, do it for the sake of it. Or don't know how to make it interesting in the first place. Romances are not a bad thing in fiction, but they require a lot of work, believability, and that the people in question actually do have a chance of making it work. And that it doesn't define their role in the story, so if you do romances, make sure that you make it interesting (not just in the typical stuff). But in how it helps to develop the characters, the story and what it brings to your story. If it isn't that important or interesting. Then don't make it so at the expense of character and the plot.

Also, love is a very complex emotion and has many different levels of affection and forms, so think on which one fit's in the romances you have planned for your characters and how these characters feel about it and how they would respond to someone having those feelings for them or them having feelings for someone. How their past experiences (or lack of if they are young) will affect how they handle it etc.

Romance is like a salad dressing, get it right and it can be so delicious to engorge on. Get it wrong and the foulness of it can spoil the rest of your meal or fic in the case of Fan Fiction Writing.

Five- If you plan to do a long story, plan out somewhat how long it is going to be, how long each chapter will be, and how much content you put in, along with what context and subtext is put in as well. Length doesn't equal quality. Look at stories like Dauntless or Ice of Fire. Those chapters tend to be round 5000 to 9000 words. And yet get their points across in so many words. Though just to note, there is no set rule or limits on how many words you can or should write for your story. Me, my chapters generally are around 8000-10,000 words. Because I like to do a lot of detailing, describing the environment, character thoughts and worldbuilding. Which works for me and fulfils me as a writer. If say 1000 words a chapter is what you feel you need to write for your story per chapter, that is also fine as well. You have to decide how to pace your story and how much you write in a chapter.

Also remember to make sure that your story advances at a reasonable pace and that readers don't fill like they are reading filler, or chapters filled padding material. 100,000 words tend to be novel length, so if your work is going to be longer than that (at least for fic's that are door stoppers). Make sure your readers are kept invested and entertained for most of it.

Six- Consider the tropes your story uses, consider how you could play around with them? Possibly deconstruct them? Reconstruct them? As people like to see stories that play around with concepts they are so used to.

Consider say, why you feel the trope in question needs deconstructing? What is it about that trope that you feel needs taking apart and looked at? Is it problematic in terms of how it's handled by most writers? Or how it treats people, gender, race, sex etc. And how that deconstruction will serve your story and characters. And not just done for the sake of it. As subverting a trope doesn't necessary make for good storytelling or entertaining product.

But Cliché trope's, plots and characters are not bad per say, it is simply how well you use them and how well you write them is whether your audience will enjoy your work or not.

Seven- When you do Original Characters. Consider what their purpose are in your story, what it is they can contribute that canon characters can't? Plus make sure to take care that they don't seem too perfect and unrealistic to your audience. OC's need to fit into the plot, setting and lore that you are writing about. So for a simple example, putting a supernatural being in a setting like The Wire isn't going to work without a lot of work due to how realistic and grounded The Wire's setting is. Along with that there is no supernatural element in The Wire's canon that we know of.

Eight- When you work on your characters, consider what their positive points are? Their negatives are? How they are viewed in universe by other characters? Don't downplay or overplay one or the other, try to balance their pro's and negatives. For example take Lelouch from Code Geass, a positive trait of his, he is kind to his sister and his loved ones. A negative, he can be very arrogant in his plans and very gloating to his enemies. So make sure to balance these two traits and other traits he has as well. As these are some of the traits that helped make up his character and plot in Code Geass.

If you develop them, make sure it fits with their characterization, not with what you want them to be and not what the plot demands. As Character Development needs to be believable, not done just for the sake of it. As someone who is a jerk, they won't just become nice in a single chapter, it will take time for them to change their attitude. Same for someone who has been a traumatic experience, they don't get over it in an instant, it can take someone years to overcome something, and sometimes people never get over issues or grudges they have. It's all about getting the right balance of making a character complex, interesting and someone the audience wants to read about.

Nine- When you do your story, make sure it is believable. Fiction isn't about being realistic or grounded per say. But you need to make sure that your story is believable in characters, how the world operates, how it advances throughout and what it's history is, culture etc. Keep to the rules of the series in question if possible or at least if you come up with your own rules, lore etc. that it makes sense and fits within the guidelines of the lore you are using. One of the main reasons people hate Sueish characters is that they often break the rules of the series in different ways, as well as stretching the suspense of disbelief too much. Consider that if you plan to make your own character your main character.

Ten- If you get a beta reader, consider what it is you want from them, is it help with grammar? With your plot? With your characters? Or just someone to just check through it first. Remember beta's are there to help you make your fic better. Communicate with them, consider what advice they give. But of course beta's have the responsibility to offer advice in a way that the author will take in. So if there is no communication between the two, then it isn't going to work out.

Eleven- Reviews and such. Regardless If you get reviews both good and bad, some constructive, some flame etc. Make sure to take in feedback that is contructive or offers up a viewpoint you might not have considered. As some readers can make some good points about your story, characters, writing and pacing. But also remember to not let yourself be dictated to by your readers. You want to please your audience, but it's your story at the end of the day and for you first and foremost to shape it. There's a difference between pleasing your audience and letting them decide where your story goes.

Writers who have confidence in themselves and are able to take in valid criticism are the ones who end up writing the best work of fiction here and in real life.

Twelve- Consider as well the tone, style and genre of your fic based on which work of fiction you choose to write for. As doing a high school AU for say Mass Effect is probably not going to fit well with readers, especially if it would be quite light and fluffy. Which Mass Effect or at least as it went on was most certainly not. Vice versa if you take a dark and edgier route with a series like Mario, it is most likely not going to work well or be something Mario fans want to read about per say. This isn't to say the above two examples can't work at all, but they would require a lot of good writing and planning in order to make them work simply due to how the original work was in setting, genre and style.

Thirteen- This one ties into the Ken Levine bit below, when you add characterization to any character. Consider what exactly it will add to the character in question. Is it to add more depth to them? To allow them to stand out in someway? To give them a role in sub plot or even main plot? Or maybe to test out how well you can write characters.

So for example you make a character gay, bisexual, transgendered etc. ask yourself why are you making them LGBTQ? To have a LGBTQ character in your work? To explore sexuality in your own way? Or to just have some fetish there. Making a character LGBTQ can add to them but it shouldn't be the only characterization to them. Plus if you make a character sexuality different in a time period where it isn't accepted as it is today. Then you need to reflect how that affect's the character or characters in question, how other in-universe characters view them, how their environment or interactions with people is affected. Note this doesn't mean that you need or should make LGBTQ characters tragic, sad or dark etc. As there were and are a lot of LGBTQ people in history and real life who led/lead successful, happy and fulfilling lives. But the more you know, the more nuance you can add to your character or story in places.

Though as someone pointed out to me, you don't need to come up with a reason if you don't have to want to. It is your story and you should include as many characters, whetter it's on the LGBTQ specturm, Autism spectrum or any other minority group etc. 

But i think it definitely helps if you do research these areas, if possible also chat to people about their experiences, about their history, about how society has treated them and how it looks to them compared to maybe how it looks to you. Since it can be easy to fall into the trap of offending someone or making whichever topic, group you explore feel misrepresented. Though that is a side of writing that can come with the territory on any topics or areas that are sensitive to people.

Two character's who are LGBTQ but were written well are Omar Little and Kima Greggs from the Wire. Their status as being homosexuals is referenced a number of times, they had relationships that added to their character arc's and plot in the series. But it wasn't the only quality to their character, they were also smart, reflective, witty, badass, complex and always interesting to watch.

On the other end take Loras Tyrell from the Game of Throne TV series, his sexuality is pretty much all there really is to his character in the show, his warrior traits are hardly shown, he often gets reduced to sex scenes that don't really offer much overall. Sad fact is that Loras being gay is all there is to his character in the show compared to his book version where he was part of the KG, served as mentor to a child, mourned his lost lover and got to be the warrior he is said to be.

Some words from Ken Levine, writer of Bioshock games on writing characters as a whole.

“I think there is a feeling of wanting to see character types rather than characters,” “People ask me, ‘Why don’t you write a ‘positive gay character?’ In the abstract, that’s a very odd request, not because there aren’t positive gay people out there. It’s because nobody is wholly positive or wholly negative. And that’s also not what makes somebody interesting. Being strong and positive is not what makes people interesting. It can be part of what makes somebody interesting, but that to me is creating a one-dimensional character, that’s only recognizable by their strengths, or only recognizable by the fact that they are black, or by the fact that they are Jewish. As a writer, that doesn’t seem like a terrific path to creating interesting characters.”

Fourteen- Levity and Drama, this is something I feel strongly on. I love a good laugh in any work of fiction, part of why The Wire is amongst my favourite works is because despite all the seriousness, grittiness and tragedies abound in it. It just knew how to make light of it's setting, characters and so on in many places and at the right time. Take the scene with Stringer Bell and his 40 degree's speech to is underlings for example. It's a creative way of Stringer calling his men idiots while keeping tension with the fact he is annoyed at them for their messup. But topped off with one of his underlings completely missing the point of his speech. Bringing it back to being comedic. Which is where my next point comes in, balancing levity and drama.

It's key in any work of fiction to know when its right to bring levity to a situation, lighten the mood and when to get serious with your story, as getting too jokey with your story can lead the audience to not taking your work seriously when you expect them to (even comedies need to know when to pull it's humour off and timing of it). It was one of my problems with Thor Ragnarok, that film never in my view let up with the comedy and especially the big moment of the film was ruined by the directors character making a comment that was not needed and took away from the moment in question.

Guardian of the Galaxy Vol 2 got the balance right in my view, it knew when to have it's characters make wisearse remarks, make fun of a situation and so on. But it knew when to take it's key moments seriously, of having characters being quiet or speaking in the right tone, emotion etc. It's why I found myself crying at it's finale and at a certain characters fate in it.

But having everything serious, never letting the characters hair down or leveling off the angst, drama, jerkass stuff etc. can lead an audience to feel suffocated and overwhelmed by how serious your work is, and possibly even bored if that is all they feel there is to the work.

Game of Thrones has become this for me (more so as i have read the books the show is based off and seen the difference). It's constant swerves, constant killing off of characters (even more than the books have done to this point), its constant baiting of the audience with having characters being happy or not sad for a minute and then twisting it around to shock the audience, along with it's writers changing of lore or characters to suit their own fanfic version. Has led me to just switch off from it and not feel anything when a character dies, of when something bad happens. Because the show gratuitously indulged on it because D&D mistake their take on grimdark for depth, or cynicism for wisdom etc.

Just to quickly note-- if any of the series above i have mentioned you disagree on what i think on them, that's perfectly fine. My opinion is just my opinion at the end of the day.

Fifteen- Dialogue and description, there's no rule per say on when you should let the character speak or when a description could work in it's stead. that's up to the writer to decide for yourself. Though it's a good idea to consider on which one will serve your work better, which would get the point across more or interest the reader more and so on. like Levity and Drama, getting the right balance is the best to aim for.

Sixteen- Sex, sex (lemon or lime to be slangy here) in fanfiction often tends to raise strong opinions among many writers and readers for many different reasons. A large number feel it's just written for titillation and nothing else, others see it as a way of showing their characters doing it to show how much they love each other, or to aid characterization, plot development (though this one in my view is a strong ymmv on whether a fic succeeds). While some see it as cringe worthy due to often the writers inexperience, lack of research, narmy writing or description in showing it.

Whether a fic should have any lemon or lime in it is something that the writer needs to decide for themselves. But the stuff to ask yourself is, what is the purpose of having a NSFW scene or chapter in your work? What is the intent of it? What will it do to develop your plot, your character and so on? What is it you want to convey to the audience? I think a big positive to do for NSFW scenes is to research exactly what can or you want to happen in the scene. So say, BDSM. Do you know, understand or have any experience in what the rules are of it? the level of consent? Of why your characters are into it etc.? Of the culture surrounding it? Since if you get it wrong, you will likely get called out for it in ways you may not expect.

Though this doesn't mean you shouldn't put any sex stuff in. If you want  a sex scene in your story, by all means put it in. Everything on here is just my own opinion at the end of the day.

If there is one thing that will attract my interest, is if you manage to provide some good humour in your scene. One of the reasons i love Katawa Shoujo was that it managed to have some humour in a number of it's sex scenes. Especially the scene between Hisao and Emi when they are knocking on the backdoor in the gym storage. The scene perfectly shows their teenage inexperience in handling Anal sex, of the hilariously awkwardness of it all. The way they banter about it afterwards and how it develops their relationship. one example for me to how to do a sex scene right.

If you want to know how not to do a sex scene. I personally point you to any of the H stuff in Fate Stay Night, they come out of nowhere more often than not. The way they are written, paced and characterise the characters in question leaves... much to be desired.

Seventeen- Showing and Telling, ah the often quoted rule of writing everyone will have heard or read at somepoint. Showing and Not Telling in your work. Rule of thumb for the most part is to show and not tell in your work. But like any other rule, there is flexibility I think to it.

It's certainly important to show the important bits in your work, to show what a character feels, of what plot development happens and to show the world of your work and so on. But sometimes, it is fine to just tell your audience information that while important, relevant for them to know. Doesn't need to be shown or gone into great detail, as detailing or showing too much can run the risk of bogging down your work or making the audience feel nothing is happening for too long of chunks in your text. Like anything, it's a question of working out when to show and when to tell in your work.

Another good advice I really love and use in my own writing, is from my good friend EuroBeatJester, the writer of Katawa Shoujo Fanfic and one of my favourite works of literature. Learning to Fly

Her's what he had to say about writing and deciding on where a story goes.

"I recently discovered another pitfall I was falling into that I hope I can relate here, so others can avoid it.

Fanfiction is inspired by the concept of "what if." At each point in a story, there's an infinite numbers of places you can branch out from: a single line of dialogue, an action, a look, or something seemingly inconsequential that can have drastic effects later on down the road.

When you start writing a character, or a story, you can take it anywhere you want within the confines of the universe it's set in. For characters, you can define their traits, their hopes, their dreams, their motivations, their mannerisms, etc. For stories, you can define the location, the events, the timing, and everything that happens.

It's like looking at a blank sheet of paper: You can draw anything.

One of the hardest things to come to grips with though, when faced with all these possibilities, is that as you move forward with a story or a character, you end up closing doors. You still have control over where you want your story to go, but it's more like changing lanes on a highway...you have to go the same general direction.

There are three big mistakes that are really common when you don't realize this.

1) Your story stays in limbo, because you want to leave as many doors open as possible. You don't really move the plot forward, because every action leaves you thinking about what you can't do with a story, instead of what you can do. I'm guilty of this and it's a habit I'm trying to break.

2) By not realizing that you will be closing doors no matter what, it's very easy to write yourself into a corner. You may want to get to one place in the story, but you've progressed in a certain way that it's nearly impossible to get there with how you've limited yourself. If you have a clear plan of where you want the story to go, you can come up with a roadmap that will minimize this.

3) If you're stuck at #2, it's really tempting to use some sort of literary dues-ex-machina element to force your story back on track. 99% of the time this will be seen for what it is, and it completely takes a reader out of the immersive experience you want to give them. That's not to say it can't be done, and done brilliantly in some aspects...but it is by far the most difficult thing to do convincingly.

In short - don't let your characters or story paralyze themselves because you're scared of closing off possibilities. Know why you're making the choices your making, and have confidence in the direction you choose to take."

A few years back, I found this advice on doing anti villains in fiction on WhiteLadyDragon's tumbler page. Struck a cord with me because creating nuanced anti villains is hard and also one of the best things I like to see in fiction and something I love doing myself in my own writing when I create villains.

"They do bad things because they’re scared. They’re gullible or misinformed. Example: somebody who has been told the heroes are out to hurt them. They are desperate for interaction, validation, kindness, or attention, and the dark side gives them those things. They want to change their allegiance, but are pressured by people close to them to stay evil. They have an otherwise noble goal that they will do literally anything to achieve. Example: somebody who wants to protect their child, even if it means throwing other children into danger.

– They’ve been in a similar situation countless times before, and they’ve tried the understanding, peaceful negotiation route before, and it usually leads to failing utterly and everything turning out worse for everybody so now they don’t even try to explain themselves because it’s easier to take control than to convince those in power that the problem is real.

– Killing (thousands/millions) in order to be ready for an outside threat is better than watching (millions/billions) die because you couldn’t save them all.

Also, “tragic past” isn’t necessarily a bad backstory. But it can’t be ONLY that. You have to show us how it leads to their current actions. Give us a link between their past and present."

Advice written by shadesmarjasnah.

That's all the advice I can think of, hope the tips I have given were helpful, these are all just my view on things and whether they are valid or not is up to you to decide.

Check out sites TV tropes or tumblr posts for some more tips on writing as a whole. This is one of my favourite sites of writing advice that i often get emails sent of the latest advice or blogpost.

It can really help out in what it is your looking to do with your story and how to go about it.

Oh and one more advice tip. Enjoy writing, have fun with it. It's your time your using, so make sure you are enjoying writing your story. Otherwise you will just be wasting your time and making yourself miserable.

Thank you very much for your time in reading my tip page. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful as well.