Fanfiction 101

Fanfiction 101

I'm not giving specifics, but there is to much bad fan fiction out there, with some exceptions-like the one called Those Lacking Spines, one of the few good fan fiction I have read. Anyway, here are some tips for you fan fiction writers. These are only a few things. Any questions, just reply here. Some of the advice here, also belongs to Starian Princess, which will have her name next to it. One of the reasons I had her input on this was because I realize that I might have been a little bit vague when I first put this up. And if this sounds flamish, I'm only trying to give advice here, not sabotoge peoples writing. Leave that to the real flamers.

OC characters. (Original characters)

You know what most OC characters are? Mary-Sue's that's what they are called. They are supposed to be the "perfect" character, and everyone loves them. They are VERY underdeveloped. And you know what? These characters are usually female, in romance stories, with characters that wouldn't care a damn for them in the actual thing. Try to avoid these. Female, fine, but everything else, I recommend to avoid. And spend some time to develop your character for the place you are going to drop them in! If they are going to be in a criminal group for example, model them for the part, don't make them gooey and sentimental, and make them realistic, so that they fit in with the part. Another thing about romances you should know when writing fan fiction. The reason I recommend to avoid putting your character in those is that they almost always seem like a Mary-sue in romances. So it's treading thin water.

Starian Princess-A quick comment: Sometimes, Mary-Sue's are created for the purpose of twisting the plot a bit. Of course, what's really bad about Mary-Sue's is that some writers don't realize they've created one. For the some who are aware, however, I'm sure they'll probably have justification for it. Just saying that we shouldn't flame things we don't understand, m'kay?

Me: One more thing. the male version of mary-sue is the gary-stue. They are really "all brawn, and no brain." Other times...they just talk to much. Dont use these, unless you are using them under the terms starian princess listed above.

Lemons

A lemon is a sexual story, and most are graphic. If you have never had "the talk" or don't have much experience or understanding of sex, then don't write these because you will only make yourself look like a horrible writer.

Crack Fiction

A story that is random, and has no plot whatsoever. But just because the fan fiction is random, it doesn't mean it's funny. Example:

HOTDOGS CAN FART.
That wasn't funny at all, you see?

Starian Princess-There is a term for fics with random plots. They're called PWP, which stands for "plot-what-plot?" Again, some writers do this on purpose and they'll usually specify when they do and why.


Humor

The most impressive type of fan fiction with humor is the type that has a solid plot, with humor laced in subtly. Once again, random isn't always considered funny.

Length

Don't make it to short, people want good long chapters to go with a good fan fiction, keep that in mind. Around 1,000 words should be sufficient, or above. But don't overdo it!

Starian Princess-There are many good stories out there that are lesser than 1000 words. Writers usually refer to these as drabbles. If you look up the definition on google (or wherever else), you'll find that the average drabble is 100-500 words. The fanfic isn't necessarily bad if it's short, so I wouldn't discourage writers from doing drabbles. However, if a story is short and doesn't make any sense (or doesn't go anywhere) then your advice would suffice.

Remember: Drabbles were created to challenge writers, to do the best they can even if they're only provided a short amount of time or space.

Over characterization

Don't do this. It just doesn't make a good fan fiction. This is when you overdo a certain character's personality etc. Such as in a typical KH fan fiction, where Axel says "Got it memorized" in every sentence of the dialogue even when it doesn't makes sense.

OOC

Making the character act differently from the way they usually act. An example would be making Itachi all emotional and loving when he's really as unloving as a block of ice. This is as unreccommended as you can get.

Starian Princess-I suppose these characters go into a different category, probably AU (Alternate Universe). If it's part of the story for a character to lose his memory, for instance, and act differently, you can't flame a writer for that.

Reviewing Fan fiction

We know when the fan fiction sucks, thank you very much flamers. And they're not going to become better writers if all you do is insult them, you will just get a bunch of hate mail. You're supposed to give constructive criticm, so they can use it to become better writers, I mean, really you think those authors are going to sit meekly as you sabotage their writing?

And a little something on spelling by Arrisa:

PLEASE use spell check at least once. If your word processor doesn't have it for some ungodly reason, pop it into a yahoo email composition or something. Almost everything has it now. I can't tell you how many fanfics I read where every other word is spelled wrong. It really ruins the potential beauty of the story when it's completely unreadable because you catn't tell wat the person is actually writing. And watch your 'you're's/'your's and two/too/to and there/their. I see a lot of those mistakes, too.

Can you tell grammar and mechanics are very important to me? ^-^;

Something by Yuki:

I don't think that romanji should be completely outed from English fan-fics, but it should be used sparingly, but not sparingly enough to seem out of place. It just needs to be in the middle. Not too much or not too little.

I saw one fanfic that had "Kawaii" smack dab in the middle of nowhere and so I was like what the freak?
Ex: And then there was the time (like you said before) I saw japanese words everywhere and I didn't understand a thing, and I got sooooo mad!

You just need to have good sense where to put stuff, I guess!

Me: Romanji is when you spell out words from another language in english. such as for japanese, "nani" "kawaii" "menduske" which are just to name a few.

Starian Princess:

On a similar note, I also think that certain terms/romanji (incidentally in Japanese) used in particular anime shows are okay, too. Fans should be used to seeing them already and you, as a writer, can always provide some clues.

Example 1: In the shows Inuyasha and Yu Yu Hakusho, it's no surprise to see the term "youkai" being used a lot since an abundance of the characters are in fact "youkai". Now if you use the clues and if you've seen the anime shows enough times, you'll know that "youkai" means "demon/s".

Example 2: For a lot of shows the terms "sempai" and "sensei" can stand alone and they're probably two of the most commonly used Japanese terms right now, especially for writers. "Sempai" would mean "upperclassman" and "sensei" would mean "teacher".

Example 3: In Bleach, there's a term called "reiatsu" and it's similar to Fushigi Yuugi's "ki". A lot of other shows also use "ki" actually, so more people would probably know what the latter means rather than "reiatsu". You, however, cannot substitute one for the other since "reiatsu" refers to "sensitivity and willpower within your spiritual self", while "ki" is pointed more on balance within your body (and how you're able to control your spiritual power). I'm just pointing this one out since I did have some slight trouble with it a while back. I was trying to figure out what I should use to substitute for "reiatsu" but ended up using the term anyway and no one ever complained.

Example 4: Ouran's "shomin". You only get used to hearing this word when you've seen Ouran in its Japanese dub. The twins are always saying this word and not to mention the ever fun-loving Tamaki. For those who still don't know, "shomin" means "commoner".


.... Any questions that over things I have missed?
And yes, I am prepared to be flamed a thousand times for this....