How to Write Great (Fan) Fiction
Have you ever become frustrated with your writing? Is something missing, or is it no good to you? Do you ask yourself why you even try?
I used to ask myself these questions all the time, so I am here to help you recover from asking them yourself. Explore through this brief reading how to write an amazing fictional poem, short story, novel, or general fan fiction instead! Wherever the wind blows you, this guide will help you along the way with improving your writing, getting great readers, and blowing your classmates and teachers minds away next time you have a writing assignment!
The Problem in my Writing: Story Structure
In a way, stories are like trees; they need the structure from the roots to be able to blossom into beautiful nature artwork. Without those roots deep within, this tree will not be stable, thus it will completely fall apart. The same goes with any form of writing, ranging from your biology project to professional published novels. I am in no way a professional at writing, but I do have many skills and techniques that maybe a starting beginner does not have or has never heard.
While this guide shall help you in its most beneficial way, it would also be helpful to look at something else besides this guide. For example, I have five books currently on how to write great fiction novels: Plot and Structure, Description & Setting, Dialogue, Conflict, Action, & Suspense, and Beginnings, Middles, and Ends.
In addition, if you are into fan fiction and want to write fan fiction, I recommend reading the guide "How to Write Great Fan Fiction!" which is actually a guide how NOT to write fan fiction. I do not have the author name to mind right now (and I was not exactly writing this at a place with internet access to check) but it is a title that you can find under Kingdom Hearts.
Anyway, back to this.
Another thing to have is someone else's guide that might be up on Google or . Those will help too, because there are a few by more experienced authors than I am. However, I just love to share my knowledge of writing, my techniques, and my ideas on how to write.
The main problem in a beginners writing is the story structure. Plot, dialogue, and so on will be your best friend. Developing what the story is about, what people say, where they are will begin the journey of an amazing storyline that will bring your readers in a complete trance. I like to think of my favourite stories and fan fictions as my way of hypnosis. Instead of the whole 'staring at the clock' or some strange stuff like that, reading a great story that was well thought out, plotted, organized, so on and so on, I want to become a part of that story. Who would not want to be a part of it?
Take a fan fiction I read recently on called He Gets It by Kaweii Kai, (I am sure that is the author name XD) it was over 200,000 words long with only 29 chapters throughout the whole story. It was well developed and very consuming. I read it within one sitting. It is about Sora being transgender and everyone never understanding him until Riku comes into his life. Riku finds a beautiful girl at a bar standing in the crowd, when a man with spiky red hair comes and takes her to the back ally. His body runs on automatic and follows the two to find the male taking advantage of the girl. However, while Riku was watching, seeing as though the girl was completely consenting to what this man was doing, he finds out that she is actually a he. Before that point of the story, I had no idea that this "girl" was Sora. I have never seen a story quite like this! The title dumfounded me until I read the first chapter and fell completely in love with the story. It is still in my favourites and I still look back to read it. Currently, that browser's up waiting for me on my Nintendo 3DS.
An example of bad stories would be some of the one shots on or , such as my old stories for example. They never had a true plot to them and just went on the way I wanted them to. I sat down at my laptop and just wrote for practice. and the literature column on , to me, are there for future budding authors to practice their fan fiction or even their own stories.
The structure of your writing comes from your plot. Without it, the story is nothing.
So how do you form a plot?
Some authors point it out first. Some wait until the juicy parts of the story. Some wait until one of the sequels to explain it all. Either way, a form of plot somewhere in literature hints to you. It is up to you, the writer, to figure out where it goes.
The best way to make a story seem more questioning and more likely for a reader to continue reading is to season the beginning with what may seem like the real plot, but in all reality is not. When I began to read To Kill a Mockingbird, I thought it was going to be something silly on how people killed mockingbirds. When I read on and discovered what it was really about, my whole perspective changed the second I flipped it open to the first page. The saying really is true, "You Can't Judge a Book by its Cover."
In terms of plotting, you also need to remember what type of characters and setting are going with the plot. For example, say that I was going to write a story about animals. The main character is a cat named Buttercup. The setting is somewhere around the ocean. The plot is about how this cat discovers that she is really a human that once was a dragon. Do you see how that just does not fit? It makes no sense whatsoever.
Now let us change it up a little. We will keep Buttercup as a cat, but say she lives in the suburbs instead of somewhere towards the ocean and she is discovering that she was under a spell when she was a baby that turned her into a kitten. That seems more logical and ruthless. Although it is not in my range of fiction, this was merely an example.
You must remember that to keep a good story going is to have everything, especially the plot, all fit into the story.
Characters: What is the Whole Point?
When dealing with your characters you must remember something important: Protagonist and antagonist. Without these, there is really no point in having any sort of conflict in your story. The protagonist is usually the main good guy character in a story, while the antagonist is the enemy. However, sometimes this can alternate. The protagonist is not ALWAYS the good guy, but he is the focus. The reason why this can alternate is that when you look at protagonist and antagonist, you ask yourself the following:
Man vs. Man
Man vs. Nature
Man vs. Society
Man vs. Supernatural
Man vs. Self
These are examples of a protagonist vs. an antagonist. I do not know if this is all of it, (since I was really wishing at that moment in time that I actually HAD my English notes from last trimester XD) but these are the main ones that I can remember. Shall we talk about a few?
Man vs. Man usually is about the main character that is conflicting with another character. In such terms like this, for example, in any type of video game (I will use Kingdom Hearts) there will always be someone fighting against someone else. In Kingdom Hearts I, Sora does not find out whom exactly he is fighting against until the end of the game, where Riku reveals that he controls the Heartless as Ansem.
In Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories and II, you are fighting against Organization XIII. However, the only two people in the Organization who is not really an antagonist towards Sora are Axel and Roxas. Roxas is Sora's nobody, so eventually he had to reunite with Sora anyway. Axel, on the other hand, risked his life just so that he could see his best friend again, dying in his place to save Sora's life. It was sad, but that is what had to happen.
That is one example of Man vs. Man. However, there is Man vs. Nature. For example, in the Wizard of Oz, there was Man vs. Nature at the beginning of the movie during the twister. Dorothy was struggling to get back home and into the cellar where she would be safe. When she discovers it locked, she rushes into the house, calling for Auntie Em. The window shutters snatch off the hinges and hits Dorothy in the back of her head, making her fall into a dream, which leads her to the Land of Oz. That right there is Man vs. Nature. Without the twister, Dorothy would not have had the dream of Oz, therefor; there would not have been a story.
Man vs. Society is one that is not as much used. I think this should count, but in Romeo and Juliet, this is Man vs. Society. Juliet falls in love with Romeo, however, her parents refuse to let her love someone such as this man. In the end because of this, both Romeo and Juliet commit suicide.
Man vs. Supernatural is one that I only know one source to give as an example, Supernatural of course! Although I do not exactly enjoy the show, it is still a very good example of Man vs. Supernatural. If you have ever watched the show, you know what I mean. I do not want to go into depth, fearing I will mess up in what I say, since I have only seen three episodes.
Moreover, the final one that I can remember currently is Man vs. Self. This appears in very emotional lyric poems or songs, such as songs from Three Days Grace or Black Veil Brides. It is also sometimes a Man vs. Man in a few songs as well. Some stories even are through a Man vs. Man situation, such as the House of Night novel series. Zoey was marked and now she has to go through the change, hoping that she becomes an adult vampyre or dies. (I still do not know why the Casts spelled it vampyres instead of vampires.)
When it comes to writing your story, you must choose one of these in which the conflict of your story will go along with your plot, so remember these!
Setting: Where should it take Place?
Dealing with setting is sometimes difficult. When you put too much description on a setting, it seems more like you are writing geography instead of a fictional story, as what Ron Rozelle says in Description & Setting. Although the setting is very important, you must be careful not to overdue the amount of description within. For example:
The crunched up leaves fell fluently upon the ground will young Abby White walked through the mysterious forest. The air was chilly enough to have to wear some sort of jacket or long sleeved shirt while the sky was dark and thrilling. Branches cracked and broke under Abby's feet as she slowly continued onward through the barren woodland, curious as to what everyone was talking about that hid beneath it.
From looking at this, we can tell that it is autumn from the falling leaves and chilly air. A dark sky could tell if it was going to storm. The forest was barren, or abandoned, and there is obviously something back in the woods that is the plot AND conflict of the whole story. Putting this is the beginning or middle will beg readers to ask for more, because now they are curious about what is back there too. Here is another example of a bad setting with description, but not enough.
Abby White walked through the forest, curious as to what was in hiding back there. Kids at school were always talking about how creepy it was, especially when the clouds rolled in with darkness. Abby went to investigate that afternoon while it was still dark and rainy.
Reading this, the setting sounds like the forest could have empty branches or full lush ones. We know that the sky is dark from the rain and that it is midafternoon, but that is nowhere near enough description to explain how creepy and strange the woods really are. We do not know what the weather is like, what the forest looks like, and basically only know what Abby is wanting to do there and why she is going to investigate. This is an example of bad setting description.
Now, here is an example with too much setting description.
The autumn leaves began to fall to the ground as Abby White walked fluently through the thickened forest. It was midafternoon, showing no signs that rain was going to fall anytime soon, but the clouds still stayed atop the skies. The ground was covered with so many crunched up leaves and broken branches, only causing them to break more as Abby proceeded through the orange-red forest.
Way. To. Much. Description.
All we know about just from one paragraph is what the forest looks like. When we read this paragraph and left with only this paragraph to read as a type of summary, it is lousy, draggy, and just lazy. We now are to question, "Why is Abby there?" "Is there a purpose to all of this?" "What's so great about the forest?"
I will say this once and please oh please listen to this advice: Never overdue setting description. Believe me; it will be worth it in the final draft.
Conflict: Develop A Perfect Battle!
Now that we have down the important basics, it is now time to discover what makes a great story. That is right, the conflict. The conflict is the problem of the story that makes it a story. This is one of the most important juicy details to your story. Think of it like the patty on a hamburger, or for any vegetarians out there, the lettuce in your salad. Without that main part, the rest of it tastes so bland and disgusting. Without conflict, your story is boring. There is no other way to put it. For example, a story that I am now going to try rewriting with my friend that is on called Four Swords Princess, there was really no main plot to it, nor was there a conflict. We just wrote because we were bored one day. It goes on at random from Neri being with her friends to raped by my pedophile character, Xion. That is not plot development, which is lazy. (Sorry Soul! *She is going to beat me for sure when she reads this… XD*)
Another thing you will need with the conflict is how to turn it into a conflict into the action that makes the conflict pop out. A battle or other type of resolution to making the conflict come to peace or make a character dies is in the action part of the conflict. This can apply to any fan fiction or regular fiction in general.
Remember though, if you do not apply to what you have learned already, you are never going to become a great writer. Remember, practice makes perfect! Just like on your math homework!
Description: How the Characters and Story Should Script
Beginning your story also, revolts into which words to and not to use, what nouns go where, what verbs sound the best, and so on. Thankfully, for this, Microsoft Word is your best friend! Red lines will tell you what is incorrectly spelled, green lines will tell you grammar mistakes, and blue lines will tell you what words should be used instead of the word you wrote. Always update on the most recent type of Microsoft Word. Word Processor only shows the spelling errors and barely any grammar checks or a better use of words. This being the reason why most of the time when I sit down to start writing, I try my best to get my mom or dads laptop since I have only Word Processor. However, if you are comfortable and know when you wrote fragment sentences or used a wrong word or misuse of contractions, challenge yourself by using Word Processor and see where it takes you!
For beginners though, it would be best if you used Microsoft Word.
Now remember, the most important mistake in writing is using a Passive Voice. What this means is when some words are placed in a spot that should be somewhere else in the sentence. For example, the previous sentence is actually a Passive Voice sentence. What the sentence should actually be is this, "When words are placed in certain spots, they should be somewhere else. This is what a Passive Voice sentence is."
I always get frustrated when the green squiggly line appears on two words in the sentence, because I know that it is going to pop up in the grammar check as Passive Voice.
Another thing you want to avoid now is using contractions. Sometimes contractions are okay, but for the most part, they should not be in formal writing. So scratch out those contractions next time you review Word Processor files.
Additionally, look out for fragments. It may seem like your sentences are complete, but they really are not. Such as this: "Why what?" This is an example of a fragment sentence. What are you asking me? It is an incomplete thought. Okay, now for a little quiz:
The following are random sentences. Determine whether they are fragment sentences or not:
Called to the front.
Marked by a crescent moon.
Listening to the silence that whispered.
Did you answer before you read on? If you guessed that they are all fragments, you would be correct. None of these sentences has a complete thought. However, if you alter these sentences into a complete sentence, you will get this.
The teacher had called me to the front.
I realized that a crescent moon marked me.
I listened closely to the silence that began to whisper.
Yeah I know that last one does not make much sense XD oh well.
Are you feeling like you are back in English class again? Well when you want to become a dedicated writer, you better listen to your English teachers well and grasp onto the words of wisdom that they pass to you. Any writing assignments use that as an advantage for writing the best thing you can and getting down as much important information into a research paper as possible. I remember a research project that I had to do a few weeks back that I absolutely did not like. What did I do? I half-assed it and slacked off. My teacher is used to seeing great performance in my writing abilities and knowing my sentence rules, as well as being able to develop thought out sentences that are complete and flows fluently with the rest of the paper. I did not like the subject I had to write about, so I did, in what I think, a bad job compared to the last paper I wrote, which I got an A on it of course. I imagine that the highest grade I am going to get on this research project is a C, maybe a B if I am lucky. Do not do this. No matter how boring the paper is or how much you do not want to do it, think of these papers as a way of practicing more on your writing. Making your teacher want to read more of your stuff is one-step ahead of making your writings so much better. So take research projects and make it your best work!
Your Literature Piece: Putting it all Together
You have all of the information you need, the resources, and the various notes that you are going to need. Now it is time to put it all together into your own piece of literature. The best way to start out on making a story is to write out an outline. The best way to make outlines is to gather as much information together as possible. Usually writing them in a document titled as "Brainstorming" works fine. You can also go with the research paper way and use notecards. However, this is just another way on how you can easily lose the notecards.
Once you have your information, it is time to organize it in the beginning, middle, and end of your story. This will also bring you back to your ninth grade year of high school, or at least for me. Whatever year you began this, think back to when your English teacher began to shove the parts of a story into your brain. (Opening, conflict, rising action, climax, etc.)
Picture the information where they should fit best, and which piece of information is the most important to be titled as the climax or the conflict. You must make sure that nothing is out of place or else your story will not make any sense to you or the readers. Organization is the main key.
Once the outline is complete, you are ready to start your fiction!
I hope this guide helped you in the structure of making your story in the most helpful way that I could make out to my viewers. It is somewhat short and has a little ramble, but I think you all get the message. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a much easier time writing your (fan) fiction! Bye!
-ZediRitual