Disclaimer: The people mentioned here are not voicing their views. They have been simply used by me for entertainment/advertising/examples. If they find something wrong with that I will a) Go hide b) Beg for forgiveness c) Give them the finger and tell them to screw themselves. Friends will get the B option, people that run Fan Fiction get the a option and anyone else that hates me gets the c option. I hope you enjoy this tutorial.

That's it! I am sick and tired of these stories that keep popping up all over the Fan Fiction domain. I am writing a small guide on how to write this easy-but-takes-time-to-get-it stories. Honestly, there is some MAJOR crap out there yet some people think they're good. Some have their own intricate little web things, quite fascinating and if you are an oldie on this site like me, you can sit back and laugh at these things. But let's get started shall we? And what better place to start anything but the VERY beginning. YES! When you first decided to sign on with a dream that your story will become SO popular everyone will think you're great.

I'll break it easy to you. Just like those people on Idol or any other talent show, you think you're so DAMN TALENTED you won't change your writing style. WRONG, you are not talented but we can change that! Another fact: For nearly every person here on Fan Fiction, their first story SUCKS the most. My first story sucked so bad I recently deleted it. But we get to that later.

The first thing you ever do when you first go to sign up is you put your details in. I assume you all know your details so I won't continue there. But then you must pick your username! You know, the one everyone will know you by. This is harder than it looks, people! Don't assume any name will do! Pick a name that suits your personality.

For example: I'll use my good friend Jackie Jackie Spicey for this even if I didn't get permission. (Clears throat) As you see, by simply looking at the name, you can tell this person like the character "Jack Spicer". Who doesn't? I mean the guy is cute and brainy yada, yada, yada, yada. Anyone that first looks at that name can guess that, meaning you can easily predict what her stories are about. But of course not everyone has a name like that (If someone has the name Chasie Chasie Youngie I will seriously KILL myself). Let me use another friend of mine named Mad-Hatter L Carol. By this you can guess she like Alice in Wonderland and is most likely to think up some pretty damn good original ideas.

By using these two examples, I hope you can pick a name. Pick one that can help others guess what kind of stories you will write. If you want to confuse the crowd, go check your font. I wouldn't mind a name like Helvetica or Times New Roman… but that is your choice.

Now that we have cleared the issue of the username lets go to the good stuff. Fan Fiction won't let you submit stories for three days so take that time to think of some ideas. From my observations they are three kinds of stories on Fan Fiction:

One shot: It's a short story. It has only two main characters with a rising climax that you want people to get gripped by. Don't make these kinds of things to complicated. Stick with two characters and one problem. Just like OCs, too many can spoil the story. One shots are better when they are funny, murder is involved or someone reflecting the past.

Continuous stories: The most common of all stories on Fan Fiction. It's the one that has more than one chapter. In these types of things, you can be as complicated as you like as long as no one gets confused. Use as many characters as you want and as many plot holes, as you want. This isn't highly important but don't make the storytoo long or else the reader will slowly lose attention and interest but don't make it too short or you will get annoying emails saying "ARE YOU GOING TO CONTINUE THIS?!"

Tutorials or Fact Stories: Stories like this. They are out there to help people or state out the facts of a certain character like "Why does Raimundo have such big muscles even if he is a 14 year old boy?" These require time so you can get your facts together, like writing a report. You are allowed to lie a little bit if you don't agree with something…

Choose what type of story you want. Then, use that little brain god or gods or whatever gave you to think up a plot. Any story can be good even if it's about turd or a random cow in a field. With one shots think up two main characters or in Fan Fiction's case two of whatever-show-you-want characters. You don't always have to have a problem but it spices up the story. Now, I don't mean to be boasting or whatever but I had to do a one shot in my English class and I based it around the Xiaolin characters Raimundo and Chase. It's called "Jack and Jill" and I'm not telling you to go and read it and review it but it shows the basics of a one shot: Two main characters and a problem that may or may not be solved.

In continuous stories, take more time to think this through. One shots take very little time because it's only one chapter and it's done. Continuous stories will have more characters and more plots. The plots have to be intricately linked in some way that will make the reader think "Damn! Why didn't I see that before?" You want people to guess the whole point of the story until the very end. If you want to see an example, I highly recommend "Jack Spicer wants To Take over The World" by Patience's Secretary.

For the Tutorials and Fact Stories, I suggest you do this when you get to know Fan Fiction a bit better. But if you still want to do one all you need is something that makes you mad (For me crappy stories) and go gather information on how you can make it better. Fact stories are more based on someone's life. You are stating out this person's history. This kind of thing needs a bit more creativity that the Tutorial but you still need to gather information is very handy)

You have your plot? You have your characters? Good, we are on our way! But as we all know characters from shows aren't the only option. For that we have invented OC. And OC stands for Own Character. You made this person up you can't get sued for it. But through human stupidity there is also the Mary Sue and the Gary Lu. I'll admit, I don't know much about the Mary and the Gary just that nearly everyone has made one in their lifetime and their only purpose in life is to get married to the character from whatever-show in a really obvious way. I'm not here to tell you how to make the perfect OC but there is a story, which I have forgotten the name of that tells you how to do it. Take a good look at spoof stories like the one written by Sugarmakesmeangry so you can get a good idea of all the Maries and Garys.

Now within those three types of stories lies another type. I call these the "rivers" because certain types of stories go into certain types of rivers.

Slash: The gay pairing of the story. Boy on Boy action mostly, which is called lemon and Girl on Girl action is called lime. In the Xiaolin fandom the most popular are the Chack (Chase x Jack), Claymundo (Clay x Rai… Brokeback Mountain anyone?) And Jack and Rai. It may make some people squirm since they are not used to this but I must admit it gets addictive after a while (yes, I'm admitting that I like some slash here)

Any Character with an OC: Your favourite character getting it on with your OC. Do I have to say anymore?

Canon Pairing: Heterosexual pairings like Rai x Kim or Jack x Kim. Rai x Kim is the most popular of this category.

CRAZY stories: Also known as the spoofs, here to make fun of other stories or impersonating movies. These are done just for fun and for a good laugh but CAN be considered as a sort of junk story as it isn't a real story that has a real point. Hopefully this doesn't put you off reading them.

No Pairings: These stories have no pairings and are mostly action stories where the author spends too much time doing action scenes than on the other stuff. These stories can be good only if the action scenes are good.

Okay, we have written a story and you have a rough idea in which category it goes under. Now for the summary! I have seen people put the pairing of the story in the summery but I think that kind of ruins the story. I suggest you don't put a pairing up. Another mistake people put up is "CHAPTER 3 now UP!" "Full summery inside" and "Please read and REVIEW!!!" All these are a big NO, NO. The first two take up space and the last one makes you look desperate. Write a small summary of the story that doesn't give too much away but reveals just enough to pull the reader in. Remember, everyone's first story sucks but keep trying again and again.

While we are at this, I'm pretty sure everyone has noticed the massive amount of Rai x Kim. I personally hate the stuff but like all other stories they have to be written well. I once read a Rai Kim story and it was good! It had a good plot even if Rai and Kim were kissing and it was interesting. Remember, if you write a story on Ferris wheels and toilets everyone will like it as long as its out there and well written.

And there! You are done! A few more pointers below:

READ OTHER STORIES! Don't be afraid to use some of their writing style as long as you don't copy their story and make it your own!

Try different things. Don't stay with the same pairing every single time. It gets boring and annoying for the readers.

Take every review in mind and thank the people that wrote it. Reviews are good criticism and can help you shape your story. Remember to go and send a little note to the people who wrote the review and thank them for writing. It brightens up people's days.

Get inspiration from everywhere! Use South Park jokes in a Xiaolin story! Bring the craziness of Zim to the Simpsons! Make your story interesting!

That's all I could think of. If you have any questions or want something else explained don't hesitate!