How to write a decent fanfiction

by Kanalet

This is a guide to writing fanfiction. I rated it T because I will be making reference to different types of fanfiction that are, well, inappropriate. I am making this into several different chapters for the sake of organization. I hope it's helpful!

1. Introduction

How to write a decent fanfiction.

Welcome to my guide of how to write a decent fanfiction. Keep in mind that these are basic rules for good fanfictions and in no way are you going to become a pro writer just by following them. When someone has writing skill, part of it is from knowing these rules, and the rest is from observation and practice. Lots of people actually learn these from plain observation and experience. Also, before I begin, I apologize if this is unorganized or hard to follow. I hope this helps though.

I've been reading fanfiction for quite sometime now, and I have found one that I consider to be the best ever. I found it quite a while back and still I have yet to find anything that gets close to as good as that one. I think it is a good example and a good source of inspiration. That is what you want to find.
You want to find yourself a good fanfiction. I've seen people's reviews on some pretty bad fanfictions saying that it's the best they've seen in the series. Which I find quite sad. To find fanfiction that is truly good, you need to read quite a lot. If a fanfiction seems a little boring or bad at first, give them a chance.
This is VERY important. I've come across amazing fanfiction that I was just about to dump on the first chapter. Fanfictions, just like every other story, take time to develop. The beginning may not be the best, but you never know how much it can improve.
After a bunch of reading, you'll find fanfictions that are better and better and soon you'll find what good fanfictions truly are. All of a sudden, you'll see that fanfics you may have thought was "good" a long time ago, really wasn't that good at all.
Once you know what good fanfictions are, and once you find an amazing fanfiction, use that for inspiration. Observe how they write. How they deal with certain situations, how they bring a new character into the story, how the characters act, and so on. Practice writing yourself. You have no idea how much you can improve just by reading a great fanfiction.

I decided to make this a several chapter long guide for the sake of organization. So I will post the other chapters soon enough, I suppose.
So what do you think so far? Is it easy to follow? Does it suck? Is it helpful in any way?
Let me know!