Hi, Reincarnation Ascension here. I know that at the time of writing this, I have no other stories on my account. I plan to use this one to write disgusting Mary Sue self-inserts because they are my guilty pleasure and I am too ashamed to write them on my other account. But that doesn't mean that I don't mean to help others. You see, I used to be like you, two years ago. I was super nervous to start writing my own fanfiction. Except, unlike me, you decided to check out a guide first before starting. Maybe this is your first fic, or maybe you just don't know what to write next. I don't know. But what I do know is how to write a damn good fanfic. And I hope you like my guide. For the purpose of convenience, this will be mainly centered around Fire Emblem, so it will contain references. But for the most part, this applies to any fanfiction. So, let us begin.
First up is plot. Okay, everyone who's ever written a title before the actual story and has made it work raise their hand. Hmm… No one? Just as I thought. 90% of your fics are probably going to be written before you come up with a title, so don't worry if you don't know what to call it right off the bat.
Basically, plot is everything to a story. If you don't have a plot, you don't have a story. Now, there are exceptions. There are PWP fanfictions (Porn Without Plot). Those are just for people who like to, um, get a quick, private moment to themselves. And while you and some other people might enjoy that, PWP doesn't always appeal to everyone. While the stereotype is that all fanfiction is porn, that's not even close to true. If you turn the search filter to M for any fandom, only a small percentage of the total results will pop up. Only a fraction of the T and K+ rated ones.
For a Fire Emblem example, I guess I could go with… Okay, I want to write a Gregor x Nowi fic. I don't just want to write a long, pointless thing where Nowi goes out and buys food at the market, then goes home and kisses Gregor on the cheek. The two spend a quick minute before leaving. Nowi goes out to go find Robin cuz she's bored. Robin's busy so Nowi tries to go look for Nah. The two play together for a little while until Nowi gets tired, and blah blah blah… Oh, did I bore you? Imagine reading 5,000 words of that pointless bullshit.
You want to actually have plot. Here's a revised version: Nowi goes out to the marketplace, looking for a wedding dress for Nah and Morgan. Since Nowi's kind of clueless, she doesn't know what she's doing. She accidentally gets Nah a negligee, and hilarity ensues. In the end, Gregor assures her everything's all right and the end. Okay, not perfect, but you get what I'm saying. You need a story that can actually hold someone's attention for several minutes, depending on how long it is. If you want it to be really long or multiple chapters, make sure it's something that you can write about for a long time. Something that has no definitive end until you say so. That is how you capture a reader's attention.
Next is your title. Now that you've made sure your fic is okay to read and won't make whoever's reading have a stroke from sheer boredom, it's time to name it. Don't know how? I get you. I used to struggle with that too in the beginning. And sometimes I still do. What I do is I try and find a particularly inspiring line in my fic. Or a line that tends to get repeated a lot. That can be turned into the mantra of the fic. And if that doesn't work, just try something that sounds cool, as long as it has something to do with your fic. And I mean, you can really stretch the definition of "something." Title requirements aren't that hard to fulfill.
I don't need to elaborate about this too much. It's the frickin' title. If you're having trouble, just go to a random title generator.
After that is summary. Okay, I can not say this enough. Summary is one of the most important things when it comes to a fanfic. Now, I'm not saying that it's more important to plot. Plot is king. But summary is at least queen or some shit like that. If you have a bad summary, in readers' minds, you have a bad fic. Now, I get it: no matter how hard you wrack your brain for a good summary, you just can't think of one! You've thought of it in a million ways, and you just can't get past that stupid character limit.
Well let me tell you: that character limit is your friend. Any summary longer than the supposed character limit is probably going to sound stupid. So that character limit, in the long run, is going to teach you how to be short and pithy. And if you really can't figure any way out of it, just grab the most inspiring line from your fic. But that's only as a last resort. Your summary should be telling something about the story. Cuz most people reading fanfiction are too lazy to take a chance on any old random fic to see if they like what it's about. Ain't nobody got time for that.
And last is important but not essential stuff. Like, beta reading. This is a really important detail: beta reading actually serves a purpose in the fanfiction community. That whole section of dedicated to beta reading actually has a use. No matter how good you think you are at grammar, just go check. Especially if you're not using a writing application with spell-check, like Microsoft Word and Google Docs. I know maybe you have a hard time talking to people, whether on or in real life, but you just need to. Either that or find someone you know to beta read for you. If you're serious about writing fanfiction, even if at least part time, find a beta reader. Like seriously, I don't want another My Immortal. Your grammar and spelling can be utter crap and you can still write good fics, as long as you have a good beta reader. It never hurts. I won't elaborate too much on beta readers and how to get one here. But I will tell you just go on the beta reading section of , search for beta readers fitting your specification, check profiles, and pm whoever you deem fit. I know it might sound scary, but as a beta reader myself, I can tell you stuff from experience. Beta readers are almost always happy about new jobs. Just, please, don't send them a half-finished story 15 chapters in and expect them to extensively read and/or rewrite the whole thing. I'm sorry to say that I've had to do that for almost every beta reading job I've gotten, and it's not fun. I'd just like to read a nice little Fire Emblem fic, hopefully on the first or second chapter. But my profile is in a lot of categories, so I expect to get offers for a lot of different fandoms. Point is, just use beta readers. They're glad to help you and your work will be a lot better.
Another tip is to never show how much of a noob you are. You may know that this is your first fic and you want people to be nice, but you don't want them to know that. I can tell you straight up that every time I see a fic where people say, "First fic, plz be nice!" I roll my eyes. I have never met anyone on to say that they care when people say that. In fact, it just pisses most of us off. I swear to God, just suck up the criticism and stop being a salty bitch. Take it like an adult, even if you aren't one. It may sting, but it'll make you a better writer and better overall in the community. Also, don't have a standoffish manner. Stuff like, "Don't like, don't read." really pisses me off. If it's a bad fic with an author with a bad attitude, people will enjoy spewing hate about it on the reviews. If you act like a dick, people will love trolling you. And I mean love trolling you. It's just like My Immortal. Just grow the hell up and act mature, even if what you really want to do is start spewing fire at all the haters.
And one more tip is to always double check everything before you publish. Is everything you wanted on there? Did you forget to say something in the author's note? And most of all, do I really want to publish something personal that I've worked on for the whole world to see? I mean, it's not that big of a deal. For your first fic, if you're me at least, you'll probably get about 50-100 views. At the time, that number was massive. I was amazed. So many people saw my stuff! But as I wrote more and more, I realized that a lot of views is typically considered around somewhere in the thousands. Yeah, I've hit that number a few times, but only a few. Like, maybe 4-5 out of around 50. I think. I haven't checked in a while. So while you might feel amazed by the view count of your first fic, what really shows the skill of your work is the number of reviews, favorites, etc. If you have a really catchy summary and title, people will come flocking. Not to mention if your pairing is popular or not. But no matter how many people view, if it turns out to be really bad inside, nobody will favorite or review it.
Okay, I have to clear this up. There are a lot more views than favorites or reviews or follows. For every fic that has thousands of views, I have about 20-30 or so favorites, etc. A really provocative fic might attract a lot of reviews, but that depends on what you like to write. If you're a beginner, don't worry about it. Don't expect your fanfiction to be an instant hit and get tons of favorites and reviews at first. That usually takes time and dedication. I'll probably never be too popular, despite how often I publish fics. And I accept that. I write because I enjoy it. And I think a truly good fanfiction writer should like doing it because of those reasons.
Okay, now we're at the end. To make this easier for you, I have one last thing before you go. Here is a list of fanfiction jargon to simplify what you're reading and what you're talking about. This list is in no particular order.
One-shot: A one chapter story.
Lemon: Sexy, sexy, fanfiction. If you are male, I do not suggest reading in public.
PWP: Porn Without Plot. It's good for if you're bored and, uh, in the mood.
Drabble: Just a little thought fic. Typically around 100 words or so.
Song fic: As it says in the title, a fic based around a song.
Mary Sue: A horrible perfect OC (see below) who has no flaws and is perfect in every way. Do not write one of these. Also: Gary Stu
OC: Original Character. Someone who is not in the original media who you inserted into the story to interact with the characters.
Self-Insert: You in a story. Typically disguised as regular OCs. But really, you're not fooling anyone. You're writing about your dirty fantasy of banging Super Sonico, but you're claiming it's just a regular character you made up. Who just happens to share your name and physical characteristics…
Slash: Yaoi/Yuri. Features romantic and/or sexual relationships between two or more people of the same sex.
Yaoi: If you don't know what yaoi is, GTFO.
Yuri: ^^ Look above.
Genderbend: Where you switch the sex(es) of (a) certain character(s). Example: Fem!Naruto.
Fluff: Cute little fic on a relationship. Adorable and not really sexy. Just makes you feel good.
M!Preg: Oh my God, don't even get me started. It's a fetish where the man is pregnant because fuck logic. I, for one, really hate it. But hey, who am I to judge, amiright?
Aaaand lots of others, but I forgot. But that should cover some of the basics. In the end, just write your fanfiction. I'm just trying to help y'all out. And yeah, I know I probably come off in this a little strong. I'm not everyone's cup of tea and I know that. But when I feel I'm in the wrong, I apologize and try to make it right. Anyway, this is Reincarnation Ascension signing out ^_^