Types of Stories

Now we enter the second half of our guide! CONTENT!

YAY!

Anyway, in this section I will be explaining the actual STORY, and not the steps to getting a reader there.

So today, because it's really easy, we will be starting off with TYPES OF STORIES! This chapter will be short, I'm sorry, but I got stuck while writing. Not very pleased with how it came out, but I tried my best.


There are two main types of stories! Normal stories, and crossovers! They're even separated when you go searching for a fanfiction to read.

Normal stories are normal stories. Duh. Crossovers are two fandoms combined into one. Duh.

*presses the Staples's easy button*


Now, we keep breaking it down! There are two MORE types of stories.

Oneshots
Multi-Chapter

And that's it.


Oneshots!

Oneshots have a long list of other variations, such as…

Poems
Series of oneshots (which I don't count as multi-chaps)
Song-fics
Twoshots
Threeshots
Drabbles
Fluff
Crack-fics

A oneshot is used for short story that doesn't have a long enough plot to become a multi-chap. Maybe it's just a moment you had a headcannon for, and wanted to share with the world. Because they are only one chapter, you have to make them a little bit longer (except if it is a drabble, or in a series of oneshots—we've discussed this in the past). 1000+ is fine.

-o-O-o-

Poems. Ah, poems. You know, in English class, this unit was really boring because all your teacher did was hand you a worksheet that gave you an example of one, explained it in horrifying detail, and told you to write your own.

The thing is, poems DO have guidelines. Sorry. But those guidelines are flexible. Your poem doesn't HAVE to rhyme, and you can choose however many lines you want it to have.

Usually poems are told in the first perspective, meaning 'I'. This is so that you can get inside your character's thoughts and feelings and use them into the poem. Poems are elegant and graceful, even the humorous ones. Make sure it flows and makes sense in an elegant and graceful manner… like… like an elegant and graceful metaphor.

Another trick… SONG LYRICS!

Yes! Song lyrics are just poems with a beat and background music! It's true! When I was writing Mount Olympus Dance Party, I occasionally had to make up my own lyrics to the song. And that was great poem practice! If you want to get good at writing poems, choose any song you want and copy/paste the lyrics to SOMEWHERE. Listen to the song a bajillion times, and write down your own lyrics, using the real ones as a guide. This takes time, but the end product is AMAZING, I promise. I loved doing it.

-o-O-o-

Series of oneshots. Yes.

Just remember these oneshots should be similar. Maybe it's because all of them are romance, or based on a certain character, or whatever. My story Dumb Ways to Die is a series of oneshots, and they relate together because of the song. Another example is Lost Moments of HoO. They're all lost moment of HoO.

*incredible amounts of sarcasm that drip to the floor in thick pasty blobs*

They have the same rules as a oneshot, because all they are a bunch of oneshots stringed together into a longer story.

-o-O-o-

Song-Fics are what they sound like. Stories with songs in them. The only bad part about these is that you've gotta put TWO disclaimers in the AN.

So this is how they work; you have a character interacting with another. Every few paragraphs or lines, add half a verse in italics, using the little ellipses (the dot dot dot thing) thing before and after.

But here's something that'll save you a lot… Write the story BEFORE adding in the lyrics! If you bend the story to fit your lyrics, you end up adding and taking out some things that were never meant to be, and ending up with a horrible mutation! Frankenstein would be jealous!

And, hey, you never know! Maybe you'll ditch the song and like your story the way it is!


Multi-Chapter

These are the ones with several chapters. Some genres need to be multi-chaps, because they have to be long and complex by default.

(And by 'some genres', I mean just mystery.)

MCs (I'm just referring to them as that now because 'multi-chap' is too long to write over and over) are longer and thus have more depth to them. That's what makes the pre-writing stage in your writing SO FREAKING IMPORTANT. (More on those stages in a, you guessed it, future chapter.)

With a larger word-count, there are more ways you can contradict yourself by accident. You have to be prepared to go back and double-check things you've written before, or edit them again.

Also, you need the resolve to write a multi-chap. These are several chapters you have to write and upload on an acceptable schedule—can you handle all this?

If so, congratulations!


Both

Both oneshots and MCs have certain qualities. Such as a beginning, middle, and end.

Aw, seriously? you ask. This is turning into grade six English.

But I'm serious.

Ha! I'm never serious. Well, sometimes. Maybe once or twice.

*clears throat* Anyway.

Well, of course, you argue, if you take a story and split it into three parts, that's obviously a beginning, middle and end.

Yeah.

Exactly.

The beginning is where the characters and location and setting of that point are introduced. This is also where the problem is stated. This part of the story continues until the middle begins.

This part of the story doesn't need to only take up one chapter. It can take up several.

The ending is where the problem is resolved, or the mystery is uncovered, or when the demigods beat up Dirt Face. All plots should be tied, leaving the reader satisfied. (I just realized what a hypocrite I am… *coughlifeatthewildernessschoolcough*)

The middle is basically everything else. There shouldn't be just one thing happening in the middle—add complications. You can either have several things happening at once (romantic drama with several leads to a mystery), or a lot of things happening one after the other (like in the Heroes of Olympus books).

Example:

Remember that example from, like, the second chapter? In which someone is mysteriously killing Greeks and Romans even after the peace was made?

Beginning: maybe a chapter to settle in to the story, then the second chapter ends as a cliffhanger when they discover the first body. Then, third chapter, there is an outrage in the Greeks and Octavian tries to get everyone to turn on each other, and Reyna somehow manages peace, and fourth chapter: WHAMO! Two new bodies, this time Romans.

Middle: the Seven and Nico and Reyna and a few others begin to investigate. -The murderer targets someone else, but doesn't finish the job properly and the poor guy is knocked out for several days. When healed, he/she should be able to tell them who the murderer is, but then is killed the night he/she's supposed to be healed. -The praetors and leaders of CHB begin to desperately try to stop the two camps from going to war with one another. -They pick up two different leads and follow both. -Jason and Piper are having relationship problems.

Ending: they discover who is the murderer, and his/her intentions. The murderer tries to get away, stabs someone, I dunno, and what continues from then is for the writer to decide if he or she wants to create a sequel or not.

Another example with a more familiar tone: The Son of Neptune
Beginning: Percy manages to make it to CJ. He meets Hazel and Frank, Frank receives a quest and is claimed at the same time, and they head off.
Middle: EVERYTHING ELSE.
End: ...Except for the fight at Alaska and CJ.

-o-O-o-

Most genres can fit into any category, so you musn't worry about that.

Also, there are kinds of stories (story formats) that can go for either.

1. AU: Alternate Universe. Basically the same characters with the same personalities, but they're not demigods or any of that. Maybe they're normal teenage kids. Maybe they're secret agents working for the CIA. Whateves.
2. UA: Universe Alternated. The same universe, but changed a little. Such as Bianca still being alive, or Thalia never joining the Hunt.
3. Characteristic!someone: Basically you take a person or a group of people and give them a different personality (happy, sad, mad, etc.) or main characteristic (demigod, god, Greek, Roman, etc.) Examples: happy!Nico, quiet!Reyna, Greek!Jason.
4. Diary: Self-explanatory. These stories have to be past tense first-perspective, because the narrator is the main character (duh) and it definitely happened in the past (double-duh).

And, yeah. Those were basically all the ones off the top of my head.


There isn't much need for a RECAP in this chapter, so I'll just end it off here.

Next chapter is OCs and OOC-ness! I've already started writing, and I like how it's coming out.

Keep being amazingly amazing!

-Bookworm Seventeen Fifty-Six