Lessons in Writing

Okay, starting out as a Fanfic author has got me looking at the things I should keep in mind when writing. Everyone probably has this problem when they give it a go so I’m going to try and keep track of what I learn and write it out here for you to check out. If it helps you out, that’s great. If you totally disagree, then that’s fine. Everyone has their own writing style, after all. Working out how to build on it is a part of what Fanfiction is about.

Beginning, Middle, End

When you think up the idea which you want to turn into a story, don’t just think of the beginning and start writing from there. I did that with my Phantom Fairy story and wound up totally stuck on where to go after the FIRST chapter. Whoops. So, when planning a story write out the main events which happen in the beginning, the middle of the story, and the end. That way you can piece them together, even if you’re having a hard time coming up with ideas to fill the blanks. If the story has a general direction then it can actually end up writing itself.

Story Map

For long stories with multiple chapters you might need to expand on the “Beginning, Middle, End” idea and create a timeline of events you want to put in your story.

Getting the Facts Straight

Typos are a mistake every writer makes at some point, even if they don’t realise that what they wrote is wrong. Quite often, people will write the characters name wrong. For example: “Gildarts from the Fairy Tail anime is often written as Guildarts”, or his fellow Fairy Tail character “Freed” often having his name written as “Fried”. I’ve seen it a lot. So if you’re not sure about names than check out the browsing option right here on Fanfic.net. It lets you filter your story search by selecting characters, all the names are there for you to copy.

There’s also the wiki websites. For checking Fairy Tail facts, I go to fairytail.wikia.com and I can research so much more than just correct name spelling. Look up Magnolia city and it even gives you a brief description of its layout, more than what I can work with from my memory.

Character Speech

In actual books, whenever a new person speaks a new paragraph starts. I’ve read a lot of fanfics where they have multiple people talking in a single paragraph and I sometimes have to reread it to keep track of who’s talking.

When you have finished a piece of the story which contains a lot of dialogue, reread it and check that the readers can follow the flow between characters. Sometimes, especially when there are a lot of people joining in the conversation, it can become unclear as to who is talking.

Summaries

It’s easy to have a bunch of “what ifs” making up your summary and loads of people do it. I don’t know why but I find that puts me off. Don’t really get what that about, could just be my own quirk.

When you write your summary, even if you’re sure that it is horrible, don’t actually throw in things like “bad at summaries” as a side note for everyone to see. Take pride in your story, it’s not easy being a writer. If you put yourself down in the summary then people might doubt how good you are at writing actual stories.

Be descriptive, using adjectives to try and catch the imagination of the person reading it. But don’t give away too much about the plot. That goes without saying.

OCs

Characters that you, [the author, have invented yourself. These can be great additions to any story but sometimes it can be a bad thing as well. I used to think that writing about OCs would be easy because they’re your own creation and you don’t have to worry too much about going out of character. But it can be tricky because the OC is a stranger to the readers who are mostly looking to enjoy stories about their most loved canon characters. So make sure you take time to introduce the OC to the readers through the story, don’t just dump them right in and have them all buddy-buddy with everyone right off the bat. If they have history with the canon characters then try and write their introduction through the perspective of someone who is only just meeting them. Or have some focus on them just simply catching up, reminiscing about the past.

Chapter Length

Is it too short? Did I drag it out too long? These are very annoying questions we ask ourselves when we finally finish writing up a chapter. Some authors manage to an average of 10,000 words per chapter and that’s definitely impressive, at least to me. I really can’t manage that.

I settle for a goal of 5,000 words per chapter but usually end up with 4,000. But the length of chapters vary from every author. If it only consists of a few paragraphs than it is probably too short. And if it’s only a few sentences than it shouldn’t be posted at all. As an avid fanfic reader, I guarantee you that there is nothing more frustrating than finally getting an update notice for a story you’re following, only to find that the new post is only an Author’s Note. Please, PLEASE keep these reserved for at the start or end of the real chapters. Don’t torture your readers!

Bulking Up

So what if your chapter is too short? How can you possibly add anymore without ruining the delightfully teasing cliff-hanger at the end? There is a trick to it but it can turn out good or bad so you have to be careful. They even use this trick in films, they add small details which aren’t even necessarily relevant to add depth to the plot and characters. An example of this in a TV show is in Stargate: Atlantis, on the thirteenth episode of the first season called “Hot Zone”, an outbreak occurs and the city goes into lockdown. This locks Sheppard and Teyla in the gym and when Sheppard goes to grab his radio to contact the control room and find out what’s going on, it turns out he doesn’t have it on him. So he turns to Teyla and asks for her radio. It had no impact on the episode plot, it just added a little detail.

Now, let me think of an example of this happing in a written form. I’ll write out a random paragraph to use as an example.

The pouring rain had chased all but a few of Magnolia’s citizens inside. Lucy swore to herself as she run along the cobbled street, her jacket held up over her head but offering little shelter thanks to it being drenched right through long ago. Big fats drops of water slipped through the threaded material and splashed down on her blonde head. It was better than nothing though. She started to fantasize of her bath tub and the lovely long soak she’d enjoy once she makes it home. Now that’s the kind of soaking she enjoys. A smile stretched across her lips at the thought but it vanished as her foot connected with something, sending her toppling to the ground with a loud ‘splash’. She groaned and pushed aside her jacket which had draped over her head. Blinking she took in the wet little package sitting on the ground just outside her home.

So this is about Lucy running through the rain on her way home. I go into detail about ‘big, fat drops of water splashing down on her blonde head’ through the jacket she is trying to use as an impromptu umbrella. I already wrote that it was raining so of course she was getting wet, but by adding the extra sentence to describe her experience in detail, the readers were able to picture the scene more clearly. Now, of course, that’s a different effect than what I talked about with the first example but that’s just how useful adding depth can be.

The only problem is that you can end up rambling and dragging it out too long or going off topic a bit. So when you add depth, it’s best to keep it short and simple. That might not sound like it will add much more length to the chapter but you would be surprised by just how much a little bit here and there throughout the chapter can add up to.