So, while I'm waiting for people to submit fanfics for this, I've decided to do some tips and tricks chapters. I'll talk about a few things to keep in mind when editing the grammar and a few stylistic tips to help better your stories. (Which will be discussed in this chapter. I'll give you three tips to start with. We'll see how effective this chapter is first. I don't want to overwhelm you with information the first go around.)
Bear in mind, however, that these tips are just my thoughts and my opinions. These are just some ways that work for me. There is no guarantee that it will work 100% for you. You ultimately can do what you feel is best for your story. That being said I do hope you at least consider my suggestions.
Now then...let's begin!
- Research: It's important to know what the heck you're talking about. No one's going to be interested in what you have to say if you sound like a big dummy. You don't have to spend years studying. You don't have to be an expert in the subject matter. After all, fanfic is just for fun. However, it wouldn't hurt if you at least had a basic idea of what your writing about.
Now you're probably thinking something along the lines of, "Well, duh. It's my fandom. Obviously, I know everything about it."
But that's not what I mean. You probably spend hours a day just going through your favorite fandoms, watching the shows over and over, rereading the books time and time again. You should have the characters and facts memorized by heart. (Though that is research, you probably just didn't realize it.) What I mean are the real-life facts.
For example, if you're writing about computers, you're going to have to understand at least the basics of how they work. Coding. Firewalls. Whatever. (I barely understand any of it, so it's really hard for me to write about.) If you're going to write about medicine you need a basic understanding of the medical field. If you want to write something about sports, you'll need to know the rules for whatever sport you want the characters to play.
Just because it's fanfic doesn't mean you can slack off. If you're ignorant, your characters will be too.
- Slow the Heck Down: Pacing is important for any story. If it goes too fast, the story seems unprofessional and childish. If the story goes too slow, it drags on forever and gets boring fairly quickly. Usually, fanfics fall under the former.
I know I'm guilty of this, especially in my younger years. We all get excited when we want certain things to happen. And we want them to happen as soon as possible...but some things are worth the wait.
Take your time to really flush the story out. Focus on character development, on the plot. Build bonds between the characters, before making them dive into deep relationships or hardships. Before something extremely good (or bad) happens, give the readers time to fall in love with them. (Or to hate them with a burning passion, whichever you want.) We can't care about what's happening to them if we don't care about the characters.
I know if a reader is reading your fic, they probably already care about the characters from the canon story...but it's easier to get into the fic if you write them like they're your own characters.
- If it's tedious to write, it's probably tedious to read: Everyone always says you should have plenty of detail, but what they don't tell you is that it's possible to use too much. You want to make it easy for your readers to picture the characters and imagine what's going on in the story. However, you don't want to overwhelm them with detail after detail. This will drag things out far too much and inevitably cause them to stop reading.
Balance the details out. Before you write that long paragraph describing every last spec in the sidewalk or every stitch of that gorgeous dress...ask yourself "is this really important? Do my readers need to know about this?"
If the answer is no, it's probably safe to leave it out. The readers don't need to know exactly what a character is wearing (unless it's something important like a superhero costume, and even then you only need to describe it the first time they put it on. The rest of the time you can be vague.)
Readers do need to have at least a vague idea of what your characters look like, so it's okay to use a bit more detail with them.
It may seem difficult to determine what's important and what isn't, but relax. Like most things, it just takes a bit of practice. You'll get the hang of it.
And those are my tips for today. I hope you found them useful and worth reading. Best of luck with your fics, people!