Kelsey's Declassified Fanfic Survival Guide
Fanfiction, the American equivelant of Dojinshi in Japan. (A/N: Dojinshi is basically a fan comic, if you aren't a big anime fan.) There are many many different fanfics out there, and many different kinds as well, though not all of them are good. Fanfiction is the highest form of flattery to any author or artist, and if you are writing a fanfic, you want it to be good, to impress the author, to make it flattery and not insult, because if a fanfic, is just that Fan-made fiction. And unless you are just some hateful person, who is writing JUST to bash the show or the author, you don't want to accidentally insult the writer. This is the main reason some people don't write their fanfiction ideas, and some others don't even know that what they are writing, may be insulting. This guide is to help those who want help, to point out some basic flaws in others, and also to help your fanfic, or any other story you might want to write, get read and get good reviews.
So, the first question is: what makes a good fanfic? Is it the plot? No, not necessarily. I've read about 90 something Ned fics with close to the same plot, and I still like them, it's not the plot that does it, not really. Okay, then is it the dialogue? No, in fact, too much dialogue can detract from the value of the substance of the fic. Oh, then it's the substance? Mmm.. not really the substance either. Then what is it? I believe it's the telling, the way you convey your fancif to the world. If you're going for a romance fic, you might want to go for first person, since this is by far the most intimate look into the characters head, and it allows for my favorite method learned in school, called the show, don't tell. And be honest, do you narrate inside you're head "I'm embarrassed?" No, I think not. It's the thought, What sets your fanfic apart from the hundreds, no, thousands, hundred thousands of other fanfics out there! And the best way to do that is to change the way you tell the story, to get inside the readers head, make them feel for your character the way you feel for a best friend, or the way you emote about your own problems! But it's not only that, it's also a good blend of all the other elements of writing, like dialogue, and detail, and action, and also plot and character development. I'm going to assume you're writing a romantific (romantic fanfic) for the duration of this guide, capiche?
Okay, the first thing i'm going to enlighten you upon is called "the blend," says me, and this has to deal with the ratio in your fic of dialogue to action/ description. Now we all know dialogue is important, it's how we find out most of the information from outside characters, which are not the main character, if the story is a first person or a third person limited. Overall, though, dialogue isn't what you should focus on, especially in a romance fic, actually, in almost any, but especially in romance. The amount of dialogue in respect to the amount of action or description I think should be about one third. i know that some chapters basically revolve around speech and that's fine, but if it's just to move the scene along (like say, what the characters are saying while they play a game and it isn't important to the plot at all), cut it out, or possibly put some description in between that helps disperse the dialogue.
But not enough dialogue can annoy the more skim-reader. If a scene has absolutely no dialogue the skimmer may find it 'unimportant' and skip the scene all together, when it may in fact be the pivotal scene! but dialogue just for the sake of dialogue, can be really boring. You don't want any part of your fic to be boring to the reader.
Besides a good, healthy blend, which any good fic has (keep in mind, we are also trying to DISTINGUISH our fic from others), one must have an interesting way of telling their story, what teachers call 'voice'. It is your distinctive writing style, and it is most what people look for in good stories. Are your favorite stories exactly like the other stories, or do they have some thread that makes them different from all the others? A way to make your story different, is to add some of your own comments, or some of your humor. I looked for an example in my piece, but I cannot find one distinctive example, my whole story is pretty much voice. Okay, I have another way of describing voice. Voice is when the reader can hear the author in the piece. When they can see through just the plain telling and see the personality behind it.
Another really important thing to strive for in your piece is subtlety. Don't just tell people about something, show them. Don't tell them, Moze was in love with Ned, show them. Show what she thinks about him. How she thinks his smile is just the best thing in the world, or something of the like. Don't tell emotions, show them. Another thing in subtlety, is just suggest things. Make them think something instead telling them it's right. Show Ned looking apprehensive, don't tell them Ned was secretly scared. Because then it isn't a secret. You want to give the reader soemthing to think about, so don't be completely obvious in your telling; this is also what makes a great story.
This has been chapter one of KDFSG. Chapter two will come out shortly, thanks for reading!