Rating/Words/Genre
HELLO!
Wait! Wait, Bookworm! You know you're covering THREE subjects today, right?
*sigh* Yes, I know.
Wait! WAIT, Bookworm! Why on EARTH are you covering THREE subjects today? Do you know—?
YES! I know! Have you SEEN what they're about?
*pause as you go check*
The reason, my young people of this universe, is that they're super easy and I can go through them in, like, three seconds. That's one second for each, mind you.
Let's get started!
(Oh, and BTW this chapter is going to have a lot of obvious stuff you guys probably know already. So just imagine how it would be to have these three chapters SEPARATELY. I've just saved your behinds here.)
RATING!
The rating is basically when you tell people who can read it. Like in movies, when they say something is PG it's normally for the family. G is for little kids. PG-13 is for mature tweens, teenagers, and anyone older than that; 14A is for folks a little more mature; and R for really mature people and really stupid little kids.
Same with rating. K is little kids. Like, really really little kids. Like, I could read it to my five-months-year-old baby cousin and she'd have no problem. Then is K+, which is meant for kids something like six and up because it says words like 'stupid' and 'pathetic'. You say 'stupid' to a four-year-old and they freak, thinking that you're about to go to the Fields of Punishment forever. (BTW the K stands for 'kids'.)
Then T. T stands for 'teenager', but I guess it's okay for mature tweens as well. This is because in T stories there are a little more older-person topics and mentions, such as swearing, dirty jokes, death, gore, and intense Percabeth make-out sessions. Things you couldn't say to a nine-year-old, but be okay with to a twelve-year-old. (Even though T is only supposed to read by teenagers, you'd be surprised of the dirtiness of children these days. Take my school playground for instance. *shivers*)
But sometimes people rate their stories T because they want to be safe. And that's not a problem.
Then M. Ah, M. I have never read an M, mostly because I wish to keep my sanity. (They're so bad that when you go to the list of stories to read they don't show up. You've gotta find them on a profile or something.) M are 'mature' reads, only to be read by adults, or possibly really established teenagers. This includes intense swearing, intense graphic death scenes, and… *winces*.
You know what? To keep this story K+ I'm not gonna say it. If you really want to know (or if I haven't dropped enough hints already), just Google it. I'm not gonna say it.
-o-O-o-
Now, what if you don't know what to rate your story?
If you seriously don't know, do T. Better safe than story. (Just PLEASE don't mention it in the summary. Diminishes summary impact, and reduces reader interest. If you really feel the need to do it, do it in an Author's Note at the beginning of your story. That's allowed.)
If you find that your story isn't all that 'teenager worthy', then by all means lower it! You're allowed to do that! And if you start low and there seems to be this trend that starts, making your story more graphic, then raise the rating!
And if you're writing a story that's all K+ except for one chapter, don't change the rating for that one thing. Just mention in an Author's Note at the beginning about the rating change, and how it'll be back to normal continuing onward.
WORDS!
What the heck, Bookworm? Why on earth are you doing 'words' as a topic? That's just weird.
Ahem ahem. At least let me start before criticizing my unoriginality.
By 'words' I mean how many words should be in each chapter.
250 or less: That's… short. Really short. And remember, FanFiction tells you how many words are written in each document, including your Author Notes. Two ANs both 500 words long and then a story of 100 words doesn't make a fanfiction of 1100 words.
But then again, if you're writing a series of oneshots and one oneshot is super short, we don't care. As long as you update on a regular basis. But for just an ordinary oneshot… you might wanna add something to it. Short stories (on FanFiction, at least) are usually 500 words to 7000 words. Remember that. (They can be longer, but then technically they're novelettes.)
(NOTE: Drabbles [100 words or less] should be the only stories less than 250 words, and be part of a series of oneshots. Sorry.)
250-500: Uh… still really short. But if your story is just a short little oneshot drabble that wouldn't leave you alone last night in bed, then this is fine. But for an actual chapter to a multi-chapter story? Do as you please, but just keep in mind that you don't need to rush anything. Add details. Adjectives. Think about what the protagonist can see, what his/her emotions are, add little jokes… et cetera.
500-1000: Better. For my Dumb Ways to Die story, most of my oneshots were 700 words. You could also make just an ordinary oneshot this length as well, if you wanted to.
1000-4000: This is about the length of chapters folk want oneshots/chapters to be. Long, yet not boringly long. You know, with the extra boring details the author adds but no one cares about? Those. Most of my Life at the Wilderness School (not all, mind you) were 1500 words long. That's, like, three/four/five Microsoft pages (font 12-14). This is another good length. You wanna get those stories from around 700 words to 3000, because the longer the better for the reader, but not the better for you or your story.
-o-O-o-
I shall explain now, and then receive tons of hate saying that I'm selfish and manipulative.
Consider this; for a oneshot to get forty reviews is amazing, although a story of ten chapters might have the same amount but not be so spectacular. Why? Because the chapters to reviews ratio for the oneshot is bigger. Forty reviews per chapter. But for the multi-chap the ratio is four reviews per chapter.
But another reason this is amazing for the oneshot is because less people have seen the oneshot.
Now consider this; the default organization filter to list stories is by updates (I'm talking about when you go on that page that lists all the fanfictions of that fandom). Basically it lists stories by update date. A oneshot only goes up there once. A multi-chapter story goes up there as many times as it has chapters. So theoretically speaking, more people have seen the multi-chapter, but less have read it.
Now, if your chapters are long and you update once a day, you have a lot of free time (or you are procrastinating, like I usually am) a little TOO much. Do your homework. Go outside. Ride a bike. Don't spend so much time indoors writing. Wait, I take that back. Grab a pencil (never a pen, they can't erase), a notebook, a bike, and ride to the nearest ice cream parlour. Buy an ice cream, sit outside, and write there. It's amazing (although after a while your hand will cramp, and, if you live in Canada like me, going outside for ice cream ten months of the year will turn you into a popsicle).
And two (this is more for the story and not for your social life with outdoor activity), if your chapters are longer, you have less chapters. (Obviously.) And if you have fewer chapters, then less people will see your marvellous story.
It's an author manipulation tactic.
(And now I sit back and wait for the hate to start rolling in.)
-o-O-o-
4000-10000: Very nice. But don't be afraid to take some unnecessary things out. It's quality, not quantity.
10000+: You are amazing. Like, seriously, you are a holy being. (But just consider… do you have too much detail? There's such thing, you know. Review. Go back. Get a beta reader. Double check.) Anyway, just remember what I said above about splitting long things into smaller chapters.
GENRE!
Ah, the genre! Another form of classification along with the rating!
There are lots of different types of genres. I won't write them all out, but list a few possibilities:
Is the story romantic? Humorous? Dramatic? Poetic? Adventurous? Mysterious? Horrifying? A parody? Sorrowful? Supernatural? Suspenseful? Sci-fi? Fantasy? Spiritual? Tragic? Western? Criminal? Family? Comfort over a hurt one? Friendship? None of these? Et cetera.
Wait… not et cetera. I just listed all the genres.
Dang it! I thought I wasn't going to do that! *starts walking around in circles and banging head with a frying pan*
Anyway, in a fanfiction you can choose two of these. Sort of like how you can choose four characters. The most popular genres for PJO/HoO (or the ones that I've seen the most) are:
a) Humour
b) Adventure
c) Tragedy
d) Romantic
e) Friendship/Family
f) Hurt/Comfort
People are just drawn to these sorts of stories. They have the perfect blend of they want, and they can relate to them. Humour, yeah, I know what that is. Adventure? Sure. Action and explosions and stuff.
(But if you decide to give your story a genre of 'suspenseful' over 'adventurous' or something, it isn't much of a big deal. Don't cry in bed at night over it.)
-o-O-o-
Now, there is ONE genre that completely (okay, mostly) demolishes all these rules I will list in this guide, and that genre is PARODY.
So basically do what you want with that one, (just try not to blow anything up).
-o-O-o-
But what if you don't know what genres to give your story? Well, I dunno either. Every story is different. It's important not to write down whatever, because people are looking at that as well. But don't lie just to attract attention either. People these days are really picky about that.
So I will make up a title and summary, and YOU will decide (on your own) what two genres it should be given! Sort of like a fun activity and exercise. There will be four!
Summer Days
Ah… the wonders of summer. No homework, kids play outdoors for once, parents seem sulkier than usual… et cetera. Unfortunately, Leo's summer hasn't exactly been 'fun'. (Remember that war against Gaea? Yeah… that kinda scarred him for life.) But Camp Jupiter is right next door to one of the world's natural wonders, and they might as well take advantage of it.
Gone
Piper sobbed in her hands. "Is he really…?" she asked, as if there was still a small chance that the inevitable had yet to come. She didn't finish, not wanting to say it. Jason wrapped his arms around her comfortingly. "I'm sorry," he said. "But Leo is gone."
Runaway
Six times. Six times did Leo Valdez run away, be it from foster homes or orphanages. These are the tales of the road from our favourite runaway.
Over the Rainbow
Somewhere over the rainbow… someone lives a happier life. Somewhere over the rainbow… a child is laughing for the first time. Somewhere over the rainbow… someone's dreams are about to come true, while over on this side someone's are only getting darker. Poems of dreams of over the rainbow.
(Notice how three out of four of those stories somehow included Leo. I am too much of a fan-girl.)
And there are no correct answers! Just opinions!
RECAP
Rating:
K: (3-9)
K+: Older kid (6-12)
T: Teenager/Tween (11+)
M: Mature adult (16+)
Ideal story length: 700-1500. 2000-3000 if you're a really good author and have some sort of reason to keep your chapters long.
And keep on writing! ;)
-Bookworm el Magnifica