The Final 3.1 - Story Types Specific to Fanfiction
(Miscellaneous Head-bangers)
3.1.4. Submit-Your-Own-Demigod Things
So, about a month ago or so, I went away for a few weeks. Real life invading my life and all that. And when I came back, the fandom had been overrun.
Again.
Here's the thing. If can't make your own characters, you have no business writing a story where OCs are the protagonists. Making a skeleton; that is, assigning her/him looks, godly parents and superweapons is the easiest part of creating any character. The hard part comes when you have to develop each of your characters with a personality and voice distinct from all of your other characters.
And I have words for those of you who didn't know that was a requirement. They're not very nice words, so I'm keeping them to myself.
See, a character is more than a set of categorized appearances and abilities. Any character worth their salt is one who has been (excuse my Hallmark Moment) written with feeling. That rarely happens if you barely care about the character. Why should you? She/he is not yours.
Writing an OC story is risky in the first place. You're opening yourself up into a minefield of potential disasters. Please don't make it worse by borrowing your elite troops from random people over the interwebs. Random people over the interwebs, as we all know, are somewhat less than trustworthy.
On a side note, "Nice, but gets angry if her friends are threatened," is not a personality trait. It's a heartfelt plea for some flamethrower action.
3.1.5. Chatfics and Instant Messaging fics
These can be done properly. They can be. But most often, they're not.
This is largely due to the presence of chatspeak (refer 'Formatting Tips'), massive mischaracterization (Refer 'Character Theory' when I finally get around to putting it up) and absolute illogicality.
References for that last bit may be found with reason and logic, assuming that they aren't shut away in your tower scratching lines into walls.
Chatfics fall squarely into the domain we call crackfics. Crackfics are so called because they give the impression that they were written when the writer was on crack, drunk or otherwise intoxicated. Insanity abounds in a crackfic, but that is no excuse for illogicality. Because insanity can be beautifully logical, and many, many of my favourite fics (on my main account, not this one) are crackfics.
But there's crack, and then there's crack. It varies from person to person, as with everything else. But if you're making Nico dance around singing Miley Cyrus songs, you can bet you've gone wrong somewhere. A drunk Chiron running around playing pranks counts too.
Crack is not for the rank amateur, because successful crack requires being familiar with the characters and their limits. Otherwise, it's just another hysteria-spawning disaster.
3.1.6. List Fics
Insert paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 from the previous section under here.
List fics are again things that should not be done by the n00bs, but which most often are. To make a list of "How to annoy someone" even remotely interesting, you need to be off the wall, unconventional, witty, an expert in characterization and a dozen other things that most people who start out are not.
Lists may seem like an easy way to start your fanficcing career, but do not be fooled. Like Chatfics and IM fics, thay can only be pulled off properly by someone who knows what they are doing. If you find yourself writing "Tease him", "Tell him he's ugly", "Tell him (insert beloved's name here) died", discard the document at once, and pick a theme that's easier to deal with.
Note: As DaughterofHecate1234 pointed out, lists work particularly well when they're incorporated into a story. They can be marvellous narrative devices. Like Kioko's Book of Facts, which was incredibly eloquent for something that short.
But by themselves, they're pretty risky.
Notes: The revised section on PJO-Characters-Read books has been moved to the next chapter. Mostly because I am a sucker for reviews.