As I run out of bigger points, my chapters will contain more and more...mini chapters, I guess you could say. Or subjects. So every chapter will probably have multiple parts to it from now on, most likely with zero relation to each other. Like 'Quotes and Notes'. They just happened to rhyme and i was like BINGO! But anyways, here is compound chapter #2(including the last chapter)
Disclaimer: Annabeth is not mine. Percy is not mine. They belong to a middle aged man. I am a tween teen. Is that a thing? Not really a tween anymore, but mentally not a teen at all. Sorry, I tend to rant and get off topic.
5.1- I Can't Believe This!
Fanfiction is a great tool. You can create your own stories with your own ideas based on characters and events already made for you. It's the perfect way to improve and share your own writing even if you aren't creative or skilled enough to create your own characters and situations yet. But everything has a limit.
Fanfiction should not be completely out of control crazy. I understand if it's an AU. I understand if you want to write a story about Punk Percy or Girly Annabeth. I don't mind(as long as you write it in your summary, just to warn people). What I do mind is if something is so unbelievably...unbelievable that the reader is just like, what?,or that it just...completely doesn't make sense.
Now, some things may make perfect sense to one person and completely lose another. That's okay. I find it's difficult to write down all your ideas if you don't even understand your own ideas yet, especially if you aren't a great writer like me. So this is not to discourage you, but I hope you understand what I mean when I say that some things are too rare to happen, even for the Percy Jackson fandom. Here is one example, sorry if your story has this, but I'm saying this because it makes me and possibly others dislike a story.
ALL of Percy's friends from school being demigods. And not just that, but him going to school with them for years and never noticing. Even Percy's not oblivious. Then, all of the Seven or at least 3 demigods, especially if it includes Percy, Annabeth, or both, going to the same school and not getting attacked by monsters within a week. Then, the gods giving ALL of them houses in New York, or more often, a mansion together. That is totally decked out. I mean, I can believe if they lived together, in a large house. But in a big white mansion designed by their parents who are so stubborn that they hate even admitting they needed help from demigods much less feel the need to thank them? Hades, no.
Now, this was one example of a more canon story, one that follows the books more. These are easily called ridiculous since if they're demigods and if the story is possible within the books(Chaos stories are not possible within the books, sorry), then readers tend to subconsciously decide that it must be exactly the same or perfectly non-OOC and Uncle Rick level writing. But how about AUs?
An example of a common unbelievable scenario is that they are mortals and live with their parents, also mortals, and they have to explain why they all suddenly have names of Greek deities. Some say that their parents liked Greek mythology or whatever. Others say that it just happened to be that way. Even others say that those are their nicknames and they have real names they never tell anybody because of some random crazy reason(I thought of all these off the top of my head, not from a story!). But a very wise reader(belated eloquence) once reviewed my story saying,
"...everyone seems to try to explain a familial relationship among the children of the Big Three which often doesn't add anything to the story, or creates some weird connection that makes you question the reality of the situation...their godly bloodline doesn't mean that much to the characters unless they are from the same parent...Would it be so wrong to have them from different families?"
There is nothing worse than the reader questioning your story. Heres the other part of the review that directly talks about the mortal god name explaining thing.
"..explain why the gods all have the names of Greek gods...explanations are usually pretty weak and make it seem weirder that the characters have these name traits rather than leaving it up to coincidence"
And, in my opinion, the single most beautiful gem I have ever had a reviewer write to me(since it is so true and I couldn't even form this thought into words),
"...the less you explain about some things sometimes help make it seem more real, because the reader can draw their own conclusions so that it makes sense in their own mind instead of trying to confuse them with loosely connected strings."
So the entire mini-lesson in a nutshell: Make your story realistic, and only write it if you believe it.
5.2. POVS
Point of view people! This isn't a really major thing since there aren't that many problems I've seen, so here are the things you need to watch out for:
-Constantly switching. Don't write a paragraph, switch POVs, then write another paragraph, and switch back. It's just confusing.
-Finish a POV before you start a new one.(Princess of Flames) That means that one event should have ONE POV.
-One chapter should have at most 2 POVs, 3 if it's a REALLY long chapter.
-Try not to overlap POVs. What I mean is that you write about Percy and Annabeth at a party from Percy's POV, then write a entire new chapter from Annabeth's POV. It slows down the pace of the story and isn't really needed. But if you really have to, sure. If you really want to, fine.
That was probably the shortest lesson ever, but there ya go.
Hope you enjoyed, again, I'm really sorry about the line breaks. I hope they allow easier access to line breaks again, but in the meantime, sorry. Enjoy your winter break!(Everyone has that-right?)