How to write great Fan Fiction!
- Thread starter The Funslinger
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Mary Sues have to be my 1st biggest no-no. Especially if it's "Plot Hole Sue...won't you come & was away the plot" with an entire page describing what the character looks like & all the epic hobbies & different languages & the character has an almost 4th wall breaking ability to know everything about everything.
My 2ed biggest no-no is if the plot of the story revolves around shipping, especially if there's nothing in the story to substantially back the pairing, if it does against a canon pairing, if it involves rising the dead, if it could cause events that would derail the story it was based on, & if the author has to chance the personalities of the characters to get the romance to work out. Some writers are like "these two characters have never met, but because they are my favorites, they must be together."
My 2ed biggest no-no is if the plot of the story revolves around shipping, especially if there's nothing in the story to substantially back the pairing, if it does against a canon pairing, if it involves rising the dead, if it could cause events that would derail the story it was based on, & if the author has to chance the personalities of the characters to get the romance to work out. Some writers are like "these two characters have never met, but because they are my favorites, they must be together."
Luckily, this seems to be pretty common. I'm so glad that FF.net attracts top-tier writers.Daystar Clarion said:
OT: don't bother to use indents and form paragraphs. After all, it's still text, you can read it just fine without all those pretentious formatting styles.
Hey now, I can be positive, and I put effort into my Fanfic as well. The key is editing. If you can't do editing yourself, find someone who can. It really, really helps.erttheking said:
Yeah, recently I've been going back and revising my current fan fic. Managed to get the first fifteen chapters done already.Soviet Heavy said:
Remember, there is absolutely no need to wast your time reading/watching/playing the original source material.
In fact, I would recommend against it, as it might tie down your free-flowing pure artistry.
In fact, I would recommend against it, as it might tie down your free-flowing pure artistry.
Never seen the appeal to fanfiction. I wrote a couple of Halo ones during my early teens when I was a mad Halo fon boy (Still enjoy the series and its universe, but nowhere near as fanatic as I was), but years later, I find it much more satisfying to create my own world with my own characters than use someone else's.
I'm throwing money at the screen but nothing is happening....fuckin' do this, mate.Fappy said:
Remember, only one character is competent. Everyone else is filler. Either stay directly on the plot, or leave it behind entirely. Make sure you ask for reviews. Constructive criticism is bad; more reviews means that you're better at writing.
Make sure to have copyright claimers. You don't own any of the source material, and you don't want to get sued. However, you do own everything else.
Also,
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/476065
is a good example of fine fanfiction
Make sure to have copyright claimers. You don't own any of the source material, and you don't want to get sued. However, you do own everything else.
Also,
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/476065
is a good example of fine fanfiction
Well as you're a 4 year vet, I'd love to hear your opinion on a Dragon's Dogma fanfic called Dragon's Charge. Be warned though, if you go to read it and haven't played the game, you may want to do some research to know what to recognize. To sum it up simply, Dragon's Charge takes the established setting and characters and throws them off a bridge (though it is worth noting that the established characters may show up later under a different name). Instead the location appears to be the same but is set in the modern day. In a truly clever bit of writing that keeps with the game's character creation, the writer neither names his Arisen in the story or describes his/her appearance, not even a gender is given, allowing the reader to fill in those blanks for yourself. But now I'm ranting, so I'll close this out by saying that you can find it on Deviantart.erttheking said:
Yeah that's where I was going to go too, but then I saw that the OP wasn't serious so yeah never mind.Genocidicles said:
Well you could watch a playthrough if you are interested, but I recommend playing it because I name it my game of 2012. In the forefront you are a hero who is on a quest to slay a truly giant dragon but it is still my favorite story in gaming thanks to the background details. Yes this is not a game I recommend running through the main story without doing side quests for characters, but what really gets my praise is the ending. Mass Effect 3 this is not, this is an ending that made me literally say, "what the fuck?" This is something you would think beyond Capcom and if they see this, could I send whoever wrote the ending a hug for making a game ending stick with me like it does in Dragon's Dogma. For everything else, think of it as Dark Souls crossed with Skyrim crossed with Devil May Cry.erttheking said:
As a somewhat well known fanfictionist myself...
The OP made me laugh my ass off at first...until I remembered all the actual fanfiction writers who actually DO choose to do everything on that list and it depressed me.
The OP made me laugh my ass off at first...until I remembered all the actual fanfiction writers who actually DO choose to do everything on that list and it depressed me.
My advice for avoiding writing bad fan fiction is very simple. Don't write fan fiction. No good can come of it.
If no one ever wrote fan fiction then we would never have half of the literature we do today, even the classics. If you look at it critically, the same stories have been told over and over and over again, just with different characters/setting: an AU. How many times have we seen a man go on a lonely quest for family and salvation? Yeah, that was "Homer's" idea, or who we think of as Homer, originally but still there are tons of novels based on that idea. Food for thought. (Also, I disagree if you were serious. Can never tell in the forums.)smithy_2045 said:
Speaking seriously (because I'm so bad at figuring out the joke from the real too), I think this is a matter of style. I know you put in the "IMHO" but sometimes a bit of prose, even repeating a similar action throughout a sentence, gives some fic more flavor than they normally would have had. I know that I'm fond of more prose than straight minimalist action/talk, and I write that way, because I think it just adds more.erttheking said:
"Purple prose," I believe it's called, is still bad. Avoid that at all costs.
