guide to good fan fic writing

guide to good fan fic writing

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 12:29 am

If you think I've missed anything out please tell me and I'll put it in.

Character introduction:
Character introduction is really important it is used to show where each character is at. It can sometimes make the introduction of the story a little dull but is definitely necessary.

Techniques

Description
Basically if the reader can't draw a picture of the character you're describing you fail.
examples:
bad : Furion stood in front of a crowd ready to speak.
good : All eyes were fixed on a tall elf in the centre of the area. He wore a brown tunic and held a staff in his hand that looked so old that it might crumble under any sorts of pressure. His face was the most unusual thing one would set eyes on, he had pink skin and a blue beard, his eyes had little white strips running through them, but the most peculiar feature of all was his white horns that stood out of the side of his head. All ears listen as this unique specimen began to speak seemingly treasured words.

Character's past
Simple, what he does in the past can define the character.
example:
It was 3 years ago when I first met him...(Too lazy if ya want you can fill this in)

What the character says and does
I'm not sure why I put this in here but meh. Basically, mean people will say and do mean things. Nice people say and do nice things. If a mean person does something nice or a nice person does something mean you fail.

Suspense (how gripping the story is)
Okay so lets say you write 20 pages and put it on the forums. People are going to have to decide whether they're going to read it after a couple of pages because people are naturally lazy. Hence suspense is a very important element in anyone's story.

Techniques

Wait how the -bleep- does that work?
Wait how the -bleep- does that work? Says the reader. Well they're just going to have to keep reading to find out.

example:
You're a bored person and you go on to the forums with 30 minutes spare time. You see two stories that you can read in exactly 30 minutes. So you decide to read the first paragraph of each to find out which one you should read.
story 1: I was born at the beginning of winter, everyone knew that meant bad luck. My mother died giving birth to me and my father left me for dead. I was brought up as an orphan, unwanted and alone...
story 2: I was born 3 years after my parents death.

Evidently you would read Story 2 because how the -bleep- can you be born 3 years after your parents death?

Mystery
Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar? If you've ever read an Agatha Christie novel you'll know how important an element mystery is when it comes to writing. People will generally continue to read a story if there's something that they want to know. The whole story doesn't need to be a mystery story merely put the status of a single character in question. For example you can make the reader ask if a character is good or bad.

Create a sense of danger
It really helps build excitement. Simply put an ongoing element of danger into the book and people will keep reading.

Suprise
If you've watched spiderman 3 you'll know that the second half of the movie is really boring because you can predict basically every single event. If you keep your story unpredictable it's more exciting to read. A big twist in the middle (final fantasy does this alot) is very useful for keeping the element of surprise.


Depth
This is what separates the decent stories from the exceptional ones. I rarely see depth in dotastrategy stories sadly. Depth is basically the message of the story, it lets the reader look back at the story and think about it. It gives the story a deeper meaning so that the reader can take something away with them forever.

Techiniques

Themes
Okay so basically all you need to do is think of a main theme. Now your main character's background or actions or whatever should illustrate that main theme perfectly. Once you've done that each character that you introduce MUST contribute to that theme. It could be something relatively small just it has to contribute to the main theme. Each character can then bring in their own theme if you want.
Example: main theme trust
So we can make the story Travex's transfer from evil to good. Her friend Abaddon doesn't trust anybody and tells Travex not to trust anybody. Travex meets Furion who trusts everybody. Abaddon and Travex join the sentinel where they find that Ezalor doesn't trust them. Abaddon betrays Furion's trust (by joining scourge) and kills him. Furion's trust is what killed Furion.
That doesn't have each character bringing in their own theme but meh.

Character Development
What can I say. PUT IT IN YOUR STORY. I hardly ever see character development. Characters seem to be perfect at the start and still perfect at the end. Character development should contribute to the main theme or atleast a theme. A nice way of showing character development is by making a sort of state of mind indication. Something like: Terrorblade gets a spell casted on him that causes him to morph into a winged demon whenever he is really full of hatred.
So he rarely turns into a demon at the start of the book but does it tons at the end of the book (evidently this is character development for the bad guy).
Another way of showing character development is by changing the way the character speaks and thinks. (Someone can "stammer" at the start of the story and "declare defiantly" at the end or think negatively at start and positively at the end).

Contrasting Characters
Make two characters completely opposite. Putting them in the same situation can help illustrate your message. You could, for example have a really kind loving person and a completely heartless person. They are forced to be companions for some random reason. The way they handle each event during the story can help show your message.

Parallels
Hard to explain... multiple characters that kinda symbolise each other. You can do it by putting two characters in very similar situations throughout the story. The lows and highs of these situations occur at the same time. I'll redo this bit later xD

Setting
Basically what good is a funeral on a beautiful day. The setting must reflect the mood of the scene. A funeral should occur on a dark rainy day. It can be used to create a sense of danger (fog so thick you couldn't see a metre in front of you, or a scene on an unstable boat, or a panic scene on a car that is about to blow up).

Relationships between characters


Bleh can't be stuffed writing any more at the moment. I like feedback so if you read this feel free to comment (even if you think this is a piece of ****)
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The people we have lost...and the dreams that have faded...never forget them...
FF-X

On the eigth day the lords said "let there be awesomeness" and there was me.

Last edited by burnside on Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:59 am; edited 1 time in total

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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 4:27 pm

niiiiiiiiiiice. But what burnside forgot to mention,what is one of the most imp. things for a book iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss the style of the authour. Each author as a diff. style. Some may choose to be descriptive. Some may choose to be actiony. These are just 2 examples. The author is more defined by his/her style then by his/her name to the readers. Harry Potter, Bartimaeus trilogy etc etc.. each book has it own personality , if i may so.
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Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 12:40 am

Hey man, I think it would help if you would elaborate on what you mean by "depth."
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Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 12:55 am

cheers man

will give this a go
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Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 3:57 am

Thanks for feed back =)
Mmmm yeah I was gonna put that in the end flameseeker xD. I didn't really like the Bartimaeous (funny though, "as if written in a novel, by a second rate author" is the best line ever xD). I read the first book but it didn't have much in it. The start was promising but by the end none of the themes seemed to be complete. Harry Potter wasn't that great either. 5th and 6th were awesome, brilliant. The 1-4th didn't really have much. The 7th was soooo bad, I can't believe it. She writes 500 pages of completely random events connected by a loose thread. Just so she can write the ending that everyone was expecting. Okay the Snape part was good, the last 150 pages were okay (epilogue was pretty bad). Other than that it was crap...
I forgot to put a definition in for depth xD I'll put it in sooner or later, I'll finish this later when I'm not feeling lazy.
_________________
The people we have lost...and the dreams that have faded...never forget them...
FF-X

On the eigth day the lords said "let there be awesomeness" and there was me.

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Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:18 am

yep. I agree. Harry Potter wasnt really that good. Just hype. And ok, the bartimaeous trilogy wasnt that good, the frist two books. But teh third one was really awesome. REALLY awesome. Nice char development and twists in teh last book. But i wasnt saying they are good. I was just highlighting that each book as a different style of writing.
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Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:29 pm

just a tip
if you add too much description it can bore the reader

but this guide is great btw!
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username on bnet. :Kawaiaa/TrixyTeddy
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 4:15 am

you must be unpredictable. and proper grammar helps.

grammar isnt just about sentence structure, it also includes punctuation and using paragraphs, and the proper use of speech marks.

i dont write stories because writing stories isnt fun because its not surprising, because you know EXACTLY whats happening, thats why its more fun to read random peoples stories, and thats why i started a story competition.

now i must go.
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 5:04 am

thats exactly why i write stories. They are fun cause they gimme POWER!!!! over the chars. Also, my stories are as unpredictable to me as it is to you.
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:18 pm

I loved the bartimaeous trilogy it was 3 of the best books ive ever read the first was confusing at first but then it made more sense a few chapters in but the third was really good towards the end with ptolemys gate and all. i like how its not some fantastical land with all new places its saying that mysticism is bound into our roots and our history and it takes place in places around today we can go see and visualize better. its interpreted that the reason the djinn arent around now is that a) we killed all the magicians and b) through descending blood lines from when it took place in the 1800s to now we have all inherited the resistance and cant be harmed by them no matter what. I think it was a great concept and I like the way they use bartimaeus comical perspective.

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