They say to write what you know. So I wrote…
A Guide to Writing Fanfiction
Believe it or not, fanfiction has been around long before the Internet; fanfiction started in Star Trek fan magazines in the 1960′s has since extended to films, bands, historical figures, television series and books. The fanfiction world is as broad as the interests of the writers themselves, and anyone falling in love with a certain fandom could easily find stories based on their new favorite characters. For writers, fanfiction is a valuable tool when learning how to write compelling dialogue, experimenting with different voices and points of view, describing settings and deciding how to structure one’s stories. While these stories involve others’ characters, writing fanfiction can be a wonderful exercise in storytelling, and a great way to get feedback on the technical points of your efforts. Here are some things to keep in mind when writing fanfiction, posting it online, and interacting with other writers.
Tips for Writing Fanfiction
1. I wouldn’t suggest writing a story about a show that ran five seasons, if you’ve only seen three episodes. This is perhaps the most important part of writing fanfiction: knowing your characters. Oftentimes, the characters that one can relate to personally are the easiest and most fun to write. Their ideals, history, typical way of speaking, clothing styles, sense of humor, likes and dislikes – all of these can come into play at different points in your story. Your attention to detail, and having a good idea of what the character would and would not do in any situation, are ways of staying true to the character you’re writing as or about. Some of these aspects aren’t always laid out in canon (the accepted facts of any series or fandom, based on what has been shown by the original creators) and can be left up to the imagination, but only to a certain degree. Try your best to put yourself in the character’s head, and imagine what they would do in the setting in which you’ve placed them.
2. There are definitely things you can do to boost your knowledge and sense of any given character. A lot of writers like to make a playlist of songs that remind them of the characters, and listen to it while writing. If there are chronologies or summaries of your character online, read over them just to make sure you’re not missing anything. Have the books or episode guides at the ready, if you’re unsure of a canon fact and need to double-check it before moving on.
3. All of that being said, one shouldn’t depend too much on established canon. The great thing about fanfiction is getting to add your own ideas and settings to a familiar group of characters. If you’re repeating what’s already been done and said, it can get old quickly. Even musing too long on a past event can make your character idle, and the story too familiar to be an intriguing read. Fanfiction can be the most fun when it’s set in unfamiliar territory, and you shouldn’t be afraid to work with that. If your character’s usually in space, plop him down on Earth and see what happens. If they live in Texas, fly them to France and give them an adventure. Whatever leap you take, do so with your character’s personality traits in mind, but with a sense of the new and unexpected.
4. Especially in more fantastical realms, if another language or slang is spoken, it’s all too easy for a writer to pepper their story with that language, and depend on that to be what relates the story to the original universe. Look over what you’ve written so far and evaluate whether you’ve over-used any fandom-specific slang, or ignored it entirely. Either mistake can make the quality of your story and its relation to canon suffer. Try to make each character’s voice distinctly their own, and exercise caution when dipping into standards that would be too easy to fall back on. Remember also that the characters’ past is what has been defined by canon – if you’re setting your story in their present or future, it’s possible they have adopted different turns of phrase, nicknames, etc. by that point. As with all other writing, choose your words carefully.
5. In most cases, the actual writing takes place on a computer. This may seem like common knowledge, but never forget it: Ctrl + S is your best friend. If a writer just spent half an hour crafting the perfect paragraph, an unexpected reboot or computer glitch can be devastating. Taking the second to save your work is better by far than losing it.
6. If you’ve already written your piece, don’t count on the computer spellchecker to do an editor’s job properly. Most fanfiction writers ask a trusted friend, often one familiar with the fandom in which the story is set, to be their ‘beta reader’, or simply beta. A beta is essentially an editor, an outside party who can read your story with a critical eye and correct any spelling, grammar, or capitalization errors. A beta often focuses solely on the technical, making no change to your story, but may suggest that you add descriptive details here and there. A beta helps you correct the problems and flesh out interesting aspects you may have overlooked prior to posting.
Tips for Posting Fanfiction
7. First off, remember that you’re using someone else’s intellectual property. Many authors take offense to fanfiction, and could at any time threaten legal action, or at least contact the web-masters of any sites you post on and ask that the stories be removed. Others don’t mind it or simply look the other way, but you’ll want to find out how the owner of the copyright feels about it. If you love a book or television show enough to be writing stories based on it, the last thing you’d want to do is personally offend the brilliant mind that created it.
8. Now – where can you post your stories? There are many sites specific to fanfic, such as FanFiction.net and its affiliates, and the majority of these include forums where you can meet other writers of your preferred fandom. Large-scale blog sites such as LiveJournal can be used to post fanfiction, either on your own page or in fanfic communities; both Fictionesque and Archive Of Our Own are worth checking out, and DeviantArt accepts short fiction entries of all types.
9. Whether in a community specific to a fandom, a fic site or your own blog, you have to make your story stand out if you want people to find and read it. There are many pieces of information a writer often includes when posting their story; while not all of the following are necessary, a fanfiction post always begins with some of these:
Title: The title of your story.
Author: Your name, screenname, email address or pseudonym.
Fandom: The movie, band, book series, television or people on whom the story is based.
Wordcount: Your total word count.
Rating: Fanfiction is rated thus:
K: suitable for ages five and over.
K+: suitable for older children.
T: suitable for 13 and over; may include bad language or violence.
M: suitable for ages 16 and over, contains minor adult themes.
MA/NC-17: adult content, 18+ only.
Pairings: The couple on which the story is focused, which would be written Character #1/Character #2; or the main characters, separated by commas.
Genre: Is it angsty, hilarious, or romantic? Let your readers know.
Warnings: Any graphic, disturbing or potentially offensive themes in your story should be declared here. Even ‘character death’ could be mentioned, if it’s a factor.
Contains: If your story depends on any cliffhangers or otherwise major happenings that not everyone would know, you’ll want to mention spoilers, as new fans prefer to avoid them. Your ‘Contains’ entry might read as such: major season three spoilers! Don’t click if you don’t want to know, or Spoiler Alert: This one’s set in the last half of the fourth book; if you haven’t read that far, this might give away too much.
Beta: A thank you to your beta, and their screenname/pseudonym.
Prompts: If the piece was a part of a fanfiction contest or weekly prompt, specify which one; add a link to it when possible.
Notes: Here you would state need-to-know facts about your story. Perhaps it takes place in an alternate universe, or you wrote it late at night and want to beg others not to comment too harshly. You might want to say whether it’s the first part of a series or a sequel, and post links to other sections that readers might want to see. Maybe the story smashes a fact of canon all over the place, and you want to let your readers know beforehand to expect it. Whatever you think is relevant to the story, put it here.
Disclaimer: A statement that you do not own the characters, you wrote this piece for entertainment purposes only, and that you did not write or post it for monetary gain.
Summary: Here you have two to five sentences in which to shine. A concise summary of your story is often the best way to go, and you can get creative with how and what details you choose to reveal. Dialogue can stand alone or act as an addition to the summary paragraph, provided it’s strong and explains something of what the story’s about. Read the summary a couple of times and ask yourself if you’d click on it – if you would, others probably would, too.
10. Depending on where you post your story, you may be surprised by how quickly you start receiving feedback. Sometimes it’s good, as most fanfiction readers appreciate interesting new scenarios and ways of perceiving the fandom itself. However, fanfiction writers should, as with all other creative efforts, brace themselves for negative comments. Your beta will have helped with the technical side of things, so most of what readers disagree with is how you portrayed the character, or any other glaring neglect of canon. Multiple pages of comments might appear overnight and contain nothing more than nitpicking.
As fanfiction is merely an interpretation, these details are all left up to a writer or reader’s personal perspective. You can be discouraged by it, or happily recognize the diversity of opinions and move on. Fanfiction offers such a wide range of ideas, themes, and possibilities – to say one is better than another somewhat defeats the purpose of creative expression, and can cause discord amongst those who might otherwise be friends. Acknowledge any negative feedback with a simple reminder that every story affects everyone in different ways, and is subject to a variety of interpretations. Isn’t that what writing fanfiction is all about?
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