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The Basics

 

Below are the nine Drogna golden rules of writing fan fiction. If you don’t read any other section of this guide, then do read this bit. If you observe these rules then you stand a good chance of writing readable stories. A number of these themes are then expanded upon in other sections (some of which I have yet to write). So, in no particular order, as these rules are of equal importance:

1. Know Your Characters
2. Know Your Universe
3. Do Your Research
4. Get a Beta
5. Write, Write and Re-Write
6. Limit Your OCs and Mary Sues
7. Finish What You Start
8. Attempt to Write Good English
9. Think About Your Structure



Enterprise Fan Fiction  

Airwolf Fan Fiction  
Mote Story Cycle  

NCIS Fan Fiction  
Guide to Fan Fiction  
     
     

1. Know Your Characters

Writing fan fiction is mainly about capturing the characters. As has been demonstrated many times by some very talented authors, it should be possible to put your characters in any situation and they can still be recognised. This means that you have to know your characters inside out and back to front, which usually means watching a lot of episodes of the show that they come from. Not only that, it also means paying attention to the details. For example are they left handed or right handed, do they have blue or brown eyes and all those other little things.

Every time you write a line of dialogue you should be hearing the character saying it, and, if it doesn’t sound like something that they might say, then change it. This is particularly important when writing a character not from your native land. There are many variations in the way people from different countries speak English, and don’t be tempted to go for stereotypes (even though shows often do).

Expressions and gestures are equally important. Study how your character enters a room, how they walk and their facial expressions. All these nuances are what give you the insight that you need to be able to write them well.

Don’t assume that other authors are getting it right either. If enough authors use a particular way of describing a character then it can easily be given the status of fact, when actually it is incorrect. Do your own research and check all your details.

 

     

2. Know Your Universe

Every fandom has its peculiarities which form canon. Sci Fi fandoms are particularly bad for this. For example take weapons: Star Trek has phasers, but Enterprise has phase pistols, other fandoms have blasters, force lances, PPGs, P90s and there are numerous others. Even in the real world there are various side arms that a hero can carry (Glocks, Berettas, Sigs). Similarly, you need to know if, when your character is injured, they are taken to the infirmary, the hospital, sickbay or med deck. In the UK we have A and E, but in the US it’s ER. They all mean the same thing but will jar horribly if given the wrong name.

There are usually helpful sites on the internet for your chosen fandom that detail the minutiae of every series, but there’s no substitute for watching the show. Asking other fans is also a good way of getting this information, they’re usually only too pleased to help.

 

     

3. Do Your Research

Most stories demand some extra research above just knowing the character and universe. This can be time consuming or just quickly looking something us. Whichever it is, it’s essential that it is done. You can almost guarantee that there is someone out there reading your fan fiction who knows more about the subject than you do. You can’t be expected to know everything and everyone makes mistakes from time to time, but at least try to be accurate in the first place. If your story features fluffy bunnies then go and read up everything that you can about fluffy bunnies before you begin writing.

Of course when your story features astrophysics (or any other complicated scientific area) you may actually want to find a friendly astrophysicist to talk to (unless you are one) and explain your plot to them so that they can tell you up front whether it’s a load of rubbish or not. This saves a lot of time later and means you don’t start writing something which blatantly will never be feasible.

 

     

4. Get a Beta

This is one of the most important things that a writer can do. Get someone else to read your work. In fact you may want several people to read it before releasing it to the world. In fan fiction circles this person or persons are usually termed Beta Editors.

A good Beta will not only read your work for sense, punctuation and spelling but will read it for plot. This means that if there is a gaping hole in your plot, they can point it out before one of your readers does. Many people find that Betas not only help polish their stories but actively suggest ways that they could be better. Personally I’ve found that talking the story over with my Beta often helps when I have a bad case of writers block.

There are numerous places to find Betas, in fact there are whole bulletin boards and lists dedicated to it. If you’re active within a fandom then you usually know where to find a Beta, otherwise a quick search on google can point you in the right directions.

A word of caution here. Good Betas will be critical and tell you what sucks and what doesn’t. That is what a Beta is for. Don’t get angry because they’re making valid criticisms, take them on board and make a better story. If you alienate a good Beta who had good ideas then you’ll be the one who loses.

 

     

5. Write, Write and Re-write

Most first drafts are wobbly in places, some are just terrible. I find the easiest way to write is to get something down on paper and then go back and re-write anything that I’m not happy with. I keep re-writing until I feel it’s good enough. Even then, weeks later, I go back for a fresh re-read and end up changing things.

Look out for areas where you’ve got carried away, either descriptively, creatively or conversationally. Remember that you are trying to tell a story and not just expound upon an idea. Even professional writers are often guilty of this.

 

     

6. Limit Your OCs and Mary Sues

Generally speaking people read fan fiction because they want to read about the characters that they know. There is nothing wrong with putting in your own original character (OC) into a story, but they have to be well written and not take over the story. If your OC is the main character in a story then it usually isn’t a good sign. It is impossible to write an OC without putting something of yourself into it, that is what writing is all about, but if your OC is just you in an idealized form then it becomes a Mary Sue (see the separate section on Mary Sues). I think it is important to make the distinction between OCs and Mary Sues, they are definitely not the same thing.

I thought about naming and shaming some particularly bad examples here but, on balance, I don’t think it’s fair. I particularly hate it when an obviously talented author adds in a Mary Sue. The ones who don’t even attempt to write well, or are just on an ego trip, I can dismiss, but it really hurts to see a bad Mary Sue ruin an otherwise well written story.

 

     

7. Finish What You Start

Failing to finish what you start is the cardinal sin of fan fiction writing. I’ve lost count of the number of promising stories that I’ve started to read only to find that they have never been updated again. Never start posting a story if you don’t intend to finish it.

Look at it this way, when you post the first chapter of your story you make a contract with your reader. They have an expectation that more chapters will be posted and that the story will be finished. If you’re someone who has stories lying around for months or years without ever finishing them, don’t post them until they’re written. If you find that constant feedback spurs you on to finish your story then, by all means, post works in progress, but be realistic and don’t try to write and update several stories at once (unless you really are super-author of course).

 

     

8. Attempt to Write Good English

Bad grammar, spelling and punctuation can make a story unreadable. I won’t go into all the details here, specifics are found in the basic grammar guide.

In this day and age of spell checkers on every computer there is no excuse for bad spelling. What are much more difficult to deal with are typos and incorrectly used words. A spell checker will pick up incorrectly spelled words but not ones that are spelt correctly but incorrectly used, or typo-ed to form another correctly spelt word. There’s nothing wrong with using US, UK or any other recognised spelling convention, however it is wrong to swap over half way through or spell the odd word in a different dialect.

English is annoying in that it has many homonyms (words that sound the same but mean something different) eg “to”, “two” and “too” or “there” and “their”. Even the ones that I know well slip through the net occasionally. Not only that, but there are some very similarly spelt words that sound different, like “loose” and “lose”, and have different meanings. My own personal blind spot is “effect” and “affect” – my beta always has to change at least one to the other. Again, this is why getting a Beta is important. There is a list of commonly mistaken words here.

Incorrect punctuation is also often a problem for authors (again something that I’m not particularly good at in the first draft). “It’s” and “its” are often confused – “it’s” is “it is” contracted, “its” is “belonging to it”. Place apostrophes with care. Where commas are placed is equally important as it can change the meaning of a sentence completely. A famous example is “A panda eats, shoots and leaves.” or “A panda eats shoots and leaves.” The first suggests the panda eats a meal, shoots a gun and departs, the second explains that a panda eats bamboo shoots and bamboo leaves. Obviously the second is much more sensible. Punctuation is considerably more fluid in its use presently than it has been in the past, but some rules do still apply. To make matters even more confusing, US and UK conventions on some areas of punctuation are slightly different.

 

     

9. Think About Your Structure

All stories should have a beginning, a middle and an end. This sounds obvious but many authors ignore the “end” part. I have read stories in which several plot threads are introduced but only half of them are ever tied up. If you are writing an epic then you need an ending which does it justice and concludes all the sub-plots that are going on. An abrupt ending, where everything suddenly turns out fine, can be just as jarring as no real ending. The “I woke up and it was all a dream” ending is the classic example of this, nothing is resolved and you wonder why you bothered to read it. It's also a terrible cliche.

Beginnings are often the hardest part to write. Sometimes an author just wants to get something on the page so that she can start the real business of writing, but they should not be neglected. A good beginning draws the reader in and makes them want to read more. Every word in your first sentence should be chosen carefully for maximum impact.

Middle sections can also be difficult. Many authors find it helpful to write out a full synopsis before starting to write. I prefer a more fluid approach, with my major events mapped out, but not every single detail of how to get between those events. For me, puzzling out how to make my plot work as I write is part of the fun, but every author needs to find the way that works best for them. The important thing is to keep the story moving along at a pace which will draw your reader onwards. I have read stories in which events happened but no real development of the plot actually took place, after every event the characters were in exactly the same place as they had been with no movement towards resolution. It was an incredibly frustrating story to read and I just skipped to the end to find out what happened. Obviously this is not something that you want your readers to be doing.

         
       
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© Thalia Drogna - Last updated 6th June 2004