So, you wanna write fanfiction, eh? Well! Let Uncle Jabber, a seasoned pro, help you out! Fellow these steps and your fic will be as popular as Five Region Rush, Pokemon GK, or A Savior's Legacy in no time at all! Step One: What series will it be based on? Simple but vital. A fanfic, by definition, is based on a fictional series or work. Will yours be based on One Piece? Pokemon? Dragon Ball? Or even Tegami Bachi or The Lord of the Rings? Step Two: Spelling and Grammar are your Friends! I cannot stress this enough. If you want to be a respected author, crack open that English textbook and dictionary, 'cause you NEED proper spelling and grammar. Step Three + Four: What's In A Name?/Whodunit? Another simple yet needed step. Choose the title of your fic! You should have already figured out the plot of the fic at this point. The title should relate to the plot in some way. For example, my Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfic is entitled "It's The Quenchiest," because this is something the character Sokka says in canon when hopped up on "cactus juice," which is a key item in the fic. Next, choose your characters! Will you use preexisting characters? Characters you create yourself? Or a bit of both? You decide! Just be sure that unless you're writing an AU (alternate universe) fic, or one where the characters are years older, that you maintain their personalities and traits. This is called keeping them in-character (IC). Also, AVOID AVOID AVOID Mary Sue Syndrome. Step five: Feelin' Tense! Nest, decide what tense your story will be written in: Past (saying things as if they'd already happened) or present (saying things as if they are happening right now). Choose one. You'll need to stick with it for the duration of the fic (except in certain places, such as flashbacks or epilogues). NEVER EVER EVER write a fic in future tense (saying things as if they are going to happen). Trust me on this. Also, decide whether your fic will be in first-person (as in, a character narrarates the events; writing the text from their perspective, as in Flowers for Algernon) or third-person (The most commonly used... I don't even know what this part of speech is; third-person has a non-character narrarator, like in Harry Potter or Ender's Game.). Here's a protip: NEVER EVER write in script format (i.e. writing like the fic is a script for a movie). It comes across as lazy, and is outright banned in places like Fanfiction.net Step Six: Get Writing! Now it's time to write! Put in dialogue, descriptions, whatever. This can get hard, but keep going! You're almost there! Step Seven: Publishing Done with your first chapter? Post it! Be sure to explicitly state if your fic is rated M or NC-17. Once yor fic is posted, readers will come. Some will review your fic and give you constructive criticism. Please remember that they are just trying to help you. If you can't take criticism, then writing just isn't for you. Congrats! You are now a fanfic author! Keep writing! Don't get discouraged! This concludes Jabber's Multii-Step Guide to Writing Good Fanfiction. Thanks for reading.
Wow. That was great!!
I'd rather be well-written than popular, especially since I have all of 8 people reading my fic (that I know of).
Ok...
Nice... People: If you looked at something in the Workshop saying "Training Card Game", it was supposed to say "Trading Card Game".
Thanks for the tips these will come in handy.
The Mary Sue was actually quite interesting, I must look out for that with my characters. Thanks for the tips
I'll have to be careful about the Mary Sue bit. Good advice! Thank you!
Lol cmd4 wrote his first chap in script... and he's part of this group!
I'm thinking of getting my old, unfinished fanfic "Lucario in Wonderland" up and running again, and these are great tips!
