How to Write an Excellent Fan Fiction

Here is a condensed, easily-accessible guide to writing a compelling and popular Fanfic!
Hopefully, this will help to redefine the ten basic "rules" and allow more excellent stories to emerge and satiate the growing need in the Community.

So, let us begin:

1. Know How to Write a Story

       It may sound basic, but most stories lack the underlying structure on which a tale is based upon. Without this mold most stories will fail spectacularly, quickly losing readers to boredom or confusion, the writer's worst enemies.

All good stories have six essential parts:

        Exposition:
               This is the beginning of the work, usually it introduces the characters (although names aren't a requirement) and the general theme and tone for the story. It can last for anything from a paragraph to a few chapters and gives the reader all the information they need to know to begin enjoying the tale.

        Narrative Hook:
               This is the great catch which makes the reader want to keep reading the story. (Depending on the length of the work, it can be after the introduction or included in the end stages of the Exposition.) Take the first Harry Potter book for instance, the Hook occurred when Hagrid made an entrance and announced that Harry was a wizard. It was a pivotal moment which made the reader significantly more interested in continuing to read.

        Rising Action:
               These are the first obstacles in which the characters face; the introduction of supporting characters (who vary in importance) and the first clues to the inevitable climax.

        Climax:
               The moment of change in the story; it's not a small moment of realization for a character, or an emotional obstacle, but the biggest and most important moment in the whole story. Anything and everything the characters encounter leads up to this.
Now, don't be mislead: if the tale is long enough, it can, in fact, have more than one climax. The Lord of the Rings, for instance, had several throughout the three-book trilogy.

        Falling Action (also known as the Recovery):
              After the climax, this is the action which leads to closure. Questions are answered, problems are resolved, and the tale tends to slow dramatically.

         Dénouement (pronounced Deh-new-moi):
              This is the closure of the story, the ending and final Resolution. Some writer's choose to leave the story "hanging" with unresolved conflicts to purposely aggravate the reader to create a sense of drama; but be prepared; this could incite a negative response from readers if it isn't handled correctly.

2. Choose your Fiction

           This is the most important decision (naturally) in the process of writing a fanfic: the literature, real life event/person or television tale upon which your story will be based. Make sure (and this will sound silly, but there ARE people who overlook this) that you understand the original story/event. This is particularly important if you are writing about a television series that hasn't been completely aired (like House, Bones or another show currently in production) or an unfinished book series. In those instances, it may be imperative to note where in the plotline of the original story that your tale takes place to avoid confusion. It may also take a little research, like actually reading the original book in its entirety. (Yes, I have read fanfics in which the writer had no idea what actually happened in the book.)  

            Popular story/event choices include Inuyasha, Twilight, Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Lord of the Rings, Teen Titans and real life stars (musical groups, actors or "behind the scenes" of a show/movie). Harry Potter, though, is quite obviously the most popular at the moment.

I will, however, caution a new writer against using this particular topic; there have been SO many HP fanfics that originality has become extremely difficult to come across. I would suggest that if you intend to undertake a HP fiction, you do a great amount of study of the books and read several other fanfics to come up with a truly unique take on the story and eliminate the possibility of accidentally copying someone else's story idea.
Most importantly, choose a story you enjoy! You don't want to become bored with your own work.

3. Be True to the Pre-made Characters

          When writing a fan fiction, be sure to retain the personality of the characters which you "borrow" from the original author. If you DO intend to drastically change a character's emotions or actions, make sure that you give the reasoning behind the change. A real person does not suddenly change their entire personality unless some event occurs that evokes the change, so neither should your characters.

For instance, Harry Potter would not suddenly become a Death Eater unless something substantial happened or he was put under a spell. Likewise, Inuyasha will not magically lose his temper, Orlando Bloom will not marry a waitress on their first date and Edward Elric will not (unfortunately) grow three feet in height. Sorry, but the laws of nature (action equals reaction) do, in most cases, still apply.

4. Original Characters

         These are those wonderful characters which sprout from your imagination which may or may not be included in your flight of literary fancy.

Let us condense these points to make it simpler:

A) Keep Original characters to a minimum. If too many previously unknown people enter the mix readers can get confused. So focus on two or three invented characters instead of a host of random people who clutter up the story.

B) PLEASE NO MARY SUES! Its one thing to create an original character who (naturally and believably) falls in love with a pre-existing person, but it's completely another to invent one of those horrible creatures which plague fandom, the Mary Sue. A Mary Sue is an original character (usually beautiful, powerful and infallible) who falls deeply in love with one of the pre-existing characters on first sight, then seduces and beds them in one night, thus creating the illusion of true love. Meanwhile, the pre-existing character willingly abandons their personality, friends and beliefs to further pursue this person they don't know, proposes instantaneously, and believes they'll "be together forever". Sorry, but these plots are annoying, repetitive and completely unbelievable.

C) Sorry, but nobody's perfect! When you're mulling over the attributes you'd like your original characters to have, please remember that no one can do everything! Too many talents or gifts makes a person seem fake and boring. If they can do everything (fly, shoot fireballs, do gymnastics, fight with every weapon, see into the future, and are indestructible), then there's no suspense because they can solve every situation. It is better to focus on one or two things that make the person unique, like an unusual ability or magical power.

For instance, (I will use this example a lot) Harry Potter has two main talents: his Quidditch skills and his skill with defense against the dark arts. He also has one distinguishing feature: the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. It is his normalcy, klutziness and flaws which allow the audience to associate with him, to put themselves in his shoes.

Also, make them work in your world that you've chosen. People in modern day America, for instance, don't usually speak ancient Romanian as their primary language. If your character's attributes coexist appropriately with your chosen setting, the whole thing will be more believable.

5. The Plot

          When you begin your quest to write a story, no matter how trivial, it's a good idea to know in what direction you want it to follow. Most writers choose a solid beginning and ending, then write the story in between, but as long as you have a basic idea of where your story is going, it's all right. Do you want the story to be about the relationship of two characters (If so, how does that relationship evolve?) or the journey of a group of people (If so, how does the journey end?) This gives you a goal to write towards and makes the whole process much easier.

As an extra note:
I've noticed recently that there is a horrific trend starting of authors commenting on their stories in the middle of the story. This, and I can't stress this enough, is a terrible no-no. It upsets the flow of the story, drags the reader out of it, and makes it harder to retain information about the plot. No one wants to see this: When Johnny turned the corner he saw a monster! (OMG, isn't that so scary? I had fun writing this.) PLEASE avoid this at all costs.


6. Subplots

        If your story only has a single plot line then it will get boring fairly quickly. It is side-plots and small happenings in the tale which makes it well-rounded and interesting. Take Inuyasha for instance (see, no Harry this time); even though the main plot in the story is to gather the Shikon Jewel shards and defeat Naraku, the story also involves the growing affection between characters, individual demon-fights to help people and purely unnecessary episodes for comedic relief. These side-stories are usually the most fun to write, so don't forget about them!

7. Grammar and Punctuation

        Most of you probably think this is a given, but I have yet to run across a fan fiction which does not have at least one major, repetitive error. So, knowing this, let me spell out a few basics:

You're/Your:
        This is the MOST common mistake in all of known literature. "You're" is a contraction meaning "you are", while "your" implies possession.
          Incorrect:
            You're book is over there.            Your my best friend!
          Correct:
           Your book is over there.                You're my best friend!

Run-ons and Fragments:
           Complete sentences are necessary unless you are quoting a character's words. A Run-on sentence is one which is too long and needs to be divided into smaller segments.
          Incorrect:
              "Hey!" he called, waving his hands and running forward and then tripping and falling on his face.
         Correct:
              "Hey!" he called, waving his hands and running forward. Then, he tripped and fell on his face.

A Fragment is an incomplete sentence, meaning it's missing either a Subject or a Direct Object.
         Incorrect:
              While I was in school.
         Correct:
              While I was in school, I spoke with the Principal.

Apostrophes:
These should a only be used when implying possession in a sentence or creating a contraction (example: changing cannot to can't).
         Incorrect:
              I rubbed my eye's.             My dogs teeth are sharp.
         Correct:
              I rubbed my eyes.              My dog's teeth are sharp.
If the thing which has possession is plural, or ends with an "s" then the apostraphe should appear at the end of the word. Example: "The teams' scores..." Or "The sissors' handle..."

Spell-check:
         The easiest way to handle this is to type your fan fiction in a Word document and use the "spell-check" tool option, but if a computer or appropriate programs are unavailable, a dictionary is a writer's best friend.

8. Fresh Word Choices

        If a story uses the same descriptive words over and over, then things will get uninteresting. Try using a thesaurus or online dictionary to improve your vocabulary and (for the love of all things good and holy) avoid the word "very"! There are a multitude of other synonyms that could be used instead of that horribly overused word.
For example:
        I am very happy.
        OR
        I feel so gloriously exuberant and joyous!

9. Dead Ends

        These are also commonly known as "writer's block". This occurs when the writer, usually in a flourish of creativity, creates a wonderfully unique obstacle to face their characters, and then realizes there is no way to write them out of it. The best way to avoid this particular pitfall is to think ahead.

For example:

        Your character is locked in a closet with no doors or windows, is completely unarmed and has a villain holding a knife against their throat.

Usually, this would spell out doom for the character (and raise some questions such as: how did they get into the room in the first place?) but if you think ahead, you can give your character a means of escape.

        A single light bulb hangs between them on a wire, which the character grabs, breaks onto his attacker's forehead (rendering him unconscious) and then yanks the wire to cave in the ceiling. The hole created is then large enough for him to escape through.

10. BE CREATIVE!!!

       This is the MOST IMPORTANT of all the fan fiction guidelines. To state it simply, if it isn't a creative and compelling story, what's the point of writing it? Try to avoid stereotypical characters (the dumb blonde, the jock, the skater boy, etc.) by giving each character a past and reasoning behind their actions. Over used plot points and arcs (Romeo and Juliet, ultimate good versus ultimate evil, etc.) should be avoided unless you have a really new and creative way to present them.

For the most part, just try to have fun with the story. After all, if you don't enjoy writing it, why would others enjoy reading it?


There you have it!

        As a final note, always remember to note a disclaimer of where your borrowed fiction comes from and to whom it belongs to. That way, you'll avoid a lot of legal problems and corporate mumbo-jumbo. Also, remember that while writing fan fiction and sharing it is fine, it is illegal to sell or gain monetary profit from it in any way.

Now, you can get started on your own unique story! What are you waiting for? Get Writing!