The go-to tips for writing Fanfiction
Have you ever wished there were more Harry Potter books? Or an extra episode of your favourite show? If so, then welcome to the bandwagon of fanfiction! If you have a flair for writing and are a complete fanfiction aficionado, you’re at the right place.The art of writing fanfiction is essentially taking a character or a story from a novel and creating your unique plot points. Working on fanfictions is a fantastic way to improve your writing skills while expressing your love for a fictional piece of work.
That being said, here are a few tips that you can follow while writing fanfiction:
- The Plotline
The first thing to do before you begin writing is to choose a fictional story that is very close to your heart. You should know the ins and outs of the story. As a fanfiction writer, your audience needs to admire the narrative you have come up with. Your work should be on par with the existing plotline, even if you plan to break free from the established canon. However, it is crucial to know the rules and happenings of the universe before you tweak them.
The most common fan fiction that has been written so far has either been a prequel or a sequel to the source. can be a dialogue, a detailed scenario or even a prequel/sequel of the story. Some can be focused on emotion-specific scenes, while others can be done as a full-length story.
Before you draft your piece, it is beneficial to set up specific rules for your story. How long is your prose going to be? Are you writing just one chapter or a complete novel? Here are some of the pre-existing categories of fanfiction writing:
- Extremely short form fanfiction (50-100 words) are called “drabbles”. They’re typically written to accentuate character emotions to bring forth an even better punch to the scene.
- A slightly longer format called “fluff” describes everyday mundane aspects of a character’s life. These types of fanfiction usually are 1000-1500 word prose which need not relate back to the incidents of the original story.
- Beyond this, prose can be of any length. Whether it is a 3000-word blog or a full-length novel, one can do anything they want with their writing.
- Originality and formatting
Sky’s the limit when it comes to what you can do with your story. Because fan fiction works are so diverse in nature, it’s good to figure out how relatable you want your story to be. Some of the best work in the fanfiction genre are the ones who stay true to the original story instead of going completely adverse.
However, if you think your story has enough power to grab the reader’s interest, then you can take up a completely different format and path while writing. There are a few widespread story formats that many writers take up. Here are some of them:
- The Theory of Alternate Universe
In this scenario, the writers create a different set-up parallel to the source material’s plotline. Still, because of a slight difference in a narrative, the rest of the story pans out in a completely new direction. Sometimes, this might result in the story’s climax being different and more favourable to the individual.
- The Theory of Time Travel
Time travel is a classic example of when a writer takes a narrative from the source material to the past or the future, leading to different character reactions, a new environmental setup and more. This is very commonly noticed in science fiction stories.
- The shipping of characters
Frequently, fans like to ship two characters’ storylines and develop a love story, heartbreak or any emotional connection around it. In writing, they create various instances that will lead two people together.
- Self-Inclusion
When people write drabbles and fluffs, they often include themselves as a character in that universe. The thought of having one’s personality in a fictional scenario and interacting with their favourite character fascinates many people.
- Happy-go-lucky
In this scenario, writers end up changing the climax narrative of any two characters, a group or even the entire story, with an ending that leads to happiness. However, often this leaves no room for melodrama or sadness in the story, and if not done with caution, can end up sounding predictable.
- Determine your scope and expand
Once you’re done writing your fanfiction, the last step to do is to determine the true scope of your story. How many people will it reach? Will it create an impact on the real story? Self-analysing your story with these types of questions will give you a clear direction as to how you want to edit and design your story.
Understanding the fan base and interacting with various people in book clubs, conventions can help you refine your work and make it more relatable. The next thing you can do to understand your audience is to post snippets of your work on various social media platforms and sites like Reddit where audiences can freely interact and provide instant feedback.
Send your work to other like-minded writers and publishers who will give you tips on how to improve your story, bring life to characters, and much more. These writers will not only help you but promote your work too!
At the end of the day, if you find yourself too engrossed in the world of fictions and tales, all you have to do is to pick up a pen and start creating your own fictional universe. Hope these tips help!
