This thread will act as a new, more detailed version of Fan Fiction: The Commandments, which was written by Natbong00 over a year ago and is often overlooked by more recent writers. The following guidelines/suggestions will expand on Natbong00's thread and will hopefully be of use to everyone who reads it.
_______ Genre
Before you begin writing your fan fiction, you must choose a genre. A genre is a category that will define the pace and style of your story, and it must stay consistent during the entire course of your fan fiction. Having a humorous fan fiction that suddenly turns into a mystery doesn't look good and may confuse readers.
Format
There are two writing formats that can be used in fan fictions. These formats are called Script and Paragraph. A story that is written in the script format looks like this:
Character A: Boy, the weather sure is nice today! *sits down*
The character dialogue starts with the character's name and a colon ( : ), followed by their speech. If the character does an action of some sort, it is written in present tense and enclosed between two asterisks ( * ). If you plan on writing more of a serious story, you probably shouldn't choose the script format.
The paragraph format looks like this:
"Boy, the weather sure is nice today!" proclaimed Character A, as he sat down.
This time, the speech is enclosed between two quotation marks ( " ), followed by the character's actions written in past tense. Note my use of the word "proclaimed" instead of a generic word such as "said". "Proclaimed" adds more flavor to the story, although you may use "said" if you want to; just don't use it too often, so as not to bore your readers with the same word used over and over again.
Paragraph format is more difficult to write and requires more dedication than script format. However, the upside to paragraph format is that it can be used for just about any genre, unlike script, which is limited to more lighthearted stories. Do not choose your format until you have decided your genre.
Organization
This is more of a suggestion than a guideline and should not be considered a necessary part of writing a fan fiction: if you plan on having a long-running story with many chapters, and especially if you have an introduction/prologue, you may find it a good idea to post your first chapter in a reply, rather than on the first post. Why? Because, with lots of hyperlinks, writing, and/or even a banner, you may run out of room on the first post for extra information that is to be added on gradually. That said, if your intentions do not involve anything other than your chapters, just start on the first post.
It is not a good idea to write your chapter in your reply. You should always have your chapter written on a text editing program such as Microsoft Word, ready to be copied and pasted into a reply. This website's spell check is not reliable, and you may get logged out if you spend too much time on your post.
Your title is very important. It is the thing that draws readers in, and as such, you should make it eye catching and appealing. Do not make a title such as "This is my first fan fic" or "A fan fic about Mario" or "A crossover fan fic". Make an actual title, not a description. If you are wondering why not many people are replying to your thread, take a look at your title. Is it eye catching? Is it appealing? Always keep this in mind before you post your fan fiction.
_______
Plot
Do not, I repeat, DO. NOT. Make up your plot as you go along. You must always have your entire plot planned out before you evin begin writing. You must have a relative idea of what events happen at what times. If you don't prepare yourself, you will probably write yourself into a corner that you can't get out of. By this, I mean that you won't know what to do in chapter 5. Woops, you killed off Character A, how will Character B be defeated? Oh no, you introduced this guy too early, now Character C knows who he is and there is no point to the rest of the story. If you end up making a blunder like this, there is no going back. Your readers have already read what just happened. You're screwed.
When you are making your carefully structured plot, make it interesting. Throw in some plot twists here and there. Character A is about to kill Character B, when Character C suddenly jumps in for the rescue and kills Character A. Hey, that would make a good cliffhanger, too! Right when Character B is about to be killed by Character A, end the chapter right there!
A cliffhanger is a dramatic scene that ends a chapter right at the scene's climax. It usually involves something bad that is about to happen to the hero. When done correctly, it will leave the readers hungry for more, waiting to see what happens.
Another useful technique is to leave loose ends - that is to say, leave something in your story unexplained until a later chapter than the one in which it occurs. This way, if you are unsure of what to write about in a chapter, you can tie up your loose ends. If this unexplained occurrence does not necessarily affect the main plot, it may be a good idea to leave subtle hints along the way that point to the answer, causing readers to think "Oh, I should have guessed!" If this loose end is the main plot point of your fan fiction, however, you should probably avoid giving hints altogether. Why? Because if, in the end, the answer to the main question could have been answered all along, why didn't the main character figure it out? This just makes the hero look ignorant most of the time.
This is not to say that you should just answer the question by means of adding a third wheel in the final chapter to answer the main question, may the question be "Why is this happening to me?", "How do I beat this guy?", or "How was this done?" If you do this, your story will look rushed. A good idea would be to have the true answer all along, but impossible to actually know until the climax. Character A is good and Character B is bad, but Character A knows that Character B didn't do this evil deed. Who did it? Turns out, Character C, who was supposed to be Character A's friend, was working for Character B all along.
Characters
Character development is key. We need to know who this guy is. We need to have some vague idea of how he would respond to this situation. That doesn't necessarily mean that your characters must be predictable. They just need to be identifiable.
You also need to have a reasonable number of characters. You shouldn't have twenty characters involved at a time. If you really want to have many characters in your fan fiction, there is the option to introduce them in stages. Character A dies, Character B is introduced afterward to replace him.
Even if you are using a commonly used character as the main character, such as Mario, treat them as if you completely made them up. Describe them as if they are your own creation. Chances are some of your readers interpret these characters differently than you do, but if you describe them thoroughly, everyone will have a clear understanding of what his personality is.
_______ Grammar
Always remember to use correct grammar in a fan fiction. Capitalizing the first letter, using punctuation, and other basic rules are not much of a problem, but one section of grammar is not as clear to most writers: quotes.
"Hi, my name is Character A," said Character A.
This is correct.
"Hi, my name is Character A." said Character A.
This is not.
The first example is all one sentence, but the second one is not because the quote ends with a period. Use the first example, stay away from the second example.
"Hi, my name is Character A."
This is also correct. If you drop the "...said Character A" part, you can end with a period, question mark, or any other ending punctuation.
"Hi, my name is Character A!" said Character A.
This, in fact, is correct. An exclamation point, question mark, or any other punctuation mark except for a period will work just like a comma in a quote.
"Hi, my name is Character A," said Character A.
"My name is Character B," said Character B.
Quotes should be treated as their own paragraphs if they are right after each other. This, however, is okay:
"Hi, my name is Character A," said Character A.
"My name is Character B," said Character B. They smiled at each other and walked across the street.
If you have any other questions or comments about grammar, feel free to ask someone. Quotes seem to be the biggest concern, so that was the only information I covered.
_______ Use these guidelines to your advantage, and have fun writing!
The format is more suited to that of a script, not of novella.
I concur.
Well. I have a general plot line in place. I don't plan the entire thing because it become predictable. Getting key points is why you try to plan not the entire thing. Well maybe it is just my plotlines. But I start with the begin and end points in mind. Things in the middle would come. I think of the middle as a go along because planning the entire middle body is hard.
It is also good to have character profiles if you are doing OC (original characters). Write the way they look or even sketch them out. It makes it easier to explain them and get into character.
Linear Mode
