the vampire diaries fanfic writing tips

✧ reborn fanfics

so a very very popular storyline i've noticed (typically within mikaelson related fanfics) is when the oc dies, is reborn, and then dies, is reborn, dies, and reborn and you get where this is going. and it goes on for centuries.

now i personally don't like these fanfics, but they are popular i think so here are some tips on them.

1. be very clear with how this happened to your oc.

i've read quite a few of these fanfics and one common problem i've had is that very rarely is it 100% clear why this is happening to the oc.

are they a certain type of supernatural creature that this just happens to?

are they born like this? if so, why? how did that happen? was someone else like that in their family?

was this some curse placed on by a witch? (is it even possible for witches to do that? i'm not too sure but since we obviously don't see every spell a witch is capable of maybe).

this will help to eliminate confusion from your readers if you give them a clear understanding of why this is happening.

2. be very clear about not only why it's happened, but why is it continuing?

if it's a spell, is there no way to break it?

and be VERY clear on this. a lot of the times i'll read fanfics where the answer is no for centuries but then by the time the oc arrives in mystic falls or new orleans a witch is able to fix it.

so if the answer is no and you are certain that it is no, the answer also has to be no for the rest of the book unless you can think of an exemption that explains why it's now possible.

for example, maybe it was only supposed to last a certain amount of time.

maybe it's a spell similar to the one elena was under, except instead of sleeping as long as bonnie lives, your oc is reborn. so maybe they're tied to someone's life and that person dies.

but then that raises the question, why didn't the oc kill them? why didn't someone who loves the oc not kill them? of course there's multiple reasons for this like they love them or something, but still, you should mention it.

now if there is a way to break it and the oc knows about it, why haven't they broken it?

do they just not have the right items? for example, klaus was cursed for a thousand years and couldn't do anything because he didn't have all of what he needed (moonstone, doppelgänger etc.)

do they not know the right people?

this won't really work if they're a mikaelson or friends with the mikaelsons. which is something i've seen get pushed to the side. kol knows all about magic and klaus can manipulate people into doing what he wants. or just threaten them.

but if they don't know anyone, maybe they can't get help. we've seen vampires that are centuries old, like rose, that don't have daylight rings.

3. how does it work?

this is one that i've never seen clarified before. probably because most people don't write the oc as a child when this happens but it's still something that should be considered.

does your oc have the memories of their past life?

i've seen fanfics say yes, but they never really explain what that means.

are you saying that since they were born they have these memories? that they could remember centuries worth of stuff since they were born?

because if so, what was that like? are you saying they were born with all of their memories? were they born already accustomed to the world? if so, how did that affect them? did that stop them from loving the family they were born into? did it make things awkward?

also does that even align with how people develop biologically? i'm no expert obviously but i'd imagine that even if someone were born with all of those memories, would they even be able to process them? i don't think so, that's my guess. i don't think it'd make sense.

personally i would say the most reasonable thing would for them to be born with no memory of it and as they get older they get more and more.

but again, how does that affect them? how do they interpret it? what's it like for them? do they know what's going on?

i just never see fanfics answer these questions because they always start when the oc is older, which i understand, and i'm not saying you need to start sooner, but how they grew up is still going to affect them. especially if their experience was different every time.

4. how do they feel about being reborn?

do they dislike it? do they like it? do they want it to stop? what's stopped them from looking for a solution? will turning into a vampire stop it, if so why haven't they?

5. how does it affect their relationships?

with the people they knew in previous lives?

the people who have been with them since the beginning?

with the people they meet once they're reborn?

6. remember that this is going to impact your oc.

they're born into families and maybe die with them, come back to life and they're old family is gone plus other people they would've known. they'll experience a lot of loss. that loss will influence your character, however, in most of these fanfics this rarely seems to matter.

it's especially odd to me if your oc doesn't remember anything until they're a grown person but suddenly doesn't care about any of the people they loved before. why do these people suddenly stop mattering?

overall, i'm not really a fan of these fanfics because i rarely see them incorporate much of what i discussed here. i often walk away feeling very confused and thinking how unrealistic that was. i'm not trying to criticize anyone's work, but i don't think i'm the only one who feels this way and it stops me from reading what i think could be really good fanfics.

how did that affect them?