Writing a Warriors Fanfiction: The Complete Guide

Aesthetic Design

Character design has two parts: Designing the personality and coming up with the looks. In writing, the looks aren't a huge deal, but they are still important. Especially in Warriors.

It's good to keep in mind how cat genetics work and what is realistic when designing the appearance of your character (but since we're dealing with fantasy cats who can mate with whoever, you can go outside the boundaries a little bit). Not only that, but the way your character looks will automatically give off an impression of what their personality might be. This is where character clichés come in.

In character design, characters are often designed based on a stereotype or cliché, and then a few twists are added to make it unique. (This is so viewers can immediately identify the character they're dealing with.) We'll go into creating the personality in the next section, but for now, let's establish the base stereotype.

The Warriors series itself has some basic designs that are associated with certain personalities. The tough and brave warriors are big, bulky, and have thick fur. The timid and shy warriors are skinny and short. Colors also have an impact on this. Cats with cooler colors (white, blue-gray, silver) are seen as calmer or intelligent. Cats with dark colors are seen as mysterious, stern, or sly. Really basic midtones (like brown) are sort of run-of-the-mill, down to earth characters. Cats with brighter fur are courageous, bouncy, and/or outspoken. Of course, this doesn't apply to every case in the series, but it's a place to start.

Let's make an example character. (You're going to see a lot of examples in this) I want to make my main character a kind-hearted, easy-going cat. For the basic body structure, I'll make him average-sized with some fluff on him. I'll give him round features.

Now for the colors. Like we established, the more midtone-colored cats are perceived as more down to earth and simple, which lines up nicely with this character here. I'll give him a sort of yellow-brown coat. (Again, try to stay within the perimeters of real cat genetics. You can break a couple rules, but generally try to stick to real life.

Character has a defect/mutation?

We're halfway there! Now for the naming part.

Properly naming a character can be tricky. There are some do's and don't's to it. We should first start off with the canon rules for what goes into a name:

1. The prefix is given to a cat just after birth, and is named after their looks, an event that happened during their birth, or they're named after someone else. (There are other special cases (see Brokenkit) but these are the most common.)
2. The suffix is given to cat at their warrior/medicine cat ceremony by their leader/mentor. They can be named for their appearance, talents, achievements, or they can be named after someone else. (Other symbolic reasons also apply.)
3. The suffixes -paw and -star are reserved for apprentice and leader positions. They cannot be given for any other reason and they cannot be prefixes.
4. The prefixes Thunder-, Shadow-, River-, and Wind- are sacred prefixes and cannot be used. *This only applies to official universe fanfictions. If you're using original Clans, this does not apply. It's up to you to decide if your founder's names are sacred.
5. Sacred prefixes (like Moon-) can sometimes be valid as suffixes.
6. In special cases, cats may be renamed for something they gained after birth.

Also consider the circumstances of their birth, and the personality/preferences of the mother. Some queens are practical and straight to the point, so they'd simply name their kits for an obvious physical feature. Some mothers are more symbolic, and will name their kits after something else.

Some other things to know:
DO use words that cats have knowledge of. They don't have to be canon, they just have to make sense.
DO use names that are associated with cats of similar personalities (to your character). (Example: A cat can be named Fire___, but we won't just assume they're ginger, we'll associate the name with courage and boldness.)
DO consider which Clan they are from. (More on this later)
DON'T use a name just because it sounds good. Have a reason behind your character's name.
DON'T make the prefix personality-based (example: Braveclaw).
DON'T base the prefix off eye color. Kits don't open their eyes at the time of naming, and once they are open, they are blue for a while.

Don't know what to name your character?

For this example character, I'll name him Brackenstripe. This is because he has brown stripes, and Bracken- just makes me think of someone who is simple and easy-going.

And now it's time for the final piece: assigning a Clan.

Where a warrior is from can influence their personality and name, since each Clan has a unique culture and knowledge of their environment. Think about what the individual Clans you're dealing with are known for, and what type of territory they live in. For example, ThunderClan lives in a thick forest. They are known for their bravery and big hearts. Naturally, their warriors will be fierce and be named after forest plants and animals. In fact, I think ThunderClan is the ideal Clan for Brackstripe.

"Brackenstripe is a ThunderClan tom with an easygoing personality."
So far so good!