Your Guide to Writing the Perfect Story

The Difference Between Good and Bad Fanfiction

I'm pretty stoked to be writing this chapter because I have yet to come across any good fanfictions on this site in my lifetime. That being said, I don't read that many fanfictions. Anyway, even though I don't read that much of the genre, I do know what I like to see and what I don't. The biggest thing about writing a fanfiction is that it needs to have substance; it needs to have a plot and it needs to be creative. Just because another author has already set out a character (both celebrity fanfictions and not) or a world for you, doesn't mean you get to slack off. Try and make it different from other fanfictions because right now they all seem sort of similar. 

The constant risk that fanfiction writers face is that it's easy to come off sounding cliché and stereotypical. Challenge yourself! Don't go with the flow. I told you to be creative. These next few tips are designed to help you in that, whether you be writing a celebrity, book, movie, or TV show fanfiction.

Tip #1:

First of all, you have to be informed about the topic you are writing about. If it's a celebrity, watch their movies, listen to their music, watch their interviews, read their tweets, etc. Do anything you can to get inside their head, even if you won't be writing the story from their perspective. You really have to capture their personality and their tone of voice. If you don't know a lot about them, expect your story to flop. It won't be hard.

As for fictional characters and worlds, re-read or re-watch the show, movie, or book. That way it will help refresh your memory of what you are writing and who you are writing. I always like to keep the book (if applicable) beside me for reference if I'm writing fanfiction. Admittedly, that isn't too often.

Tip #2:

Make sure your story still has a plot. Don't write fanfiction because you want to steal someone's characters or because you are eager to show your appreciation for a hot celebrity; make sure your story will still be interesting. The plot shouldn't be, "oh look, Harry Styles is soooo hot". Think it through before you start writing. There's a reason why some fanfictions are adored and others are cursed and thrown in the gutters. 

Tip #3:

Something you should know is that you probably won't be able to use all of these tips because they some of them contradict themselves. In these tips I'm giving you a couple different  suggestions of how you can make your story creative. Key word: different. Remember that.

For this suggestion it mostly applies to fanfictions based off of fictional worlds, etc. In these stories, there is a protagonist. I suggest that you do not write from the protagonist's point of view at all because that can be very tricky to match their persona plus it is always fun to write from a new perspective. You can create a new character, one that wasn't in the books/film. However, don't have them as a huge part of the plot surrounding the original protagonist or else they would have been seen. Instead give them their own story using that world that you already have. They can be watching the action taking place with the main storyline as they deal with their own issues.

Example #1: In a Hunger Games fanfiction, instead of writing from Katniss's perspective, create your own tribute from a different year. A character that has never been seen before. 

Example #2: In a Divergent fanfiction you could write from the perspective of an Erudite initiate when Caleb was there. This initiate would never have been mentioned in the books.

Tip #4:

This is slightly similar to the last tip, but instead of writing from the perspective of a character that you invented yourself, you could write from the perspective of a character who really does exist, but is a bit of a mystery. Up until your fanfiction, they hadn't been delved into too much or everything they did and thought were not open for the readers to know about. This is a lot of fun because you can even write from the antagonist's perspective if you want to.