The Ultimate Guide to Harry Potter Fanfiction

Are Original Romance Fanfics Possible?

Honest opinion: Yes, but normally the author wouldn't classify them as simply romance fanfics.

The best type of romance fanfic is one that doesn't make the relationship the focal point of the story. Weird, right? You'd expect that, to make a good romance fanfic, you'd have to focus on it and make it shine. However, that's simply not the case.

I'm going to be honest here. I don't read many (any) original romance novels. However, I've read countless romance fanfics, so it's all right. I know what I'm talking about.

The thing is, most (fandom) people seem to think that all you need for a good romance fanfic is a cute couple and lots of making out. However, that's simply not the case. A good romance requires two equally important things: 1) good, strong characters, and 2) and good, strong plot.

Whoa, wait a second? Isn't the romance the plot?

Absolutely not!

Every good romance has a plot, a real plot, that affects the characters and makes their relationship a bit bumpy ("a bit"). This can be almost any plot you can think of. Harry Potter could have been a romance series if Rowling had focused on his relationship with Ginny. Think of The Selection (which I personally would classify as a romance book, though I don't know what genre it is officially) — sure, it was a love triangle, but I'd call the Selection and that rebel activity a plot. And a good one (I liked that book!).

There are a few qualifications for the plot in a romance fanfic that every good romance novel incorporates. Don't worry, there very general, so I don't think it'll cramp your style to much. Here they are:

1) The plot must in some way drive your characters apart. How? Well, it could be that they're on two different sides of the Wizarding War. They each have different loyalties and ties pulling hem apart. Or maybe one of them he's kidnapped by Death Eaters because her parents are outspoken supporters of You Know Who, and her boyfriend goes to save her (but of course she'll escape before he gets there and goes back to Hogwarts to find him gone looking for her, which will further complicate things, which is good for you). Or maybe the guy gets bitten by a werewolf and breaks up with the girl to protect (but she doesn't want to be protected). It doesn't matter, as long as it drives them apart and is a legitimate plot.

2) The plot can't be a misunderstanding that any reasonable people would resolve by a twelve second explanation. Because, you see, not only does this aggravate your readers to no end (JUST TELL HIM YOUR VOLDEMORT PUT YOU UNDER THE IMPERIUS CURSE AND MADE YOU KILL HIS FAMILY, DON'T JUST SIT AROUND FEELING GUILTY!), but it makes for a very boring plot. The plot could be something that snowballs into something much bigger from a fight or misunderstanding. But if your story is able to fall apart by just a few words of explanation from one character to another (Ok, we get it, you were forced to get a Dark Mark or your parents would die, but why can't you just tell your girlfriend that instead of acting like a guilty jerk??), then it's really not a plot.

3) The plot must have a happy ending. People expect that. At best, it's a love story if one of your main characters dies at the end. It wouldn't feel that sad, either; it would probably make readers angry that they went through this whole book rooting for a couple and BAM they're done forever. No, we expect our romances to end happily. Even if the canon character you're writing about eventually dies, you can cut it off before then so that we can imagine the couple's great, if short-lived, happiness.

4) The plot cannot be filled with filler fluff and/or smut. Think about it. Has an good romance book been successful that was half cutesy fluff scenes or rated-R smut? No, not really. Made the rated-R smut to a limited audience, but I suspect most of you are writing for the audience of Harry Potter fans, at least half of which are young people. Please don't go the rated-R smut route. Anyway, parental warning aside, if half your book is fluff, you need to rethink your plot. Sure, having the boy surprise the girl with a hug or having them kiss in the rain or something cliche can be good every once in a while, but if it happens too much, readers get used to it. It doesn't make us ooh and aah, and we even get bored. Anyway, if there's so much fluff throughout the book, readers won't feel as excited and emotional at the end, when everything is going well, because they'll think, "Well, it's been like this basically all along." If you have so little plot that you feel the need to fill in sparse patches with fluff, please take hat time and instead try to think of the worst thing that could happen to your characters right then. Then make it happen, and spend those sparse patches climbing back to where they were originally.

Let's be honest, it's impossible for you to use all those cute scenes you came up with when you originally got the plan for this book. Make them into one shots, if you like. But a book is not a place for a bunch of fluff. Readers prefer action and plot development, and rarely does fluff deliver either of those thing.

5) The plot, and thus the relationship, can't be rushed. Many romance fanfics I've read have the main couple making out by Chapter 4. That is a big no. A huge no. A never ever for infinity no. You have to spend time building their relationship. You have to give them plot related speed bumps. Save the making out for later, when they've had time to start liking each other. Trust me, books that start with both characters already having secret crushes on each other aren't interesting. We read romances to watch the romance develop, to get invested in the relationship. We want to cheer when the boy sends her flowers once, and cry when the girl thinks she's lost him. We want to laugh when the girl makes a bad joke and he finds it funny, and rage when the boy is forced to betray her. We don't want them to be shoved together as snogging partners. What we want is to see them grow closer as times goes on, and when they finally see they were made to be, to have them torn apart by unforeseen circumstances, so when they're finally back together at the end, it is the book's pinnacle of joy.

So, with all that plot stuff out of the way, on to characters. How do you make compelling romance characters? How do you keep them from being cliche?

Well, most romance fanfics I find in this fandom contain an OC girl and a canon boy (normally one who dies, Harry, or Draco Malfoy). With the canon guy, you have it easy. Learn everything you can about him, reread every part of the books he was in so you can get a feel for how to write him, and stick to his canon personality! OOC characters are highly annoying to there fans.

The OC girl is obviously a bit trickier, since she's a made-up character. What you should really do is go read a bunch of fanfics about the particular person you're writing about, note common cliches in the OC girls, and avoid them at all costs. Don't make the girl a prankster if that's common for Fred Weasley stories. Don't make the girl a mysterious Slytherin with a dark, tragic past if that's common for Draco Malfoy stories.

The best way to come up with a character is to think about what sort of personality would best complement your guy of choice. I've learned a lot about this in the past few months from my series, and I have to say, it's true that opposites attract. If you have two outgoing, stubborn, adventurous characters, they might not be very well suited for each other. However, take one of those and make him a quiet, nervous, but loyal and kind person, and you might just have a good pair.

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Honestly, I have to admit: I don't like reading romance books. I can stomach books with a romantic subplot (think The Hunger Games, Red Queen, etc.), but romance books bore me. My advice to you would be to write a fanfic with a romantic subplot. Tag it romance if you want, but if you only have it as the subplot, you'll open your book up to a much wider range of readers, and it will probably be a lot easier to write.

What are your thoughts on romance fanfics? Did I miss something? Let me know! Comment any questions or ideas for topics I could cover, and I'll definitely get to them as soon as possible!