Writer's Guide

Staying In Character

Staying in character is obviously very important when writing a story. However, if you're writing fanfiction, it is even more important (I guess).

When you're writing fanfiction, you are writing for fans. This means you have the distinct advantage of not having to set the stage; the fans already know the stage pretty well. Fans don't need lengthy introductions; most of them know the canon characters inside and out. This also means that they're going to be less forgiving about what you do with the canon characters. If you distort a canon character too much, people are (most likely) going to click the back button and not bother with your story. They want to read about their favourite characters. They want to know how John Winchester met Bobby Singer. They want to learn more about why Bobby became a hunter. They want to know why Peter from Divergent was such a jerk, or why Al joined Peter and Drew in their attempt to kill Tris. There are so many scenarios that you can fit right into the canon universe you're writing in. (Source: http://sycophanthex.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=45&Itemid=41)

Canon Character: An official character in whatever story/series/game your fanfic is about (ex. Snape from Harry Potter is a canon character).

You have a little more freedom with some fandoms, like fanfics about celebrities or bands. You can try to portray them in the same way you see that celebrity or you can change their personality. It's kind of like you're just using their appearance and name but making their character completely different.

No matter what, you always want to stay in character when writing, whether it be for a novel or fanfiction.

When someone who writes a canon character who acts and/or behaves differently from the source material, it's very out of character. If you're purposely writing them out of character, you better explain why. Most fanfiction readers don't want to read stories where the canon character is out of character. For example, Harry Potter fans know Snape pretty well. They wouldn't want to read a story where another teacher tells him off and he becomes a nervous mess (really bad example but hopefully it gets the point across).

When you're writing your character, everything they say, do, think, etc., should help bring them to life. If your character is rude and misbehaves, then they'll probably mouth off to adults and teachers (if they're a kid or teen) or insult people. They'll probably have judgmental thoughts. Don't describe them to be one way and then write them completely different.

If your character is going to have a major personality change at some point in the novel, you need to build up to it through character development. If your character is rude at the beginning of the story but you want them to be kind and helpful by the end (a complete polar opposite of how they were before), show the changes. No one changes overnight; change is (usually) a long process and takes time. Their personality change obviously has to do with the plot of the story, so show how certain scenarios from the story effect them. Show the readers how that character starts thinking differently, acting differently, talking differently, etc. In my opinion, showing the changes in what a character thinks is what should be focused on the most. People can think one way and act the opposite because they want to hide who they truly are. For example, maybe your rude character sees an old person fall over. In the back of their head, they know that they should go over and help them, but instead they walk away and pretend that they didn't see that old person fall, because that's what they would normally do. They may even feel guilty as their walking away, and are confused because they normally don't feel guilty. See what I mean?

This wasn't the greatest and I'm sorry, but I wanted to write something for this today.

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