Warriors Fanfics: Specialized Writing Guide

StarClan

The most common use for StarClan and the Place of No Stars in canon is as a plot device. They are shaped, buffed, and nerfed depending on the demands of the story. Since our fanfics are derivative works, we derive their use of the afterlife. Most of our stories use them as plot devices as well. We do tend to steer clear of the amazing feats that they have performed in canon, leaving them at their The Prophecies Begin power level. Despite us dialing it back with the reincarnations and the ghost cats killing living cats, we almost exclusively use them for prophecies. Main character gets a premonition, they do what they need to do throughout the story... so why was StarClan involved? Well of course they gave out the prophecy. Who or what else would.

Honestly, it is surprising to see such restraint in our use of one of the strongest tropes in any fictional work, especially since novice writers tend to really get behind using pantheons and afterlifes for literally everything. This restraint does make our use of them a bit too predictable. Of course they will be present in the leader ceremony, and there to guide our MC through their prophecy. Luckily, StarClan's malleable powers create some interesting use cases.

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DIFFERENT USES FOR STARCLAN

The Erin's liberal changes to StarClan's power gives us the same freedoms for our fanfictions. We are not writing nearly as much as they have already, so we can have a consistent power ceiling. Our divines can match the needs of our plot, and it would all still derive from canon since they have done so much there already. Because of this, there is no one correct way to use StarClan or the Place of No Stars. At the core, they are tropes and plot devices; of course they can be so much more than that, and some fanfics have already done more with them. I will go over examples and ideas on how to use StarClan if you want to go beyond the standard 'gives prophecies and stores dead relatives' approach.

In many fanfics out there StarClan's power is greatly diminished, preventing them from impacting the plot and storytelling too much. While this usually makes them a plot device, it saves room for the characters and setting to do their thing. Since most of the powers given to them in canon are ignored anyway, this is how we normally see StarClan in our stories. This is equivalent to the power they had in The Prophecies Begin arc and is only considered 'underpowered' because of what future arcs have done. There is nothing wrong with using StarClan as a plot device, but it is probably not the exciting new approach you were hoping to hear.

In a few fanfics, I have read a description of StarClan that has ill intentions (purposefully or not) for characters or for the world they inhabit. These characters either spend the story being slowly corrupted by them or running away from them and their prophecy. In the most literal sense of this type of StarClan, they become the villain. In this case, it is usually one or a few cats who use their position in Silverpelt to manipulate the mortal world to their own liking. They usually mention their evil dead cat's plan in the story's description (do not do this). Without a regulatory pantheon in cat heaven, this is entirely possible in canon, too. We just do not see it. In a lighter use case of nefarious StarClan, they warn that the MC in question must lose something precious to them (usually a mate or littermate) to fulfil their prophecy. The MC subsequently tries to alter their fate in any way they can. Whether or not the prophecy is inevitable depends on how it is written by the author. The Erins have done this with a few omens throughout Warriors, but the stakes are too low for anyone to really resent StarClan in a non-evil way. Nothing is stopping your fanfic from holding resentful or unwilling believers.

One thing I have almost never seen in fanfics is the complete absence of StarClan and the Place of No Stars. Because of the confirmed existence of these places in canon and the influence they hold, fanfic writers are always reluctant to omit them entirely. And it can be argued that the only reason the canon happens the way it does is because of StarClan and their prophecies (and their corporeal ghost warriors). Their absence would also push your fanfic into alternate universe territory. I have read a single story description omitting them: they stated their influence waned over generations of weakening belief, so the clans were at constant war with each other without the warrior code or their heavenly body to guide them. This is the way I think of StarClan in my own fanfics. I think 'what does StarClan add to the story if they directly intervene' and I usually decide against such an action. If they did not exist at all, it would make for quite the different story about a political and social structure that was invented by them in the first place.

On that note, I have never once seen varying beliefs and subcultures emerge from StarClan or the Place of No Stars. Everyone in canon believes and follows StarClan in the same way, with the same customs and practices that they even do together sometimes. The only subculture in the faith from canon is the tribes, and this is loose at best since they mostly just rename things the clans already do and have a slightly different social hierarchy. This lack of subcultures within this shared faith comes from the clans having no unique cultures of their own (see the 'Original Clans' section for more detail on this). Since the clans are the same, their belief in StarClan is so as well. But this is fanfiction. You can do what you want. For inspiration, there is no better place than the centuries following the Protestant Reformation. Christianity had splintered into several major sects, from the traditional Catholics, to the ultra-hardcore Puritans, and everything inbetween. This is common among all of the world's major religions, however. When millions of people follow one faith, it is reasonable to think they would not all agree on how it should be followed. The same could be said about our cat clans (plus, a bunch of ultra-zealous Puritan-type StarClan worshipers would make for a pretty cool fanfic).

These are just friendly nods to the possibilities this religious body holds. StarClan can be more than the prophecy-giving plot devices, or the deus ex machina at the end.

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IN CONCLUSION...

StarClan and the Place of No Stars do not need to be so overpowering to be impactful in our stories. Doing things like taking inspiration from real religions or subtracting them from our plot can make their presence feel more important to the story without overshadowing the power of our moral characters. Available to you is a spectrum of intervention levels that you have complete control over.

Do what you will with the feline divines. They can be anything from a plot device to a setting; it is a fanfiction, after all.

- Tyto