One of the mostly found errors of writing fanfiction: scarce or probably no research.
It actually pisses me off to read fanfics where the author thinks he/she is too cool for carrying out research on the said topic. And trust me that's where the whole plot goes downhill.
I understand that researching is a hell of a job especially when you to go through so many books and movies of Harry Potter each with a major event of its own. I understand and I sympathize with you guys.
But you know what, we're living in the era of science and technology so that really isn't that big a problem.
It has become quite easy for you to find out things. All you have to do is google it up or go into the HP Wikia pages which will certainly provide you with any kind of fandom related info you want. If you don't have time to go through all the books, you can download audiobooks. Audiobooks surely save a lot of time.
Mostly all the researching drains us out and nobody wants to spend a full two or more hours stuck to a laptop screen googling facts and at the end of the research process, everyone's like:
But what's worse is that if you don't pay any heed to research, then your work turns out crappy and cringe worthy. More so, you get hundreds of comments each of readers telling you to go learn your facts or something.
And trust me, you don't want to see criticizing comments in your Notifications.
Because it lowers your self esteem and confidence at writing.
Research is quite an important aspect of your story.
Believe me you wouldn't want to come across a fanfic with a messed up timeline and no idea of what is coming up next in the chapter.
Like imagine someone writes a fanfic on the other Weasley sister who happens to be of Fred and George's age. And in the Yule Ball scene, said sister goes to the ball with Oliver Wood.
Now that can not happen because we know that Oliver completed his seventh year during the Prisoner Of Azkaban book. Therefore he can not be invited specially to Hogwarts just because a certain gorgeous Miss Weasley wants to go with him to the Ball as a date.
So, basically, mixing up the timeline not only confuses the reader but also makes him/her lose interest in the story.
The only thing you can do to avoid this is to cut off some time from watching Youtube videos or doing Facebook/Instagram/Twitter and give some of it to researching.
Trust me, you will be amazed by the results after you write a fully researched story.
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[You might not believe how much I have to research first before writing each chapter for you guys on this book. I have to make sure that all I am stating is based on facts and proves to be of some help to people who want to write Harry Potter fanfictions].
Stay tuned for the next chapter.