Listen. When I started writing this book, I believed there was a right and a wrong way of doing anything. I like to think I'm wiser now, and let me tell you - a good writer can pull off just about everything. I can ramble on and on about how my mindset has changed, and now I've realized that policing fanfic is really just shitty, but that's for another time.
Point is, you can do whatever you want. You don't have to write well to write. You can write for fun without worrying about tropes and worldbuilding and all the technicalities of writing. What I complain about in this book - it isn't gospel. You write how you wanna write. That being said, I can preach "do what you want" all I like. That doesn't mean there aren't things you should avoid in your writing, and if you do seriously care for writing and improving, then I'd recommend paying attention to the things I criticise in this book.
Now, that little note over, on to the actual chapter.
The problem with fanclans.
The issue I have with fanclans is that they're all the same. They're carbon copies of the Clans in the books, just with new names slapped over them. This? This is boring. This is uncreative. If we wanted to read about the canon Clans, we would've read an au. Read a fic set in those Clans. But no one clicked on your fic for those things. They came for your story. So make your own damn story!
I'm not asking you to worldbuilding some massive Middle Earth type of Clan. You don't have to spend months crafting the next Harry Potter. But it isn't asking all that much to want a world that I, as a reader, can get invested in? Something new and unique?
Why not give your Clan some unique culture? Maybe they have multiple religions? How would that affect a Clan? Perhaps your Clan have a different leadership system, for example the Clan is ruled by specific families of cats within said Clan. (I wonder what would happen if a cat started killing the kits of those families so that they were unable to produce any heirs...?) What about a Clan that utilises kittypets and twolegs - when food becomes scarce, they eat kittypet food. When a cat has a severe sickness or injury, they find a twoleg to take them to the cutter. Maybe you have a Clan who tries to spread Clan culture and assimilate every cat into the Clan lifestyle. Maybe your Clan has music. Maybe they trade items with other Clans. Maybe, using my version of ShadowClan as an example, they do bone-carving. Hell, you can even have an underwater Clan, as long as you have a realistic explaination, anything goes. This doesn't even touch upon the attitudes and values you could express in your Clan society!
Even just having your Clan in a different territory is helpful! I don't know why y'all are so obsessed with ThunderClan but I'll let you in on a secret. Not every Clan has to live in an english forest. Hell, there are so many different types of forests anyway! I swear I've made a chapter about this but honestly. How about looking into a whole different country. India, Australia, Samoa...there are so many countries with such unique and different types of environments and you choose the basic english forest?
Seriously, it isn't that hard to think of interesting things to add to your world. It's boring, uncreative and lazy writing just copying the original Clans and sticking a new name on it. If you don't want to change anything, then just write something set in the canon Clans. If you don't want to write about the canon Clans, make your own Clans fucking interesting. Y'all. As readers, we want to connect with your whole world. Even if it's just little elements. If you don't want to put in that sort of work, that's fine! Readers are already connected to the lore of the canon world, that's why I'm saying to write about the canon Clans.
Think of it like reading online comics. We don't want your recoloured ocs. We want ocs with unique designs, not just using a base of a canon character. Make your own original and new story or write one that exists in the canon world. Don't take a preexisting idea and slap a new name on it. No one will care about your Clan if it's just ThunderClan 2.0
Seriously, how many of us have complained about blatantly "stolen" characters that are completely copied off of Silverstream and the works. This is the same thing.
So seriously guys, put in some effort. You say you want to be an author but you won't put in the work. Sometimes it isn't fun! And that's the truth. Writing is hard work, blood, sweat and tears. And in the end, it's rewarding as hell. If you want your work to be taken seriously, you need to be serious about writing. And that means worldbuilding even when it takes more effort than to just have SnowClan, named after Snowstar, set in a english woodland, same ranks as canon, same belief system, same values and traits.
"But Blackbird, it's just fanfiction! It's not that serious!" You're right! Fanfiction absolutely does not have to be serious. But if you want to be an author, I'd recommend taking your fanfictions seriously. It allows you to explore writing, improve on weaknesses and learn how to avoid certain mistakes and grow from them. But that's besides the point.
So, end of all this? Make your Clans original. It doesn't have to be much. Just make them stand out, because I am so sick and tired of reading the same Clan with a different name over and over again.