As writers, we are constantly trying to improve our stories to make them the best that they can be. In this article, we have compiled some of our members' favorite quick and easy ways to improve a fanfiction.
Presentation is an easy place to start. First impressions matter; make sure that you are doing your best to present your story to potential readers. Make your first sentence in your book's description the most important sentence in the piece. In many instances, it is the first and only part of your description a potential reader can see without clicking on the story first. Consider perfecting those couple of critical paragraphs within your description. You can introduce the central conflict or create interest in the main characters. Use this as your opportunity to prompt any kind of interest in your potential readers. Make sure it's interesting, well-written, and grammatically flawless. A boring, self-deprecating, and error-filled description will attract no one. You can also scrap your current description and write a brand new one if it doesn't seem to be attracting any readers.
Remove any kind of unnecessary parts in the description. This can include: unnecessary copy rights, listing every award your book has won, explaining what universe your book is set in, author's notes, and anything that is not relevant to what your book is about. The only exceptions may be a one sentence credit to a cover creator or one award that you are particularly proud of. It is preferable to place these at the very bottom of your book's description, after the important stuff. And if you have any self-deprecating comments such as, "ignore the mistakes", or "this book is really bad", remove them immediately. Using appropriate tags is also important and can be easy to overlook or forget about.
Another common presentation mistake is author's notes. While they can serve a purpose during the publishing process, such as informing current readers when the next installment will come out, it is best to remove them when they become irrelevant. It can be majorly distracting to the reader to be bombarded with author's notes found at the beginning, middle and even the end of a chapter. These author's notes can pull them out of the story they are reading, interjecting over all the hard work you have put into writing that story. This can have a negative impact on the readers' experience, and we typically recommend removing them from your story. That's right, you can improve your fanfiction by simply pressing the backspace button!
While having a perfect description can add tons to your presentation, you want to make sure you have the most attractive cover you can possibly have. There are many good cover shops out there to choose from. It is wise to look at the artist's portfolio to make sure that their style matches the style you want for your book cover. Appearances matter, and having an attractive, fitting cover can make all the difference if you find yourself short on interest, despite having a well-written story. Watch our live stream for more tips on selecting the perfect cover!
It is important to remember that editing is essential, not optional. You should go over every chapter before you hit the publish button. Even the most advanced writers make mistakes; there is no such thing a perfect first draft. Spotting errors in your own work can be a difficult task— you may have to go over it multiple times before it is perfect. This does not mean you are a bad writer; it is completely normal. It is also why editors exist in the publishing industry. Since you are a Wattpad author, it is your responsibility to make sure your writing is as close to error-free as you are capable of.
One method of combing for errors is to start on the last sentence of the last paragraph and work your way to the top. People can find themselves distracted by the plot and end up reading the chapter instead of spotting errors. Working backwards makes it harder to become distracted by the plot and easier to stay focused on finding errors. Another method is reading your story out loud or having a text-to-speech engine read it for you. Many types of errors are easier caught by ear, and technology can be incredibly helpful if you have a reading or learning disability that makes this task extremely challenging.
Another piece of technology that many writers find helpful is editing apps. Some examples of editing apps/sites are: Microsoft Word, Grammarly, and wordcounter.net. Many of these are free and can help you catch an error or two, or more. It is always best to write your story in a word processing program. Wattpad has a simple program built in, but there are much better options out there—namely Google Docs and Microsoft Word. You can copy-paste, and it is worth the extra step! If you wrote your story in Wattpad's editor, you can always move it to a more powerful editing program for a quick edit and replace the old version with the spruced-up version via copy-paste. Just remember to make backups of both versions and label/organize them in a way that is easy for you to differentiate between them at a glance.
While editing your completed or in the works story, make sure you are correctly spelling Pokémon names and terms. Errors in this department can be confusing to readers and are also a big turn off. Make sure you are using an accented "e" when appropriate. This instantly makes your writing look more professional. If your fanfic was written without the accent mark on Pokémon, copy it into Microsoft Word or Google Docs and use the "Find and Replace" option (Control = H) to change all instances of this mistake into Pokémon, with accented "e". This way you only need to use the Control +'+e shortcut (or Insert/Special Character in Google Docs) once. There are plenty of online tutorials to help you find quick solutions for repeat errors you have serially committed in the spelling and special punctuation department, saving you precious time and effort.
A simple and effective way to make your fanfiction look more professional is to remove/correct some common stylistic errors. Remove any occurrences of excess punctuation. Examples would be double exclamation marks or an exclamation mark followed by a question mark. Choosing to use extra punctuation marks is not a good way to convey feeling. Also, choosing bold print, underlining, and even italics to convey emotion is not helping your story. If you find yourself tempted to do these types of things, examine the phrase and try rewording or choosing new words altogether to convey a character's emotions. However, there is a chance that your wording is just fine, and you just got carried away. In that case, just backspace and feel good, knowing it already looks better.
These aren't the only stylistic errors that can be easily removed. Replacing number characters with the written version can have a positive impact on your story, and it is easy to replace. "I am 16 years old." "I am sixteen years old." See the difference? Removing any anime reactions can also help readers take your story seriously. If you have characters sweat dropping or tick marks appearing on their heads, consider removing it. Many people find these types of references annoying, especially if it is meant to be a serious story. One more thing: remove characters intended to censor a swear word. Either write out the curse word or choose a different word that you are more comfortable using.
If you are looking for something else to fix, you can go on an adverb hunting safari. A quick and dirty way catching some of these is to scan the text, highlighting every word ending in "ly". Then, go though and examine the highlighted words. Ask yourself: How many of these "ly" words are adjectives that could be replaced with a stronger verb? Chances are, nearly all of them. Now, this won't help you catch every single weak verb in your story, but it can be a very solid start on the path to improvement if this is something you struggle with. Always go back over the chapter after you have completed this task. Unfortunately, mistakes can be made while doing this if you are changing the structure of sentences.
If you have a completed fanfiction, it might be wise to examine it. Ask yourself if there are any unnecessary scenes or even entire chapters that can be cut from the story. This process can be a bit painful, considering how much work you may have put into these scenes and chapters, but it is a sure-fire way to improve your story. This is especially helpful if you are not a strict outliner or planner, but also can be applicable to one who does do an extensive amount of planning. If it is not adding to the plot or does not include essential character development, cut it. Be honest with yourself. If you are even questioning if it's necessary, there is a good chance that at least some of it can tossed out. Readers will appreciate it. You may find that more readers will complete your story if the unnecessary filler content is cut. Always make back up files before you take out the scissors, just in case you change your mind. Also, make sure to tie up any loose ends you may create in this process and think it over before you start backspacing. A well-executed cut could require little to no alterations to the text that is kept.
If you're really looking for help on the technical side of writing, you can also check out our editing service. Read our editing book to see details on how to submit your chapter or one shot and find helpful articles about how to write correctly in terms of grammar, punctuation, and the technical side of things.
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Credits: Article by glitterandasphalt
Edited by d_s_t_e
Tips from d_s_t_e , DI_Gremlin , NaivEevee , Sheare , SGmijumaru , Cora-chan , glitterandasphalt