Post by pokemon on Sept 6, 2009 9:53:05 GMT -5
Hello. I'm here to talk about what makes a good fanfic. There are lots of fanfiction stories out on the web;Some very well-written,some good,and some that are so god-awful you want to blow your brains out while reading them. I will now post my essay,and hopefully it will help current writers get better,and help prevent future writers from
making bad mistakes. Here we go:
First off,you need to think of a very good plot. Take The Jellicle Chronicles written by Dennis "Rumblepurr" Callin. The fics Mr. Callin has written are very good and very powerful;the fics actaully make you feel things like joy,anger,disgust,sadness,etc. Those fics also make people weant to go back and re-read the stories over and over and over again. That is what you want when writing a fic: To make people feel emotions and want to go back to re-read your stories over and over and over and over again. Take time to carefully plan the plot for your story. Will it be a drama plot? A science fiction plot? A murder plot? Who will be the starring characters in your story? Will it have a good ending? Once you've decided on a plot,you can start writing.Which brings
us to the next thing:
How logical is the plot? Will it make readers enjoy your fic or will it make readers want to flame you endlessly? A plot must have some logic in it to make it believable and enjoyable.Avoid using overused plots like abusive males,teenage drinking,teenage pregnancy,etc. Make your plot unique.
The characters: If you are writing about characters from things like TV shows,movies,comic books,etc., make sure they are in character. For example,one would not make Superman into a girly-girl or make Scooby-Doo a nasty-tempered character. You have to keep characters like those in character to make the story more enjoyable. If characters MUST be Out-Of-Character,then you must provide a logical explanation for why that certain character is OOC. For example: If Haruka Tenoh from "Sailor Moon" is a murderess,you must provide a logical explanaton of why she is like that. Did she get brainwashed? Did her mind snap? What made her mind snap? Did she contract some sort of strange illness? Providing a reason helps make the fic more enjoyable. It also helps if you put if the OOC characters are in a parody fic or an Alternate Universe fic. A common mistake I see frequently are the Sailor Moon betrayal fics. These fics make Sailor moon/Usagi a crybaby who's always late for battles and is always yelled at and betrayed by either all the senshi and Tuxedo Mask,or random senshi are picked to betray Usagi. Who's the poor victim always chosen to the ringleader in the betrayals? Why,poor Rei/Sailor Mars,of course! Even poor Luna and poor Artemis have been randomly chosen to help betray Sailor Moon. These fics never have any logic or any thought given to them.Since it is evident in both the manga and anime series that the cats,all the senshi and Tuxedo Mask dearly love their moon princess and would even die to protect her,what is the point of all the crappy betrayal fics?The answer: There IS no point whatsoever. And Sailor moon has NEVER been late to any battle,as the anime proves.
Hateful bashing fics: A kind of fic that is totally un-necessary and un-wanted in the fanfic universe.I've seen a few fics that really bash the hell out of the U.S. Sailor Moon dubs. These fics are often hateful,mean-spirited,and always immature and infantile. Other fics like anti-Pokemon and anti-Harry Potter are also done without taste and in total stupidity. If you don't like something,please do not turn into a jackass and start writing about it. It's a total waste of internet space and it sure is not going to make people like you or respect you.The point of writing fiction is to entertain people by telling a story,not make people want to stick white hot metal pokers up their noses. And that's what people will want to do when they read these crappy anti-fics: Stick white hot metal pokers up their noses.
Crossover fics: This is when 2 or more fandoms are crossed over with eachother,such as Pokemon/Sailor Moon or Superman/Wonder Wonder Woman/Spider Man. Be careful when you do crossovers,though-it's very easy to make the mistake of crossing over 2 fandoms that wind up ruining the story.You must thinkvery hard and carefully about crossovers. Example: Don't crossover Sailor Moon and Ranma 1/2 just because they're both animes-you must think VERY carefully about whether they'd work out if crossed together.I've seen a few of these stories and they've been just fics about 2 very different and random animes that were slapped together and plunked into a fanfic. The same goes for other fandoms as well. If you want to do a Starlight Express crossover fic,you must think about what other fandoms would go good with a Starlight Express crossover. Musicals such as CATS could work beautifully in a Starlight Express crossover. Also,don't do a crossover "just because everyone else is doing it." A good example of this is Sailor Moon/Dragon Ball universe crossovers. I must admit-these 2 fandoms will work out if they are planned out very carefully. I've only seen a few Sailor Moon/DB universe fics that have actaully worked out and made a good fic. The rest,made me feel like these 2 fandoms were slapped together and posted just because 2 or 3 people did it;the rest of these fics came across as poorly-written and they drowned the few good fics that were written. In other words,avoid doing overused and cliched crossovers such as Sailor Moon/Dragon Ball universe or overused shows in Harry Potter crossovers.Instead,be unique and ry somethnig truly unique such as Sailor Moon/ Scooby-Doo..Harry Potter/Wizards of Waverly...Dragon Ball/Naruto...CATS/Phantom of the Opera..Simpsons/Ranma One-Half,etc. Dare to be different when it comes to crossovers.
Rating fics properly: Many a time I've seen fics that are misrated. Fics like K-rated fics with coarse language in them...T-rated fics with M-rated things in them.If you are going to rate fics,be honest and give them the proper rating. Dont' deliberatly mislead people into thinking a fic is rated G when it has R-rated language in it; this is nothing but being dis-honest and lying to people in a way. If a fic has M-rated language in it,be honest and rate it M instead of something like K..If there are T-rated things in a fic,be responsible and rate it T.If people see that you constantly misrate fics,they will start assuming you are too irresponsible or not honest enough to rate fics properly,and they will start avoiding your fics and telling others to avoid your fics as well.
Spell check and proper grammar: These are VERY important in writing a fanfic. No fanfic can survive without these 2 things. Use proper grammar at all times; Wrting in ChatSpeak( T3n Munk00str@p t0ld Tuger "Lyk OMG M@c@vItI i$ inv@diNg t3h jukny@ard,w3 g0tta lyk t3II 3vry1!") is annoying and not proper.Instead write "Then Munkustrap told Tugger about how he overheard Macavity's plans to invade the junkyard at night. "We must warn everyone." Munkustrap told the Tugger.
Do not order others to write the way you write.If someone wants to use the names from the US "Sailor Moon" dub or wants to kill off BatGirl in a "Batman" fic,let them. You really no right or any business telling others to use the Japanese "Sailor Moon" names or telling others not to kill off BatGirl.
Be original! Do'nt write fics about Tugger/Bombalurina or Naru/Neflite or a Sailor Moon/Dragon Ball Z crossover just because "everyone else does it". This is not original. It's okay if you're a firm supporter of a certain pairing(like Ash Ketchum/Misty Waterflower) or if you're doing a request fic for someone(like a Macavity,Tugger and Munkustrap are brothers fic),but don't write something like Mistoffelees/Victora fic just because you see others write Misto/Vicky fics.
Well,I think I covered everything there is. If you really want to learn more about writing good fanfics,I recommend you check out www.thejellicleschronicles.org ,and read how well the fics are written there.
making bad mistakes. Here we go:
First off,you need to think of a very good plot. Take The Jellicle Chronicles written by Dennis "Rumblepurr" Callin. The fics Mr. Callin has written are very good and very powerful;the fics actaully make you feel things like joy,anger,disgust,sadness,etc. Those fics also make people weant to go back and re-read the stories over and over and over again. That is what you want when writing a fic: To make people feel emotions and want to go back to re-read your stories over and over and over and over again. Take time to carefully plan the plot for your story. Will it be a drama plot? A science fiction plot? A murder plot? Who will be the starring characters in your story? Will it have a good ending? Once you've decided on a plot,you can start writing.Which brings
us to the next thing:
How logical is the plot? Will it make readers enjoy your fic or will it make readers want to flame you endlessly? A plot must have some logic in it to make it believable and enjoyable.Avoid using overused plots like abusive males,teenage drinking,teenage pregnancy,etc. Make your plot unique.
The characters: If you are writing about characters from things like TV shows,movies,comic books,etc., make sure they are in character. For example,one would not make Superman into a girly-girl or make Scooby-Doo a nasty-tempered character. You have to keep characters like those in character to make the story more enjoyable. If characters MUST be Out-Of-Character,then you must provide a logical explanation for why that certain character is OOC. For example: If Haruka Tenoh from "Sailor Moon" is a murderess,you must provide a logical explanaton of why she is like that. Did she get brainwashed? Did her mind snap? What made her mind snap? Did she contract some sort of strange illness? Providing a reason helps make the fic more enjoyable. It also helps if you put if the OOC characters are in a parody fic or an Alternate Universe fic. A common mistake I see frequently are the Sailor Moon betrayal fics. These fics make Sailor moon/Usagi a crybaby who's always late for battles and is always yelled at and betrayed by either all the senshi and Tuxedo Mask,or random senshi are picked to betray Usagi. Who's the poor victim always chosen to the ringleader in the betrayals? Why,poor Rei/Sailor Mars,of course! Even poor Luna and poor Artemis have been randomly chosen to help betray Sailor Moon. These fics never have any logic or any thought given to them.Since it is evident in both the manga and anime series that the cats,all the senshi and Tuxedo Mask dearly love their moon princess and would even die to protect her,what is the point of all the crappy betrayal fics?The answer: There IS no point whatsoever. And Sailor moon has NEVER been late to any battle,as the anime proves.
Hateful bashing fics: A kind of fic that is totally un-necessary and un-wanted in the fanfic universe.I've seen a few fics that really bash the hell out of the U.S. Sailor Moon dubs. These fics are often hateful,mean-spirited,and always immature and infantile. Other fics like anti-Pokemon and anti-Harry Potter are also done without taste and in total stupidity. If you don't like something,please do not turn into a jackass and start writing about it. It's a total waste of internet space and it sure is not going to make people like you or respect you.The point of writing fiction is to entertain people by telling a story,not make people want to stick white hot metal pokers up their noses. And that's what people will want to do when they read these crappy anti-fics: Stick white hot metal pokers up their noses.
Crossover fics: This is when 2 or more fandoms are crossed over with eachother,such as Pokemon/Sailor Moon or Superman/Wonder Wonder Woman/Spider Man. Be careful when you do crossovers,though-it's very easy to make the mistake of crossing over 2 fandoms that wind up ruining the story.You must thinkvery hard and carefully about crossovers. Example: Don't crossover Sailor Moon and Ranma 1/2 just because they're both animes-you must think VERY carefully about whether they'd work out if crossed together.I've seen a few of these stories and they've been just fics about 2 very different and random animes that were slapped together and plunked into a fanfic. The same goes for other fandoms as well. If you want to do a Starlight Express crossover fic,you must think about what other fandoms would go good with a Starlight Express crossover. Musicals such as CATS could work beautifully in a Starlight Express crossover. Also,don't do a crossover "just because everyone else is doing it." A good example of this is Sailor Moon/Dragon Ball universe crossovers. I must admit-these 2 fandoms will work out if they are planned out very carefully. I've only seen a few Sailor Moon/DB universe fics that have actaully worked out and made a good fic. The rest,made me feel like these 2 fandoms were slapped together and posted just because 2 or 3 people did it;the rest of these fics came across as poorly-written and they drowned the few good fics that were written. In other words,avoid doing overused and cliched crossovers such as Sailor Moon/Dragon Ball universe or overused shows in Harry Potter crossovers.Instead,be unique and ry somethnig truly unique such as Sailor Moon/ Scooby-Doo..Harry Potter/Wizards of Waverly...Dragon Ball/Naruto...CATS/Phantom of the Opera..Simpsons/Ranma One-Half,etc. Dare to be different when it comes to crossovers.
Rating fics properly: Many a time I've seen fics that are misrated. Fics like K-rated fics with coarse language in them...T-rated fics with M-rated things in them.If you are going to rate fics,be honest and give them the proper rating. Dont' deliberatly mislead people into thinking a fic is rated G when it has R-rated language in it; this is nothing but being dis-honest and lying to people in a way. If a fic has M-rated language in it,be honest and rate it M instead of something like K..If there are T-rated things in a fic,be responsible and rate it T.If people see that you constantly misrate fics,they will start assuming you are too irresponsible or not honest enough to rate fics properly,and they will start avoiding your fics and telling others to avoid your fics as well.
Spell check and proper grammar: These are VERY important in writing a fanfic. No fanfic can survive without these 2 things. Use proper grammar at all times; Wrting in ChatSpeak( T3n Munk00str@p t0ld Tuger "Lyk OMG M@c@vItI i$ inv@diNg t3h jukny@ard,w3 g0tta lyk t3II 3vry1!") is annoying and not proper.Instead write "Then Munkustrap told Tugger about how he overheard Macavity's plans to invade the junkyard at night. "We must warn everyone." Munkustrap told the Tugger.
Do not order others to write the way you write.If someone wants to use the names from the US "Sailor Moon" dub or wants to kill off BatGirl in a "Batman" fic,let them. You really no right or any business telling others to use the Japanese "Sailor Moon" names or telling others not to kill off BatGirl.
Be original! Do'nt write fics about Tugger/Bombalurina or Naru/Neflite or a Sailor Moon/Dragon Ball Z crossover just because "everyone else does it". This is not original. It's okay if you're a firm supporter of a certain pairing(like Ash Ketchum/Misty Waterflower) or if you're doing a request fic for someone(like a Macavity,Tugger and Munkustrap are brothers fic),but don't write something like Mistoffelees/Victora fic just because you see others write Misto/Vicky fics.
Well,I think I covered everything there is. If you really want to learn more about writing good fanfics,I recommend you check out www.thejellicleschronicles.org ,and read how well the fics are written there.