Fan Fiction Official Tip Collection

[Lycanthrope]

Alright, since a lot of people are just beginning to write fics and need tip, I figured that I would start a tip collection.

Here are a few to start off. I'll leave this open so people can post tips.

Type your fanfics on Microsoft Word.

If you have an original world, use sketches to help you get an idea of that world. Same goes for characters.

Create a profile on any original factors, like characters and worlds.

Try to use a lot of adjectives, since they make it look more interesting in many cases.

Have a Thesaurus in case you have any overused words. For example, if you overuse the word 'wind', use a word like 'zephyr'.

ONLY POST TIPS. Try to avoid putting a message without a tip.

[Silent Avera]

When trying to devlope characters, listening to music can really help get your imagination going - like should you find a song that was, like, written for your character - a theme song; the same could be implied for your whole fic too.

A bit abstract I know, but it doesn't hurt to try!

[Dragonstar1715]

Another thing is as you are thinking of the plot, try and imagine it, try and see the character playing out your story, that's what I do

[Stavvy]

What if you can't find any motivation or ideas to continue a story you've been working on for a few months *Cough cough ME cough cough*. . .

[Silent Avera]

Re-think what gave you your inpiration to begin with in the first place, ask yourself what this story has meant to you ^-^ If ya worked on it for months, it must have some great value to you ^-^

[Guile]

PROTIP: Make sure you know how the story that you're writing is going to unfold. You want to at least know the beginning, end, and some key points in between. Some can just wing it naturally, but not all.

Also; use your vocabulary appropriately. Is a whiz-kid talking? Use words that seem complicated to the average person. Dumb? Bad grammar/English being spoken, though I suppose that would be more for retardation.

Be sure to put your story in paragraphs. Having one long string of words is unattractive.

Incorperate colour: I'm quite sure you don't like looking at a wall of black text that much. One thing you can do is designate a colour for each person when they speak. Also be sure to use bold and italics to emphasize points in your story and your characters' dialogue. Italics often being used for symbolizing that a word is stretched out. (emphasis and sarcasm use)

Those're the basics of what I can think of off the top of my head.

[Stavvy]

Originally Posted by Silent Avera

Re-think what gave you your inpiration to begin with in the first place, ask yourself what this story has meant to you ^-^ If ya worked on it for months, it must have some great value to you ^-^

Honestly, I just thought, I feel like writing a story, and then it just kept going. . .I don't even know where it's heading. . .that's how out of control it's gotten. . .but I don't want to forget about it because of all the work I've put into it and I have a few dedicated readers. . .gah. . .if someone would take the time to read it and tell me what they think about what I should do, it'd be appreciated. . .but I doubt people want to read about 10 chapters. . .

[Lycanthrope]

I'll read it, Stav. It may take a while, but, I will do it within the next few days.

[Stavvy]

That's really nice of you, Frozen Fate. It's Between the Rift if you're too stupid enough to look in my sig . . .lol, kidding. . .

[Guile]

Originally Posted by Frozen Fate

ONLY POST TIPS. Try to avoid putting a message without a tip.

Ah, the contradiction on both your part. Oh, and mine now, unless I edit it. Which I shall, later. No time at this very second.

[Question!]

Okay, here is a tip: Have an interesting title. I had a story called this: A crossover that will blow your mind, and, guess what? No one read it. But, my new story is better: What If Riku Found The Death Note?

[snowdog]

Don't make characters shallow. No-one likes to read about characters with the depth of a puddle.

Think about their overall personality. Their likes, and dislikes. How they'd react differently to certain situations. Their history. Their background. If you can think of it, write about it. It's good to make the audience familiar with characters.

<3

[I]

I need to say something in response to Frozen Fate's first set of tips - in all actuality, overusing adjectives like that is in fact, a bad thing. You use adjectives too much, especially obscure ones, you bog down your writing and make it unreadable. You NEVER want to pause the flow of your story to throw in a bunch of description like that. It makes things slow and will only cause your readers to gag. Now, if you use your adjectives in a concise manner, and say alot using very few words, that is the mark of a very experienced writer with a good understanding of the words they are using.

Also, in rebuttal to that last tip, it is a mark of an amature writer to write with a thesaurus in one hand. It makes your writing look like absolute crap. I'm saying this in all seriousness. You completely screw up the meaning of your work, especially using 'zephyr' in place of 'wind'. When you use your words, you use them for the meaning, not just because it looks different. For example, the 'zephyr' thing - zephyr in fact means 'the west wind' - yes, if you use zephyr, and someone doesn't know the exact meaning of the word, then it may seem okay, but it still isn't. Now, if someone such as myself, who has used the word zephyr at least a thousand times in correct context, sees you making a sentence such as 'the zephyrs blew in from the southeast', they will laugh at you. It makes you look like a complete moron with no basic understanding of the English language. Honestly, you'd be better off using 'wind'. Now don't be like 'but I didn't say 'the zephyr blew in from the southeast' I said 'the soft zephyr blew'', well, yeah, you still look dumb. Now, when you think about the west wind, it typically gives the connotation that it's a very hard wind, maybe not storm strength, but not a breeze either. I'm going to stop now in case you think I'm flaming.

In response to Guile's belief that it is actually a good thing to put dialouge in colours - what, are you five? If your need to put your dialouge in colours to distinguish who is speaking, you don't need to be writing dialougue. I'll say nothing more.

Now, I see you might be thinking 'who the hell are you thinking you know everything?' Well, I've been writing since I was seven, I've studied prose and literature extensively, and I've been through enough criticism in my life to know what to and not to do.

I'll post an actual tip of my own soon enough, no worries.

[Guile]

Originally Posted by axelownshardcore

I need to say something in response to Frozen Fate's first set of tips - in all actuality, overusing adjectives like that is in fact, a bad thing. You use adjectives too much, especially obscure ones, you bog down your writing and make it unreadable. You NEVER want to pause the flow of your story to throw in a bunch of description like that. It makes things slow and will only cause your readers to gag. Now, if you use your adjectives in a concise manner, and say alot using very few words, that is the mark of a very experienced writer with a good understanding of the words they are using.

Also, in rebuttal to that last tip, it is a mark of an amature writer to write with a thesaurus in one hand. It makes your writing look like absolute crap. I'm saying this in all seriousness. You completely screw up the meaning of your work, especially using 'zephyr' in place of 'wind'. When you use your words, you use them for the meaning, not just because it looks different. For example, the 'zephyr' thing - zephyr in fact means 'the west wind' - yes, if you use zephyr, and someone doesn't know the exact meaning of the word, then it may seem okay, but it still isn't. Now, if someone such as myself, who has used the word zephyr at least a thousand times in correct context, sees you making a sentence such as 'the zephyrs blew in from the southeast', they will laugh at you. It makes you look like a complete moron with no basic understanding of the English language. Honestly, you'd be better off using 'wind'. Now don't be like 'but I didn't say 'the zephyr blew in from the southeast' I said 'the soft zephyr blew'', well, yeah, you still look dumb. Now, when you think about the west wind, it typically gives the connotation that it's a very hard wind, maybe not storm strength, but not a breeze either. I'm going to stop now in case you think I'm flaming.

In response to Guile's belief that it is actually a good thing to put dialouge in colours - what, are you five? If your need to put your dialouge in colours to distinguish who is speaking, you don't need to be writing dialougue. I'll say nothing more.

Now, I see you might be thinking 'who the hell are you thinking you know everything?' Well, I've been writing since I was seven, I've studied prose and literature extensively, and I've been through enough criticism in my life to know what to and not to do.

I'll post an actual tip of my own soon enough, no worries.

And do remember that you're at a Kingdom Hearts forum; therefore the majority of the population are children and young teens. Now, I understand completely what you're saying about the tip about colours and I honour your opinion. However, there are not always mature people in a forum that read these fanfics. They need something, other than the actual context to liven up the story. Personally, I haven't been reading fan fictions here because of just seeing a long length of words that don't catch my attention, at all.

Also, although I do honour your opinion, since everyone has their right to one, I do not appreciate the insults that you throw. Whether or not your intentions are just or not, your manner of giving your opinion is, or at least can be, considered as flaming. Just because you may have started your writing at seven and ecetera does not mean that you the right to insult another for their view.

Personally, I would ask that this thread just be trashed. Let the writers, new or old, come up with their own ideas for their stories. If people started using tips as given by other people, you'd probably not get anything unique anymore. Let the 'avid writers' come up with their own style. If they make mistakes, or something doesn't work, then they can ask people to edit and give their suggestions. Live and learn, ya know?

[Lycanthrope]

This thread is so that people have an immediate place to look for tips when stuck in their fanfic, or when starting one.

New tip:

Write out what you want the plot to be from the beginning, and do your best to stay on track.