Fanfic Help Do's and Dont's

Step One: Have an Idea

Before you can even start writing, sit down and think about what you want to write about! One way to do this is to go back and read the books again. Find a character or situation that inspires you and write out your ideas on a piece of paper.


Step Two: Focus on either Plot or Characterization

Are you better at showing a character's emotions evolve throughout an exciting story story, or having flat characters that do not change thrown into a mind blowing plot? Figure it out now, because this will be the deciding factor for your story. Characterization stories are usually better, but they are also more difficult. My first two posted stories were Plot-type.



Step Three: Create a Main Character

You can't just start writing with an idea and a name for your character; you need to figure out a lot of things about them.
These include:
Name: Avoid stereotypical names like Beast or Vixen. These are "real" people, so they need "real" names. Think about their parents: why would they name their child this?
Gender: Boy or girl?
Age: If your character is in the Games, they must be 12-18
Appearance: Pretty straightforward.
Personality: What qualities do they have that will make the reader love or hate them?


Step Four: Start Writing

Don't let your first paragraph be right in the middle of the action. Let the reader slowly slip into whatever action you plan to have going on.Once the action starts, be sure to not have the biggest thing happen at the beginning of the story. People will get bored and stop reading.

Once you get started, stories are generally easy to write. Expect writer's block at some parts, but don't worry, an idea will come to you.


Step Five: Choose a Title

Go through your story and figure out what the main conflict or theme is. Write that into a title without giving anything away. Your title will be what grabs people's attention, so be creative.


That's the Five Steps to a Good Fanfic. POST YOUR STORY ONLY AFTER COMPLETING THESE FIVE STEPS!!!

More advice:

DON'T


Use quotes from the book. Keep your story as original as possible.
Take ideas from other people's fanfics. especially without their permission. Yes, some ideas are great, and you wish you could use them, but you can come up with some great ones on your own. Those writers did, so don't steal.
START A STORY WITH A PERSON WAKING UP AND SAYING, "OH TODAY'S REAPING DAY!" Pet peeve, it's annoying. Also, avoid starting your story on Reaping Day. It's way too overused and unoriginal.
Misspell or use bad grammer.
Rely on SpellCheck. Read your story over yourself, and fix the things that sound stupid or will be hard to understand. Read your story as if you're another person. Criticize yourself; it makes your story a lot better.

Describe you character's appearance directly.
For example, let's say that I want to tell the reader that my character, Sally, has wavy brown hair. DON'T SAY: "Sally has wavy brown hair, and she was terrified of the Games. Say something like, "Sally put her wavy brown hair into a ponytail as she waited for the gong to sound and for the the Games to begin." Describe indirectly as much as possible.
Name every character in your story. People will get confused, especially if everyone's dying.
Give personality to ONLY your main character. People will get bored.
Kill off a character simply because you don't know what to do with them. Take some time to think about them.
Post your story as: "A fanfic about blahblahblah or READ MY FANFIC!!! Have a legitimate title.
Post without making paragraphs. I had to learn this one. It makes people's eyes hurt, especially if it's long.
Switch between first and third person. Decide at the beginning and never look back.
Forget to describe where your characters are, and what they all look like.


That's about it. If you follow these guidelines, your fanfic should be pretty awesome.

Comment if this was helpful at all!!!