Since this is very frequently asked of me, I decided to make a proper post about it, that way it’s easier for you to find and easier for me to link if someone else asks. Hopefully this is somewhat useful for you guys? I tried anyway alsjsnja so here! This can be applied to any fandom but since I write for HP I took a lot of my examples for there. But this applies for anything!!
Writing Advice for Fanfic:
When characterising, I understand it can be hard to differentiate your characters. Sometimes it’s easy to let them all fall into one generalised ‘character’. So here I’m gonna try and help you with keeping your characters separate from each other and more accurate when reading/writing.
Getting the right pet names/terms of endearment that a certain character would say to another character or to the reader is so useful for characterising. It may sound stupid, but it does help.
For example, in my opinion, Draco wouldn’t say ‘love’ to his s/o. Maybe to someone else or at the beginning of a flirtatious relationship, but not to someone who he’s dating. For me, he is more likely to use ‘darling’ or ‘princess’. However, if you don’t know for a certain character, the generic term ‘love’ is a good one to fall back on.
Another thing is, can you actually picture that character in your head doing or saying the think you’re making them do or say? Does it feel forced in your mind or does it seem natural? If it seems natural then you’re probably on the right track. An easy way to do this is by imagining the film/tv show character in your mind and hearing their voice etc...
For dialogue, which I will move onto further down, can you hear this character saying that piece of dialogue? How do they usually talk? For Fred or George, they’re often cocky/confident but with Neville he’s often stuttering and shy. So just keep this in mind when you’re writing interactions with other characters or the reader.
It sounds obvious, but what do they look like? When you say ‘They run their hand through their hair’, well what colour is their hair? Are they doing this confidently or nervously? Body language is essential - it’s something we use everyday without realising, but it says a lot. Really picture the character in your mind and portray this in what you write. We want to know who we’re reading for, not just from the title, but we want to feel like we’re really reading for this character.
This will not apply to all writers, you may not agree and you may not want to do this. This is my personal opinion and what works for me. But here goes:
I learned this pretty quickly - fluff is brilliant, I’m a fluff fan, but I don’t write fluff with no plot (or angst either but i see this done more often with fluff) It can be good sometimes if it’s maybe a bit shorter like 700-1000 words or so, but even then, try to think of a small plot. Even if it’s a tiny plot, like sneaking out or baking a cake with someone who can’t bake. It makes the story more interesting and more likely for your readers to continue on. We want something to look forward to.
For longer oneshots, this really applies. I don’t, personally, want to read something over 1k if it’s just fluff with no plot. Keep me interested, will there be suspense? Twists? Pining? Oblivious characters? A problem? A resolution? There doesn’t have to be a resolution, maybe you’ll leave it on a cliffhanger and let your readers decide how it ends. But keep us enagaged.
For angst, it’s less generally done but again, a plot is useful. It also makes writing it for you easier if you have somewhere to go with it. Writing just fluff or angst can be hard if there is no basis for it and it might make the writing experience more strenuous.
Don’t stress about dialogue. It honestly can be really easy. I know it’s something a lot of people struggle with and hopefully this helps.
Casual dialogue can be hard to get right, I know. Take inspiration from real life conversations. How do you talk to your family? How do you talk to your friends? Use that and incorporate it into your fics. Make it believable. We don’t want to see dialogue that doesn’t flow or seems robotic, which can be easy to do. We want dialogue that seems realistic for that person to say.
For example, when you toalk to your friends, you probably use slang like “gonna” / “kinda”, so don’t be afraid to use that in dialogue - you want it to sound natural (although I’d avoid using fillers if you can). Hermione might use the word ‘hence’ but would Fred or George? It’s brilliant to use words like this, but don’t lose your characters in it. Save these words for your descriptions.
When it comes to more formal dialogue, just think how you would act in that particular situation, whether it’s with a teacher/boss/person of authority. But also, don’t lose the character in the speech. Hermione is probably is going to talk to a teacher much differently than Fred or George. A teacher however, will always talk to their students the same way unless they know them personally.
Don’t forget to use a variety of replacement words for ‘said’ or ‘say’. While these words are perfectly fine to use, I recommend using others too, to keep it interesting but also to convey your character’s emotion or how they’ve said it.
This is something I feel like writers get so well in some areas and forget about in other areas. Anyway, here we go:
Don’t just tell us two characters are in love, show!!! us!!! — these two people in love, well, are they blushing/stuttering/ being bashful/flirting? What’s their body language like? How do they differ around this person to someone else? When you’re in love, or have a crush on someone, these things change around that person. Most of the time we don’t want them to, but they do which is why we’re so aware of it. Not only this, but how does the character feel about their change in personality/body language? Does it make them more nervous/angry/confused? Don’t just tell us, prove it to us. Especially if it’s the reader that feels this way, we want to feel they way you’re telling us we do.
Don’t just say they’re at the Black Lake (or anywhere else), show!!! us!!! What does it look like? Is it night/dusk/dawn/morning/noon? If it’s night time or early in the morning, what’s the temperature like? Perhaps the temperature can link into the plot. They’re going to this place for a reason, remember, so use this to your advantage. Are their birds? What can you hear? see? Make this scene come alive for us, make us feel as if we’re there. This isn’t usually where writers trip up, but sometimes it’s easy to forget things as basic as descriptions because we’re so wrapped up in the plot.
Dont just give us a story with dialogue saying ‘he did this’ , ‘she did that’ , ‘you did this’ - Where are we/what are we doing/how are we feeling/are we in school? Is it day/night/sunset/dawn? What are our surroundings? Describe what you can hear/see, don’t forget about the senses. Use as many as you can. Make us feel as if we’re there, engage us. Sight and sound are most often used but don’t forget about touch and smell. And even taste, though there’s going to be fewer situations this can be used.
What are the reader’s emotions, another character’s emotions? Why are they feeling this way? Don’t forget, there’s not just happy and sad, there’s anger, jealousy, frustration, despair, upset, depression, hunger, energetic, excitement. Humans have such a wide range of emotion, don’t forget to use them and make us feel or empathise with these characters/the reader.
Alright, I hoped this helped someone? Anyone? If you want me to touch on other areas, please don’t hesitate to send me an ask and I’ll try to help you out. Same goes with something you think I’ve missed on here. Feel free to reblog this as well!
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