Random Fanfiction Writing Tips

Hello Nonny,

Jumping from writing a drabble to writing a fic is a long reach and can be a difficult transition. I’m not saying that you can’t do it, but at the same time if you’re hoping not to disappoint your readers, having you considered a stopgap measure for their voracious appetite to start with a series of drabbles? 

As for a transition to a fic, does the plot have a reasonable end point?

If so, you can consider doing a once a week drabble while you write your fic and just weave the drabbles into your plot, so that you can just copy the drabble in and use it as a first draft to that part of your fic and it’s perfectly OK to keep the fic writing unpublished until you get to a certain point of the plot or even to the point of finishing it beforehand. Otherwise, the feedback might be even more overwhelming and we want to keep that at a minimum.

If not, spend some time coming up with one so you can limit your fic to a reasonable size, otherwise a) it will go on forever and you will run out of interest before you run out of things to write about or b) it will become your full time job and you will run out of interest before your run out of things to write about. Either will at some point be a disappointment to your readers. Though I am not proud, I will admit that it has happened to me with both instances until I learned to cap things.

Hello Nony,

Usually you describe in detail should be something that hasn’t already happened or advances the plot or character development in some way. Here are some examples:

If a character is making a stir fry for the third time, unless this stir fry causes the second coming of Christ, just mention it and only mention it if it advances the plot in some way.

If a character is reading the rosetta stone for the first time, and it triggers a memory of reading Ancient Greek with her father, who mysteriously disappeared on an expedition when she was six and that now means she remembers he kept a notebook on Ancient Greek stories that he locked in a safe, then describe it in full detail.

If a character has been imprisoned for awhile and they are tucking someone into bed which reminds them of doing the same to their child that is likely a grown person now, describe the sensations and feelings the character is having.

If the answer to the question “What purpose does describing something serve?” is change in any of plot, character, setting, atmosphere, challenge/conflict, then you would describe rather than gloss over. The degree of description is dependent on whether it is something that has happened before that has been described already and little has changed in the how aspect since the first Time. 

Another reason to describe a scene in detail are things that tend to bring on a myriad of emotion/thoughts on something that happens in milliseconds like dropping of an irreplaceable vase that showed the route to the dragon’s lair. That you will want to describe from every point of view millisecond by millisecond.

Hello Nony,

Hello Nony!

The best way to keep the audience guessing is to use obscure clues that are mentioned offhand to make seem unimportant. Most people tend to dismiss clues if the characters indicate that it’s unimportant. When a reader reads a new story, they are generally just trying to absorb the information handed to them, so if a character dismisses it, the reader tends to do the same.

In order to do a good reveal, you might also want to consider using an outline and detailing what you want to share in a specific chapter or order and how you want to share it. Unless you have a photographic memory, this will help you keep track of all the clues, when they are revealed in the story and how they are each presented. That way you can focus on setting, character development, dialog and interactions when you write.

Hello Nony,

Sociopaths are very self-centred and selfish people. It’s all about self (’me’) for them. Sociopathic traits in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders V (DSM-5) are listed under the diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder. What drives them is what is fun for them regardless of how it affects anyone else. 

With that in mind, when writing sociopathic characters is ask yourself what is fun for that character? Then ignore all consequences. That’s tough for us normal people who care about others.

For example, sociopath A lusts after a guy. A highly functioning sociopath would try to charm the guy into bed. A non-highly functioning sociopath would probably just sexually assault him. Key is that the lust in the sociopath drives them to get their release.

Another example is sociopath B loves gambling because the high from winning is addictive. When sociopath B runs out of their own money, they would either charm someone to give them their lifesavings or just plain rob them in daylight  or on the internet to get the money to continue their gamblng. Either case, the gambling continues and damn the consequences.

Hello Nony,

How long it takes for a monster to possess a character depends on the universe they inhabit. Some monsters can do it instantaneously. Others, to add to the horror, can take minutes or possibly hours so that the character feels each sinew being taken over. What you choose to do has to fit into the universe you’re writing in. For example, in the universe you are writing, can you fight back the possession? If so, there could be battles of body parts which can be fought off in part until full possession finally takes over like when insects crawl over a body in the movies.

Once you decide on how you want the possession to happen, then write it out in the manner you want your readers to feel it. Is it one sinew at a time with battles on every major organ? Is it instantaneous but the monster sends horrifying images to the consciousness of the character to feed off the fear? The key is to either match canon or match the spirit of canon. 

Hello Nony!

Start small. Persevere.

Sometimes a few paragraphs are all you need. If you can string 100 words together that comes to a point, you’ve just written a drabble.

If you don’t have ideas, go look for prompts. There are a million and one prompts out there. Just search for writing prompts in your browser and read them until you find one that tickles your fancy. You’d be surprised at how helpful a prompt can be.

If you’re looking for exercises, make a goal and stick to it. Here are a couple of examples that can cover an array of situations:

Write one drabble every week for a year. Even the busiest person can take a half hour a week to write 100 words. You can think about a topic while you’re in the shower, if you’re crazy pressed for time. At the end of the year, you’ll have written 52 drabbles.

Write a piece on any topic that comes to mind each day for a year. This can be fiction or non-fiction. For example, you can complain about the amount of caffeine in bottles of soda or the great experience you had at the concert you attended last night. Whatever comes to mind and writing until you’ve gotten your point across regardless of how many words it takes. At the end of the year, you will have written 365 (or 366 in a leap year) pieces on as many topics.

More importantly, don’t expect to be Shakespeare on your first try or even your 500th try. Maybe on your 5 millionth try, you’ll be as good as a published author.

Learning to write takes time and practice. Just like any skill, you need to use the correct muscles many times before you get to the point where you want to be. Yes, talent does come into play. but even the most talented newborn isn’t going to be born running. The key is to keep going and not give up. I can almost guarantee that if you’ve done either of the above example exercise and are diligent about it that you will see an improvement between the first and the last piece you write.

Important Tip: Don’t presume that you’re done after your first draft. Reread your piece to pick out errors/typos, etc. I have often gone and changed something in a published fic 30-50 times before I stop making a change here or there and I read my fics 10-12 times to make sure it is as error free as possible before I send it to a beta.

Hello Nony,

For writing action/fight scenes, here’s how I go about managing them:

Don’t over complicate it. Focus on one action/fight at a time. Trying to cover more than one group’s actions at once gets confusing.

Imagine the scene in your head and then write it down. 

Sometimes actions/fights are repetitive. Can’t be helped with some sequences, but try adding something different each time a sequence is repeated will make it less boring and repetitive especially if you make the second repetitive action the trigger of something else like the opponent sees the sequence a second/third/tenth time and they’ve figured out a strategy to counter it the next time.

bookmark your fight scenes to compare them. Read old fight scenes to compare and then you can contrast them by making them significantly or even different.

Action/Fight scenes can be tricky. When you watch a boxing match, the fighters will use the same sequence of moves, but what makes it exciting is that you see one of them starting to feel the weight of the continuous blows.

Hello Nony!Check out the post I reblogged about Hemingway a few years ago: https://randomfanficwritingtips.tumblr.com/post/109814922761/shakespork-hemingway-is-a-writing-checker-that

Hello @ryeswritings,Thanks for clarifying your ask. Much appreciated.The key to success in fusion fics is to choose the right fandoms to fuse. Sometimes same period works less well if, for example, the types of characters in the two fandoms are too different to mesh. You want characters that will glom well together. That may come from characteristics of principal characters having the same attitude or the same principles.

Something else to consider is that the fuse doesn’t necessarily have to be between the principal characters. The focus of the fuse could be between two minor characters or one principle and one minor in the fandoms because they mesh better than the two principles.Also, you need to ensure that you are punctuating the fic with canon bits from both fandom to bring in the right ambiance from both sides.

The important thing is that the writing flows and things make sense.

Hello Nony!

Being unique can be difficult if it is a very popular fandom, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be original and stay in character. Is there a situation that you’d like to explore that your OTP hasn’t? 

Sometimes being original doesn’t mean that you’re looking to find a completely new concept, but rather explore a certain avenue within a specific concept. Like your OTP having breakfast in bed. That alone may not be original, but the fact that they are having breakfast in bed served by an army of servants to celebrate an anniversary might be.

Hi @spectra-bear,

Glad you’re looking into doing some research. A good free site for Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) rules and races is https://www.dndbeyond.com/. This site has information on the latest edition of D&D. Note that there are other fantasy role playing games like Pathfinder and Warhammer.

That’s just the basic rules of D&D. The next question you want to ask is which campaign setting you want to know better. There are

official campaign settings like Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance, but not all settings apply to every edition. You can find a list of all the official campaign settings here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_campaign_settings. Official settings have books out there that you can find at the library or for a reasonable price in a used book store.

homebrew settings which you can create on your own or look up online. One such is Tal’Dorei which is the Critical Role homebrew setting. You can watch the Critical Role gang play D&D on their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpXBGqwsBkpvcYjsJBQ7LEQ Note that playing is separate in story telling in D&D.

Once you select your campaign or create your own, then you can start working out the characters you want. 

HI @ryeswritings,

Sorry, you’ll have to be more specific when you’re referring to fusion crossovers. :) What type of fusion are you referring to?

Hello Nony!Crossovers are delicate especially since canon timelines don’t often naturally mesh. I commend you for trying them.

Rearranging canon timelines can work, if you choose natural crossovers which come together well. These can be hard to find. 

Not sure which two canons you’re trying to put together, but you need to have it make sense if you were to merge them together. For example, merging two different war timelines could work, if you pick and choose the key pieces to keep. The setting you choose to write the crossover in should take precedence over the setting that you aren’t using because it will be easier to make the setting work. 

You should also try to keep the major items in the timeline. That will trigger familiarity for each fandom.

Hello Nony!

In order to write a character properly, you need to fully understand the character you are writing about. This includes (in no particular order)

character canon - so you can refer to it properly and appropriately. Please study canon completely so you know to what you are referring.

character personality - so the character you are writing about behaves in an expected way. Please study the character and how they behave in canon to get a sense of what they would do or say in your fanfic.

character knowledge - so you can write the dialogue in a manner which sounds like it came from your character. Please research your topic until you know nearly every nuance of the topic you are writing about.

If, for example, your character is an expert microbiologist in her field who is an introvert and she encounters her former love interest who is also another microbiologist at the coffee shop, you don’t want a microbiologist reading your story thinking that they would never say or do X because you didn’t do your research. There’s nothing that pops a reader out of the story faster than going contrary to expectation or fact.

Hello Nony, Sorry it took so long to get back to you.

Which way you go (detailed vs skip over) depends on a couple of things: 

How your story is written? Does it minutely detail everything important or does it gloss over things that don’t completely contribute to advancing toward your goal? If the former, then write it out. If the latter, then just do a quick description. 

How important is the description of their next day? Does the next day spent really add to their developing relationship or explore new information about the main character or the love interest? If the answer is yes, then go for it. If the answer is no, then gloss over it with a one sentence description.

Hello Nony,

Perhaps your issue is not having a goal for your story. Each word should be describing the journey or forwarding the goal. Any extra words are just filler. Another possibility is that you may need to write until you get to the end, which could mean extra filler. This is not the most efficient way to write but sometimes you have to go with the filler until you get to the good stuff. With this method, write until you get to the end and then cut, cut, cut until you’ve trim back as much filler as needed to get the story out.