I'm not a professional writer so I won't pretend to be one and tell fellow AFFers all the guidelines in writing a story. There is a reason why fanfiction is categorized under creative writing. But even though there is freedom, like I said, there is a way of doing it that is accepted by a general audience and deemed correct.

Even though the different plot elements and parts of plot structure were taught in gradeschool literature, writing our own story would still prove to be difficult. While it is best to have knowledge on these, for me, learning by example proved to be the best. Try looking for the pattern or blueprint. How did the author write his/her story?

Remember those required readings or even our bedtime stories? Were they written like this:

Keeper's POV

My sleepy eyes rounded like saucers as ABS CBN flashed all the korean novelas that will be shown this 2012.

Narrator's/Nobody's POV

Sleepyhead Keeper almost crashed into the television set to increase the volume because her sister was hogging the remote control. She sat on the floor, head tilted as her eyes fixated on the screen.

Except for picture story books, do novelists provide photos of cars and clothes?

Do publishing companies use different colored inks for the text of the main body aside from black?

Do these published stories lack conflict?

I know most of AFFers recognize and follow a pattern, as reflected by the stories here. But what pattern are we using?

There are some fics here that follow the correct structure but a great number don't; mainly because most of the young writers, without realizing it, mimic the writing style of the author of their favorite fic or the most popular fic -fics that may or may not follow the proper structure.

I am not saying that all published books are of high quality. But at least they went through an editor. So more or less, you can find the basic elements of a story and structure in them. Even Disney storybooks could be a good starting point if you don't like reading those thick novels.

Ha! This blog would've scared the living daylights of my literature and creative writing professors.

Don't worry, I am guilty of a lot of things when it comes to writing. Let's improve together.

-Keeper