So, to Siopao and the various Tumblr users who won't come off the anon option: I'm sorry this took me so long. I'm really bad with deadlines and timing nowadays because icky college messed up my writing schedule. Anyways, I don't have a lot of time to do this, so I'm going to try to make this really fast and concise. I mean, normally I wouldn't do this because I don't particularly like writing guides, but oh, how you guys pester me. Just kidding, you're cool. But I'll make this a blog instead of a story so that it's less annoying. Anyways, here it goes:

I mostly developed my writing abilitiy by reading and imitating authors that I admire. Once I felt that I had a pretty good understanding of writing, I decided to look for books in libraries that could give me good advice about writing, particularly for writing fiction stories. The one I turn to the most is Margaret Lucke's Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Short Stories, and according to Lucke, a story has five "basic ingredients", listed here as:

1. Character / Character Development
2. Conflict
3. Plot and Structure
4. Setting and Atmosphere
5. Narrative Voice

Then she goes off on a tangent talking about the ingredients, but since ain't nobody got time for dat, I'll break it down like this:

1. Character / Character Development:  Characters are important because no matter how awesome-pawsum your plot is, a reader won't stay in it if they don't like the character. So make them 3-Dimensional, "make them as complex and real as you and your readers are", Lucke says. To do that, instead of picking characters out of the stock cast list, start from scratch and see what you can make of them.
2. Conflict: This is what drives the story forward, so it's muy importante. After you got your kick- characters, they stop being kick- if they... well, if they don't kick . Through dealing with conflict, characters reveal themselves and the theme of your story.
3. Plot and Structure: Plot is how the characters and conflict come into contact with one another, and structure is how those contacts are arranged or sequenced in order to reveal the story. Or at least that's what it is according to Lucke. 
4. Setting and Atmosphere: This mostly refers to what the mood of your story is. Like, if you're writing an angst fanfic, then the atmosphere should match the genre with a gloomy, heavy sort of feeling attached to the words. Setting is what gives your story context, and it's important if you want readers to better understand your story. Setting is also part of what sets up the scope of your story. 
5. Narrative Voice: For me, this is sort of the trickiest. Your narrative voice basically encompasses all the various stylistic choices you decide to employ when you tell the story. If the first 4 elements cover the "who, what, when, where, and why" of your story, this 5th element covers the "how". 

If you want to try a guide that's different from the one presented by Lucke above, here's a shorter one that I found. I forgot who wrote it though, darn. But here it is:

The Three C's of Writing Fiction Stories

1. Character Development
2. Conflict
3. Coherence

So, I don't have to repeat myself on the first 2 C's right? But let's talk about coherence, since this is something that I tend to struggle with, too. Coherence just means that scenes and parts of your story should go well together, and scene B is caused by scene A, and so on and so forth. If you're writing with a vignette sort of style, though, then I think there is a way around this. These rules aren't definitive, of course; everyone has a way of writing that is more comfortable for them. Find a way that suits you!

A writing instructor at UCLA and story consultant at Warner Bros. Studio named Lisa Cron wrote a cool book called Wired For Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers From the Very First Sentence (wow, that title's a mouthful). I read it a few months ago, and it has a lot of really interesting insight to offer. It was a library book, so unfortunately I can't directly quote it right now. I'll try to paraphrase what I learned, though.

Basically, Cron says that, anthropogically, our brains instinctively think and remember things in the form of a story. That's why we remember things and think of things better when we understand the context, who was involved, what exactly happened, and what happened as a result of it. And we can use this biological function to our advantage when we write.

Lisa Cron says that in order to grab the reader with the first sentence or the first chapter, it's crucial that we introduce the context, the conflict, and the characters from the get-go. If you can't do that with the first sentence, try to do it with the first paragraph or the first chapter. This is something I've been trying to do from now on, but since I haven't been writing lately, I haven't had much practice. But I highly suggest that if you're a writer that you try it. 

Lisa Cron also has a bunch of "Random Writing Tips" on her website, so I thought I'd include it here, and here's the link.

• The bigger the word, the less emotion it conveys.
• Avoid exclamation points!  Really!! Because they’re distracting!! Almost as much as CAPITALIZING THINGS!!!
• Make sure that each scene gives us new information, rather than rehashing things we already know. Never tell us the same fact twice. Because it’s boring and stops the flow of the story. Never tell us the same fact twice. Because it’s boring and stops the flow of the story.
• If the reader doesn’t know there’s intrigue a foot, there is no intrigue afoot.
• Scenery without subtext is a travelogue.
• Everything must be earned.  In story, there’s no such thing as a free lunch – unless, of course, it’s poisoned. Think Snow White. In other words, if it’s free, it’s going to cost you big time. (I refrained from using an exclamation point in that last sentence, I admit, it’s not easy! Oops.)
• There are two basic motivating factors for just about all human action: Fear and Desire. Almost always, these two are pitted against each other.
• The most important element of any story is to make the reader want to know what happens next. Period. Everything else is gravy.

Inspired by this, here are 8 Random Writing Tips of my own (Disclaimer: I'm a total amateur, so don't take any of this too seriously. This is just what works for me.)

1. If you want to describe the way your OC looks, don't get too detailed. Hair color and length are fine to include as well as any unique identifiers, but in general, I think readers would appreciate being able to formulate their own conceived images of your OC. Appearance doesn't matter half as much as your OC's personality, too. Focus more on that than the appearance.
2. For the love of god, if you're going to write an antagonist, at least make them a worthy opponent who is just as complex as your protagonist. And I'm looking at the most famous fanfiction stock villain of all: the . If you're going to include a character, can we at least make her a 3-Dimensional, complex, sophisticated ? 
3. Stick with "said". It's tempting to get fancy with the dialogue tags, but sometimes they're distracting. "Said" is easy to skip over, so it doesn't interrupt the dialogue.
4. Having trouble with dialogue? Go on YouTube and watch your favorite celebrity's interviews or watch an interview with someone who speaks a certain way. Pay attention to the words they use and which ones they emphasize and the way they choose to phrase things.
5. Silence is dialogue, too. Silence or lack of response to dialogue can be a powerful tool for expressing emotion as well. Keep that in mind.
6. Writing a love story? Here's what's key: intimacy. Physical and ual attraction are important to any relationship and is definitely a real thing. But opening up and revealing your fears, vulnerable spots, and insecurities to someone, that's what it truly means to be . 
7. At a loss for ideas? Stories that come from personal experiences are the best. It doesn't even have to be your story. A friend's story or a complete stranger's story would suffice.
8. Do not let this task intimidate you. People might leave mean comments or criticize your writing, but that's okay. Take their negative comments with a grain of salt, apologize, and just keep writing anyway. There are no rules; find a writing style that suits you and stick with it. You'll get better :)

And now, the most important piece of advice in writing fanfiction: 

Have fun. Seriously, if you're not having fun writing your story, your readers are not going to have any fun reading it. I've said this so many times, and that's because that's how important enjoying the process really is. Writing is an incredibly personal experience, and being able to share that love with others is something that you don't want to miss out on. So in the end, don't take it too seriously. It is what you make of it. 

Hopefully that helped, and hopefully this guide left an impact because this was kind of longer than I anticipated it would be and it'd be pretty cool if I didn't have to write another one like for a long time, haha. Anyways, Siopao, and you 4 anonymous Tumblr users, this one's for you. And for anyone else reading. 

Okay, thanks for sticking around up to here. Time to say good-bye.

-Emma

Cited:

Cron, Lisa. Wired For Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers From the Very First Sentence. New York: Ten Speed, 2012. Print.
Lucke, Margaret. Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Short Stories. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1999. Print.