For a while let’s forget about writing quality text as in “book like text” and let’s think about different variations of good Internet novels.

Good fanfiction: you read it beacuse of your biases and it doesn't matter if the story flow is not the best or if there are grammar mistakes. If your biases were taken away then it would be crap. 

Good fiction: You think it's interesting even if your biases are replaced by random names. So it has to be well written or then interesting in some other way.

Now some of the reviewers or guide writers are going to come and shoot me for real. Because I'm gonna say something unacceptable:

It's fine to use emoticons.

Using emoticons is a skill too.

Them:        Me: 

Just concentrate on fanfiction purely and define it as a light entertainment. Not everyone is good at producing light entertainment, there are good and bad writers. You can’t compare to heavy literature or bestsellers, Internet novels are their own category with their own categories within.

So why not use emoticons? I've read some translated fics and Korean writers use quite a lot of emoticons in their stories. No, of course you don't write a book and use emoticons there; you gotta explain the emotions in words. But light fiction, I personally don't mind emoticons as long as they are used smartly and make the text more entertaining, it just adds to the fun and makes the story lighter to read.

Why I like Guiyeoni in particular is because even though her stories are written in simplistic ways her characters come alive and emotions burn. The stories have the right atmosphere; they make me feel, laugh and cry. I would call her an extremely good Internet fiction writer because I can see her stories happening in front of my eyes. Maybe she won’t be able to write a good book but as a fiction writer she shines and two of her stories have been made into movies ‘A Wolf’s Attraction’ and ‘Doremifasolasido’.

If  her stories come totally alive do emoticons make her a worse author? Her stories are way more addictive than some really well written fanfics which seem like bestseller novels, because her stories are down to earth. And anyway, fanfiction is different from all the books, it should have some specialties too.

Emoticons gone right by Guiyeoni:

Syndrome: 

“Hitler might be there..ㅠ0ㅠ. You can’t, noona. He’ll beat my @ss until it falls off. ㅠ0ㅠ..”
..
….
I ignored him and marched into the building.

“Wait!!! At least wait until I find a place to hide!!!!! Don’t go yet!!!!!!!!!!!ㅠ0ㅠ”
…
……
I’m sorry, Shin Hae Joon. I know you’re hurting, but I have to stir up some more trouble before I get to ask for forgiveness.

“AH!!!!!!!! What is that girl doing?!!!!!!!!!!!!”

To My Boyfriend:

"You must be popular?"

"Hah, yeah. A bit. Thank you."

"-_-"

Right after that, he stopped looking at me.

"Oh, please, go to Ih Gye Dong," I added.

A Wolf's Attraction:

"Where we going?" ^O^?"
"We're taking the bus... number one.."
"Woa! what are we doing over there?"
"HanKyung..."
"Yeah?^O^"
"We have one more person to meet........."
"Who?who?"
"Um... you'll see when we get there ^-^"

How to master?

The secret of emoticons is that you don't use them all the time but they are rather a light addition, popping out once in a while. Also your story has to be written in a simplistic way so the emoticons fit in there. You can't write long serious paragraphs and then add some smileys in the middle, that doesn't work. In the first place you use emoticons to make your text lighter and simpler. If you choose a simple style you go with it till the end, same goes with serious style. It's all about the style.

Serious writer style

vs

Emoticon style 

You can’t compare these two because they fall in different categories, both have good and bad examples within their own categories. This is like in boxing, that’s why they have different series based on weight of participants. Or like football, men and women compete in their own series, separately. So if someone uses emoticons in the right way and the story is actually good you can’t say they are bad writers, they are just different kind of writers.

You don't add emoticons because it's hard to explain something or if you can't explain something, you add emoticons to emphasize your message; you add them for fun and not as a last resort (so they don’t seem forced). Your story will become a pathetic mess if it's full of unnecessary emoticons just because you can't write. The secret is: you can write but you want to make your text more fun to read. It won't be the easiest thing, for me it would be a lot easier to just write everything, using emoticons is a skill.

Emoticons gone wrong:

So he told me I was stupid and then I was like <__< wtf? And he was like xD you are so stupid.

And then I looked at him like 0__0 "No way"

"Yup ^_^" 

"0_0"

"x)"

Don't use emoticons without a reason just for fun, make them a relevant part of your text and don't overuse them.

Using pictures in the middle of the text

A visual story.

This is fine too because it makes the text more fun to read. But just like emoticons, you have to make a very simplistic story and you have to have a reason: why do you choose to use pictures/ gifs, how and why will that make your story more fun to read? As you have noticed I have been adding kpop themed gifs all over this guide and I think it's fun. I assume you didn't mind them (if you did then too bad). Why? 

Because this is a guide and not a story and it's okay to add them?

Wrong! 

Kpop gifs were not added here because I couldn't explain something and had to cover it with a picture but because I wanted to add something to emphasize my message and make my text more fun to read. Emphasizing is an important word here! You can’t feel that I’m indifferent or insecure about my writing or that I am not taking writing seriously because I added those gifs just for fun and not because I had to. There is a great difference.

Do it right! For example when you add a picture of clothes don't write "Then I wore something like this." That means you have no skills to describe the dress. If you add pictures only because you can't write it in words at least don't make it obvious because if you do you will annoy your readers.

Do it like this:  "I took out my blue pencil skirt and white frilly blouse" *inserts a small picture of clothes* Describe it in a few words even if you add the picture, make your readers believe that you added the picture here for fun and not because you at writing.

Avoid following sentences:

Then I wore something like this

My phone looked like this.

I didn't know how to describe so here is a picture.

Something like this.

and so on...

Make pictures a part of your story and don't stop the flow just to add a picture, make it natural. Insert the picture in the middle and don't talk about the picture as an author, your characters also can't talk about it (couldn’t describe so here is a pic NO!). Just make it a part of the text and that's it. But don't add too many pictures or your text will be crowded. Plan it really well, for example you don't necessarily need to put pictures of food every time your characters eat. 

To make your storytelling even more original you could even add videos, if you find anything relevant. Or then add music so the readers can listen while they read. Everything what you add has to make sense and has to do something with your text. You can add a picture of the landscape your characters are seeing but you don’t need to add pictures of their chairs or someone cooking their food in the kitchen while they are on the backyard.

3D Internet novels

As I mentioned million times before you can be a 'good author' in many different ways. If you want to write and entertaining Internet novel why not use all recourses you can: music, videos, emoticons, pictures, gifs and so on. Why not? It's not as easy as you think, heck I am not sure if I would be able to pull that out but recently I read a story with pictures and all, it was fun. You know, like going to watch a 3D film. Your story becomes an experience.

It all depends how we define writing and fanfiction. It all doesn't have to be the same. When people tell you to stop writing cliché stories this is what you do, you take it to a completely new level. Of course, not many are going to agree with me but don't you think your story will stand out heaps if you make it into "3D experience fiction" instead of same old boring black on white. Especially if you have realized that you are not that good at writing, not all are. Try to find a new way of creating and find your strong points, that's what's gonna make you good.

Not all can produce kind of text writing guides here are trying to make you write. Not all, definitely. And you know; we don't need to be identical authors. If all people did what reviewers told them all fics would be the same. There wouldn't be 'light' fiction anymore but everything would be long, deep, realistic, heavy and complicated. Those who tell you "how to be a better writer" are telling you to write books.

We have roleplay fics already, that's an experience. Why not make a new category: 3D fics.