How to be a writing God? I’d rather ask what does it even mean? What is a good story? Honestly speaking, if I showed my favorite fanfic story to my boyfriend he’d cringe and say it was , also I am not interested in kind of books he reads. Though we both agree that George Orwell is kind of God but his writing is not the point, what he writes about is.

Of course, there are a few universal points which separate good and bad writers:

a) Good grammar, proper written language, good flow to the story, no typos.

b) Interesting idea, entertaining plot, enough twists.

c) The story makes sense.

When you read books, comics or fanfiction the only things which matter in general are actually mentioned above. Then in the order of importance: (featured people, ) The Title, Summary, Genre, Good graphics, foreword (featured people, ).

I saw that many writing guides mention something along: “Wake up, your writing , you should write differently.” Those are harsh words, don’t you agree? On what basis do these people criticize you? Are they like some famous writers? Your English teachers? Literature teachers? Most probably they are just some readers/writers who lurk around AFF. What do they know?

Okay, in one review shop they mentioned that they might not be the best writers but they are avid readers. So what? What do readers really know with their own personal preferences? Teenagers will say Twilight was a good book, literature teachers with master degrees from prestigious universities will say Twilight was crap, both are avid readers but who is in the right?! J.K Rowlings didn’t have it easy with publishing Harry Potter, various publishing agencies turned her down (now they probably regret) saying her books were nothing special. They weren’t but she still made it to the top.

In most situations "Good" is just how you define it.

A good writer, huh?

So a good story is deep and meaningful. Wait, but I wanna read fluff... It's hard to find good fluff too; it has to be cute, romantic and giddy (forget about deep meanings). Hmmm, I rather pick something light to read, like fluffy romcom. Once in a while it's nice to read those more serious dark fics too but I am more interested if Sehun will end up with Luhan or Kai than who is the murderer.  Also, my English is not good enough so I don’t understand all those difficult long words.

Fanfiction is good/bad compared to what?

a) Fanfiction vs. classical literature = can’t compare, those are on two completely different levels and written for completely different purposes. Entertainment vs. conveying heavy messages/criticism of society/politics/extremely serious issues etc.

b) Fanfiction vs. pocketbook bestsellers = can be compared because both are written for mostly same purposes: to entertain people.

Each have their own category of ‘good’ writing:

Dis fanfic fun? = me like (This means: written relatively well with entertaining plot)

This classic must read book with 1000+ pages is boring = but really good after you finish reading and think about it. (This means: written perfectly with some kind of story but more importantly: what you read between the lines, wise words and meaningful message.)

Personally for me a relatively written entertaining story is not something I truly respect, I respect Leo Tolstoi who wrote 1000+ pages of Anna Karenina, not because I enjoyed reading the book but because I like the message he conveyed and I like how he described the everyday Russia of that time. Honestly, I won't even start comparing fanfiction and heavy literature because that's crazy. They are two different things.

If I actually only read what I regard good stories written by good writers I wouldn’t touch AFF even with a bargepole. But I am able to differentiate between fictional Internet novels and everything else. Many around AFF can’t, for some strange reason. I mean what is good depends on many different factors, but when I read the reviews around here they always forget we are talking about fanfiction, good fanfiction is different from good literature, it just is. Just like a fluff movie from an art film.

c) Good fanfiction vs bad fanfiction = just think about it.

bad fanfiction: 1. about your bias 2. everything else can be ignored. 3. if it's not about your bias you think it's because the story is stupid and grammar (in the worst case)

good fanfiction: 1. about your bias 2. good grammar, interesting plot. 3. you could read even if it's not about your bias.

good writer & good story: suddenly it doesn't matter if your bias is in it or not (hard to find anywhere online, is usually a books)

A good fanfic writer is not necessarily a good writer, and a good writer is not necessarily (but most likely is) a good fanfic writer.

Most of the people here are not going to write books but simply spazz over some hot guys and drool over their biases, most of the people want to read just that. If writing is a hobby what you write should be good enough as long as you are satisfied with it, your readers like it and as long as you have fun while writing it. No one should harshly criticize your storylines or plot twists as long as you enjoy them yourself and take writing seriously. Some people will like, haters gonna hate.

When someone tells you that your story doesn't contain anything original in it and is mostly a cliché then you ask them why do they think so? If you have submitted your story for a review you most likely want some good feedback, right? You take writing more or less seriously, right? Tell me honestly, does it make you a better writer when people tell you to be more original? Does it? Heck, I don't even know what 'more original’ even literally means. Most probably the problem is following: your story doesn’t have enough depth in it and falls flat because your English is not good enough. That’s it.

The fact is that we are not perfect writes, none of us here is, ever was, won’t ever be.

Not even "real" writers are perfect or why do you think they work with editors?

There is always space for developing. The most important thing is that you write and you want to write! Everyone has to start somewhere and usually we start from the bottom. Of course, you are going to at first, you are going to be horrible, but if you give up you will never become better.

A good writer wants to produce good texts and doesn't think too much about graphics, backgrounds, couplings, or even fonts, they are all about the storyline before everything else. A good writer concentrates on the plot, on the twists, on the quality of the text, grammar etc. A writer who wants to succeed even a bit considers graphics and couplings pretty heavily, that's not a bad thing at all as long as you do what you like for the sake of yourself and not for blind success.

It all depends on what you want from writing!

Do you take pride in your works? Do you go back to rewrite some parts and make them better? Do you proofread chapters or just type them hastily without giving it any more thoughts? Is your passion creating a story or just typing down one? Do you want your story to be special? Do you love your story? Do you have a message to convey? Or do you want to just write cutesy fluff without adding anything original (a piece of your soul) to the recycled plot?

This is what all reviewers are after, they just don’t know how to express themselves right. When they say your plot is cliché it doesn’t mean it’s bad, it means you haven’t put enough of yourself into it. That means you wrote it carelessly taking all the easy ways out from every single problem, while writing mindlessly one word after another without much thought. You didn’t think with your own brain but just wrote what all others wrote before you and what you have read. Respect your own stories more, make them your own.

Example: A nerd becomes hot by just removing her glasses? When does that ever happen? How about changing the hairstyle, how about making her more confident? Isn’t confidence what makes you beautiful? How about making her smile more and making people notice that her smile is actually charming? Did the guy fall for her right away after seeing her face without glasses? Why would he? It’s the same face just without glasses, what is the difference? What about her personality? Why couldn't he fall for her earlier? What about inner beauty? It’s not about her becoming pretty but the process of her becoming pretty and the meaning of being beautiful. What does it mean to you? What happened? What made her prettier?

If you want to be a good writer you can’t just type down stuff mindlessly, you gotta think it over and hard. Everything has its reasons, every word and every gesture. You either concentrate on being good or then popular, because being popular is easier than being good. You either concentrate on getting better or then develop yourself as any usual random fanfic writer; that is deliver to masses what they want to read when they want to read it. Exo, Shinee, Infinite, Suju, Big Bang? , , hot?

The question is: do you want to be a good writer who writes good stories or be just a fanfic writer?

So a good writer is a writer who takes writing seriously and strives to develop. If you are reading this then you are a good enough writer because you are trying to become better by reading something useful like a writing guide. Even if your grammar I can’t say you are bad, it would be pointless, I can only say: “please write and read more, become better.”

But what is a good story? These are two different things. A good writer can’t produce a good story instantly. That’s impossible, you can’t be instantly good in anything, you need to practice. But the fact is that a good writer can produce a good story when:

a) Good grammar, proper written language, good flow to the story, no typos.

b) Interesting idea, entertaining story.

c) The story makes sense.

I can’t argue that good grammar won’t automatically make any story a better story; it will and that is a fact. But that doesn’t mean the story will be good. I’ve read stories with awesome grammar, they were like novels but bland and on the boring side yet still entertaining enough. Then I have read pretty good fanfics with not so good grammar but I enjoyed them MORE than those well written. Sadly I can’t say I read stories with bad grammar and enjoyed them, I didn’t, no matter how good or original the story was. I might read bad grammar stories for the laughts, though.

As sad as it is you must know your grammar well, that’s where it all begins. Another thing is imagination.

Here compare two stories trending today: Babydoll and My Faith My Love I think the first one is better than the second one. Why?

Because the second has a way too ambitious plot and the writer's writing skills don't match therefore the story falls flat. But I can't say the story is bad because I can see the writer has put a lot of effort into writing it, has a good idea what's going on and the grammar is okay. It's not that story or writer are bad, it's just that the skills are not developed enough. It's okay even if the plot is not original. If this writer asked for my opinion I would say he/she would have to describe more about the feelings of characters and deliver the story in a smoother way instead of throwing facts at the readers out of the blue; that would add to the atmosphere and make teh whole story instantly better. 

The first story has a rather light romantic fluffy plot, it's cute and full of feelings. Written with simple language, is easy to understand and falls perfectly for "great enetertainment" category.