A Fan Fiction Writer's Guide

Description

In this guide, you will learn the do's and don'ts of writing fan fiction (that you may be able to apply to non-fan fiction writing) including cringe-worthy examples and general stuff you probably want to avoid when writing unless you explicitly label your story as cliche. Before I start, I would just like to say:

And I know how hard it is to not do some of the mentioned things; I do them too. These are just tips to help you if you don't know what to do or want some guidance. That's why it's called a GUIDE.

Foreword

SIDE NOTE: I make these cliche mistakes too and I know I am not a perfect writer. Hell, my fan fictions are chalk full of cliche moments that I'm too lazy to change. Don't think that I am making this because you think that I think that I am superior because I'm anything but.

Another side note: This will use EXO members just because I've read a lot of their fan fiction. If you don't like them, that doesn't mean that this won't give you helpful tips and advice.

Comments

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iexoeris
#1
Chapter 41: In chapter 41, the first sentence is grammatically incorrect. In the first sentence, the 'me' should be 'my' instead. It is a very common mistake that I see, even in popular books. I think this grammar rule will change. Also, I am in middle school too and I love EXO. PS- Rick Riordan is my favourite writer. Did you fall in love with PJO, HOO, TOA, Kane Chronicles or Magnus Chase?
tokyeoul
#2
Chapter 36: This is what I call fun in learning! This is a really good, humorous, straight-to-the-point guide (I made sure that I used correct punctuation on that sentence okay). You are way younger than me but I am just a newbie writer so this helped me a lot. I am still not finished and I am actually reading this at midnight. No surprise there haha! Anyway, thank you so so much!
BaekYeolChanBaek
#3
DUDE WE'RE THE SAME AGE
JKNewsandDavidSo #4
Chapter 55: Lol Alternate Universe if you haven't found out it the few months that you've written this chapter xD
JKNewsandDavidSo #5
Chapter 19: Wow middle school, what grade r u now? I'm in middle school too!
LeaMon
#6
I know right, when people don't capitalize properly, spell properly, has bad punctuation or use bad grammar, I immediately stop, because my eyes hurt. I became a grammar nazi, because whenever my friends and I use bad grammar or those other things, she subtracts our discipline points. Now, the things I mentioned above will just make me annoyed and somehow judge people quietly... It's pretty bad, but I can't help it.
hermion8
#7
Chapter 58: Just dropping by to say I totally agree with what you wrote. I tried to write something like this before, although unfortunately, I lost my list of commonly misused words and had to focus on college. Maybe I'll resurrect that soon...
One thing I hate the most though, aside from mid-chapter POV shifts and profiles, is when the author tries to excuse not proofreading by saying "English is not my first language." I understand that not everyone perfects grammar and all, especially one they don't use all the time, but proofreading is a way to learn, right?
I'm babbling here. Haha. I hope more people actually read things like this... There are a lot of plots with potential but... :/
dreamshade
#8
Chapter 57: I'm gonna miss this and you, too. Hope that you'll come back and give me and the others more useful tips in writing fanfic. Thank you for sharing too ^^
MissLalaMoon
#9
Chapter 28: I agree with this. It really annoys me when I see some Korean words that are simple to use in English (does that even make sense?). One time the entire sentence was in Korean and I had no idea what they were saying. I thought at the end of the chapter they we going to explain what they said, but they didn't. So I stopped reading the story, since most of the story consisted of the characters talking in Korean and I could not stand it. The only Korean word you could say that I use a lot is “yah” since it has been in my vocabulary even before I got into KPOP. I use some other ones, even though I don't like to, but sometimes when I write it English it looks weird. But I don't write full sentences, it just looks odd and I don't even know how to. I only know (and use) the simple terms such as “oppa,” “hyung,” “umma,” and etc.
Milielitre #10
Chapter 55: au stands for Alternate Universe, a story in which your characters are not what they are in real life. The opposite would be cannon, or alternate reality, a story in which your characters are still idols.