Advice on [fan] fiction writing...

[SwordBreaker]

One of my goals in life is to write and publish an original fiction novel. I have so many ideas right now, but haven't officially started yet. I remember writing a lot of stuff in a document once, but that got deleted for some reason.

I've also been yearning to return to game-related fan-fiction thanks to continuing support and positive comments from readers to this very day on some of my old work a few years back. But each time I find a good idea for a short story on Zelda for example, I stop and start thinking that it's better to keep these nice ideas as a part of my fiction novel. You guys think this is the right way to think or not?

See, the main concept of my fiction novel began as a small idea for a Zelda-related story I haven't finished nor published online. It's something cool and different. I'm just afraid that these ideas go to waste on fan-fiction rather than my novel plan. On the other hand, getting these ideas done on short fan-fiction stories allow me to modify and refine them or even write about other different things for my novel...in short, forcing me to brainstorm even cooler and better ideas. Plus, I don't get stale if I keep practicing on short stories.

Thoughts? And while you're at it, any general advice on starting novels in general? It's such a huge project to undertake...and I'm not sure whether to begin writing the intro I'm envisioning right now or plan out the whole plot, characters, and timeline first then start writing.

[RedTigrr]

Before you start any type of writing, make an outline of your story.

This helps you organize and set up the direction you want your story to go. For each chapter (however may you'll have) put in the major events you want to happen at each point and a few minor points.

What you also want to do is set up a listing for all of the characters you plan on having in this story and a brief description for each. This way you can flesh out their individual personalities.

Also once you start the writing process, it definitely helps to have a proofreader. If you're in college the best way to go is either go with an English major, or even better, an English Professor. 9 times out of 10, they'll see something that you might have missed and can help improve the story.

[The Pezman]

For quite some time, I was an editor on the Chrono Trigger Novel Project. Recently, we put the work together and sent it to Square Enix of Japan. They liked the idea of a novel and the quality of our writing, but told us they didn't currently have the resources to oversee publishing a book in a foreign language.

So keep that in mind. Fan/Industry interaction is getting stronger, but it's got a ways to go.

[SwordBreaker]

For quite some time, I was an editor on the Chrono Trigger Novel Project. Recently, we put the work together and sent it to Square Enix of Japan. They liked the idea of a novel and the quality of our writing, but told us they didn't currently have the resources to oversee publishing a book in a foreign language.

So keep that in mind. Fan/Industry interaction is getting stronger, but it's got a ways to go.

Yeah. Definitely. The novel I'd like to write is original work not fanfiction. I'm just contemplating the idea of devoting my innovative ideas to short fanfiction stories or keep them for my original novel. Fanfiction is still limited to online publications in sites like fanfiction.net. I know I'll be writing them just for fun, attention and positive reader comments.

Thanks for the nice advice, RedTigrr.

[TheSnowStorm]

Outline is key. Having an outline of the important and major details of your story will help you out greatly. Make sure you also have the finish and the beginning in mind, as well as your character's personality and back-history. That's all the advice I can give to you from what I learned from my English 101 class

[HalcyonSpirit]

Alright, I'm gonna preface this with the fact that I'm currently writing my own novel of sorts, and that everything I learned about writing I learned from experience, not from any classes.

An outline is key... to a point. They're good on paper (*ba-dum-tsh*), but they have issues. One such problem with outlines, particularly if you're writing it before you've even started the story, is that they tend to become outdated really, really quickly. Sure, it's nice to know exactly where you're going at all times, and to have everything planned out so that all you really need to do is write the stuff in between, but it almost never works out that way in practice. One reason is because, as you're writing one section, an idea might come to you that works so much better than what you planned already, but completely invalidates a whole bunch of other plans around it. The main reason, though, is that in most novels, the characters are constantly in a state of development and change. You may start off with a good picture of who these characters are, but as the story progresses and they begin to change in response to events in the story, you get deeper into their individual mindsets. You can go so far as to become "one with the character," being able to see things from each individual's perspective. This is great because you can then make their actions that much more believable. It also lets you let them decide their course in the story... and the actions they would logically follow in a given situation often conflicts with what you planned to have happen. In such cases, you generally have to follow either what the character would do or the plan you already have, and doing the latter might require rewriting aspects of the story before and after the event just to make it work within the boundaries of the character's plausible actions. Either way, the outline you had would need to be reworked.

I have a general rule of thumb for when I write: plan only two or three chapters ahead, maximum. What this does is allow you to have a course of action that you can aim toward in the writing, but allows you to be flexible enough that a sudden change in direction (caused by either the characters, or you coming up with a brilliant new idea, or both) won't completely screw things up. It also helps prevent you from writing yourself into a corner.

Do make a rough sketch of major events that must happen, though. This isn't the same as an outline; rather, what you're doing is coming up with events that shouldn't be affected by the course of the story (such as a natural disaster, or something that happened before the story's present time, etc). You can also include rough ideas for events that do occur with the characters, but do not include details such as who's there, exactly how it turns out, etc. It gives you flexibility in what you end up doing with it, and when exactly it happens, once you finally reach that point in the story. The ending of the story is one such event, and general character backstories are another.

[Archaon]

If you must include any original characters, put them through this test first.

[Triad Orion]

Also, in addition to everything else said so far? One important thing you must do as a writer, that I cannot stress enough:

*Justification*.

If you are creating a world, and you want that world to be believable and realistic, you have to justify why things are the way they are. For a fully fleshed out world, you need to consider histories, militaries, governments, laws, geographies, customs, culture, and more for a world. Make these notes alongside your plot outline. If you use Magic or some other supernatural force, use this opportunity to flesh out how it works, why it works, and who can use it and who can't. Just saying Magic works because it's "Magic" may be acceptable to a layman, but to an honest critic or editor, it won't hold water. This is your big chance to make the aspects of the world work with your plot. This is a difficult and time consuming process because you must think deeply about the world your characters are a part of.

Remember that detail too. Your story world should not (except under very rare circumstances) revolve around the characters. Your characters, who are obviously the most important aspect of the story, are a *part* of this world. So while you will be doing the most work with your characters, remember that they are but a fraction of what the real world plays out to be. Bending the world's logic to suit the needs of the characters is a sign of weak writing.

Obviously, as Halcyon stated, characters are in a constant state of flux. Despite my heavy-handedness with "JUSTIFY EVERYTHING", this is also important. Characters grow and change and sometimes take on a mind of their own. This is good. Make them flow and follow their own logic within the society and structure you've created. This will create a much more believable world and story in general.

Also, talk to people about your idea. People you trust. Ask them their unbiased and tough opinions to edit your work and chew on your ideas. More input will help flesh out your world and be vigilant to plotholes.

As for fanfiction writing, generally, remember this: CANON. Canon is *everything.* Short of writing an Alternate Universe, follow everything the canon sets into place. Canon will always trump fanon. So stick with that and build your story around what has already been established.

[danimal cannon]

always explore your erotic fantasies via videogame characters

[SwordBreaker]

If you must include any original characters, put them through this test first.

Nice find. That test sort of depressed me 'cause my main character does seem to have some Mary Sue tendencies. I got a 33. On the other hand, I got some nice ideas from that test.

Thanks for all the cool advice, guys. I read all your posts. Very helpful stuff. Keep 'em coming.

[Rozovian]

Give your story a goal, an ending, and make your characters, the events go towards it. How they get there _is_ the story.

[Native Jovian]

If you must include any original characters,

Tip: you must include original characters, especially if you're trying to branch out into original fiction. My biggest problem with fanfiction is the fact that most of it is lazy -- they never create anything original. Using ready-made characters in a ready-made setting doing ready-made things may be good practice for the mechanics of writing -- but the underlying ideas, the setting and characters and events of the story, are equally (if not more) important.

What I like is fanfiction that uses a setting but nothing else. If you want to write Zelda fanfiction, set it in Hyrule (or Termina, or Koholint, or the Great Sea, or whatever) but don't involve Link, Zelda, or Ganon(dorf) more than peripherally. Write about the Kokiri before Link's arrival. Or about the people on Windfall before the game starts. Or about a soldier when Hyrule Castle is attacked (which happens at least three times off the top of my head, so take your pick). Or something that isn't touched on by the series proper. Personally, I've got a half-baked idea for a Gundam story that would do something like this, except even more extreme (an alternate history story where I go out of my way to kill off most of the main characters...). What that does is give you a solid base to work with (and for readers to relate to your story through) while still forcing you to exercise those creative muscles in creating and developing original characters and situations.

As far as "wasting" ideas on fanfiction -- that's silly. There's nothing that says you can't use the same idea in more than one story -- doubly so if they're intended for different audiences (which "fanfiction posted on interwebs" and "original fiction intended for publication" certainly are!).

But yes, as far as storytelling goes, I think the most important thing is to have the whole story in your mind (or better, on paper as an outline, as people have suggested) before you start. A lot of fanfiction is basically a collection of "wouldn't X, Y, and Z be awesome? Let's all throw that together!" This doesn't work, at all. Your story needs to have direction to it, and it can't if you don't already know how it will end when you start. Halcyon Spirit talked about how your stuff will change constantly as you write -- which is true -- but that doesn't mean that your original outline is useless. Keep it updated, if you can, or just use it as a jumping-off point, if you want, but don't start writing without some clear idea of where you'll be at the end.