User:Leopardclawxx/Fanfiction Tips and Tricks

Hello! So, here I'm going to outline some of the basic things I do when planning, developing and writing fanfic, and hopefully to give you some tips on how to get better.

1. The Planning
I find it very important to have a clear idea of what you're writing about. Make sure you can answer these questions:

Do I know how it's going to start, end, and what's going to happen in the middle?


 * If not, then stop right there. You can't blindly stumble into writing a fanfic, or a story of any kind. Usually, I know what happens in the beginning, what the outcome is, and a rough idea of the events in the middle. Sometimes, usually, I have no certain plan of the middle, so it can be subject to move around a bit, and vary from the original plan as I get other, better ideas. Sometimes you'll have to tweak the end, but that's a small sacrifice. For example, Cross-scar <3 was never planned to exist, and he just appeared as an idea, becoming quite important in later storylines.

Is my idea fairly original?


 * Try and avoid massive cliches, like the Firestar story, or the forbbiden-love-and-giving-up-kits. There can be some leeway in most of these cliches, for example LeopardxCross, and The Silent Lies Trilogy, and Cloudtail, but if you twist these ideas so that they have originality to them, that's good too. Or course, completely original ideas, or new, different ideas are the best.

Do I know who the main character(s) are, and what happens to them?


 * Much the same as knowing the start and end, but different in the sense that you have to know the character. You have to, for the main characters, know their appearance, their personality, their beliefs and everything about them. When you write, you almost have to feel like you are them; it is a lot easier if you can feel like this. For example, when I write death scenes, I feel the feelings of the characters. It's hard to explain, but if you know what I mean, you'll find it lots easier.