what would you say is the best way to start a fanfic? And where is the place I should post it to get the best reception?
I started quotev a while back making fan fictions and posting them, but they never really stuck with me even when one did get super popular (..unfortunately, I WAS one of those Wally darling fanfic writers…..) . I deleted literally all of those pages, and, while that’s kinda sad and I do wish I could read them now, they were super cringe and had, like, no plot to them. I was totally winging it.
I know you do some writing of your own, and I wanted to see how exactly you plan yours/your stories out. I consider myself an intermediate writer with room for improvement, but the burn out is awful and I haven’t written anything for myself in years.
So, the best place to post fanfiction for me personally has always been AO3 due to their regulations making it easier to post fanworks even with heavy topics - and I find their layout options very easy to use, even as a total beginner at posting your written works online.
They also include original works under their term of "fan works", which makes it easier to just post any story you got on there instead of like, for example, split them between websites dedicated for Fanfiction & original works.
I see way more interaction on AO3 than I did on any other writing-focused website I used to post at (e.g Wattpad), way more people commenting and giving their thoughts, theories and feedback on stories, which is why I post my stuff exclusively on there. :]
As for planning your story out, I got a few tools I like to use. Now, I am not in no ways a professional writer or anything beyond a hobbyist simply doing what brings their crippling autism joy, but I have found some things that helped me improve my writing by a ton in just a few months (my, I sound like one of those dating coaches LOL)
Get a comfortable writing program that you feel good in.
I know it sounds obvious, but trust me, having a writing program you enjoy layouting, drafting and writing in makes it so much more fun to explore your stories/worlds even if you're stuck in a more tiresome part (such as layouting your world or planning chapters/plot points). I, for example, use Scrivener. It is a paid program (though I put on my pirating hat for this one) and made for professional writing such as script writing for TV and movies, novel writing and essays, but it functions well enough for any hobbyist in my humble opinion.
Google docs is a free alternative most folks know & love, but I came to struggle with it's performance and tools a lot and never quite got into add-ons/mods for it. Since a lot of my stories already exceed 200-300 pages each I found the website lags a ton and I have to split up my documents instead of keeping it all organized in the same file.
Scrivener also allows for you to sort your documents and chapters in individual files, which makes it even easier to work with when your chapters get long or you're writing plot points as their own individual little page & merge them in the end. Here's how my Scrivener usually looks like for writing fanfiction.
I make use of the ability to organize my chapters, title them, give them little notes and have them all on one page to not lose the red thread of everything, LOL.
Plan your story ahead through worldbuilding & acts.
If your story isn't a "just go with the flow" or "villain of the week" kind of structure, making acts and drafting out the detail first is the key. Otherwise you can easily get lost in your own writing, which happened to my first MD fanfictions such as "Synemy" and "Bluejay's Feathers" where I either overshot arcs/chapters way too quickly - ending up with shallow characters - or didn't know when to end a story, ending up with 40+ chapters but little story or arcs being told and no ending in sight for the characters.
Sure, this can absolutely work! And I'm not saying it is a bad thing, but I personally do not enjoy writing these stories anymore which is why I started to re-write them currently.
What helped me immensely was the use of "Acts" for my rough draft. This is what the Acts look like for my Poppy Playtime fanfiction, for example:
And here's the rest of the acts template I use:
Use prompts!
Don't be afraid to look up scene prompts, ideas for characters, the world or situations that could happen. Sometimes you get struck by inspiration by reading other people's ideas and it can help especially during a writer's block and/or burn out.
Don't be afraid to simply just write something and trash it later, or break up written scenes into smaller sections, repurpose them, whatever - some of my best scenes were originally coming either from prompts (e.g "what would your character do in this situation?" or "Character A and B experience this, what could happen?" prompts) or after watching a movie/show and analyzing plot points. Some of my work even started out from a simple question I asked myself - what would happen if? What could happen when?
Ask for feedback - it's worth it's weight in gold.
Beta- and alpha readers are your best friends, and it never hurts to ask people if they'd be interested to read your works, even if you don't intend to post them after all. I mainly do alpha-reading, meaning I generally don't beta-read something and offer worldchanging feedback, I moreso write feedback on what stands out to me, what plotpoints and scenes I really love and how I interpret the written work. I might be an avid reader & writer, but I do not consider myself settled in this hobby enough to offer constructive critique for other people's writing for the time being. There's still a ton I need to personally improve on before I can say I'm ready for beta-reading. But both Beta and Alpha readers are very valueable tools to see what a person reading your story found interesting, outstanding or exciting to see. Tropes, scenes, scenarios, characters, portrayal, dialogue - there's so much to review in a story.
This can also help to outline if your story confuses or intruiges the reader, helping with the draft and outline especially if it's beta reading feedback you recieve before the story is posted.
Don't be afraid to shift and don't be scared of big edits. They will inevitably happen.
I used to fear having to re-write chapters, toss around events in the timeline or even having to cut content in a written story, but sometimes this can help slim down a story and narrow it down onto the important aspects. Mistakes happen, and sometimes edits are necessary to keep the story's flow, but they're nothing to be feared. In the end, it's a fan work you're creating with your own personal motivation and it's not a huge novel waiting to be published. Don't fear messing up or not getting the draft right the first, second or third time. I needed 4 different drafts before I had a cohesive storyline for my biggest project at the time, and I took weeks between each draft. If there's passion, there will be a product of it sooner or later.
