One unfortunate side effect of the “your first draft is shit” rhetoric (which is mostly meant to encourage the understanding that you will need to edit and that having problems in your first draft doesn’t mean you can’t write) is that people tend to feel like they shouldn’t like their writing. They should only be critical of it, only see the flaws of it, and so be unhappy with their writing.
Being critical is good, but keep in mind that you’re not only allowed but encouraged to like what you’ve written. You should like it because that means it’s something people enjoy reading (because you are a person), but also because you will write better if you enjoy what you’re writing. Reread your old writing and smile at the lines that you love. Enjoy your fun scenes, laugh at your own jokes, cry at the tragedies you’ve written particularly poignantly. It’ll make you feel better. I promise.
If you're a creator and you needed to hear this today:
You have no idea how many people lurk on your work. No idea how many times people go back to revisit your work. How big they smile when they simply think about your work. How fast their heart beats, how excited they get when they see that you posted something.
People are shy with their feedback. Sometimes it’s because they’re simply shy. Other times it’s because they assume you already know how great and talented you are. Could be both.
My point is, even if you barely have any likes or reblogs, don’t get discouraged. You have a lot of silent fans, but they are still your fans. Keep on creating. Because there is always someone out there who will love what you have made.
Honestly, it can be hard when your follower or read count continues to rise but engagement with your stories seems to fall. There is no making sense of it, and while I know others will continue to say the same things they always have, like...”write for yourself”, “be your own biggest fan”, and “don’t become dependent on feedback”, ect.
The truth is, most all of us are a little bit scared every single time we post something--it doesn’t matter how much people have loved what we’ve written before, this new thing we’ve written isn’t the same--it never is--and often we need some kind of validation that we’re still writing content that others want to read.
My thoughts are, while the comments, kudos, likes and affirmations are wonderful, you can’t tie them to your abilities, success, or motivations! I know, I know, WE DO, but we SHOULDN’T and I’ll tell you why I know this.
I know from my own followers and fans from MANY fandoms, and can testify first hand, for every comment or like you get--PLEASE know, there are at least five others who have read your work and will not like, comment, kudo, or otherwise! AT LEAST FIVE, but in all probability, many more!
DO NOT BECOME DISCOURAGED.
Count these silent fans! When you have a reader who shares their thoughts, or takes the time to like or kudo, please add a few more to the count to make up for our quiet, shy, or all too often reluctant fans who don’t like to interact.
Lurkers are REAL and they are just as vital as your vocal readers! Give them love when you can through your conversations and sometimes you might even see one or two of them transition into becoming a more openly engaged reader!
Hey there! So happy I found your blog! I am wanting to write a fanfic (TVD) and want to stay semi close to the show, but I kinda want to ‘skip’ the first season and start my fic at the second, I haven’t written this kinda thing before so I am a bit concerned about how to go about it Any ideas?
Awwwh, please forgive for taking so long to get back to you! I have been sick with the flu! I hope if you’ve already started writing this still might be relevant to you! <3
YES! I have a few ideas to help you! The first thing to know is that you don’t need to recap everything about the first season for your story to be tied to it. I think a lot of people start their stories with a long, detailed synopsis of everything that happened before we see our opening scene. You really don’t have to do this!
Consider, to make it more natural, you start with the assumption that your reader doesn’t necessarily know ANYTHING. Even if they never knew the details of the first season, write your story in this way–and then you will naturally refer back to events from the first season that are relevant to what you’re writing currently–in this way it won’t be an information dump on your readers, merely a part of the story.
If you were writing an original work–you would begin your story with your readers only knowing what you tell them–treat this story in the same manner despite there being a history. The reason I am advising you this way is that it will make you the story-teller. Not the original creators. In this way you will draw attention to details, personality traits, and history that is relevant to the character you are creating. Not merely rewording the history that the original authors wanted people to care about.
Your first chapter is your “embrace” for your audience…if they aren’t drawn into your story it doesn’t matter how good all the rest of it is to be honest–you won’t get them to read it–so don’t spend that first chapter detailing what happened before–instead, use your first chapter to engage your audience into the story you want to tell, not the story they’ve already been told! =)
People in every fandom KNOW their canon characters and what they’ve been told about them–you should reach further, draw your own life into the characters through developing them. I do think depending on the fandom you have to be cautious about going too OOC for established characters (unless you’re labeling your work AU in which case go crazy!), however, depending on your plot and action it’s possible to take the known characters and put them into entirely new scenarios that you will have the honor of developing their responses to.
This can put an entirely different spin on characters that people already know and love. Digging into the motivation, the internal dialogues, and the history (including childhood experiences and traumas that might be relevant but were never revealed in canon) of those characters can create what seems to be a living, breathing character apart from the canon characters which can make your work original and inspire your heart to write more because you will have a tangible connection to the characters you create from the “models” you already know and love.
If this is a work you intend to publish one chapter at a time, I’d like to encourage you to try to create a rough outline of your story…just basic plot points that will get you from point A to point Z. This can be a loose working model for you, and help you stay on track–it will also keep you in the right mindset so that if you realize you will need to allude to something early you have time to establish it, as well as giving the chance to have a good understanding of what you will be dependent on from the first season so you can weave those details throughout your story from the very beginning.
Again, I am so sorry for taking so long to get back to you, my dear! If I can help I am here and happy to share my advice! I don’t know everything, but I can tell you I love writing and LOVE to talk about writing haha
people who leave detailed reviews on fanfiction are a gift to the world
all fanfic writers, ever, awake at ungodly hours doubting everything they’ve ever written or thought of writing until they see that one (or more, hopefully!) magical, long-ass comment that makes every bit of struggle totally and completely worth it (via rudderless-in-an-ocean-of-stars)
First, forgive me for taking so long to get back to you dearheart! Thank you so much for writing to me!
Okay, so here’s the thing I will start with–you need to write for you–and honestly, if others are telling you it’s flawed MERELY because you’re doing an OC insert!? You need better people to read your works haha
Cause here’s the thing. I write a lot of my ff’s with OC’s as the primary characters. I don’t think there is a SINGLE thing wrong with OC’s as long as you ensure they fit into the universe you’ve created. It’s called AU for a reason…right?
So here you go–write that fic! Don’t let anyone discourage you from getting it out of your mind! The world needs your story–you’re the ONLY one who can tell it! It can be scary, especially when we pitch a story to someone and they give us the laundry list of reasons that it won’t work and what you should ‘fix’ in it. Don’t let that stop you–because the story is YOURS and you are the one who can create the masterpiece that will be that story!
As for keeping it interesting–first off, don’t treat your OC like an OC haha make him/her a FULL WELL-ROUNDED character just like all the others in your story. Fill out stupid questionnaires about them–what do they like to do on a Saturday night? What’s their favorite food? etc. Get to know them, and then make them as dynamic and interesting as your CC and you won’t have ANY issues with people not following your lead where ever you may take them.
Focus on making sure the interactions between the OC and CC are genuine, from the very first letter on the page, make sure they’re interacting like they BELONG there, not like they’re an outsider trying to fit in with the established canon.
If you need more encouragement, by all means, send me more questions! I hope this helps a little bit!
So, I wrote this in response to a new to Nonnie on my fanfiction blog and thought the information might be helpful for others, so wanted to post it here!
A sort of introductory guide to things that will help a new reader enjoy their journey through the vast world of fanfic without bumps and messes! Fairly long with my thoughts intertwined! Enjoy!
Pairing | Ship | Shipping | OTP
pairing–refers to the primary relationship in the story (some stories have more than one)
ship–the root of this term is ‘relationshp’, and implies a romantic relationship not platonic
otp–'one true pair’ (alternately, some fans have a NoTP), and it is a heartfelt love for a particular pairing in a fandom
ship/otp/pairing is UNIVERSALLY accepted to refer to a romantic/sexual relationship. It is RARELY used to depict characters as ‘just friends’, and to be honest, in most fandoms I have written for it’s frowned upon because it creates confusion in labeling. It’s best to presume any fic that has a 'ship’ name, 'otp’, or 'pairing’ listed that these things denote a romantic/sexual relationship between the two characters.
These terms are generally listed as character a/character b, and there’s a whole lot of crazy nonsense about who is dominate and who is the top and who is the bottom and all of this stuff that has actually caused fanwars and such which is completely ridiculous and I’m not even going to get into here.
Examples:
pairing: Yamada Ryosuke/Chinen Yuri
ship: Yamada Ryosuke/ Chinen Yuri
otp: Yamada Ryosuke/Chinen Yuri
or simply Yamada Ryosuke/Chinen Yuri <–this is a relationship tag, not a character tag. A character tag will not have the / in between them. The / denotes they are in a relationship, whereas if they were not they would be listed as Yamada Ryosuke, Chinen Yuri
Personally, I don’t put that much thought into which character is listed first, so A/B denotes absolutely NOTHING about the characters in my story or their sexual preferences.
It is VERY COMMON among all fandoms to denote this as SHIP NAMES instead of A/B. So if character A is Sally and character B is Robert, the fandom will refer to them commonly as 'Salbert’ or 'Robly’ or any combination of the name.
In this case there will be no note such as pairing, ship, otp, relationship, etc.
On my post that spurned this entry, an anonymous reader had been taken by surprise when my two male characters were involved in a romantic/sexual relationship. In the tagging and intro to that story, the fact that I called it a 'Yamachii’ (the ship name of the two characters) story is in and of itself meant to tell the reader that it is about Yamada and Chinen in a romantic relationship. This is a very common practice.
If you are going to read a lot of different fandom fics you’ll want to be very sensitive to this as A LOT of fics involve m/m or f/f or m/p ships. If you see terms like those above from your fandom then you need to open the fic with the understanding there’s a 99% chance that the content of the story will be about a relationship that is romantic/sexual in nature.
I couldn’t be sure if my reader was bothered merely by the content being simply m/m being in a relationship or if it was more along the lines of the explicit sexual content that appeared later in the story.
This is where the commonly used rating system comes into play:
(there’s been a movement to use a fanfic created rating system due to copyright issues from the whatever arrogant association thinks they can own the combination of letters below--it isn’t nearly universal enough for me to outline it here, as I find most writers are still using these ‘cease and desist’ provoking letters to signify their rating.)
Ratings:
G–non-offensive, suitable for all audiences
PG–some content may be included that isn’t geared for those who are younger or sensitive (like language for example) but these fics will not include, or if it is included it will be very MILD: overt language, sexual content, or violence
PG-13–content includes mild language and sexual content, depictions of violence
R–content includes adult themes–language, situational, sexual, violence, etc. but does not contain explicit depictions or words
NC-17–strongest rating, story will contain graphic or explicit sexual descriptions, language, and/or violence, must be 18 or older to read the story
and the additional term:
NSFW–'not safe for work’–stories that contain any element that is explicit in sexual nature that would make them sketchy to read while in a public setting where someone could potentially see (originally work, but now is understood to be coffee shops, libraries, etc.) Often stories will have a rating, as well as be labeled NSFW depending on the content and language expressed in the story
Since my story was labeled both NC-17 and NSFW the reader would know that there is explicit content, and in all probability in relationship based fics, it’s okay to go into it assuming it is sexual in nature.
It may also be beneficial to know some stories label 'relationship types’, though keep in mind–not all authors will feel the need to denote these kinds of details depending on how accepted they are in the fandom. However, the most commonly used types are m/f (male/female), f/f (female/female), m/m (male/male), and mp/OT3 (multiple partners or 'one true’ 3–>or more!) If you see these denotations it is commonly accepted that you will understand that these are referencing a romantic/sexual relationship and not a platonic one. Some stories will be labeled ‘femslash’ or ‘femmeslash’ (f/f) or ‘slash’ (m/m) as an alternative.
Author’s Warnings:
Along the same vein, most authors will also use warnings:
BDSM (or any combination of those four letters because not all stories will contain all of the elements) = Bondage Domination Sadism Masochism: Any story with the presence of bondage, dominance/submission, humiliation, punishment, pain play. Ideally, any fic with these attributes will be clearly labeled only because it freaks out people who are not necessarily looking for this kind of setup.
bondage (part of BDSM but the most common aspect of that which is used most often on its own)= use of physical restraint to heighten sexual experience–not when one character is kidnapped and tied up or things like that–this is universally used to denote its use in a sexual context.
character death–I know that a lot of authors HATE to put this warning on their fic if there really is a death in it, but I find that any author worth their weight will soldier through this for the sake of their readers. There are a few kinds of stories that will be greatly impacted if the death is revealed–in that case most authors will put a lot of effort into ensuring that the reader understands where the story is going.
kink/squick–something within a story that the author has no issue with but is concerned that some readers may be completely freaked out by. This is often listed in context with sexual content, though it can be multiple types.<–subjective and your 'issue’ may not be listed by the author
triggers–this is where an author will point out any elements of their story that could potentially offend or bother their readers, or at worse actually trigger a flashback or panic attack in someone who has survived trauma. This is VERY subjective and even the most conscientious author can miss a label inadvertently because whatever the trigger is they never imagined it as one. Common trigger warnings include suicide, slavery, rape, torture, self-harm, abuse, death, incest etc.
note about triggers: because of the subjective nature of triggers it’s important that a reader not put all of the responsibility onto the author to protect them from content that will be problematic for them! If a reader realizes that the story is moving in a direction that will become a trigger for them, they are responsible for hitting the back button even if it’s not labeled with a trigger. Trigger warnings are a KINDNESS from authors, because they often compromise the delivery of certain elements of their story when they reveal them–which I’m not gonna lie, I sometimes struggle with. I always put them, but I understand why some authors do not. Let’s look at it this way, main-stream published works do NOT put 'warnings’ on their content for this reason AND the fact that they take ZERO responsibility for handling reader’s choice to read the book.
consent warnings–this includes
consensual (not actually denoted as a warning–simply here for reference) all parties are capable of making conscious decisions and are in agreement to the sexual contact
’dub-con’ (dubious consent–a kind of situation where the consent is questionable, can be true in the story for many different reasons including plot device (think of two people who must engage in activity against their will but agree because it will be mutually beneficial), because their judgement is impaired by drugs or alcohol, or even because they are not mentally capable of making a consensual decision.
Despite this having a kind of overlap with rape for the sake of clarity–it is almost always labeled as two different warnings.
non-con/rape–no consent, sexual content exists in the story that is unwanted and/or forced, does not always end in rape which is why the rape tag exists as an additional warning
I thought if you’re new to reading fanfic I would also put together a list for you of some common words, tags, and labels you will see!
Types
(basic insight into a story’s tone, a single story can be more than one type, please know this is not an exhaustive list!)
angst–basically a way to say the author is going to use the characters in the story to rip your heart out, stomp all over it, and attempt to destroy your spirit with fiction. Like the author wants to torture you with their words by destroying all the good and happy things in the universe. (sometimes angst stories will offer a bit of comfort before the end of the story, but if the amount of 'fixing’ is extreme this would be better labeled as hurt/comfort instead)
a/u–alternate universe: any plot, setting, or personality in the story that goes against the known canon for an established work.
Example: Harry Potter being a normal guy who runs a business selling magic supplies.
It is generally understood that this is pretty much ANY 'real person’ fic all the time, so most authors of that kind of fic do not mark it a/u unless it is something like the Idol/singer/actor/figure is no longer an Idol but a businessman or bartender, or works at a cafe, or something like that.
crack–a story that is so completely outrageous, unbelievable, and utterly insane that you couldn’t take it seriously if you wanted to. Generally, these are written to be fun, with no other motive, and should not be taken seriously–though, admittedly, I’ve read some crack fic that I find I could actually label a/u–so I don’t tend to speak in absolutes.
The authors of these fics are shameless (believe me I’ve written a few!) and meant to be addictive to their audience. (the 'crackfic’ idea is that the only way the author could have produced such a monstrosity is to be high on crack)
crossover–when a story has content of any sort from more than a single fandom. This would be like a story about Percy Jackson attending Hogwart’s.
dark–the fic contains elements that are morally sketchy or evil, often these kinds of stories have disturbing content (and shouldn’t be confused with 'angst’)
rpf/rps–real person fiction/slash, stories that feature a real life person, celebrity, historical figure, etc. This kind of fic is controversial, though I can admit I’m cloudy on why.
Right now on Broadway we have the smash hit 'Hamilton’ which is technically a (*gasp*) 'rpf’ and no one who is a fan of HISTORY is losing their crap over it. Just saying. I’m pretty put out by the way 'rpf’ is treated across multiple fandoms to be honest, and I think people should just click away if they don’t want to read it instead of being all butthurt over it.
fluff/fluffy–a story that does not contain angst, often comforting and uplifting to read. Really, generally, they are full of happy, joy-filled, blissfully sweet scenes that are meant to be read with a smile. (can be combined with other attributes to better define it: fluffyromance, fluffysmut, fluffydomestic, etc)
genderbend/swap–a character is changed from canon sex to another. Can be portrayed multiple ways, whether meant to be shocking if done through magic or something like that but often it is just where the author has taken the character’s gender that is canon and written it so that they have always been another gender.
hurt/comfort–so this one isn’t always labeled, but it is meant to denote a story that may contain angst and suffering, but that it will ALSO contain equal amounts of support, love, and comfort.
self-insert/reader-insert–relatively new to the fanfiction scene, and more popular in certain fandoms over others, these fics are written to allow the reader to imagine themselves in the story.
A lot of authors will refuse to add any details at all to the insert character, though I’ll admit, I often add details because it feels too flat without them–and to be honest, I am probably not doing it the commonly accepted way lol
smut/porn/lemon/lime–story contains graphic depiction of sexual contact
And finally, a few terms that will help you navigate the fanfiction world:
headcanon–an author’s personally applied thoughts and characterizations to the established canon. Often this is meant to denote that while the idea isn’t known within the canon–there is little to no reason why it couldn’t be true. There’s no such thing as a wrong headcanon–as they are specific to each fan within a fandom–so if someone is blasting about it being wrong you can tell them to simmer down, because it’s JUST a PERSONAL interpretation.
OC–original character created by the author that plays a primary role in the story
OOC–out of character, personality of a canon established character falls outside of the accepted norm. This has different levels of acceptance to be honest, and it varied widely from fandom to fandom.
one-shot–a single story that reads as a stand alone. Generally, but not always, they are not continued as a chaptered fic is, though they can be created within a collection that features the same world established in the first one-shot. These are not related to other stories by the author–if they are then they are generally considered 'outtakes’ instead.
canon–in agreement with original source, understood dynamics and facts of the content according to the original book, movie, show, manga, anime, etc.
prompt–a story idea that is given to help an author write a story
drabble–okay, so this is really open to debate right? Because even fanfic authors can’t figure out what the crap a drabble is most of the time. It was ORIGINALLY a story that is exactly 100 words in length.
Most author’s basically say 'screw that’ (I do, sorry, not sorry) and use the word to describe any small headcanon, musing, or tiny fic that isn’t big enough to be labeled a 'one-shot’.
There is another word that is sometimes used for works that go over 500 words which is ’ficlet’ but I honestly don’t see this used often, despite being acceptable.
I find, personally, the difference in a 'one-shot’ and a 'drabble’ to be whether there is exposition and resolution to the content.
Whew, that was a lot of info and you read this far, then thank you! I’m sure I have overlooked some terms and ideas here, as no single list can be completely exhaustive of something as broad at fanfiction, so if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to let me know!
Something that’s been on my heart for a while. Fanfic writers ROCK MY WORLD. I am a HUGE fan in addition to being an author. Needing feedback, whatever form it takes, is NOT greedy or selfish. It is how any artist knows that their work is making a contribution to the world around them. If you would comment on a work of fan art in any other form, please consider supporting your favorite authors as well!
Let’s just get this blog party started shall we? I want to discuss your use of the term “aspiring author”.
Darlings, please, listen to me! YOU are an AUTHOR. Let’s break it down, shall we?
Dictionary.com has the following definition of “aspiring”:
aspire [uh-spahyuh r]
verb (used without object), aspired, aspiring.1.to long, aim, or seek ambitiously; be eagerly desirous, especially for something great or of high value (usually followed by to, after, or an infinitive)
:to aspire after literary immortality; to aspire to be a doctor.
Alright, good…that makes sense, right?
Let’s take a look at the definition of “author”:
author [aw-ther]
noun 1.a person who writes a novel, poem, essay, etc.; the composer of a literary work, as distinguished from a compiler, translator, editor, or copyist.
Alright, now we’re getting somewhere, aren’t we?
If you write a novel, poem, essay (etc aka et cetera [et set-er-uh, se-truh] an adverb which encompasses ‘and others’; ‘and so forth’; ‘and so on’.)–which means ANYTHING YOU WRITE.
If you write you are a what? Say it with me class…an AUTHOR.
You aren’t an ASPIRING author–why not? Because you can NOT aspire (long to, aim, seek, or pursue) to something you have ALREADY ACCOMPLISHED.
Nope, no can do. No rewriting the dictionary guys–we have enough of that already don’t we?
Bottom line–you do not have to be an amazing writer, a published writer, a best selling writer, an accomplished writer, a writer for ten, twenty, fifty years, a writer of fiction, a writer of strictly original content, or a writer of any other qualifying statement–because there IS NO qualifier to being an AUTHOR except to WRITE.
So, if you have a qualifier on your bio, something that says “aspiring”, or “amatuer”, or “beginning”, or “hopeful”, or “eventual” or any other word that stops you from merely saying the TRUTH–that you are an author–please GO TAKE IT OFF!
You don’t have to wait to be an author, you already are one. Write, and be proud of the fact that you’re very much an author, right now!
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