some simple fanfic writing tips
aka how to get people to read/like your fics, based on my experience as both a writer and reader of fanfiction (mainly on ao3). here goes.
use paragraphs. leave space between paragraphs. seriously, a big block of text with no space between paragraphs is just hard to read and readers will nope out of the fic. 3+ spaces between paragraphs? also not very appealing, but better than none.
summaries are hard to write, i know, i hate it. but you need something to clue the reader what to expect, and it can’t be “i don’t know what i’m doing just read it.” neat little trick: use a couple of lines from the fic that you think reflects the story, or that readers might find appealing and want to read more.
ao3 tags exist so that readers can look through them when they want to find specific fics of their otp, and a way to indicate potential warnings. use them for that purpose. not to ramble on pointlessly**
(i personally try to add as many tags as i can so my fic shows up in many tags, but only if they’re relevant to my story. a fic with a whole fucking block of tags is one i’ll usually skip right away)
universe: is it canon or alternate universe? if canon, is it canon compliant or diverges after a point? if au, what kind of au is it? does it fall in multiple au categories maybe? (if it is canon universe, don’t add ‘alternate universe’ as a tag)
relationship: is it first meeting, friends to lovers, or established relationship?
genre: is it fluff, crack, angst, or smut?
** if you have something you want to say to your readers before or after they read your fic, use the notes. if it’s something super important (i.e. a potential trigger or a disclaimer) put it in caps and/or bolded letters to get their attention.
if there’s minor/background/past relationships, add them in the tags. add them in the ‘additional tags’; not in the ‘relationship tags’: this is so people who are looking for fic of the primary relationship can avoid those fics that happen to feature their notps, but doesn’t show up in the minor ships’ tag, flooding it with fics that don’t feature the ship as the primary focus of the story
this is all i can think of right now, just little things that will make readers more likely to read your fic, and more likely to leave kudos. i hope this is helpful, i’ll try to add more if i come up with more.
turnnoffyourmind
dailybridgerton
jimmyeatworldofficial
titsay
