Good morning or evening, my friend. I hope you had a wonderful day.
I am going to break down my advice to cover both plotters and pantsers so you can find the method that fits your style. Plotters are writers who prefer to outline and plan their story structure before they begin, while pantsers, or discovery writers, prefer to fly by the seat of their pants and find the story as they write. Understanding these terms helps you decide whether you need a detailed roadmap or the freedom to let the characters lead the way. Every author comes in a different shape. Not everyone is a panter and not everyone is a plotter. Some are in between the two terms.
Writing the beginning of a story is like setting the foundation for a house. If the footings are uneven, the whole structure will eventually lean. When you start, you are not just introducing characters but establishing a contract with your reader about what kind of experience they are in for.
Whether you are working on a Final Fantasy VII fan fiction or an original grimdark novel, the first few pages must provide enough friction to grab interest without overwhelming the reader with world-building or backstory.
The goal of a strong opening is to establish the status quo and then immediately threaten it. You want to drop the reader into a moment of transition where the protagonist’s world is about to change forever. This is the hook that keeps people turning pages. It is not about the biggest explosion or the flashiest magic; it is about creating a sense of curiosity that can only be satisfied by reading the next chapter.
The Inciting Incident
The beginning of your story exists to move the protagonist from their normal life into the conflict. As a plotter, I find it helpful to identify the specific event that makes it impossible for the character to go back to how things were.
In a fan fiction context, this might be the moment a SOLDIER receives a corrupted file or a Turk finds themselves in a sector they were forbidden to enter. This event needs to happen early so the reader understands the stakes and the direction of the narrative.
For those who prefer a discovery writing or pantsing approach, focusing on the character's internal reaction to this event is key. You might not know the ending yet, but you should know how the character feels about the disruption. The opening paragraphs should establish a clear voice and a specific problem.
Even if the larger plot is still a mystery to you, giving the character a concrete, immediate goal will provide the momentum needed to carry the story through the first act.
Strategic setting and canon compliance
Deciding how to handle the setting is a major part of the planning process, especially in fandom. If you are writing a canon-compliant piece, the beginning needs to ground the reader in familiar territory while offering a fresh perspective. You should focus on sensory details that evoke the atmosphere of Midgar or the surrounding Gaia (FF7) without wasting time on descriptions the audience already knows. The setting should feel like a living participant in the story rather than a static backdrop.
If you are transforming the setting or building an original world, the beginning must establish the rules of the environment quickly. You have to show the reader how the world works through the character's daily struggles.
Instead of explaining the political system or the mechanics of magic, show a character interacting with those elements. This allows the reader to learn the lore naturally as the plot moves forward, preventing the narrative from stalling due to heavy exposition.
Dynamic character voice and moral shifts
Maintaining a canon character's voice requires a deep understanding of their linguistic habits and core values, but it is a mistake to treat them as static icons.
To keep a character like Cloud or Sephiroth feeling authentic, you must start with their established baseline—their vocabulary, personality, their level of stoicism, or their specific dry wit—and then allow the plot to apply pressure. Character development is the process of that voice changing over time as the character is forced to adapt to new circumstances and interpersonal influences.
I remember ten years ago when I stumbled upon a Dungeons and Dragons article, which really resonated with me as an author. Real growth often happens through the friction of conflicting worldviews, such as a disciplined, Lawful Good paladin traveling alongside a morally Neutral thief. The paladin might start the journey with an unyielding sense of justice, but through constant exposure to the thief’s pragmatism, their rigid lines may begin to blur.
Conversely, the neutral character might start to internalize the paladin’s code, finding themselves acting altruistically for the first time. If the characters do not influence one another’s perspectives, they are not truly interacting. They are just standing next to each other.
Trope integration and reader expectations
The tropes you choose will dictate the tone of your opening. If you are writing a slow-burn romance or a hurt/comfort fic, the beginning should focus on the emotional distance or the specific vulnerability of the characters.
These genres require a different kind of tension than a high-stakes action plot. You are setting the emotional stakes, showing the reader exactly what is missing from the character's life so they will be invested in seeing that void filled.
In original fiction or more plot-driven fan works, tropes act as shorthand to help the reader orient themselves. Using a familiar framework allows you to spend more time on character development and unique plot twists.
You should be mindful of how you introduce these elements. They should feel like an organic part of the character's journey rather than a checklist of genre requirements. By understanding the expectations of your specific sub-genre, you can craft an opening that feels both satisfying and unpredictable.
Mapping the narrative arc for consistency
Planning the start of the story requires looking ahead to the middle and the end. As a plotter, I ensure that the first chapter contains the seeds of the eventual resolution. This might be a subtle character flaw that needs to be overcome or a minor detail that becomes vital later on. This level of preparation ensures that the beginning feels intentional and that every scene is pulling its weight toward the larger goal.
If you lean more toward pantsing, use the beginning to explore the boundaries of your concept. Write several versions of the first scene to see which one has the most energy. You can always go back and refine the opening once you have finished the first draft and understand where the story ended up.
The most important thing is to get the character moving and the conflict started, as the momentum you build in the first few pages will sustain you through the difficult middle sections of the writing process.
Thank you for sending in this question, my friend. I hope this helps you find the right footing for your story and gives you the confidence to start writing.
Remember that the beginning is just the doorway. Once you walk through it, the real adventure of discovery and character growth begins. Every word you put down brings you closer to understanding the world and the people you are creating. Happy writing!
Canon as Architecture: Reframing Canon to Tell New Stories
Many writers hesitate to diverge from canon, especially in a beloved, well-established universe like Final Fantasy VII, fearing they’ll lose narrative cohesion or disrespect the source. But canon divergence isn’t about erasure. It’s about transformation.
In this article, we’ll examine the mindset and mechanics behind Fantasy Worlds Collide, an ambitious AU that expands the canon rather than discards it. For those considering a similar leap, this guide offers grounded advice on how to make your divergent universe not just possible but powerful by using examples from my immense passion project 28 years in the making.
Also, please forgive the typos in this. I wrote it at 3am. On a Friday. While dealing with a hungry diabetic cat.
Creating a canon-divergent story as expansive as Fantasy Worlds Collide requires a foundational shift in mindset. Writers must treat canon as a tool and not a cage. The first step is identifying what emotional, philosophical, or thematic questions the original canon did not answer to the creator’s satisfaction. In the case of FWC, the question was not "What if Sephiroth survived?", as shown in canon, but "What if he evolved?" By giving space for untapped potential —such as transformation, partnership, and metaphysical rebirth — the divergence became a continuation of narrative logic and not a rejection of it.
A successful divergence does not overwrite canon wholesale but uses it as scaffolding. In FWC, all major events from Final Fantasy VII to the Remakes through Dirge of Cerberus still occurred. Characters such as Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart, and Aerith Gainsborough retain their established roles and arcs. Their narratives are not erased but repurposed through a new philosophical lens.
As for Bianca Moore, her arrival does not replace Cloud as a protagonist. She and FWC simply perceive him and his party as the antagonists. This reframing allows for character integrity while pivoting the moral and emotional center of the story toward a different outcome.
Writers often fear that expanding canon will cause the story to collapse under its own weight. But divergence is not about adding complexity for its own sake. It’s about deepening existing structures. In FWC, the introduction of the Ethereal Nexus, soul-bond mechanics, and celestial-demonic bloodlines does not contradict the Lifestream, the Edge of Creation, or Jenova mythos. It supplements and re-contextualizes them. This is especially effective when new mechanics explain unanswered questions or narrative gaps left in canon, such as the source of Jenova’s cosmic influence or the long-term consequences of mako exposure that even Cloud's Mako Poisoning doesn't really answer.
When building something as large as an alternate cosmology or timeline, creators must stay emotionally grounded in the characters. It is easy to lose sight of character agency when rewriting worlds. But in FWC, Bianca and Sephiroth remain emotionally consistent. They are driven by love, vengeance, grief, and hunger. These emotional throughlines allow readers to follow the divergence without getting lost in scope. A creator’s job is not just to change events but to justify why characters would behave differently and then show what that change costs or gains them.
Ultimately, writing divergent canon is not about being right. It’s about being coherent. Every AU lives or dies by the internal logic of its world and the emotional credibility of its characters. Fantasy Worlds Collide succeeds because it never forgets its center: two powerful beings whose bond transcends canon structure.
For creators standing at the edge of their own divergence, the best advice is this. Canon is a foundation, but it is not a finish line. Use it. Expand it. Think of it as a skeleton structure where all your divergent muscles and organs are framed. Rewrite the sky if you must. Just make sure your characters still bleed or thrive under it.
Some interesting points in the Masterclass I took today revolved around characters, ideas, and where to get them.
You never know what will spark an idea for a story. This could be from people watching, your own experiences, or something as simple as a game or movie.
Once you have an idea, let the imagination take over. The more you are inspired, the more likely you are to produce "the best stories". This is because you are interested in the subject matter.
Details are KEY to creating characters that will help you and your audience relate to the character. Real life experiences can transform your character, to make them more relatable.
Anything is fair game, including moods. There are times that a writer will use their feelings without even noticing it.
Alot of a person's best creativity happens when you are letting your mind roam. Pale Fire's outline was thought up in the shower. I take walks where I just observe.
The biggest piece of advice that relates to me is that sometimes people start the second that they have an idea. That is okay! But there are some, like me, that allow those ideas to live rent free in their heads and on their notebooks. It can live on the pages and in our heads for years, but it still is valuable in terms of creative time.
hmm I find I have a hard time joining in on plots. It isn’t cliquey or anything but I always have a hard time making a plot stick with someone and to get that lovely wall of text kind of banter (with ppl who I know do this bc I see it mentioned in gen chat). Lol maybe I have fomo but I always end up thinking I’m the problem.
Any advice for smooth plotting, especially in dms?
sorry for the late answer, anon!
i usually like to wait until the comm and/or thread has developed a little, maybe a few days especially if a comm, before reaching out to someone. then i'll message the other person like "hey totally was thinking about this and this hc here" because of something that might have happened in the thread or mentioned in a comm or some other kind of plot device, and go off from there.
i'm the tyipe of rp'er who LOVES hc's so spamming me with them is one way to make me feel a little more comfortable with someone. i know not everyone is like this so if someone doesn't give me much back, i figure they're not much of a chatter outside posting on the board, and it's not you! there's some plots that i LOVE but i don't speak to the other person much in dm's and that's perfectly okay too.
but maybe try that and see how that goes for you? :)
