Hey so do you have any advice if we want to write a reaction fic?
1) Decide if you’re doing canon or canon divergent for what they’re reacting to. Both are valid in their own right and fun but I’ll admit I lean to canon divergent myself because it’s fun. Picking early will let you get a feel for what you want.
You also have canon reacts to fanfic stuff which is fun to.
2) The premise has to start within 3 chapters. No I don’t care you have plot to do, if you’re saying this fic is a reaction fic, I better have the characters watching/reading the future/alternate universe by chapter 3 or I’m dropping it.
This is more a general piece of advice and actually something I’m writing a mini essay on for people because in fandom they feel they need to do so much backstory in the first few chapters that their fic is just boring.
You need to get to what you said the story will contain faster then you think.
3) Conflict. You need conflict within the reactions. It’s boring if they aren’t having issues with each other, if people are guilt free, if we don’t have the dynamics shifting in the fic while they watch.
Let’s use MHA because I still think there isn’t any meaningful reaction to the fact Bakugou suicide dares Izuku the first episode. This would actually change so many people’s opinions of him instantly. Especially if the fic is taking place pre-USJ. They would not be okay with Bakugou.
Similarly, if you go PJO, I can see a fic where Percabeth is together and Annabeth having a bad reaction to Percy not telling her about Gabe. I dunno why but I can.
Thus, conflict! We need them arguing, we need reactions that feel real. We need people breaking up, making up and others getting together!
4) Do not break up chapters/episodes unless you absolutely need to.
No one wants to read a reaction fic where it’s 20+ chapters but it’s all the first episode because you run out of inspiration and you want to get it out as soon as possible. That is the most annoying thing to do.
5) Make sure there is actual reaction and change. I kind of touched on it with conflict but a fic where… Class 1A reacting to their future and they get to the part where Shouto talks about the abuse he faces better have the teachers working to remove him from the situation.
I know some fics have them lose their memories of the future but I find these stories very dull and not worth reading. This is a fic where you are exposing people to their future! We need reactions! We need change!
Yeah it’s different if it’s an alternate universe but there are often enough similarities between them that there is still active change and reaction.
6) If you want to bash a character (no judgement) while having an antagonist become the best friend- you better not just swap them.
By this I mean give the antagonist the friendly lines of the character your bashing and vice versa.
This often happens with the media we all shun now but I have seen people like give Monoma the lines of Bakugou to make him worse.
Dude, if you’re doing that you’re telling on yourself. You are outright admitting you find the antagonist’s actions deplorable but apparently you like them still!
That’s like my biggest pieces of advice other then what I’ve probably said before? Go forth and write! Have fun!
