Daisy

This is something that both Juliet and I have been thinking about for some time. After browsing through the many fanfictions posted on the site, it has become apparent that many stories are lacking certain qualities. Many stories posted on the forum have been more successful than others and we’ve been wondering as to why this is.


Key ingredients to creating a good story are:
- Good spelling/grammar
- Proof reading your work (check for any words that present the wrong meaning, i.e. their, there and they’re.)
- Original plot lines. No-one wants to read the same story twice.

Examples of over-used plotlines:
- Original character is abused/mistreated/runs away/is suicidal etc.
- The band meets the character after a show/car crash
- A Mary-Sue type character. The over-used, beautiful yet bullied girl who the object of affection (insert band member) will fall for.

The use of word processors such as Microsoft Word and Open Office are highly recommended and often even necessary. These programmes give a basic spell and grammar checker, but it always helps to have the author go over their work as well.

Don’t worry if you do make any mistakes. There is an ‘edit’ button that you can use to rectify any words you find misspelt or in the wrong place.

To allow the reader insight as to what the story is about, a summary could be included at the beginning of the story. The summary does not need to be long, nor does it need to contain every detail and aspect. A few lines will suffice. Be sure not to give away the ending, otherwise the reader may become disinterested.

Try to add as much realism into the story as possible. I predict, confidently, that after a first meeting, neither Frank nor Gerard, Bob, Ray or Mikey are willing to spend the rest of their lives with someone they just met. The story should contain some background information of the romance – and, in some cases, half of the story will be based upon the ‘woo-ing’ of the original character.

Not all stories should be based upon romance. If you’re willing to write an original story, opt for something other than ‘______ falls for original character.’ There are many other genres that the story could fall into. Romance does not instantly guarantee a good story.



Original characters.
The definition of a Mary-Sue via urbandictionary.com is as follows;

A negative reference to a female character
commonly used by beginning writers in their Fan-fiction.

Most times, the "Mary-Sue" is based upon the author.
She is unusually perfect and more advanced, also befriends
or becomes romantically entangled with the author's favourite
character/characters from the series. Because she is more
superior than the other characters in the work, she mainly
becomes the focus of the fan-fiction, thus ruining whatever
the fan-fiction was about.

Mary-Sues are characters who are usually extraordinarily gorgeous, amazingly talented, unusually powerful, and exceedingly attractive to whoever the author has a crush on. They often possess ridiculously fancy and pretentious first names -- Angel, Raven, Jewel, Lorelei Bianca -- and are very, very annoying.

Currently, there are many Mary-Sues floating around in stories posted on the forum. If you want a story to be original, create a 3D character. Give the character a background before hand and slowly work in the character’s personality traits. It is hard for the reader to become attached to the character if you do not give us a reason to like/dislike them.

It becomes increasingly hard to judge a story on it’s writing style if ‘iT iz written lyk dis’ so please refrain from doing so.

Chatspeak is acceptable when used for realistic purposes e.g. the character uses an instant messenger during the course of the story. However if you do use chat speak in a circumstance like this, please make the writing appear readable and understandable.

I am told many a time that I do this, but: run-on sentences. Give the reader time to breathe. Yes, long sentences do look rather impressive but short sentences can be as effective. A readable sentence should be no longer than twenty-five words – however, if hoping for certain effect, the number can increase e.g wanting to present time or pace of the story.

Also, during the first chapter/post of a story, stating that ‘I know my story sucks’ is not going to attract a reader to read it. If you find the story boring then there is a high chance that the reader will agree with your own judgement and decide not to read.

And this ties in with the Fan-fiction rules but please, and I mean please do not start conversations in the middle of posts. This breaks up the flow of the story and if I had to search through pages and pages of conversation in between chapters, I would probably close the story and forget about it.

Appropriate Titles.
It would help the reader gain an understanding of your story if you were to put who the main character was in your title. For example [Story Title Here/ Frank Iero/Gerard Way/ Series One]

There is absolutely no point in writing ‘NEW’ or ‘My First Story’ at the beginning of thread titles. You are unable to change the title of the thread unless via Moderator/Admin and your story will not be ‘new’ forever.


Right, ok, just to make things perfectly clear, we’ve run up a list of common words that people get wrong.

They’re/There/Their/Theirs

There; place.
E.g We walked over there.

They’re; they are.
E.g They’re really talented.

Their; possessive.
E.g It is their house.

Theirs; also possessive
E.g That is not mine, it is theirs.

Where/We’re/Wear

Where; placement.
E.g Where am I?.

We’re; we are.
E.g We’re tired.

Wear; clothing.
E.g I am going to wear my black coat.


You’re/Your/Yours

You’re; you are.
E.g You’re really annoying.

Your; possessive.
E.g Your hair is a mess.

Yours; also possessive.
E.g That coat is yours.



It’s/Its

It’s; it is/has
E.g It’s looking good/it’s been doing that for ages.

Its; possessive.
E.g But not even its sheer volume of cuteness could warm his icy heart.


Too/To

Too; in abundance, a lot of.
E.g There were too many people in the room, and this made it very crowded.

To; any other time you need to use ‘to’, really.
E.g It was addressed to me/We went to the shops/I can’t believe you would do that to her.



Were/Was

Were; past of ‘is’, plural, also used for ‘you’ and ‘they’.
E.g There were lots of lights hanging from the ceiling/You were being horrible/They were so lovely.

Was; past of ‘is’, singular, also used for ‘I’, ‘she’ and ‘he’.
E.g I was very cold/She was a generous girl/He was a chauvinistic bastard.


Would’ve/Could’ve/Should’ve etc.

Would’ve/could’ve/should’ve; would have/could have/should have.
Not of.
It’s right there in the abbreviated version.


Apostrophes!

Yes, apostrophes; we all use them, but we do not all use them correctly and it's damn shame - not to mention confusing.
Apostrophes are not used if you're saying there are more than one thing;
E.g There are a lot of trees in the forest.
See? No apostrophe!
They are used for possession.
E.g That bag is Daisy's.
They come before the s and after the name/thing to whom the object/person belongs.
If something belongs to more than one person;
The pupils' teacher was rude and they disliked him.
This apostrophe comes after the s.
Apostrophes are also used for missing letters.
E.g Won't/Can't/I'd/You'll etc.

The only time using an apostrophe has ever been a source of confusion for me, just a little, is its/it's.
When you are saying that something belongs to an 'it' - there is no apostrophe. 'It' is the exception to the possession rule.
E.g Its smell clung to me like a wet shirt.
Any other time, 'it's' needs an apostrophe; for 'it has' or 'it is'.
E.g It's really cold out here/It's got a really nice colour to it.



Also things like & or + rather than ‘and’ should not be used; just spell the word.
Numbers from one to ten should be spelt out, rather than written numerically.

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Lenore

Great idea, to you both.

That was alot of info,
but I think it will help the new authors, alot.

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Best Personality
in the tbp.net yearbook '07.

October Moon

Thats a lot of writing and a good idea. I'm considering writing a fan-fic and if I decide to I'll make sure to follow these guidelines.

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I won't go down by myself, but I'll go down with my friends now!

Sarah!

That was a really good idea.
I've come across many stories that I've just given up on reading because I couldn't understand them.

I have a suggestion for this guide:
You might also want to make sure you have seperate paragraphs. If the whole chapter is one big paragraph, others will think it's much too hard to follow and they'll discontinue reading it.

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Becca

This was really good, thanks for that,
I will surely use this information in my new fan-fic. :]

But I think my current story runs along one of the over used plotlines =/

Well done to the both of you, that would help a lot of people, it was a great idea.

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kadoodle

Good advice you pair. VampireMinion's advice also cogent. Becca, your writing style is what sets you apart, it's fluent, easy to read and draws the reader in.
My advice (I give this to all my creative writing students and what my editor tells me all the time): Enjoy yourself!!!! Your reader can tell if you are putting your heart and soul into what you are doing.

Umbrella

THANK YOU!

I'm sorry, but it's true. It's so hard for me to get into some of these stories, because they all seem the same. Then again, I am a very picky fiction reader as it is. I made a video like two months ago on youtube talking about some of these. So yes, here is my opinion:

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mychemigirl

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The sun goes down…

Juliet

I'm glad you guys aren't like, upset at all or whatever (although, that's not to say that all of you aren't :/!)

And these aren't meant to be like, set in stone as 'rules' or whatever, but yeah, just guidelines or things to consider.

Becca; the examples used as 'overused plotlines' aren't always bad, not at all, they can work really well (and I know you're a good writer anyway) but it's because they're so popular, they lose a certain charm and it means that all the people who don't think about the aforementioned points butcher them.
See what I mean?

I would also like to quickly like to talk about apostrophes.
Check the original post again in a few.

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Daisy

You and your apostrophes, Jules.

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