So, I have noticed a slew of people posting fan fiction here on the forums, myself included. So I thought, wouldn’t it be great if we all got together and discussed the things that made our fiction work so well (or not so well). Strengths and weaknesses. There are a lot of really great stories out there just waiting to be told! Why not get together and make them a little better?
So please use this post to discuss yours, or others’ fan fics. Please do not attack others. Criticisms are great, demoralizing others is not so much so. Let’s hear what you’ve got!
I’ll begin. I actually just posted this in my fan fic’s topic, which is what gave me the idea to start this one, but I figure I’ll post it here as well.
When I write, setting the mood is very important. It isn’t always the major changes that can add the most ambiance to a story, in my experience. For example: In my fan fic, Haunted, there are two AI characters. One is a decidedly average AI aboard a Pelican. The other is the namesake of the story. It is cold, strange. Alien. Something is definitely wrong with this AI, and the story’s purpose is to find out what happened to it.
In representing these two characters, I use two different methods. For the first AI’s dialogue, I use italics. Italics give a warm impression. It is an accent often used to represent human’s thoughts. I use this to help the reader unconsciously connect with the AI. For the second AI I use an entirely different font. I use “Courier”, because it is simple, utilitarian. It reminds me of a computer’s basic script, which, by it’s nature is cold, implacable. It is not subject to emotions, only reason. I use this as a tool to distance the reader from the AI.
The AI is meant to be eery, and that is most easily accomplished when the reader has nothing in common with the character. When the reader doesn’t understand the character.
Another process that I use when writing is shifting perspective. Every story has a certain amount of information that has to be told. The reader must know where they are, why they are there, etc. Most of the boring fiction I read is due largely to authors who make the fundamental mistake of taking chronology to seriously.
It seems strange, but really, what could be more boring than reading a tome of information on a world that you are not yet invested in? By shifting perspective, by having multiple characters from whom the story is being told, it is possible to intersperse that boring (yet vital) information amidst other action. Something to keep the reader reading.
Why start at the beginning? Start in the middle or at the end, and make the reader wonder how your character got there. Place your protagonist on the horns of a brutal dilemma. Make your reader wonder how can he possibly escape?
My fan fic is written in third person omniscient perspective, yet each section is presented from a certain character’s viewpoint. I may jump around multiple character’s brains in section one of Haunted, but that section is still being told from Mendoza’s point of view.
Each time that I have to spend a significant amount of time on those monotonous details, I make sure to do so after I leave the reader on the edge of a brutal cliffhanger. This way they want to keep reading.
The golden rule, in my book, is this: Never let the reader put your story down. Not for a second. It is too easy for a second to become an hour, and an hour to become a day. Keep the reader immersed.
As for the characters themselves; Characters need to be human. Stereotypes are fine, (Just look at Mendoza in my fan fic Haunted) but there has to be something that makes them human. Humans are flawed. It only serves to improve the reader’s impression of your protagonist if he or she is flawed.
Let’s face it, we all are. And creating a flawed character creates a living character. A character who is easy to relate to. A great author once said that you have to make your reader bleed. Every time your protagonist hurts, the reader should hurt as well.
Another good tool to use in making your character more human is humor. More so even than flaws, I find that adding humor really adds a human variable to the equation. Which is easier said than done. Not everybody can be humorous. Anybody can tell a joke, but it takes real life experience (and a genuine sense of humor) to make a character humorous.
The only other method I use in making my characters human is, quite simply, humans. Take the people you know and use some of their traits; their weaknesses, their strengths; in making your character stronger. I certainly do not know any gruff corporals, but I do know people who are overly burdened with a sense of loyalty to those they care for. Listen to those around you. How often do they say “I do not wish to go to the bar tonight”? And how often do they say “I don’t feel like going to the bar”? Proper English is the foundation of great writing. Having said that, I believe dialogue can bend that rule significantly.
Remember that a proper, two dimentional hero, is still two dimentional
Where can I find your fan fic Haunted? After your descriptions and musings, I’m pretty eager to see firsthand how you’ve put your writing strategies into practice.
Well, I guess I’ll add another one, though I have a premonition of where this thread is heading. I sense a page nine in it’s near future
One method that I use when writing is simply gauging my own feelings. Writing and reading are inextricably linked. Have you ever noticed how you tend to read much more quickly when there is a lot of action going on? Conversely, when the action is minimal, or the writing is just plain boring, one tends to read much more slowly (and break much more often).
Writing is exactly the same. Try to use your own mental state as a sort of barometer for your writing. If it is taking you ages to hack your way through a description of an event or person, then it will probably take the reader ages to get through the same explanation.
There is one truth to writing. No matter how interesting your story is, nobody is more invested in it than you are. What was tedious for you to write may just be enough to make the reader stop altogether. Keep the story interesting to you as you are writing it. It sounds ridiculous (and may very well be), but when you keep the action at a high level, and keep the story interesting to you, the characters that you have created will actually surprise you.
My story Haunted is a milestone for me. My writing, until this story, has always been very poetic, descriptive and overall long winded. By writing a story with less description, more basic dialogue and more action, I have kept myself interested. The characters I have created get themselves into situations I had never planned for, and it happens almost without thought!
With my last post in mind, here is another tip. Get your characters into situations that even you cannot solve. This will force you to work it out, and will make a much more satisfying story. A hero is not much of a hero at all if he faces surmountable odds. Moreover, a conflict isn’t much of a conflict if it solves it’s self (or if the reader is able to solve it pages before you, the author, has.)
> Well, here’s my fan fiction. I’m obsessed with Sangheili, so here goes.
>
> Um, a question, how does one link on the forums?
Elites are definitely not a bad thing to be obsessed with To link, you can just type anything (say, the title of your fan fic), select it, then right click on it. select insert/edit link. It will give you a space at the top to paste the address you want to link to, and Bam! you have a working link!
Well, thank you. With the budgets these days, I am surprised there are any English teachers!
Hopefully the advice will help, and hopefully others will add some as well. Really, I hope that I follow all of my own advice. At times, I tend to build up all of these ideals, and then forget to follow through with them . With Haunted, however, I am really trying to adhere to them. Otherwise, my writing becomes incredibly monotonous and overly descriptive.
I always have had the problem of using novelist’s strategies when writing short fiction. Which usually makes for some bad short fiction!
I don’t read a lot of fan-fiction, but I find that poorly-written fan-fictions and poorly-written narratives are functionally indistinct. A fan-fiction that is uninteresting is so because it is an uninteresting story.
With that in mind, here’s a few uninteresting traits one can find in stories, as I’ve observed:
Uncharacteristic persons, places, things, or events. If something is going to be uncharacteristic, you better make it clear how uncharacteristic it is and make that a relevant factor.
Too much description/dialogue. The balance is tough and subjective. Just try to vary it up whenever possible.
Pacing. It takes longer to write than to read, so it’s easy to mistake the pace of a story or character arc. If you’re not sure, go slower with it.
I’ve got an unfinished Halo fan-fiction that I wrote back in… 2005, I think. It’s not good. I’m proud to say it’s 50 pages long, at least. The longest story I’ve written.
> I don’t read a lot of fan-fiction, but I find that poorly-written fan-fictions and poorly-written narratives are functionally indistinct. A fan-fiction that is uninteresting is so because it is an uninteresting story.
>
> With that in mind, here’s a few uninteresting traits one can find in stories, as I’ve observed:
> - Uncharacteristic persons, places, things, or events. If something is going to be uncharacteristic, you better make it clear how uncharacteristic it is and make that a relevant factor.
> - Too much description/dialogue. The balance is tough and subjective. Just try to vary it up whenever possible.
> - Pacing. It takes longer to write than to read, so it’s easy to mistake the pace of a story or character arc. If you’re not sure, go slower with it.
>
> I’ve got an unfinished Halo fan-fiction that I wrote back in… 2005, I think. It’s not good. I’m proud to say it’s 50 pages long, at least. The longest story I’ve written.
Excellent point. I too have some old writing that I am not happy with. It is good to look backward sometimes and see how far you’ve progressed. It is a great learning process.
Hey, I write some fan-fic too with some friends, and we really need more people to join our group, where we basically write “co op fan fics” from the POV of our “own” characters in the story. Join please? Would be great for you to push our stories onwards, although the earlier ones probably can’t have characters added.
> Hey, I write some fan-fic too with some friends, and we really need more people to join our group, where we basically write “co op fan fics” from the POV of our “own” characters in the story. Join please? Would be great for you to push our stories onwards, although the earlier ones probably can’t have characters added.
>
> http://www.bungie.net/fanclub/405056/Forums/topics.aspx?forumID=411930
>
> Sorry, dunno how to link.
I have a fan fiction on Bungie.net in a group. I think its pretty good so far. I would ask for you to see it but it would mean joining the group and then it would seem like I’m advertising.
On another note I think this thread was a fantastic idea! Given me lots to think about my fan fiction.
> > Hey, I write some fan-fic too with some friends, and we really need more people to join our group, where we basically write “co op fan fics” from the POV of our “own” characters in the story. Join please? Would be great for you to push our stories onwards, although the earlier ones probably can’t have characters added.
> >
> > http://www.bungie.net/fanclub/405056/Forums/topics.aspx?forumID=411930
> >
> > Sorry, dunno how to link.
>
> Link
Your on b.net? We have a group for fan fiction on b.net as well! Although most of the authors have their own stories they will ocassionaly include characters from other stories. We have started a story together. I can’t seem to look at your group though. It says access denied everytime. Link to home page of group?
To link, you can just type anything (say, the title of your fan fic), select it, then right click on it. select insert/edit link. It will give you a space at the top to paste the address you want to link to, and Bam! you have a working link!