Writing Tips for Your Fanfiction by Maplepaw

Maplepaw shares their tips for writing stories.

Hello everyone!

Today, I’m here to share some tips to help you write your fanfictions/stories. I hope you enjoy!

1. Your characters

Characters are the most important part of your book—yes, even more important than the plot itself. The plot doesn’t happen without these characters, and it doesn’t matter if there’s no characters to show you why it matters and why it matters to them.

It’s also very important to make sure you plan these characters (side characters or other important characters alongside your main character, too) before the creation of your world so that they can connect in their own way with what is going on. Because if there is no connection from the character to the plot, then there is just someone that is telling you what they’re seeing and not what they’re feeling or how they’re interpreting all of it.

2. Pre-plan everything and then ask yourself: “Will I be committed to this idea?”

You’re so excited to start a new story and share it with everyone. It starts out so amazing and you’re just so proud of it and you want to finish it and give it a fantastic ending to make your readers feel satisfied or want more. But then . . . you just lose motivation for this thing because . . . because you just do.

This has happened so many times to me. Most of my fanfictions I am proud of towards the beginning, and when I start to lose interest, I rush the ending to move on to all my next ideas that I really want to write. To stop this, you have to plan your story all the way through. Make sure you plan every bit with detail. Create bullet points of what you want to happen from beginning to end. But don’t make it too strict, because there will be a need for lots of editing and adding along the way to make your story more interesting and intriguing. But ask yourself if what you’re adding makes sense. Everything must line up for your story to make sense and for your readers to understand all the unique characters and plot that your story had to offer.

However, sometimes that isn’t the case. Maybe you have it all planned out from beginning to end, but you still lack motivation towards the end, or starting your story at all. I understand this, too.

For this. . . I don’t have much advice. I often rush these parts to get to the end. But then your ending isn’t as great because you rushed through the first part. First word of advice: Have the ending in mind, but don’t focus on it until you’ve completed the scenes before it. “But that part’s boring and I just want to get to the end because it’s going to be the best ending ever!” Well . . . write it down to save it for later. Maybe a mental note or jot it down on paper. Save it for later and start to visualize how the first part of your book’s going to be. It’s better to take more time rather than only wanting to write this one scene.

Lastly, will you be committed? The more committed you are, then the better your story will feel, and the more motivated you’ll be to work on it. If you’re not too excited about your idea, then save it for later when you have more motivation and enthusiasm for it.

3. Why does your plot matter?

Why is it happening? Your answer should not be, “because it has to happen.” No. Your plot and characters are EVERYTHING to your story. They should have a reason to care about this – you should have reason to care about this. Why does this matter to them – to you? If it doesn’t, then your story will probably be . . . well . . . boring. Things will seem boring and meaningless. So there HAS to be a reason why this is happening. What will change in your character’s life? Why does it affect them?

4. Goal/desire stopped by fear

If your character’s good at everything and doesn’t have some kind of fear, then they will be a Mary-Sue. They will seem like the perfect person (or cat) – totally unrelatable and boring. But they can be good at everything, if you want them to. What if they have to be great at everything because they must prove themselves to someone? Their goal would be to prove themselves the greatest, and their fear could be of failure or neglect. Take Opalpaw from my new fanfiction for example. Though I’ve only just introduced her, she seems to think she has to be good at everything to prove herself to her leader (her mother) and the rest of her Clan. She feels she needs to be good at everything because she fears of losing her Clanmates’ respect – her mother’s especially.

Here are some examples from “The Cursed Prophecy” and “WillowClan’s Fate”;

– Sparrowwing/star: Wants to prove himself to his Clan and feels he has to do the best because he doesn’t want to disappoint his leader – the cat who has a crush on him.

– Woodscratch: Is a good warrior, but is having a hard time getting over his crush and grief for Roachleap.

– Opalpaw: Wants to prove herself to her Clan because she fears she will lose their respect so she believes she needs to be the best at everything.

– Violetstar: Is a good leader, but has a hard time bonding with her daughter because of something that haunts her from her past.

Anyway, desire/fear can be much more complex or much more simple to match your characters, but no matter what, it is the most important part of character-building.

5. Recap

So there’s a lot. First, your characters are EVERYTHING and they must be made with care and a lot of attention because they are the most important thing in your story. Making sure you are committed and motivated to your work is so important, or your story will be boring for you and your readers. Your plot has to have some connection with your character that only they feel that way about. Having your character have a special connection to your plot will make it 100x more interesting and intriguing. Characters must have a reason for being in this plot, and something that is a flaw or keeping them from what they truly want.

Credits for Firekit/feather (“The Cursed Prophecy”)

Thanks for reading and I hope this helped!