How to Write a Good Fanfic

Intro

This is at least the seventh time I've re-written the intro for 'How to Write a Good Fanfic' prior to going ahead and publishing it. Have you ever experienced a time where you couldn't get a "beginning" out just right, or do the words you put down always come easy to you? The path to becoming a better writer is filled with bumps in the road. Things don't always go your way, and if things are always going your way as you write then chances are something is off about your writing that you do need to examine.

For some writers the idea that there may be something wrong with their writing may be hard to swallow. I recollect a time where a writer I critiqued spent an entire month editing a chapter just to get the grammar "just right" only to become heartbroken to find out there were other things she needed to work on. Truth of the matter nobody's work is perfect – there will always be something that could be better. The goal of 'How to Write a Good Fanfic' is thus not to make your work perfect.

What then is the goal? The goal is to help writer's in their pursuit to improve their work as well as produce work with as few flaws as possible. There is also the hope that a few writers may gain some confidence from the things they learn, while others may learn to possibly keep their egos in check. Others of course are looking for something beyond the basics, but that of course will have to come later.

What you ultimately take out of this work is up to you as well as the attitude you take when reading through this work.

Note: A bit of forewarning – I lean more towards fictional fandoms rather then non-fictional fandoms. As such the writing in 'How to Write a Good Fanfic' will likely lean more towards helping writers who work with fictional fandoms rather then non-fictional ones – there may still be something the latter writers can use to their benefit. I also refer to works based on non-fictional fandoms as popfic or RPF rather then fanfiction.