Cenonn's How to Holofic and Writing in General

Fulfilling your wishes is not always a good thing

So... I've talked about many things. From story formation to characters to settings to plot creation and to conflicts. If you've noticed, my style in this guide is having a main topic and then discussing the related topics in the next few chapters.

For example, after I talked about the main characters, I began talking about the three types of characters: Existing, Original, and Reader-insert. Each related topic had a chapter dedicated to them.

And now, I just finished talking about conflicts so I'll tell ya all about a related topic: "What happens if there's a weak conflict?" In other words, my greatest enemy: Wish Fulfillment.

Now then... What is a wish fulfillment? If we strictly look at the dictionary, it is defined as "the satisfying of unconscious desires in dreams or fantasies."

In storytelling, wish fulfillment is something like a totally perfect plot. Like only good things happen to the MC and they would be able to breeze through any problems without any real tension. I'll give ya a few examples of wish fulfillment that I found.

Is your character a very famous YouTuber who has billions of fans, suddenly gets scouted by Cover Corporation, and they form a harem of Hololive girls? That's wish fulfillment.

Is your character an ultra amazing person who can solve any problems with their unbelievably smart minds and extraordinary skillset? That's a Mary Sue and still wish fulfillment.

Is your character described as an "average boy with no redeeming qualities" and yet somehow, Hololive girls keep falling for him one after the other? It's a wish fulfillment.

Is your character someone who got into a relationship with a Hololive girl despite only meeting her for a short time and then their relationship would go pretty well? Hate it to break it to ya but that's still a wish fulfillment.

Is your character a depressed/abused/traumatized character and then his life changes because he somehow met a Hololive girl and found love? Eehh... Depending on the execution, it's a wish fulfillment.

I can continue on with a really long list but I won't be able to cover even a fraction of the number of wish fulfillment plots that ever existed.

Look here... Even if your character is not a Mary Sue, your story can still be a wish fulfillment. Wish fulfillment is more related to the plot. You can have a pretty regular character and still make it a wish fulfillment.

So you might ask, "What makes a wish fulfillment?"

I tried my best in analyzing stories. I noticed that while some may have the same ideas, one is a wish fulfillment while the other is a legitimate story. What's the difference between the two? I talked about conflicts in the previous chapters. Wish fulfillment happens because there are no believable conflicts in the story.

Let's tackle the wish fulfillment scenarios I listed.

If your character is a very famous YouTuber who has billions of fans, suddenly gets scouted by Cover Corporation, and they form a harem of Hololive girls... I don't know how to fix this one but I'll do my best... Ummm... You can have a conflict where that character is having a crisis?? Like idk... There could be a huge difference between their YouTuber persona and their real personalities that they are having an identity crisis. And the harem is not helping because they only love the character's YouTuber persona. It's a believable Character vs Self conflict.

If your character is an ultra amazing person who can solve any problems with their unbelievably smart minds and extraordinary skillset, I guess you can give them a "suffering from success" problem. They could be very bored with how the world is and have a pretty huge pride as a person. And then they would soon find out that they can't get their romantic interest's attention with their skills because their personality is bad.

If your character is described as an "average boy with no redeeming qualities" and yet somehow, Hololive girls keep falling for him one after the other, I guess you can fool the readers that he is actually someone with one good quality instead. I mean... Although this one is really tricky since you have to find a good quality that will justify the girls falling for him.

If your character is someone who got into a relationship with a Hololive girl despite only meeting her for a short time and then their relationship would go pretty well, you can scratch the "their relationship would go pretty well" part. You can have conflicts in their relationships... Like I don't know... Maybe the struggles of dating an idol because Japan's idol culture is pretty toxic?

If your character is a depressed/abused/traumatized character and then his life changes because he somehow met a Hololive girl and found love, I guess you have to make sure he reacts like a true depressed/abused/traumatized character. I mean... That's like a goldmine of conflicts if you know how to play around with it.

"But Cenonn... I'm writing because I want an escape from this stupid thing called real life! Let me write what I want!"

Oh sure. Go ahead. Just don't get too shocked if people won't like your story. I mean... Let's dissect why people would even want to write wish fulfillment.

Wish fulfillment, most of the time, happens on two types of MCs which are the author-insert and the reader-insert. The keyword here is "insert."

Of course, as someone inserted into the story, you don't want bad things happening to you-eerrrr I mean the character who is representing you. That's normal. That's why most author-inserts and reader-inserts always end up becoming wish fulfillment stories.

But for the love of Matsuri, don't blind yourself to the truth. Bad things happen, okay? Not everything is perfect. If you're the type who'll go "I'm the author! Reality can be whatever I want!", then fine. Drop this guide. I won't bother trying to get my point across your thick head. But if you're willing to hear me out, then sit tight.

I talked about Familiarity, right? This is where it comes in. Yes, yes. Your story is fictional. It's meant to be unrealistic. However, a good story has Familiarity in it. So that also meant that the reader should see a bit of real life there. And real life has conflicts. You can't run away from that.

You can always go "This story is for my sake and I'm writing for fun! You can't boss me around!" Yeah sure. Go ahead, buddy. You do you. Things would be good if you just write the wish fulfillment story and no one else but you could read it. But the moment you post it, don't expect good things.

I've been a fanfiction writer for almost 7 years already. Before I became Cenonn, I was a certain fanfic author of another fandom. I've seen my share of the people who self-destructed.

You might go "F the readers. I'll write what I want" and that's fine. But the moment you posted the thing that you wanted to write, be prepared for criticism. And believe me, criticism can be harsh.

You might feel pretty bad because people would call you a lifeless loser who runs to their computers and writes their fantasies. I know... I know how it feels. I really do. Because I've written a few author-insert wish fulfillment stories before and I got called out many times back before I wasn't reborn as Cenonn.

The Hololive fandom might be a bit forgiving but I don't know about the other fandoms. Sooner or later, you'll find people who will call you out for showing off your fantasies and I don't want you to feel the horrible emotions that come with it.

Thoughts like "I was only showing what I want my life to be. They don't have to be that harsh" will float around your mind. New flash, the internet doesn't care about how you feel.

While it's true that there are some people here who read wish fulfillment stories for breakfast, there are far more people who get annoyed by it. Save yourself the trouble and actually start creating good stories.

And if you read this far, I want you to consider your stories again. Look through my guide on how to write one and avoid writing wish fulfillment stories. Learn the ropes on how to create believable conflicts.

Don't be like me.

Anyways... I'm done ranting. Let's move on with the guide and that's planning an ending for your fic!