Writing a Warriors Fanfiction: The Complete Guide

Proofreading and Rewriting

You should always, always, ALWAYS proofread! Don't submit your fanfiction before reading it over! You'll be surprised to see how many mistakes you'll find, especially if you're writing on a mobile device with weird autocorrect habits (my iPad personally autocorrects 'in' to 'I need' all the time, it drives me crazy). But it's not just about that, maybe you realized that after reading it in context, you want to re-write a certain sentence so it sounds better.

In order to really catch a lot of mistakes is by reading it aloud to yourself. Maybe you don't say it audibly, but mouthing it in some way makes it easier to find mistakes. Since this is a little fan story being submitted online, it's not a big deal if a tiny error goes under the radar. But you should still double-check.

Even in just this guide alone, I've been constantly re-reading sections to make sure they're good to go, and making any new additions or removals if needed. A lot of errors have been fixed in this guide, a lot of things have been deleted, and a lot of things have been added! It's amazing how much something changes after proofreading.

Sometimes you might have to do more than proofreading. You may end up completely rewriting parts of your story. Just know that is completely normal, and arguably an essential part to creating a story. It is very likely that you will not like the first version of your fanfiction, and want to change it. The amount of rewrites needed to make something you're happy with will vary from person to person. For many writers, the first draft will sort of just be spat out, and they won't actually worry about the quality of the piece. The point is to just get words on paper. Then, they'll play with and change their draft into something they actually like, effectively rewriting the story.