Warriors Fanfics: Specialized Writing Guide

BASE | Before You Write

8 June, 2019

This section covers some prewriting steps to take before you actually start writing, like the process of idea conception, determining if it is worth pursuing, and your real life environment's influence on writing. As a Base section, it has little to no examples drawn from canon Warriors.

So that rush of energy with pictures came in and you have frantically recorded it. Now what?

Most people either stash it, scrap it, or build upon it after some time alone with it. That is step one, and this section is not entirely about that part. Everyone has a different ideation process (or none at all). And this can be a problem when help is required. If we just consider Wattpad, most people start branching off the very first thing that sticks in their head. The very first thing. It can be damaging to your writing and writing habits. So in this section, I want to help you get started and stay started writing.

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IDEA CONCEPTION

Idea conception is important; it is what you are writing, ultimately. An idea you had. A solid idea is much easier to work with than one that is hastily put to publish. Many Warriors fanfictions go all over the place with their plot and characters. It usually stems from an idea being written out at the moment of conception, having its plot, characters, and setting built around it. That itself is normal, but when it is thought of, outlined, written, and published all at the same time, it stops being normal. We may let that fly on places like DeviantArt with its rushed slash fics and text wall formats. Sometimes, Wattpad's community likes to think it is above that. It can always be so if you think out your ideas.

One easy way to put your idea on a good foundation is to know exactly what you want to write. And I am not talking "I want to write a love story" or "I want a kit to leader epic." I am talking about why you want a love story. How you want to tell that story, and with what kind of characters. These thoughts are meant to avoid as many future headaches as possible when it comes to really fleshing out a story.

Try this exercise for building out ideas if you are having trouble with that stage of pre-writing.
* This was the advice I gave to someone on DeviantArt when she asked how to start off her MLP fanfic with nothing more than a one-sentence idea. A variant of this advice floats around the site (maybe even this one), but here it is as I summarized it:

- Know the canon, at least to a degree of competence. You do not have to know every single cat (no one does), but at least know the main story arc, major characters, and why main events happened.

- What do you want to see in the canon universe that never happened? To some degree, it is important what you are thinking of did not happen exactly as you think of it in canon. Otherwise, you are just retelling a story already told and losing the main allure of fanfiction.

- How could you make that unique or interesting? You should not deviate from canon all the way, but alternate universes and OC-filled stories are always acceptable. As long as you followed the prior point, you probably have this stage down.

- Begin building a universe. Whatever you want, just go for it. If your fanfiction is set in the canon universe like most are, perfect. You can skip this step unless there is some kind of deviation from details already given (which there almost always is). Do not forget things like time period and important events. Do not worry about characters right now (more on worldbuilding is covered in other sections).