Perks of being a Fangirl

How Not to Write Fanfiction

Okay.
Fanfictions.
A very touchy subject. How do you write one correctly? There is no real answer. OCs that are realistic and Mary Sue's lurk in every corner of this fictional world of fictional worlds, but how do you create one that has a healthy amount of both? (After all, it's fiction. Too realistic is too boring- no one seems to care that your OC woke up, fed their dog, and went to their job/school every single day of their life. We deal with that every day in Reality.)
So, instead of how to write a fanfiction, how about how not to write a fanfiction?

Because I certainly know how to do that!

Tip 1:
Don't write a fanfiction based on a series you read several years ago and can't remember anything.

Ex; My first fanfic was a Maximum Ride/Doctor Who crossover, but I hadn't read the full Maximum Ride series for at least a year or two.

Tip 2:
Don't make your character crazy abnormal, but don't make your character crazy normal either.

Ex; Oh no, I don't want to being them up. But I will. My first OC, Brittany Potter, was a total mess. My second OC, Olive/ Twyla no last name because she's a genetic experiment from Maximum Ride's world, is no better. Olive was a 12 year old with wings and some cool superpowers like sensing danger, reading minds, metamorphic powers, the ability to breath underwater, and a photographic memory. A genetic experiment, Olive was 1% dog, 2% fox, 3% owl, 1% seal, 1% dolphin, 5% wolf, .1% cat, .1% bat, and 87.8% human and somehow managed to survive with the only physical side affects being wings and dog ears at some points. She's in my Hall of Dead OCs, her fanfiction deleted from the internet. *shoves last copy of it from my notes into the trash violently as it tries to crawl back out*
And Brittany Potter. She's okay now, and in a semi-acceptable fanfiction, but she was a nightmare. Mind you, I created her in fourth grade because I wanted to be part of the Harry Potter series, so I didn't even know she was an OC then. She was just an imaginary-friend-like-person that I played pretend as. Now, Brittany was Harry's sister, looked like Lily, and was two years older than Harry. She also had a twin sister who was created by my friend Claire that I can't even remember her name because she wasn't put in the final version of any written fanfictions. We pretended to be them when we were reading the series so we'd be part of it. Gasp, now for the cringe-y part, Brittany's scar because she was one of the Chosen Three (or something). Don't laugh, I was 8-ish- a heart, with a peace sign inside, that had dashes around it, that glowed pink and rainbow and probably sparkled, who knows, located on both twins cheeks. (and this was a scar created by Voldemort. Gods, I was a terrible human being then.) She did things like be an all powerful animagus that could change into any animal, and save the wizarding world by her super powerful wandless magic while totally stopping maybe three characters from dying by using the reverse spell of Avada Kedavra, Kedavra Avada. (it was really advanced magic!!!) She dated Fred Weasley, but I was in fourth grade so the most they ever did was probably kiss, and [Claire's OC] was dating Rom because, I quote from my super amazing memory (eh), "Who cares about Hermione". This coming from the girl who hates Cho Chang and thought her name was pronounced Choo.
So, she's one of my many examples of too perfect.

But for too normal? That's harder. Maybe it's because no one writes too normal. Fanfiction is there because we want to escape our world and join the new and improved fictional world that we are borrowing for entertainment purposes only.

Tip 3:
When using canon characters, don't make them OOC. (Out of character)

Ex; Oh my gods. Cursing. And. Language. If you're writing a fanfic, use the slang from their era, or call it a modern AU. (Alternate universe) And if you're writing Doctor Who, Merlin, Sherlock, Harry Potter, or anything British and are not British, try and use the correct slang. As for cursing, the number of fanfictions I have stopped reading, because innocent characters like Neville Longbottom and Hazel Levesque just say "fuck this shit" every other line, is way to big. Many of these books/shows don't curse that much. Sure, one character may have a problem (cough Ronald Weasley cough) but they don't just go around saying "Oh my God that's bullshit!" to every adult they see. And many books/ shows have their own forms of cursing. Have you noticed wizards say Oh Merlin or Godric instead of oh my God? And the demigods, well, they replace God with gods. And of course, other normal things like Hephaestus's Hand Grenades and Poseidon's underpants. (What in Hades are they thinking? Di immortales)

Tip 4:
Don't make your cover art hard to read. Use colors that compliment each other, make it have something to do with the story, and make the title nice and big.

Ex. Well, the cover of this book doesn't even have the title on it. There you go.

Tip 5:
Don't force yourself to write.
You write better when you're inspired!
Yes, people will scream at you too update, (eh, I do it sometimes too) but sometimes you just need a week off from writing (or a month. Or a year)

Ex; Bad chapters come from no inspiration, and you just have to go back and rewrite 20 times till you're satisfied. Happened a lot to me

Tip 6:
Don't take on a project too big.
Some say there is no such thing as a project too big, but they're wrong. Detailed fanfics are great, but if you're trying to shove 7 years at Hogwarts into one book, you won't succeed. Don't try and put all of time and space into one chapter. After all, there are 13 different Doctors and even he hasn't seen every thing!

Ex; I have written at least two fanfics like this and never finished them. I gave up on one.

So, there you have it. Tips on how not to write a fanfiction.