Creepypasta Fanfiction Guidebook: Dos And Donts

Think Outside The Box

Here's some advice for all you Creepypasta authors out there.

Think outside the box.

"What is 'the box?'" you may ask.

I'll tell you, so listen carefully.

The box can be simply be defined as a collection of overused and hackneyed ideas that have been reproduced to the point of exhaustion in the Creepypasta (specifically fanfics) fandom.

I'll elaborate. 

Many of the books in this fandom follow the same, overused, cliche concepts. In future chapters, I'll be addressing all the cliches specific to the type of fanfic (like Jeff The Killer, Slenderman, Eyeless, etc.), but for right now let's keep it general.

'The box' is not being able to write anything except one chapter romances that completely rush everything and turn the CPs into shit.

'The box' is creating an OC that's so powerful that he/she can somehow defeat Slenderman and make fricking ZALGO cry. (I'm not saying you can't do this, but if you can't pull it off properly then you probably shouldn't try.)

'The box' is thinking that every romance needs to follow the same pattern-

"I'm going to kill you."

"It's fine. I want to die anyway."

"Ok, nevermind. You're far too special."

"Let's get married and have kids."

"Sure."

(Are you kidding me?)

'The box' is thinking that all your characters have to be sixteen years old with emo hair, black converse, pale skin, a band t-shirt and whatever else.

'The box' is reducing the creepy, psychotic killers that someone out there busted their asses to create into absolutely nothing but mush and bullshit. 

And that, people, is the stupid box that we need to think outside of. Believe me, this 'box' is huge and there are so many things in it that I am sure you are all aware of. 

The point is that until we learn to start thinking outside of this 'box,' then all our fanfictions will continue to be virtually the same thing. Until we learn to write fanfiction like it's not "fanfiction"(I'll talk about this in another chapter) then we'll continue to have really shitty books (Exhibit A: some of the most popular ones in this fandom.)

Now I know some of you may be thinking, "But thinking outside of the box gets you no reads and doesn't make you popular."

Then you'd be both right and wrong.

You'd be right because a lot of the best, most unique, most well-written, most all round amazing fanfictions remain undiscovered because of the more popular ones that overshadow them. This in itself is a problem that can only be solved if you start doing authors a favor and start reading their stuff (even if it has like 0 views and 0 comments.)

I'm not gonna act like I'm a saint or anything, because I'm not.

 I too tend to click on books that have accumulated thousands or millions of reads and votes. There are rare occasions when I'm not disappointed by their contents, but most of the time I really am.

Going back to the point, writing cliche stuff has gotten people lots of views and has made them really popular, yes, but times are changing.

And that's why you'd be wrong.

I'm proud to say that more and more members are waking up to the fact that a change needs to be made, new stories need to be told and things need to happen. And because of this, we're getting some really well written and unique fanfictions coming into the light.

People are actually taking this seriously, and are starting to write creatively and constructively, and I think that's amazing.

So I'll give credit where it's due.

Not all popular fanfictions are bad.

Some are actually really good and deserve every single view and comment that they have.

Others are  not so great, and most are just downright terrible.

My best advice is to start thinking outside the box, and start thinking about how best to present new and fresh ideas to your readers so that they will appreciate it.

Before I end this chapter, I want to state three things:

1. This whole 'thinking outside the box' thing is way more complicated than it seems. Thinking outside the box does not mean avoiding all cliches all the time, because depending on your story, cliches can be quite useful. It's more about not letting the cliches make up your entire book. Ultimately, it's up to you to decide what you want to write. You're your own writer. If you want to write cliche stuff, do you. My advice is for those who actually want to write seriously and help save this dying  fandom.

2. Thinking outside the box is always a great thing to do, but don't be upset if it doesn't yield instant fame and praise. People are still adjusting to this change in what CP Fanfiction is trying to become and they may not appreciate it yet, but there are many in the fandom who will.

3. I'm not trying to put anyone down. When we first started writing, we were probably all very shitty at it, so I can understand if that's the case. All I'm saying is try to think outside the box when you're writing. If you're new to the fandom, or haven't written anything for the fandom as yet, I encourage you to write something. But I also encourage you to be your own writer and not try to base your fanfictions of the ones you've read. Read the original Creepypastas for the one you're writing about, and usr that to shape your story.

Otherwise, you'll end up writing about Jeff The Unicorn, Slender The Housemaid and Masky The Shy Cheesecake Lover.