8 Tips for Writing Better FanFiction - A Simple Guide

#7 Proofread, Proofread, Proofread, and Proofread again

If you think that you are finally ready to post your masterpiece, make sure you take this very important step before you do. I know how tempting it is to hit "Publish" as soon as you've finished that last keystroke, but trust me on this one. In the end, you'll be thanking yourself. There's nothing worse than posting a new story or a new chapter only to immediately notice a typo.

The key to taking your fanfic story from really good to practically perfect: PROOFREAD. Read it once, twice, three times, or as many times as you can stand it. Every time you do you'll find something new to improve on and sometimes you'll come up with new ideas that you never thought of before that are much better. Or sometimes you'll just discover a blaring mistake that you can't believe you missed when you were writing. But suffice to say, giving it a solid read through a few times will make a difference. 

I even recommend proofreading your story (or chapter) and then sleeping on it before reading it through again. It helps even more to hold off until the next day and read it over again with fresh eyes, if you can manage the wait. Also, if you feel comfortable doing it, find someone that you trust to become a beta reader for you. This is someone that reads your writings before they get published who will help you find any mistakes or identify any errors, such as continuity gaps or sections that they don't understand. Doing this helps you get a readers perspective on your story, which allows you to fix any problems before the story goes live. Just be sure that if you do this that you find someone that you truly trust. You certainly wouldn't want someone to plagiarize you or reveal any spoilers to your audience somehow!