Everything Wrong With HARRY POTTER Fanfictions

DON'T NO 16: Deviation

Now this is quite similar to Pointless Plot Twists discussed in DON'T NO 10.

But there is a major difference between plot twists and deviation.

When you get a pointless plot twist it just twists the story unnecessarily but when you face deviation, it means the whole story goes down track.

Basically, deviation is when the author starts to deviate from the plot including scenes which are absolutely unnecessary. And like I have said so many times before, in the end it's gonna make your story fall apart.

Because, seriously, imagine it... You have to walk in a straight line to get to your destination and you can see clearly that the path is straight then would you knowingly deviate so much that in the end you lose track of where you were actually headed to?

You wouldn't do that because it's not sensible. And writing stories is a lot like that too. You deviate a lot and then eventually there comes a time when you have no idea what to do with the book.

For instance, you are reading a book on Draco's love interest and it is pretty interesting and then after like a ten or fifteen chapters, you realize that even though the content seems great, the scenes give you the feels and you ship them both with a passion still you can not figure out where the story is going.

This is what happens in deviation.

And as a consequence, at times you lose readers because it is in human nature to be curious of what the end is gonna be but if the reader can't see any hints or any possibilities to what track the story is on, then it's more than likely that they will abandon you for good.

The best way to avoid deviating is to outline first. You must have a clear outlook on what you are going to write and how.

I know most of you guys hate outlining and think it's such a waste of time but trust me, it will help you as you write.

Not only will your stories become organized but also there will be very few chances of deviation.

When you are writing fanfiction, avoiding deviation is not that big a deal because you already know how the original plot goes and what specific track the story is on.

Since the canon material already provides you with sufficient matter to consider and think out the path for your story, therefore I believe it is quite easy for your fanfic not to get deviated.

And then comes another problem... The scenes.

Some authors like to play with the reader's emotions and attachment to characters hence they devise scenes that are fitting for keeping readers hooked and also satisfy their thirst of the feels.

But the problem arises when you chunk all of these scenes together so much that the effect is suffocating.

Now you must be wondering how a story can be suffocating, right? Well, it means that the reader can not understand clearly one scene and yet the author jumps quickly to another.

Emotional scenes are considered the heart and soul of a book but keep in mind that it is difficult to digest an emotional scene as compared to an average scene. Because it has emotions, characters are going through a lot of developments, deep dialogues are loaded everywhere and there is a whole whirlwind of sentiments.

If you jump real quick from one emotional scene to another, it will get crammed into the reader's head and thus the story will become suffocating for him/her.

And also, you have to be very clear on the arrangement of scenes. I have discussed this in detail in the Writing Tips part of this book under the chapter Creating Scenes.

In simple words, do not place scenes that are contrary to each other in close contact in the book.

You can not have Action and Romance going on at the same time, just no.

There can not be a fight going on and the OC and main canon character being all lovey dovey at the same place and time span, because logically that's not possible.

There is an 80 - 90% chance that the antagonist will finish off the protagonist in the mid of their lovey dovey scene.

But that hardly happens because author doesn't want it and thus the scene in itself becomes rather illogical.

***

The basic summary of this chapter:

Do Not Deviate.

Do Not Insert Illogical Scenes.

If You Follow This Simple Instruction, Your Book Will Have The Key Elements Of A Good Book.

***

Stay tuned for the next chapter.