Writing Tips and Tricks

Author's Note

Let's start off with something that's more to do with layout than it is actual writing and style. This is primarily a personal pet peeve than anything else, but to me author's notes always seem to clutter up writing.

Think of it this way, physical books don't have author's notes slap bang in the middle of a book, or between every chapter, do they? Usually in books it's at the start, the first few pages can sometimes be a bit about the author, a bit about their inspiration or those who were a big help along the way. So I make a rule to get the biggest A/N's out of the way at the very start. Be that a brief introduction to the story, how I started writing it or even information about requests and such.

Author's notes should not clutter your writing, they should not be every other chapter. Do you ever feel disappointed when you're excited that a story has 12 parts but 7 of those are author's notes? Yeah, me too.

Of course writers who publish whole books in physical copy or on the internet don't have that problem. They don't have the problem of maybe slowing down posting or perhaps missing a deadline for a chapter. So how do you deal with the clutter when you regularly need to keep a fan base updated on what's going on?

Delete. Delete. Delete. If you miss a deadline and feel so inclined to post an A/N or an update as to why. Then go for it! It not only shows that you care but shows that you haven't given up on your story. But as soon as you post that chapter, if that A/N is no longer relevant. Delete it. If it is relevant, perhaps consider putting it in the start of your story.

Make it a rule to only ever have author's notes at the very first chapter and the very last chapter that you posted. As soon as you move on, delete that author's note.

The only exception I can think of is if your posts will be slow for any given reason for a short period of time. Keep the A/N up until you start posting regularly again. At which point. Delete it.

And it doesn't end there. Oh no. There's a part two.

This is more in relation to author's notes at the start and end of chapters. Of course there are two different scenarios we have here. A full fledged fanfiction or a series of ficlets and one shots.

With a full fledged fan fiction, it is rarely necessary to include and author's note in every chapter, again it looks bad if half a chapter is you rambling. Only put it there if necessary, perhaps if that particular chapter may trigger some people or has NSFW content or perhaps if you're apologising for a short chapter, or maybe that particular chapter is dedicated to something or someone.

However if it's just general warning, inspiration or anything that doesn't fall under specifics, try put it in your author's note at the beginning.

You do not need to summarise the chapter if it's in a full story.

The other scenario is ficlets. These are different because every new ones hit comes with different inspiration and a different story. Or perhaps someone requested it and you wanted to shout out to them for the request.

Putting a small A/N at the start of a one shot is fine. But no one wants a four paragraph monologue about the plot of a ficlet, just make it brief, that way people will pay more attention to your words.

Also try to make it distinct from the rest of the story. Perhaps use bold, italics or underlined text. Or maybe use a blocker, something a little like this

- - - - - -

Or the way I separate my A/N's is by keeping them centred while the actual story is to the left. Then with a blocker like this
.
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There's honestly millions of variations that you could use to separate these. My only advice on this is.

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Don't go over the top

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