How To Write Marvel Fanfiction

You're Out of Line

I'm not going to make a joke about the title because I think it's pretty obvious this time. 

So 8/10 when a fanfic or wattpad book, in general, goes defunct, it's because the writer ran out of ideas. Sure, sometimes writers get busy and overwhelm themselves which is honestly just as valid, but we're not here to talk about those instances. 

If you run out of ideas for your story, then you have one problem. 

You. Didn't. Outline.

Bad writer. Bad. Imagine me squirting you with a bottle of water right now because this is the internet and I can't actually do that to you.

Outlining isn't always necessarily needed, but like, you should probably do it. Because when you don't, even if you do finish your story, the disorganization and messiness can really fucking show. I'm an editor, trust me. I can fucking tell. 

So for the love of fuck, outline. Please. 

How you outline can be entirely up to you, as well as how detailed your outlines are.  Some people have super detailed outlines, some people have vague ideas, it's all relative based on your preferences. I understand that sometimes, you just want the story to unfold naturally and only have a vague idea of where it's going. 

But still, that vague idea needs to fucking exist. There needs to be a start, a middle, and an end somewhere, bitch. Get your shit together.

Here's an example of one of my outlines-

I could've cropped out my cat but I didn't because fuck you, she's cuter than I'll ever be. I did blur the outline because A, I haven't posted that yet, B, I will not post that fic on Wattpad because oh BOY it is dark, and C, I don't think you innocent children need to learn what HYDRA Trash Party is today.

As you can tell, i'm a little extra with outlines. Shit is colour-coded, every plot point is drawn out, there's a timeline on the side, relevant character reactions are included, canon plot points are mentioned, it's all one extensive mess. The entire outline is 4 pages, and the fic is supposed to be only about 25k words. I am an intense bitch. But you don't have to do that.

So how do you come up with the ideas for outlining? Basically, you find an outlining method that works for you.

Some writers outline backwards, from the end to the beginning. Basically with the mindset of "this is where I want my fic to end, so what needs to happen for me to get there?" and builds plot points backwards.

Other writers like to start with the climax and use what's called the spiderweb method to build out in both directions. Building what happened to make that happen, and then what'll happen because that happened.

Some writers have a beginning and an end, and just build the middle to figure out how to get from Point A to Point Z.

Basically, you need to have some kind of concept for where things are going, and then you can figure out how the fuck you're going to get there. And if you don't know where your story is going, then you're really fucked and need to better build your idea for the story. 

While most fanfics on Wattpad are admittedly character-driven rather than plot-driven, as is the point of having an OC, there is still a plot with character-driven stories. You can't write a fucking fanfic with just the concept of your OC and who they're gonna fuck. And from the looks of it, I feel like that's what half of y'all are doing. Even these "plot shops" going around don't have actual plots, they just have concepts. There's a difference, and a concept doesn't build a great story, it just gives the idea for a great story.

As I said before, your plot can be cliche. It can be boring. Plots are allowed to be basic with character-driven stories. BUT, you still need a fucking plot. So start writing down an outline, bitch. It can literally just be bullet points of what you know is going to happen. And you're allowed to change it throughout the story if your story grows in different ways than you expected. 

Just fucking do it. Trust me, it'll be worth it.