RotG/GoC Fanfiction Writing Tips

Mysteries

 Mysteries are my favorite kind of plot. Not cozy murder mysteries, but stories that focus on finding something out that's not always a crime. Stories where something bad's going to happen to the main character if they don't find it out. That's part of the reason I read—to learn about interesting things that don't exist.

Well-written mysteries can make for riveting stories. However, there are some things that are sometimes posed as mysteries in the RotG/GoC fandom that really aren't. They don't interest me, because they're predictable or just boring. But there are also ways you can make things in your story more mysterious—intriguing. So, how should you write good mysteries in the RotG/GoC fandom?

Part 1: What to Avoid

The first thing to avert is having a generic mystery about your OC's background, particularly how they died. As I've mentioned in the clichés chapter, almost every spirit OC in this fandom is the same: they died saving someone, usually their younger brother. Therefore, readers have no reason to think that your OC will be different—without prompting. You have to hint that their death was more unique. Maybe you could give glimpses of your OC being involved with Pitch in their past life, or that something odd, not just disease, had afflicted their town. Whatever it is, make sure it's different from the classic, "They died saving someone's life."

Another thing to avoid is setting up a romance plot as a mystery. In other words, making it seem like a question of if the two (or more) characters will get together, whether canon or OCs. The tags, ship name, or [Character] X OC give the relationship away. Maybe your fanfiction really does have a bad ending for the couple, but unless you say so in tags or otherwise, readers are not going to assume that. And if your story is a true romance (it has a happy ending for the couple), it's about how characters get together, not if. In general, it's a plot that many enjoy, but not a mystery.

One more thing to avoid is writing questions in an author's note at the end of every chapter to try to get readers thinking parts of your fanfiction are mysteries, like, "What do you think their powers will be?" and, "How do you think their relationship is going to progress?" If readers aren't already questioning these things themselves, telling them what to wonder isn't going to make them. The questions can be asked in a way that simply encourages discussion in the comment section, such as, "What do you think will happen next? Comment below!" However, just make sure your goal is to draw in comments, not make the readers wonder.

Part 2: What to Add

There are ways to enhance your fanfiction's mysteries aside from just avoiding the bad things. The first way is to make your readers care about your characters more. Readers will likely already care about canon characters, but it's your OCs you have to boost. If your readers care more about them, then mysteries involving those characters, whether it be about their origins, a prophecy surrounding them, or anything else, are going to be more interesting to your audience. I wrote an article on my blog about how to do so called "How to Make Readers Care about Your OCs" (go to the website link in my profile and search for it on that site; Wattpad won't let me post the link). It's not a glaring issue I see in the RotG and GoC fandoms, so I won't post it in this guide, but if you would like some more information, I have it through that link.

Another way is by giving the mystery stakes. Stakes are what your character has to lose or gain from a situation. So, instead of your characters just being curious about something, make them have things they can gain if they do and things they can lose if they don't solve the mystery. For example, if someone steals a pen from your neighbor, you most likely aren't going to care that much who did it except for the humor of stealing one small object. It's just a pen. However, if someone kills your neighbor and leaves a message saying they're coming after you and your family next, suddenly you care very much about who the criminal is and if they can be stopped in time. For something your OC could gain, maybe if they solve the murder mystery, they'll feel like they've finally made up for a mistake they made in the past that ended in someone's death. I cover stakes more in-depth in the next chapter. In general, give your readers a reason to care about your mystery.

Every part of a story is important, and good mysteries can be an exciting part of any story. People routinely burn through stories because of aching questions they have. Many people love trying to predict mysteries' answers, too.

If you write your mystery well, you can have even more invested readers.