I want to Write Fanfiction and don't know where to start

[Illusion]

I want to start writing for fun again and with the lockdown and the amount of free time I have. I want to explore writing fanfiction for Avatar: The Last Airbender/ Korra universe. But I want to use this as means to become a better writer, to work and learn more on building story planning, structure, and narrative.

I already have pieced together the story I want to tell, most of the characters, setting, and the ending all in my head.
The problem I have is trying to maintain pace of storytelling and character development. Cutting out the fluff of the story to more dedicated chapters as if they were episodes to the show.

And I'm unsure what sites out I can post fanfiction at. Or one with an engaging community that can critique my writing, or just enjoying the story to begin with.

I've always been a good writer and been told that by any of my English teachers in both middle, high school and college. But I've never had experienced in long term planning in terms of something to the size of a book or short novel.

Any help era?

 

[NTGYK]

Apparently when you have characters start banging, it gets a lot of people interested

 

[Siggy-P]

Fanfiction.net is the big one. Sex will get you a lot of views but if you wanna keep readers you gotta build up to the sex over multiple chapters. But you don't have to do that at all and don't feel pressured into it.

Start off simple. Don't go in expecting to write out a massive novel over time. You may get tired of it, find you prefer different writing styles or characters.

Also, just as a general pieces of advice;

- forget most of what you learnt in school. Always used "said". If the reader knows whose speaking, don't use anything at all.

- Use short words and sentences for action. Long ones for calm scenes.

- Use different paragraphs everytime a different person speaks. Readers tend to interpret new paragraphs like they would a different camera shot in a movie.

- Do not reference song lyrics or other non-Avatar/Kora related media.

Edit: apoarently fanfiction.net isn't the big one anymore I guess.

 

[ibyea]

In terms of the website, there is the usual Archives of our Own.

 

[Dennis8K]

We have an expert in Fiction

 

[BDS]

So first, Archive of Our Own is generally considered the gold standard in the last few years for posting fanfic. Older sites like fanfiction.net have largely fallen by the wayside.

Second, there are a number of important differences when writing fanfic versus writing traditional fiction. One example is that you're posting each chapter individually, so the audience is reacting to the story in real time and you can potentially choose to let that color the outcome of the story, if you wish. Another is that audiences generally expect "spoilers" of some sort upfront so that they don't waste their time with a story that doesn't give them what they want. AO3's tagging system should be used somewhat generously to tag anything in the story that might be of interest to a reader.

Third, fanfic is really broad. Were you thinking of writing something that is canon-compliant (i.e. not erasing anything that happened canonically in the Avatarverse) or something that's a complete alternate continuity or something else? There's a lot of cool things you can do in fanfic.

 

[Sabretooth]

Can't help you with fanfiction sites, but for the long-term planning thing, you might want to first outline everything you have. The great thing about outlining is that once you have your raw material down, you can then expand each point in greater and greater detail until you eventually get to prose-level. If I'm not mistaken, this method has a name (snowflake method? I forget).

You can also make a timeline in a spreadsheet program, if you have a lot of concurrent threads going on in your work.

Finally, remember that the bulk of 'writing' is really editing. If you want to get good at long-term planning, then start with whatever you have and then keep tinkering with it, snip something here, add something there, keep editing it. If you feel like you can never reach a 'final' state, then set yourself a reasonable deadline, as if you were submitting your manuscript to a publisher.

 

[Deleted member 14377]

 

[BigDes]

Pick two characters who you want to see bang

Then turn them into Sonic the Hedgehog characters

Then pitch it as a vampire novel and movie series

Done.

 

[Deleted member 6173]

Start with sonic the hedgehog and go from thwre

 

[BDS]

Also, since your main concern was about pacing, the general rule of thumb for pacing each chapter is to simply look at each chapter as its own mini-story with a beginning, middle, and end. What is the point of this particular chapter? What is the "event" happening in it, what leads up to it, and what is the immediate result? That's where the chapter ends. Some might be longer or shorter.

 

[Sabretooth]

Also, since your main concern was about pacing, the general rule of thumb for pacing each chapter is to simply look at each chapter as its own mini-story with a beginning, middle, and end. What is the point of this particular chapter? What is the "event" happening in it, what leads up to it, and what is the immediate result? That's where the chapter ends. Some might be longer or shorter.

Click to shrink...

Solid advice. As a pantser, this is very good advice for me to read, because I tend to get overwhelmed by larger projects very quickly. Treating each chapter as a mini-story with its own arc would do wonders for me.

 

[Ogodei]

I used to write a lot a lot of fanfiction, back on ff.net.

My take with the best approach is:

1) Have a plan going in. Not just "what is this story about" but storyboard each chapter. This'll let you pace yourself and and build a good structure so that you can keep motivated throughout. Each new chapter you start, you'll know what you want.

2) Put some effort into getting inside the canon characters' heads. Audiences are reading to learn more or get a different angle on characters they already know. One of my earliest fics was simply taking a moment in canon and going through what two characters were thinking.

3) Romance sells. Doesn't need to be sex, but you will get a lot more attention with a pairing than without one. Especially if it's a popular pairing.

 

[somerandomweirdguy]

Ao3 is probably your best bet. You can always crosspost to different places too, but that's pretty annoying when you have to update on 5 different sites at once. Spacebattles and SufficientVelocity are two forums that have pretty solid fanfic communities.

As a fanfic writer myself, I'd just say don't get psyched out if you don't get a lot of feedback. Especially with much diminished communities like ATLA. It's sadly just the way of things

 

[Illusion]

So first, Archive of Our Own is generally considered the gold standard in the last few years for posting fanfic. Older sites like fanfiction.net have largely fallen by the wayside.

Second, there are a number of important differences when writing fanfic versus writing traditional fiction. One example is that you're posting each chapter individually, so the audience is reacting to the story in real time and you can potentially choose to let that color the outcome of the story, if you wish. Another is that audiences generally expect "spoilers" of some sort upfront so that they don't waste their time with a story that doesn't give them what they want. AO3's tagging system should be used somewhat generously to tag anything in the story that might be of interest to a reader.

Third, fanfic is really broad. Were you thinking of writing something that is canon-compliant (i.e. not erasing anything that happened canonically in the Avatarverse) or something that's a complete alternate continuity or something else? There's a lot of cool things you can do in fanfic.

Click to shrink...

Will definitely check out the site!

Considering leaving suspense per chapter to color the story is something I definitely should consider. One thing I'm trying to consider is how much I should write per chapter. I want to write things as if it was an episode of the show, condensed with its own topics, progress, etc. So I assume I will be practicing writing stories for TV, but in a more literary/novel form.

I'm definitely going to be canon-compliant, but writing in a time-skip from where Korra left off. So compliant to the existing lore, but establishing my own vision of where the world will be after Korra. I don't think this is too important of detail for others to know, but do people want that outlined for them to know what to expect?

You can also make a timeline in a spreadsheet program, if you have a lot of concurrent threads going on in your work.

Finally, remember that the bulk of 'writing' is really editing. If you want to get good at long-term planning, then start with whatever you have and then keep tinkering with it, snip something here, add something there, keep editing it. If you feel like you can never reach a 'final' state, then set yourself a reasonable deadline, as if you were submitting your manuscript to a publisher.

Click to shrink...

I should look up examples of spreadsheets since I know I will be having to follow characters and keep track of where they are at, where I want them to go and how long it will take for them to get there. I want to practice being character-driven, rather than story-driven so this does seem idea.

I will definitely remember the editing bit.

Also, since your main concern was about pacing, the general rule of thumb for pacing each chapter is to simply look at each chapter as its own mini-story with a beginning, middle, and end. What is the point of this particular chapter? What is the "event" happening in it, what leads up to it, and what is the immediate result? That's where the chapter ends. Some might be longer or shorter.

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No worries there, this is exactly what I want and will be doing. I always told my friends this very same advice (and no one ever listened but whatever).

 

[Illusion]

Apparently when you have characters start banging, it gets a lot of people interested

Click to shrink...

Sex will get you a lot of views but if you wanna keep readers you gotta build up to the sex over multiple chapters. But you don't have to do that at all and don't feel pressured into it.

Click to shrink...

Click to shrink...

Pick two characters who you want to see bang

Then turn them into Sonic the Hedgehog characters

Then pitch it as a vampire novel and movie series

Done.

Click to shrink...

3) Romance sells. Doesn't need to be sex, but you will get a lot more attention with a pairing than without one. Especially if it's a popular pairing.

Click to shrink...

 

[Delio]

I big up Ao3 and FF.net as well. PRob the two biggest for fanfiction.

 

[Siggy-P]

You want the actual most important advice though, you just gotta go for it. Set up an account and start writing. Writing is something that you gotta do to learn to be better at.

 

[birdinsky]

This is kind of a weird question, I guess, since what is "good" fanfiction and what is "good" traditional fiction are not necessarily similar (because any story that is intended to be standalone vs. one that is building on other elements are fundamentally different). To be clear, I read and write fic, so I'm not saying this in any derogatory manner. It's just that "I want to write fic specifically to improve as a writer" as the stated, explicit goal is... rare to come across.

It's also awkward because you likely won't get a lot of engagement in a critical sense -- people tend not to leave critical comments unless specifically asked for. It's considered somewhat impolite, but also, just as writers usually aren't writing for self-improvement purposes, readers usually aren't reading fic with the same mindset as reading commercial fiction (I know that I don't) so it's not like they're reading with an eye for critique. In general, engagement will probably be more sporadic on a larger, more impersonal site like ao3 compared to, say, an ATLA fan community where people share works, but the latter does require searching and also actively building relationships. The comment to kudos (on ao3) to hit ratio will also probably be not very encouraging for a first-time writer in a smaller (older) fandom.

That said, I'm not trying to discourage you from writing. To the contrary, I genuinely hope you have fun writing whatever you want to write. But do perhaps temper your expectations.

 

[Deleted member 60582]

 

[Deleted member 48897]

This is one of those "just do it" kind of things. Better to put out something crap than put out nothing at all. It's not exactly professional work, is the thing.

 

[Illusion]

You want the actual most important advice though, you just gotta go for it. Set up an account and start writing. Writing is something that you gotta do to learn to be better at.

Click to shrink...

Writing as you speak.

That said, I'm not trying to discourage you from writing. To the contrary, I genuinely hope you have fun writing whatever you want to write. But do perhaps temper your expectations.

Click to shrink...

I'm not expecting even 10 people to read it by finding it on their own, let alone comment on it. But I do want to share with friends who have an interest (I have two friends I can go to for anything in this topic. And then a larger creative group I'm part of that will definitely read and critique my work narratively). I just want to know sites I can post it since it's fanfiction and I don't have any reason not to share it and add it to the collective internet pile.

This is just something I want to write about for fun because I just have the idea stuck in my head, but also use it as an educational tool to learn proper writing.

 

[Weiss]

Just go for it.

Honestly I wish I had picked it up in my younger days. It seems like a great way to learn how to write.

 

[birdinsky]

If that's the case, god bless and have fun. Getting an ao3 account is a bit of a hassle but worth it.

 

[EdibleKnife]

Heh what a coincidence. I've actually been working on modest Roger Rabbit and Super Mario fanfiction projects off and on the past few weeks. Like people have already pointed out, Ao3 is a really good site that I use myself. Also in terms of planning I'd say if you can spend about $10-15 you could get a couple of books about writing craft, specifically about outlining and structure (ex: Save The Cat, Robert McKee's Story, John Truby's Anatomy of Story, books from K.M. Weiland ect.) Just start reading them on the side when you can. Right now though just get down an outline of scenes you'd like to see at the beginning, middle, & end using just a few sentence or paragraph synopsis for each & then bit by bit make a through-line of simple event points between each. Slowly you'll get a rough skeleton that you can use to start on your actual manuscript. You can also freely find what's called the Dan Harmon' Story Circle that's basically a simplified and modified version of Camppbell's heroes journey and is a good jumping off point for starting an outline.

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LOL

 

[Xita]

Honestly just go for it. And be sure to get someone else to look at it. It sounds like you want to write a rewrite of the show so maybe check out what other people in the fandom have done for show rewrites more ideas. Also while I don't blame you for wanting to be canon-compliant don't be afraid to stretch that a little bit, this is your story after all, and it's also possible that the show made some dumb decisions (never seen it all so I don't know).

This is kind of a weird question, I guess, since what is "good" fanfiction and what is "good" traditional fiction are not necessarily similar (because any story that is intended to be standalone vs. one that is building on other elements are fundamentally different). To be clear, I read and write fic, so I'm not saying this in any derogatory manner. It's just that "I want to write fic specifically to improve as a writer" as the stated, explicit goal is... rare to come across.

Click to shrink...

This is not true in my experience. While yes people write for fun, a lot of people I've seen who write fanfic also want to write to improve their writing and/or plan on writing original fiction at some point. I've heard the phrase "fanfiction is the training wheels for original fiction" quite a bit (though I don't really agree). Writing a whole new book world can be very intimidating at times so practicing your craft with a pre-constructed world and characters is pretty helpful. Also opinions on leaving crit and not leaving crit tend to be very split in my experience as well, and I've seen in a lot of cases that people leave the crit up to their betas.

 

[petitmelon]

AO3 is your best bet. Hot series get a lot of interaction but niche and/or "dead/concluded" don't. Popular pairings get more traction too. However, I don't really notice an interaction difference in my explicit and non-explicit works.

Save The Cat Writes A Novel is one of the best books on structure and outlining I've read.

Just today, I learned an online writing program called Wavemaker.cards exists. What I like about it (besides being a free and evolved Scrivener) is that it has templates from several popular resource books already programmed in (like the aforementioned Save the Cat). You could start a project and see a few popular methods at once and decide which ones you want to learn more about.

Pacing is one of those things you learn and get better at as you go along and learn more about the craft. Even then, you won't know what to cut until you're done with the first draft which... is difficult/impossible with fanfic because it's serialized.

 

[Dr Shasta]

I want to start writing for fun again and with the lockdown and the amount of free time I have. I want to explore writing fanfiction for Avatar: The Last Airbender/ Korra universe. But I want to use this as means to become a better writer, to work and learn more on building story planning, structure, and narrative.

I already have pieced together the story I want to tell, most of the characters, setting, and the ending all in my head.
The problem I have is trying to maintain pace of storytelling and character development. Cutting out the fluff of the story to more dedicated chapters as if they were episodes to the show.

And I'm unsure what sites out I can post fanfiction at. Or one with an engaging community that can critique my writing, or just enjoying the story to begin with.

I've always been a good writer and been told that by any of my English teachers in both middle, high school and college. But I've never had experienced in long term planning in terms of something to the size of a book or short novel.

Any help era?

Click to shrink...

Maybe study the structure of things you enjoy and try to copy that.
Once you have a starting point your brain can start being creative.

 

[birdinsky]

This is not true in my experience. While yes people write for fun, a lot of people I've seen who write fanfic also want to write to improve their writing or plan on writing original fiction at some point. I've heard the phrase "fanfiction is the training wheels for original fiction" quite a bit (though I don't really agree). Writing a whole new book world can be very intimidating at times so practicing your craft with a pre-constructed world and characters is pretty helpful. Also opinions on leaving crit and not leaving crit tend to be very split in my experience as well, and I've seen in a lot of cases that people leave the crit up to their betas.

Click to shrink...

I think ymmv depending on which fandoms you hang out in, as norms will vary both across fandoms and time, and obvs nothing is 100% (even in places it is frowned upon people WILL leave critical comments) but, also to caveat that this is my experience, the general current climate in larger fandoms across ao3 is absolutely majority hobbyist, unsolicited concrit unwelcome. As you say, betaing is different, but betas are SOLICITED crit from people you (tend to) have a preestablished relationship with. We may just hang out in wildly different corners of the internet though.

 

[Archmage]

Not to hijack the thread, but does anyone know of sites to post serial original fiction?

 

[Dedication Through Light]

I want to start writing for fun again and with the lockdown and the amount of free time I have. I want to explore writing fanfiction for Avatar: The Last Airbender/ Korra universe. But I want to use this as means to become a better writer, to work and learn more on building story planning, structure, and narrative.

I already have pieced together the story I want to tell, most of the characters, setting, and the ending all in my head.
The problem I have is trying to maintain pace of storytelling and character development. Cutting out the fluff of the story to more dedicated chapters as if they were episodes to the show.

And I'm unsure what sites out I can post fanfiction at. Or one with an engaging community that can critique my writing, or just enjoying the story to begin with.

I've always been a good writer and been told that by any of my English teachers in both middle, high school and college. But I've never had experienced in long term planning in terms of something to the size of a book or short novel.

Any help era?

Click to shrink...

I would post on AO3, my preferred place, 800,000 words of fanfiction writter and 61 Fics posted there and counting as of today.

Fanfiction.net is an option but story tagging options, ships, and such are pretty inferior to the archive, and community. Some people post on Wattpad, but I hate the interface.


-
If you want critique then you could specify it when you post since theres always the issue of
-some people dont like unsolicited critique and thus have given people bad experiences when they offered it "unasked"
-again since people dont know if the writer wants it or not, you , the writer have to say its alright

-Dont know if you need to cut the fluff as there isn't any length or such. I guess you have to decide if it is getting in the way of plot, but then you have to decide are you cutting out making your characters come alive through these fluff type moments, sometimes these moments are needed to keep it from feeling like PLOT PLOT PLOT ACTION ACTION ACTION nonstop no breathing. I think fanfiction people want to see character interactions and world building since canon leaves it lacking.

=Avatar fandom is active so you wont have to worry about posting in a dead fandom (though some dead fandoms still have people reading fics)=

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Not to hijack the thread, but does anyone know of sites to post serial original fiction?

Click to shrink...

wattpad is probably the most well traversed one

people do post original fiction on AO3 and some get well read,

 

[BDS]

Not to hijack the thread, but does anyone know of sites to post serial original fiction?

Click to shrink...

Wattpad is where I was posting my NaNoWriMo work.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Here's an excerpt of one I've been writing for years.

Sonic scattered the contents of the dining table across the floor and looked back with passionate eyes at the car from Initial D

"vroom vroom" whisperer the car from Initial D seductively.

"Come here big boy. You're being too slow. And I wanna go fast" cooed back Sonic as he super sexily wiggled his index finger beckoning the car from Initial D, you know the famous one whose model and brand escapee me to get over there.

The Car from Initial D began to drift all over the house as a Eurobeat version of some Barry white song or some other sexy fucking song started playing.

 

[Deleted member 4869]

This video may be useful for you, OP.

 

[Xita]

Not to hijack the thread, but does anyone know of sites to post serial original fiction?

Click to shrink...

Wattpad waa already mentioned but AO3 also has a section for original fiction. Doesn't seem like a good way to get your fic attention since it's kinda hiddden though.

I've also heard of Fiction Press and Scribble Hub as alternatives.

 

[Surakian]

Archive Of Our Own is the place to post fanfic. There is a big ATLA/LoK audience there as well that is still there (and will definitely begin to thrive again thanks to Netflix putting the series on their service)

If you are looking for criticism and critique, you can always ask for your readers to leave those kinds of comments for you to help you improve your writing. That being said, don't expect too much from that. It's hard to get comments on your fic unless it is super popular, and if it is popular, you are probably getting a lot of spazzing in your comments.

I've been getting back into fanfic writing recently without much success on getting hits and kudos (likes) so trust me when I say you will definitely feel discouraged at times from writing because you aren't getting as much attention as more established writers on the platform who might have an audience on their Twitter or Tumblr accounts that follows them to AO3.

Don't let that stop you. Remember you are writing for yourself first and foremost.

When it comes to actually making the story happen, outline and drafting is important. Even a very straightforward outline can help you to focus on what you want to accomplish with your story.

I am personally not great at that and instead just write whatever appears on the page from my empty brain and hope for the best, and then don't touch something for months until I can do it again. Eventually a story comes to fruition.

You just have to figure out what works best for you.

 

[Charlotte Lucas]

Archive of our Own is good, but you might be better off going to like a writing subreddit or forum if you want serious critique. I rarely see critique on Ao3 even when the author asks.

Just today, I learned an online writing program called Wavemaker.cards exists. What I like about it (besides being a free and evolved Scrivener) is that it has templates from several popular resource books already programmed in (like the aforementioned Save the Cat). You could start a project and see a few popular methods at once and decide which ones you want to learn more about.

Click to shrink...

Only browsed through it for a bit, but I love it already. I've been looking for an online app similar to Scrivener for a while now, but each one I've tried was always lacking something. Wavemaker looks perfect.

 

[Jotakori]

I don't really have any more advice to add that hasn't already been shared (AO3 ftw!) but just wanted to say that hey I feel ya, OP! I haven't written anything for nearly a decade but the sudden desire to start again has been ever increasingly creeping up on me, too. I've even been getting as far as outlining entire plot ideas from start to finish recently. Really starting to feel like it's only a matter of time before I finally take that plunge again (and god, I'll probably so damn rusty if/when I do lol).

I wish you good luck with your writing pursuits!! I hope you end up actually getting around to it and get a lot of great feedback/responses! :))

 

[Sign My Guestbook!]

Click to shrink...

I wish that movie had been real lol

 

[Jonnax]

Is AO3 actually good?

Like the organisation seems bad.
Like people list every character that's in their story even if they're just saying a line.

Also it seems to be a place where people write pedophilia or rape stories which aren't allowed on fanfiction.net.

 

[Opto]

AO3 and just start writing. You are going to learn a lot from your own mistakes.

 

[Yams]

Have you tried applying for Lucasfilms?

 

[TheSaddestSort]

Ao3 is good, though I have a difficult time using their search tool and the mountains of tags can be a bit much. There's also Spacebattles and Sufficient Velocity which can come with their own pros (can be more conducive to having direct communication with your readers) and cons (derails, shipping, arguments, etc). Just start writing and have fun!

 

[ibyea]

Is AO3 actually good?

Like the organisation seems bad.
Like people list every character that's in their story even if they're just saying a line.

Also it seems to be a place where people write pedophilia or rape stories which aren't allowed on fanfiction.net.

Click to shrink...

In my experience, the number of tags is inversely proportional to the quality of the story. So in a way posts with massive tag dumps are a good way to discriminate which ones to avoid.

 

[Torpedo Vegas]

 

[Fiction]

We have an expert in Fiction

Click to shrink...

Hi OP, I am happy to help!

Like others have said, fanfiction.net is considered the gutter of fanfiction. Definitely use Archive of Our Own (Ao3)

Some quick tips:
I know it's really really tempting, but fanfiction is about the characters. If you write original characters, especially ones that hook up with Canon characters, no one will read your fic . There are million word epics on ao3 with 4 views because of that 'original character' tag. Fanfic is about practice, so practice. Write the in universe characters. AU fic is real popular right now, so throw them in a coffee shop meeting universe if you want to mix things up.

Read a lot of popular fics in your chosen media before posting. This will give you an idea of what is popular and what will get you readers / feedback

Find out your niche and how to tag it. Pay very close attention to the tags on Ao3. Tags are extremely important, and if you don't tag your fic properly it will be detrimental to you.

Any questions you have specifically just ask away, I am happy to help! I don't know the fandoms you have chosen as well as some, but it mostly all translates over :)

 

[Fiction]

In my experience, the number of tags is inversely proportional to the quality of the story. So in a way posts with massive tag dumps are a good way to discriminate which ones to avoid.

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The massively tagged ones are usually huge crossovers that no one wanted :/

Like I said, just figure out how to tag correctly and you are golden. The tags feature on Ao3 is amazing for finding specific genres of fic within each fandom.

 

[TheCthultist]

As with most things writing-related, the best advice I can offer is to JUST START WRITING!!!

Honestly, there's no better place to begin. The rest will work itself out as you go.

 

[ibyea]

The massively tagged ones are usually huge crossovers that no one wanted :/

Click to shrink...

That, or a collection of uninspiring drabbles, or some freaky pornography.