Who here writes Fan-Fiction?

Senkusha

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Senkusha
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I've written quite a bit of fan-fiction through the years. Much of it isn't online however. I find that I can write longer-form content (if you can believe that!) better with a pile of spiral-bound notebooks and a few dozen pens.

One of my first (completed) stories was one entitled "Answering Fate", which heavily took place within the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha setting. Basically, this was a story that I was itching to tell. A single with, a desperate cry for love from a deprived and rejected girl. Admittedly, this was a bit of a self-insert and one of the first dabblings into cross-over fiction with my other favorite anime at the time Tenchi Universe. After three re-writes and either 24 and 26 chapters, I was so moved by the ending I wrote, that I literally sobbed. (This was kind of a trauma-releasing story), and as much as I wanted to share it with others, only very few people actually read it. I needed to write this story. Because much like Fate, I was abused and abandoned too.

Over the next few years, I wrote a total of seven stories that weren't necessarily connected, however with a little tweaking, they could easily be serialized into one massive story. I began that project in 2020, but unfortunately, working life has pulled me away from this project that I really want to do. And this tale gets worse when, I apparently, during one of my moves, have lost the original fiction. So, now I have to recreate the entire story from memory. But I'm going to think about this as a Fourth Revision instead of a complete re-do. Every time I rewrote this story, it got better, although I've never been able to recreate that epic ending. Perhaps, once I released those words from my heart, they accomplished their mission, and I no longer needed to record them again.

Anyway, does anybody else write for fun? What's your favorite anime series to write in?
 
Back in school, I was often greeted as the best creative writing writer amongst the students. But now it all has come to getting rusty. I have never written fanfiction. But I am planning to make my own scifi fantasy novel series. And so, to reverberate my writing again, starting from fanfiction might be a good idea considering I do not need to think of the worldbuilding much, and just focus on the scenario. Could you give me some pointers in creative writing for fanfiction?
 
Sure!

In my experience (I've read quite a bit of fan-fiction over the years), you'll want to center on a single character. Create some plot that is hyper-focused on that character. Like my story "Answering Fate", obviously, the protagonist was Fate Testarossa.

The second most useful thing I learned was spend some time reading. I found one author years ago (I fear he has probably retired now), Davner, and I just connected with his style of storytelling. Back when I was really not so great at writing, I attempted to copy his style. His pacing. It worked wonders. My writing drastically improved. I think it also helped that I believe he was a professional journalist though, so he knew a thing or two about good storytelling.

Third, for your plot, own it. Make something from your heart and lean all the way into it. Don't get bogged down with the details of the fandom. Alternate Universes do exist. After all, most people write fan fiction to have fun-- at least I do. Stay consistent in whatever changes you may make to the overall world, even if you later discover you had something totally wrong, as tempting as it is to correct it, unless you're going to go through your entire story, just leave it.

If you're going to post on a public forum for fiction, I recommend ending each chapter on a cliff-hanger. I love it, it keeps me engaged as a reader and follower. And when I've employed it, my audience seemed to enjoy it too.

Finally, don't be too hard on yourself. I've read a lot of... shall we say, stuff that needs lots of work... The point is to tell a story while having fun. Sharing your idea, your world, plot, new character, etc.
 
Senkusha said:
Sure!

In my experience (I've read quite a bit of fan-fiction over the years), you'll want to center on a single character. Create some plot that is hyper-focused on that character. Like my story "Answering Fate", obviously, the protagonist was Fate Testarossa.

The second most useful thing I learned was spend some time reading. I found one author years ago (I fear he has probably retired now), Davner, and I just connected with his style of storytelling. Back when I was really not so great at writing, I attempted to copy his style. His pacing. It worked wonders. My writing drastically improved. I think it also helped that I believe he was a professional journalist though, so he knew a thing or two about good storytelling.

Third, for your plot, own it. Make something from your heart and lean all the way into it. Don't get bogged down with the details of the fandom. Alternate Universes do exist. After all, most people write fan fiction to have fun-- at least I do. Stay consistent in whatever changes you may make to the overall world, even if you later discover you had something totally wrong, as tempting as it is to correct it, unless you're going to go through your entire story, just leave it.

If you're going to post on a public forum for fiction, I recommend ending each chapter on a cliff-hanger. I love it, it keeps me engaged as a reader and follower. And when I've employed it, my audience seemed to enjoy it too.

Finally, don't be too hard on yourself. I've read a lot of... shall we say, stuff that needs lots of work... The point is to tell a story while having fun. Sharing your idea, your world, plot, new character, etc.
Click to expand...
Whoa, now I am seeing it all in new lights, thank you, this is really a breakthru roadmap :>
 
Just wait until I introduce PbP role play.... 😆
You're welcome!
 
What's a PbP :'>
 
Oh! Silly me.
PbP means Play by Post. Instead of gathering around a giant table with your friends, you login to a forum (or nowadays Discord) and take turns typing out your character's actions. It's kind of like a multi-authored story...but with random chance added. I happen to prefer forums because they're lower stress and it's easier to go back and read the history/lore of the game session.
As an example, I've got one (re-)started up on my own forum. Granted, I recently just begun, so there's not much there just yet. 😅
 
Sounds cool! It's like acting on words, yes?
 
So it's like a forum game then :>
We should do this.
But I've been rusty, my vocab is limited xD
 
Yes and no.
A forum based role playing game is a game, however, it's usually so much more deeper than simple one-line responses that are typical of most forum games.

You'll want to create a character whom you can imagine yourself as-- whether that character is from a anime or TV show (canon-based) or somebody you create out of your imagination (original-concept).

We'll also need a plot, and a world to be created to play inside of. Since this is an anime board, if this is to become a thing, perhaps a world based on an anime setting that everybody is at least familiar with. Back when I ran my Tenchi Muyo forum, I created my first PbP game set within the setting of Tenchi Muyo, within the Jurai Empire, a space opera with a mix of harem comedy and a slight tinge of inappropriate innuendo (we were all really young back then. 😅)

Finally, you'll have to agree who will be the Game Master-- the keeper of the game, the master of the rules, dissolves arguments and spurs ideas to keep the game flowing. This also implies agreeing upon the use of specific role playing system, if one is wanted. The game I showed an example of, Urd's Sake House, does not use any sort of randomization mechanic, and the characters creation is just either borrowing already existing anime characters or imagining personality concepts of the actual players (self inserts into a fictional world)-- it's a very free-form style of game that's designed to be loose and relaxed.

There are other games that I've participated in that require the heavy use of a rule set to not only build and define your character concept, but to navigate within the world. Based on my experience of over 200 game systems I've looked at, my favorite for PbP style play is the Cypher System. Why? Because the players roll all the dice. And there's the concept of Intrusions which can easily tweak and modify the plot/scene, which comes natural in a purely narrative form of game play like a forum. But there's tons of other systems that could be used with some modifications of the mechanical rules for a forum environment.
 
I can see that. Using an established anime setting is smart since everyone already understands the power scale, tone, and themes.
 
@Senkusha I'm thinking of writing fanfic that combines multiple animes and video games together....
 
Ooo! What anime? What video games? (Not that I can offer much of any assistance regarding the video games or if they're anime I haven't seen before....

But, in the Answering Fate fiction I wrote years ago, I ended up adding Ah! My Goddess, Tenchi Universe, and a little bit of Ranma 1/2 in with Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha base/core (this was in one of the sequel stories). I thought it turned out really well, and I wish I still had that story to showcase. Each chapter had a naming conversation that fused Ah! My Goddess with Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, and it was based on the budding of a romantic relationship (back before I knew that Fate is a lesbian.)
 
I'm still thinking which anime and video games I wanna merge. Dragon Ball, Final Fantasy 7,8,9, One Piece, Naruto, Fairy Tail, Bleach, Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai,... Hmm I'm still thinking of what to merge and add
 
All I know about all the anime and games that you've mentioned is that some of them fall into the Shonen realm. That is lots of competition and fighting. So I would probably start there. Choose one character you want to be the primary protagonist. Somebody that you can really get into the head of. A character you know like the back of your hand. Start them on some adventure, and then bring in a second character. Maybe from the same anime/video game, a traveling companion, so to speak. Then I'd add somebody else, from one of the other sources of inspiration you've listed.

Think about what common themes each one of these titles has with each other. For example, in my mega-crossover fan-fiction, there was a common thread with friendship, coming of age, and being a hero. So that's what I started with. Friendship. Conflict within a friendship. I remember one scene I wrote where Fate yelled at Nanoha for not understanding all the trauma that she (Fate) had lived through, all the abuse. The feelings of love that she felt for her mother, despite all the pain involved, and how Nanoha didn't experience that sort of thing in her life.

Granted, I was also writing in a first person perspective, so I could really tap into those emotions and internal monologue. Most people, however, write fan-fiction in a third person perspective, similar to the way anime is portrayed. Because it's actually easier to write as Director, rather than as an Actor.
 
Thanks so much for these critical pointers, Sen! Like always, you are a splendid well-articulated writer :>
I shall apply what good I learnt from you ^^
 
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