History SoYouWantTo / WriteAFanfic

Before anything else of course you choose your '''Work of Fiction'''. If you look for example at Website/FanFictionDotNet, you will find that people have written fanfics for any genre, any medium, from Creator/WilliamShakespeare's works to the ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' series to ''Literature/BridgetJones'' to ''TheTransformers''.

Before anything else of course you choose your '''Work of Fiction'''. If you look for example at FanfictionDotNet, you will find that people have written fanfics for any genre, any medium, from Creator/WilliamShakespeare's works to the ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' series to ''Literature/BridgetJones'' to ''TheTransformers''.

* '''Alternate Universe''': The inverse of Elsewhere, this involves taking existing characters and casting them in entirely different roles and often a whole different setting. Different from Divergence in that it completely discards the main plot in the process. This is a fairly controversial format due to the tendency of the characters being InNameOnly. If writing an AU fic, remember to stay true to the characters' personalities and gimmicks despite their new setting.

* '''Title''': Make it short and simple, unless you have good reason for doing otherwise. Obscure poetry lines do not make good titles; they are difficult to remember and make the author sound pretentious. Neither do sentences like; "[Character A] gets fucked". Awkward titles- even if they're [[IntentionallyAwkwardTitle intentional]]- make the fic difficult to recommend to others. For example, every time it's listed on a trope page, people with no knowledge of the fic will skim by it, think, 'That sounds silly' and quickly forget about it. [[note]] You cannot rely on BileFascination to get you an audience. [[/note]] Every time someone recommends it on their LiveJournal, they'll have to spend time explaining, 'It's better than it sounds, ''really''!' A fic can become popular if it has a boring title and a good story, but not the other way around.

* Website/LiveJournal - Doesn't have the same stigma as Fanfiction.net, and a lot more pleasant and intuitive to use, as well as a lot more customizable and much better for talking to people. However, it was designed as a blog site first and foremost, and thus there isn't really one large archive of fic the way there is on other sites. However, it is possible to find fandom, character, or pairing-specific communities and post your fic, or links to it, there, which can help it reach a much wider audience - just don't spam! LiveJournal is also notable for playing host to a lot of {{Kink Meme}}s, competitions, fests (occasions where people create fanworks in line with a theme,) and the like, although its popularity is dwindling slightly.

* Website/DreamWidth, Website/InsaneJournal, etc - Essentially LiveJournal clones, although navigation and terminology differ.

** '''Fetish Station''': Simply a fanfic that was written to involve characters as the meter maids when you need to refill your FetishFuel tank. Often a subgenre of romance. ExcusePlot, NoPlotNoProblem and PornWithoutPlot can be included in this.

* '''Continuation''': A story that takes the existing canon and goes further in its same style. This could include filling in details that weren't shown in the original work (e.g. an off-screen character's struggles that were only alluded on-screen). This is one's best bet for a wide audience, but it requires a decent understanding of the entire work.

* '''Alternate Universe''': The inverse of Elsewhere, this involves taking existing characters and just casting them in entirely different roles and often a whole different setting. Different from Divergence in that it completely discards the main plot in the process. This is a fairly controversial format due to the tendency of the characters being InNameOnly. If writing an AU fic, remember to stay true to the characters' personalities and gimmicks despite their new setting.

* [[http://www.www.wattpad.com Wattpad]]- is a place to discover and share stories: a social platform that connects people through words. It is a community that spans borders, interests, languages. With Wattpad, anyone can read or write on any device: phone, tablet, or computer. Originally started as a place for original fiction, the amount of fanfiction has grown over the years. The site encourages fanfiction as equivalent to original fiction in its contests and popularity ratings. They have [[http://www.wattpad.com/go/writing-contests fanfiction writing contests]] and fanfiction challenges like [[http://www.wattpad.com/takethepledge #JustWriteIt]].

* [[http://www.www.wattpad.com Wattpad]]- is a place to discover and share stories: a social platform that connects people through words. It is a community that spans borders, interests, languages. With Wattpad, anyone can read or write on any device: phone, tablet, or computer. Originally started as a place for original fiction, the amount of fanfiction has grown over the years. The site encourages fanfiction as equivalent to original fiction in its contests and popularity ratings. They have [[http://www.www.wattpad.com/go/writing-contests fanfiction writing contests]] and fanfiction challenges like [[http://www.wattpad.com/takethepledge #JustWriteIt]].

* Website/Wattpad - is a place to discover and share stories: a social platform that connects people through words. It is a community that spans borders, interests, languages. With Wattpad, anyone can read or write on any device: phone, tablet, or computer. Originally started as a place for original fiction, the amount of fanfiction has grown over the years. The site encourages fanfiction as equivalent to original fiction in its contests and popularity ratings. They have fanfiction writing contests [[http://www.www.wattpad.com/go/writing-contests ]] and fanfiction challenges like [[http://www.wattpad.com/takethepledge #JustWriteIt]].

* Fandom-specific archives - These are ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. We at TV Tropes have links to several of them [[NotableFanfictionArchives here]], and until WikiMagic compiles a full list of the best-known, Google is once again your friend.

* '''ElsewhereFic''': Using the setting minus the main cast of characters as a backdrop for some new characters and their adventures. Video games, TabletopGames, and especially {{MMORPG}}s lend themselves very well towards this. Many games like ''DungeonsAndDragons'', ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', and ''CityOfHeroes'' are almost exclusively designed just for this purpose. One still has to follow the established rules of the universe, though.

* [[http://www.archiveofourown.org Archive Of Our Own]] - Similar to Fanfiction.net above, but far easier to use and has a much, ''much'' more versatile tagging and archiving system, and offers the user a very great deal more freedom in general. It also features pages and coding to make some of the above fests easier to run (and hosts the well-known [[http://fanlore.org/wiki/Remix_Redux_6#We_Invented_The_Remix_Redux Remix_Redux]] and [[http://fanlore.org/wiki/Yuletide Yuletide]], among many others), and unlike Fanfiction.Net, allows the user to create a category for a particular canon if it doesn't already exist. It also has a reputation for quality. However, it's noted for low comment rates (although it does have a Kudos function, similar to "likes" on Website/YouTube or Facebook but with more impact) and something of a dearth of anime and manga fandoms, and currently requires invite codes to get an account (although they're not necessarily too hard to find, with a bit of Googling.)

* '''[[LetsYouAndHimFight Versus]]''': Sometimes, you just want to explore what would happen if Character A were to square off against Character B. This could be a {{crossover}}, or they might be two characters from the same canon who never got to throw down (to your satisfaction, anyway.) Some readers will be satisfied with nothing but a contest where their favored character dominates, but a good Versus fic ought to present with a good reason for A and B to have their duel/mecha battle/cooking contest/card game/whatever, come up with a plausible outcome and show the results of their contact. Does it change the course of the story? How do they feel about the outcome? If the characters are from different canons, will they stay in contact? You'll find that even something as simple as "A vs B" raises a lot of questions.

** '''Fetish Station''': Simply a fanfic that was written to involve characters as the meter maids when you need to refill your FetishFuel tank. Often a subgenre of romance. PlotWhatPlot can be included in this.

* '''Author's Notes''': Never insert these ''inside'' a story; it breaks the feeling of immersion and distracts the reader. Any meta notes should be placed at the beginning or end of a fic. If knowing a certain fact is vital to understanding the fic, introduce that fact within the story- not outside it. If you place an author's note at the story's beginning, do ''not'' make it long or tedious. We clicked on your fic because we wanted to read it, not because we wanted to hear your holiday anecdotes or [[SarcasmMode scintillating]] opinions on everything in canon.

** Be careful if writing a GenreShift. A lighthearted romantic comedy could certainly become a chilling horror story, but have you [[CerebusSyndrome foreshadowed]] the change? Is it [[DiabolusExMachina internally]] [[DuesAngstMachina consistent]]? Is it what the readers are expecting? WhamEpisode[=s=] are all well and good, but if they come out of nowhere, your readership will likely be alienated. Also, provide honest content warnings.

* '''Title''': Make it short and simple, unless you have good reason for doing otherwise. Obscure poetry lines do not make good titles; they are difficult to remember and make the author sound pretentious. Neither do sentences like; "[Character A] gets fucked". Awkward titles- even if they're [[IntentionallyAwkwardTitle intentional]]- make the fic difficult to recommend to others. For example, every time it's listed on a trope page, people with no knowledge of the fic will skim by it, think, 'That sounds silly' and quickly forget about it. [[note]] You cannot rely on BileFascination to get you an audience. [[/note]] Every time someone recommends it on their LiveJournal, they'll have to spend time explaining, 'It's BetterThanItSounds, ''really''!' A fic can become popular if it has a boring title and a good story, but not the other way around.

* '''FanComic''': For those with a more artistic bent, this medium may be for you. Knowledge of sequential art is required for this medium, as well as good artistic skills. Note also that your storytelling needs to be good as well -- no amount of pretty pictures will save a bad story.

* '''FanComics''': For those with a more artistic bent, this medium may be for you. Knowledge of sequential art is required for this medium, as well as good artistic skills. Note also that your storytelling needs to be good as well -- no amount of pretty pictures will save a bad story.

!! Step three: Determine your style.

* '''Summarize''': Most fanfiction sites display a summary of your story on the index page - think up a good one! [[ISuckAtSummaries Tell somebody you're bad at summaries]], and why should they believe you'll be any good at writing a story? (If you're really, really stuck, go through the fic and see if you've got a short passage that could give the reader a reasonably good idea of the story's basics, and use ''that'' as your summary - that can work well, especially if it's got lines in it that you like. Also, be aware that "summarize" is a bit of a misnomer - you want to intrigue the reader, not provide a soundbite version of your fic, so go for outlining the premise rather than the plot.
* '''Author's Notes''': Never insert these ''inside'' a story; it breaks the feeling of immersion and distracts the reader. Any meta notes should be placed at the beginning or end of a fic. If knowing a certain fact is vital to understanding the fic, introduce that fact within the story- not outside it. If you place an author's note at the story's beginning, do ''not'' make it long or tedious. We clicked on your fic because we wanted to read it, not because we wanted to hear your [[SarcasmMode scintillating]] opinions on everything in canon.

You have a number of options when it comes to time to post your story. Some of the commonest:

Before anything else of course you choose your '''Work of Fiction'''. If you look for example at FanfictionDotNet, you will find that people have written fanfics for any genre, any medium, from Creator/WilliamShakespeare's works to the ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' series to ''BridgetJones'' to ''TheTransformers''.

* FanfictionDotNet - Probably the single most popular fanfiction archive out there, and one of the biggest, with a fairly extensive set of fandoms and its own organizational system. However, it's not especially easy to navigate, it's not designed for particularly easy communication between individuals, and it has a fairly widespread reputation for hosting a lot of less-than-great fanfic. However, fic can still reach an extensive and appreciative audience, so consider your options!
* LiveJournal - Doesn't have the same stigma as Fanfiction.net, and a lot more pleasant and intuitive to use, as well as a lot more customizable and much better for talking to people. However, it was designed as a blog site first and foremost, and thus there isn't really one large archive of fic the way there is on other sites. However, it is possible to find fandom, character, or pairing-specific communities and post your fic, or links to it, there, which can help it reach a much wider audience - just don't spam! LiveJournal is also notable for playing host to a lot of {{Kink Meme}}s, competitions, fests (occasions where people create fanworks in line with a theme,) and the like, although its popularity is dwindling slightly.
* DreamWidth, InsaneJournal, etc - Essentially LiveJournal clones, although navigation and terminology differ.

Before anything else of course you choose your '''Work of Fiction'''. If you look for example at FanfictionDotNet, you will find that people have written fanfics for any genre, any medium, from Creator/WilliamShakespeare's works to the ''{{Thief}}'' series to ''BridgetJones'' to ''TheTransformers''.

!! Step four: Determine your medium.
* '''Written:''' This comprises most of the fanfiction to be found on the net. Like pretty much any other writing project, it requires a good grasp of writing technique and style and a good grasp of storytelling, as well as the other special concerns surrounding fanfiction, such as characterization (actually, this is true of pretty much all media, but it's especially important here).
* '''Doujinshi:''' Fan comics are another popular venue for the aspiring fanfic creator. In addition to the concerns about writing, this requires a good grasp of artistic technique, character design, and the ability to tell a good visual story. Whether it is hand-drawn using pen and ink or put together using Photoshop and your favorite 3D program is really up to you. It goes without saying that many of the tips of [[SoYouWantTo/WriteAWebcomic So You Want To Write a Webcomic]] should also be followed.
* '''VisualNovel:''' A nice balance between the first two types of media, creating a visual novel is another viable form of writing your fic, and tips on how best to make one can be viewed [[SoYouWantTo/MakeAVisualNovel here]].
* '''WebAnimation:''' If you are good with Flash, then this is another option you can try. This requires good skills in visual art and animation, and much like doujinshi, requires you to have a good grasp of visual storytelling.
* '''Other Media:''' There's a whole host of other means to create your story -- {{Fan Film}}s, {{Fan Vid}}s, {{Machinima}}, etc.

* '''WebAnimation:''' If you are good with Flash, then this is another option you can try. This requires good skills in visual art and animation, and much like doujinshi, requires you to have a good grasp at how to tell a good visual story.