Fan Fiction ~ Keeping it In-Character

[Renkon Root]

(I'm posting this here because we don't have an appropriate sub-forum for it.)

Fan Fiction ~ Keeping it In-Character

Watch/Read/Play/Listen to/Experience the Series
This should really go without saying. Whether it be a book, movie, cartoon, game, or what-have-you you should at the very least have exposed yourself to it before writing a fan fiction. If its a book, read it. A movie or cartoon, watch it. A game, play it. Should I go on or do you get the picture? By reading/watching/playing the thing you get to observe the characters and their behaviors in their own universe, you're no different than an anthropologist observing a culture in their natural environment. Just observe and learn. If a character acts a certain way in a situation and then you reproduce a similar situation in your own story, then that certain character should act similar (if not the same) as they acted to that situation in the cannon series. If a character is afraid of cats in cannon then he's gonna be afraid of cats in the fannon, it doesn't matter that cat's are your favorite animal and you wish said character would love them, they just won't. If a character is an air-head ditz, they're still gonna be an air-head ditz, they are not going to suddenly grow a brain just because you want them to be smarter. If a character is an abusive jack-a** in cannon then he's going to continue to be an abusive jack-a** even after he's "fallen in love" with whom ever he's being shipped with. Shall I go on?

Speech Patterns and Mannerisms
Pay attention to how they speak and interact on a general basis. If a character talks in an accent then write them with an accent. Don' gussy 'em up with all dat fancy talk like dem city folk. Save the proper English for your narrations, real people don't talk like they're dictation a formal essay. That's, like, totally not cool, dude. Hang loose, bro.

Background and Environment
Consider where the character lives and/or where they grew up, how they live and how they grew up. Most all series give a little back-story to the main characters and a hand-full of minor characters. Keep those back-stories in mind as you're writing your fiction. If the character grew up on an alien planet that valued physical strength, power and military might then that character's not going to be a tree-hugging hippie who's all about peace and love. Or a character who's lived in the big city their whole life isn't going to suddenly be a super-boy scout the first time they go camping. A girl whom was molested as a young teen won't be to eager to go boy chasing. A man who was romantically burned won't be gun-ho to find another woman any time soon. People are shaped by their environments and events just as much as environments and events are shaped by people.

Relationships with Other Character
This one kinda goes to crap in most fan fictions so I'm just a little reluctant to add it on. But... but it should be mentioned. Sworn enemies don't become best friends. Best friends are not lovers. Rivals are not necessarily "enemies". If you want to change any of these relationships in your fiction then the process MUST be slow. It must happen gradually, you must give the characters time and opportunity to evolve. Nobody just wakes up one morning and says "I'm suddenly in love with my mortal enemy!" No. If something like that is going to happen, it will happen SLOWLY and over time. Contrary to what that song from Avenue Q says, Love and Hate and NOT like two brothers who go on a date.

Listen to Feedback
This is the one that's near and dear to my heart. Listen to your readers. Please. I realize that most reviews people get are "OMG! This is so cool! Update!" or "This sux! Y do ppl reed this!?" But every now and again you'll get a really good review from a reader that really cares. They might begin with a little flattery (I usually do) and then go in to tell you that this, that, and the other thing need a little work and then give you some suggestions. Not all of these suggestions will work for you, or they may not all fit with the above mentioned tips, but remember: you're writing this for entertainment. If these suggestions are what will entertain your audience than at least considder them. You don't have to do them all, but think about this person's feedback seriously and file it in your mind for your next story (or whatever).

 

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Dude, no shipping? If people don't ship they ain't even gonna bother writing fanfiction wink Fanfic exists so two characters can get thrown together and have dirty dirty sex. Fact. I mean, if there are ship wars happening outside of the world of fanfic anyway, I'd say there's enough background UST for this or that couple to get together. You can do that without going OOC and without a huge amount of build-up. A good way to do it, and a really common one, is to have one of the people nearly die. The other quickly realises their undying love, and the H/C followed by dirty sex can happen in short order.

For example! If I were writing Jeeves and Wooster slash, I would not slash Jeeves and Wooster. Because although they clearly love one another the power-play would just be too weird for a relationship to happen, even though there's like 50 years of history on it and blah blah. I could slash Bertie/Bingo, though, because Bingo falls in love with a different person every five minutes. (I wouldn't do that though because I just don't see 'em as a couple, and anyway Bingo ends up marrying that woman who writes the romance novels.) Bingo's just that sort of person, so it wouldn't be that odd. Although Bertie might be a bit taken aback, he doesn't have to call a stop to it until after the dirty sex.

Anyway. Moving the thread to the fiction writing forum. There's no subforum for fanfic because that's not where the emphasis lies in this guild.

I wrote a Batman fanfic once. The typical "Mad Love" plotline. But it was <******** exhausting, because I switched character perspective from one chapter to another and the Joker is insane. And it gets into your head and tires you out with all the HAHAHA and so on. I seriously don't know how Mark Hamill manages it. And then I got distracted by NaNo and never finished it, even though it was total gold and people still add it to their favourites like every fortnight.  

[Renkon Root]

I actually stayed away from posting any tips or guidelines for shipping specifically because wars have been started over it. I know. I still remember the great Rin vs. Kagura war of '07. Fans met on the battle field of the ff.n message boards and battles over whom would be Sesshoumaru's true love... Gah! I can't believe I ever got mixed up in all that rubbish.

Anyway, on the subject of shipping. Cannon ships are cannon and so an author can just slide right into them like a... crap the only example I can think of is sexual! gonk *Ahem* But a non-cannon pair does need to be built up more slowly and the less likely the characters the more time the author must take. Draco Malfoy isn't going to be madly in love with Hermione Granger just because the author wants is so. Sirius was not Snape's secret lover before his tragic demise.

As for your Batman fan ficiton... man, I wish my fandoms were as popular or as active as yours. I'm lucky if my stories get a hit every few weeks, forget reviews and favs! Also, what's your ff.n penname so that I may stalk you.

And I know that the focus of the guild is not fan fiction. However, that is the majority of what I post on line. And so its also the majority of what I like to talk about on line. My real stories I discuss with real people...