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                   How to Write a Fanfic
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                 An editorial by NetRaptor
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	I don't claim to be an expert on this subject--I've only been 
writing a few years, myself--but I have been asked the question, "How 
do you write a fanfic?" This is my answer.

Pick a subject/idea to write about. Anything that captures your interest 
will do. Do you have a new character to add to the Freedom Fighters? 
Have you outlined the entire history of Mobius in your head? Are your 
plans set in the post-Robotnik era? Or, if you are not interested in 
Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction, how about writing sequels to favorite 
movies, or picking another videogame altogether? (And there are 
PLENTY to choose from.) Write it down! Sometimes the phrasing used in 
wording your idea turns out to be the title.
	
Outlining a story can be helpful. Although I have written several 
stories without outlining, I recommend using one. My favorite way is 
the molecule method: sticking events in bubbles and connecting them 
with lines. This way you have a clear sequence of events to follow 
and don't forget your key points at the climax. Ideas and details can 
be added anywhere you please.

"Okay," you say, "I've got my outline and ideas all planned out--how 
do I start writing?" Yes, staring at a blank sheet of paper is 
intimidating. It is also known as Writer's Block. Well, if people are 
going to be interested in reading your story, the first few lines must 
grab their attention. This is called the 'teaser' or 'hook'. The first 
sentence can be a vivid description of a setting ("It was cold, oh, 
so bitterly cold ..."), dialogue ("This was not my idea!" Sonic 
exclaimed ...), plot, action, or anything else you can think of. If 
you're still stuck, remember the 4WH: who, what, when, where, why, 
how.
	
Now you are a page or two into your story. Time for another buzz-word 
among writers: Plot Development. I've heard this compared to a chess 
game. You want the hero to triumph, the villain to be utterly 
defeated and the princess rescued. But in order to get there you have 
to play the moves one by one. Don't bog down--you must keep your 
reader interested. You don't need to have him on the edge of his 
seat, just ready to turn the page. How many moves ahead can you see? 
Can you see that checkmate?
	
One minute you are zipping along at high speed, consuming notebook paper 
by the ream--and then you realize all your characters are flat and 
sound exactly the same. "Ahh!" you cry. "What did I do wrong?" You 
made the same mistake I did; you didn't let yourself get close to your 
characters. As Jill Bond says in 'Writing to God's Glory', "If you 
can see them, hear them, crawl into their skins--then so will your 
reader. Go beyond height, weight and head-of-household statistics. 
Imagine their life stories. Develop them more than you'll ever tell 
the reader. Make them into human beings."¹ This DOES take time, I'll 
admit. If you can, draw your characters and any objects they might 
want or carry. Visual aids help tremendously. I don't feel I can use 
a character unless I can draw them.

Study the mechanics of writing, but mind that you don't kill yourself 
on punctuation. A computer can fix punctuation, capitalization and 
spelling, but it can't invent a story. Read good books; preferably 
the classics. Develop your taste. I like wolf stories like White 
Fang and Call of the Wild, fantasy like J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of 
the Rings trilogy or C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. As you read 
you will see how good grammar is used. And you can learn more than 
you ever will from a textbook.

Another note before closing--foreshadowing. You hint at what will come 
later. For good foreshadowing, cup a hand over the light of your 
memory and guess wildly, with your characters, about what's about to 
happen. They don't know and so neither does your reader. 

If anything you are probably scratching your head, wondering what my 
point was. Well, it is this: anybody can write, but it takes some 
effort to write a story. It involves planning, character development, 
plot development and the scribbling down of ideas, phrasing or plot 
twists. And boy howdy, is it fun. 

¹ 'Writing to God's Glory'
Copyright © 1997 by Jill Bond
Published by Homeschool Press
All rights reserved

http://www.bondingplace.com/catalog/writing.html