Five Pieces of Advice for Writing Fanfiction

Here are just a few things I notice about fanfictions. You can choose to scoff at me or reflect on your writing. That's up to you.

1. Write the main character first
   I think one of the biggest things I see when I read fanfiction is characters written FOR their love interest. Think about it. You're character should be its own self. In actuality, do you think that you were designed just to be with your true love? No, you have your personality and they have theirs. I, myself write One Direction fanfiction (laugh as you will). I write the character first then see which boy she fits best with.
2. Go in depth with a character
   When you come up with your lead character, before you do anything, write down their personality. I don't mean just their favorite color and animal either. Take online personality tests. When you're ready to write your character should be your best friend. Here's a couple examples of things:
   
   • Deepest wishes?
   • Least/favorite thing about themselves?
   • Childhood dreams?
   • Past hardships in their life?
   • Their relationships?
   • Their core values?
   • Weaknesses? *it's important to give a character weakness(es) so they can challenge themselves
3.  Diction
   There's this really cool tool on word where you can right click on a word and hover over "synonoms" and it will show you alternative words that mean the same thing. Play with this. Find words that fit well and flow. Try new words and/or phrases instead of using the same ones over and over again. It can and will get repetitive. It's just like in primary school when our teachers banned us from saying "said." It's overused and they wanted us to learn better verbs.
4. Be kind to your readers
   I know this isn't the big league  but come on, people. Don't make your chapters one big blob of writing, there's something called a paragraph. Don't use text language either. I'm not some hipster who understands your acronyms. Use proper spelling and grammar, it isn't that hard. Don't confuse people. I know you're excited to get started on that sequel because you have a fantastic idea but you haven't even finished the first one. Don't to a point of view switch without telling us, please. make sure it's known in some way by telling us straightforward or making it known VERY early in the chapter. Read over your chapter before publishing it and make sure that you didn't accidentally forget to include that Dr Jekyll drank a potion and that's why he turns into Hyde. #Spoiler
5. This isn't an essay.
   Have a little humor. Have a little fun. Don't be so straightforward or uptight. No: "The curtains are blue. I like the curtains. I will buy the curtains." Yes: "I'm going to buy those lovely blue curtains because I'd like to shove them up the arse of people who need to go back to elementary school."

I hope this helps some of you. If it doesn't, then you probably should ask someone with, I don't know, a college diploma.