Writing fan-fic is a lot of fun. Its also a great way to polish your skills as an author. However, it is also the easiest fiction to ruin. A lot of fan-fic can be, let's face it, painful to read. There are some fan fics out there that make having a root canal without any Novocain a better option than reading the story. The question is, how do you make your fan-fic stand out and be fabulous? Like my karate teacher always said, "never forget your basics - they are the core of your training."
The purpose of fiction is to entertain (well, there are sub-purposes, but for the sake of simplicity, we'll keep it at the basics) As an author, you want to attract readers and keep them reading. If they can't even get through the first few pages of your story without wanting to kill themselves , you've failed. Not only will your readers stop reading, but they won't look at anything new you wrote. In order to keep your readers entertained, you must pull them out of their world and into yours.
Mr and Mrs Smith
Creation of characters is vital to fiction. If you are writing fan-fic, you already have a whole set of characters ready-made to work with. If you are inserting your own character into someone else's world, then you must remember to follow a few certain rules. Lets start with character creation.
You should know everything there is to know about your character. Her name, her age, her height, hair and eye colour, fav food, likes and dislikes...and, most importantly but often overlooked: her hopes, dreams, and fears. Knowing that she likes to eat cake for breakfast is just not enough. What are her goals for her future life? How is she achieving those goals? Does she want to become a great chef? A famous author? Or something simple, like a mother...or maybe just have a happy life . Maybe she doesn't know what her long-term goals are...maybe her short term goals are to get a boyfriend or pass her final exams. It doesn't matter what they are - and here's the best part - or even if you tell your readers what they are - it just matters that you know. Personality of your character will begin to take shape once you know every tiny detail about her, down to what side of her mouth she chews on.
Don't skimp on personality: is she a klutz? A brain? Great at figuring out puzzles? Skilled at athletics? Does she love baseball? Or play soccer? Is she spiteful and mean or sweet and kind? The bottom line is: Know Your Character Better Than You Know Yourself!!
My How You've Grown!!
This is where the danger in creating a fan character, or OC, comes in. The general trend is to create what has been termed as a "Mary Sue" - or a completely perfect character. In order to generate sympathy for your character, to make your reader cheer for her, you must give her room for growth. This means that she is not born perfect. This means she has some sort of flaw or trouble to overcome. It could be as simple as overcoming dyslexia to become an honor-roll student, or overcoming her fear of confrontation to become a fine shinobi. But if she's already perfect and can do everything perfectly, and save the world because she's so perfect...YAWN. NEXT!! It makes for dull fiction. No, it makes for painful fiction.
A case in point are the Mary Sues generated by the glut of Naruto Fan-Fic. I've seen a lot of OCs from Naruto who have to do EVERYTHING...so they get the curse mark, join the Akatsuki, have a tailed beast sealed inside them....just so everyone knows, its already been done by Kishimoto-sensei. If you are creating a fan-fic character for a series you love, give them something different than what has already been used. Try something different! Remember, copying someone else's idea is just that: copying. It requires no skill on your part as an author and fails to pull your reader into the story.
It Was A Dark And Stormy Night....
Description is key. You don't have to go overboard, however. Description can be used a lot like colour in a painting to create a mood. This is an area where most people fall short when creating fan-fic. THEY ASSUME THEIR READER KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT!! Yes. I yelled at you. Sorry about that, but this is the single biggest mistake that many, many people make.
Lets re-visit Naruto as your setting for your fan-fic. You've got your OC, and you've crafted her into a well-rounded character with hopes, dreams, flaws, and fears. She hasn't been bitten by anyone, joined any criminal organization, or had anything sealed inside her. Now you're ready to make her interact with the other characters in Naruto that were created by Kishimoto-sensei.
Wrong: OC ran past Naruto on her way to the Hokage's office. He was standing just outside the door in his usual clothes with a backpack on.
Here's what's wrong: for the sake of argument, we'll assume you've already introduced your OC. However, who is Naruto? What is a Hokage? What does Naruto's usual clothes look like?
You should write as if the person you are writing for has never, ever read Naruto, and has no clue who any of these people are.
Right: OC ran as fast as she could to the Hokage's office. "I'm going to be late," OC fretted. The Hokage, leader of the entire ninja village where OC lived, was not a woman who tolerated lateness. OC flew past Naruto, who was standing just outside the Ramen Shop. He was wearing an orange jacket with white cuffs and a white neckline and matching orange trousers that OC always thought resembled sweat-pants, in a way. She gave him a nod and he nodded back. She noticed he had a backpack slung over one shoulder and wondered if the misfit ninja was off on another mission. His short, spiky blond hair always made him look cheerful, but there was a determined set in his blue eyes.
There. From this paragraph your readers know the following: They live in a ninja village. The Hokage is the title for the leader of the village. Naruto is a blue eyed blonde who wears orange, and is probably a bit of a maverick and somewhat unlike the other ninjas in the village (remember the word "misfit"? - says a lot).
In order to pull your readers into the story, you must write it as if they had never read Naruto ,or Death Note, or Tokyo Mew Mew or Inu-Yasha. You must describe each established character as you would your own character. You must never assume that they know what Light's Usual clothes are, or who Sesshomaru is.
On a side note, when using description, don't say, "a big white thing that Seshomaru wore over his shoulder." This is not description. This "thing" could be a shower curtain or a dead polar bear. Better is, Lord Sesshomaru wore a long train of thick white fur over his shoulder that trailed down his back.
Remember, description should be used to create a mood, or simply to inform your readers where you are, what people look like, who everyone is....and, most important, Show -don't tell.
Brother, can you spare a Plot?
Ah, plot! Yeah, you have to come up with one of those. And when you are creating your own world, you can do whatever you want. If you want to have a monk that shoots lasers from his eyes and has a gun for a hand...go for it. Just don't set it in Warring States Japan - its not believable. You're readers will get that far and say, "yeah, right!!" and quit reading. You could, however, make your future Monk fall through a time hole and land in Warring States Japan. Now...they keep reading.
If you are creating fan-fic, you really must work within the world already given to you. This is the part where a lot of people are going to get mad at me, but here's the thing: Uchiha OCs. According to the world created by Kishimoto-sensei, the entire Uchiha clan in Konoha (the ninja village where they lived) was wiped out. The only three survivors were Sasuke, Itachi, and Madara. Unless your Uchiha OC was hiding in the bathroom or away on vacation, it Just Isn't Possible that they survived the slaughter.
But I WANT to create an Uchiha OC, you say. The Uchihas are wicked cool and can do all kinds of neat stuff!!! Ah, there is a way around it. Take what has been established by the author: The Uchihas were present when the village was founded. What if...what if a few members of the Uchiha clan, upset at Madara's attempt at total power, slunk off in the middle of the night and lived as rogue ninjas (or, like ronin). They adhered to no village, just lived a nice, peaceful life...wherever (create the place). They got married (not to each other) and had kids and some of those kids developed the Uchiha trait of the powerful eye technique, the Sharingan. Then, war or disease or whatever you want forced this small clan to move on...and your OC stumbles across the ninja village where the rest of the Uchihas were slaughtered. Then they decide to stay there, and Ta Da: you have created an Uchiha OC. While something like this is unlikely...it certainly would be believable that it COULD happen...which is all you really need.
Your plot must be believable. If it isn't, if it goes against the established rules of the world in which you insert your OC, then it will not suspend belief and keep your reader interested. In fact, your fiction would probably be used as a "what NOT to do" lesson.
A plot should have conflict and resolution. There should be something moving the story along. Reading about two people talking while at the beauty parlor or while shopping at the mall is DULL DULL DULL (unless something exciting is about to happen at the mall). The conflict can be as simple as two best friends fighting to saving the entire world. But you must have some action moving the story forward.
A word on advice: I have always read that you should "write what you know." I would change this to "know what you write." If you want to create an OC and put them in the world of King Arthur, then read as much as you can about what life in England was like at that time. If you can't convince your readers that they are there, you need to fall back and punt...and do more research. An Arthurian OC would probably not break a china plate, since those were not something they had in the days of yore. Since trade with the east wasn't established at that time, there is not much of a chance that your OC would wear silk.
The same holds true for putting your OC into Feudal Japan. Takahashi-sensei did this beautifully by giving Kagome the ability to bring her modern things through the well, which is why we see her riding around on a bike in Feudal Japan. Of course, she created the world, so she can make up the rules. Once you establish the rules of your world, you must stick with them.
If the rules of the world you put your OC in aren't synchronized with the plot you have in mind...Change your plot, not the rules. There are ways around everything...if you are clever enough.
Art of the Craft:
When you are drawing, you are already aware that your picture has to flow (if this is news to you, you probably should go back to practicing your art skills as well). Colours, shading, background...it all has to flow into one beautiful piece. Writing is much the same way. One way to flow is to vary the length of your sentence.
Wrong: OC got up. She took a shower. She went down to breakfast. Ninjas attacked. OC fought them. (anyone falling asleep yet?)
Right: OC woke up to a dull grey sky. Its probably going to rain all day, she thought. She liked the rain. As she ran down for breakfast, ninjas suddenly attacked. Nobody Interrupts MY pop tarts, OC thought angrily. (you get the idea)
Make sure your readers know who's talking. You don't have to put "said OC" after everything she says, but if the conversation is long, you may want to break in every so often to establish who is saying what.
I would like to thank the Academy...
Now you've got it all pulled together: you've crafted your OC. You know you have to write using lots of description, and you have followed the rules of the world in which you've put your OC (or cleverly worked around them so it still sounds believable). I'm going to stress this point again, since I can't stress it enough: you want your OC to be related to Naruto. It has been established he was an only child and an orphan. So your OC cannot be a sibling. However, it COULD be a cousin. Perhaps Naruto's mother had a sister in the village where she came from, and that sister had children. Instant cousin, related to Naruto. Changing the rules (she's Naruto's sister just because she is) is not acceptable. Changing your plot (she's Naruto's cousin and they are as close as brother and sister) is.
You are ready to create a wonderful story that will leave your readers wanting to read more from you. Go! Write! Be!
