Current location:	On my arse, in front of the computer.
Current mood:	accomplished
Entry tags:	advice, beta readers, fanfiction, harry potter, rules, writing

Kay’s List of Advice on Writing FanFiction

1. When writing a story, make sure that you rate the story appropriately. Think of it like going to a movie, just as you want to know what you’re getting into, so do your readers. You can even use movie ratings if you so wish: G, PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17. If you have something in the middle, make one up, such as: NC-15.

2. If your story is going to have romance, make sure that you list all planned pairings. If partway through you decide to add more, that’s fine. However, at the beginning, most readers would like to know what they’re getting themselves into. Not everyone likes the same pairings.

3. Make a section for warnings, and warn for everything that is appropriate, regardless of whether you want it to be a surprise. In general, I highly recommend that you warn for all of the following:

• Slash/Yaoi: male homosexual relationships
• FemSlash/Yuri: female homosexual relationships
• Het/Hentai: male/female relationships
• Incest: sexual relationships between blood relatives
• Chan/Shota: sexual relationships involving minors 
• Sexual situations
• Sexual intercourse of any kind
• Attempted suicide/suicide/self-harm
• Adult language/profanity/cussing
• Alcohol use and/or drug use
• Bestiality
• Rape/Non-con: non-consensual sexual relations
• Attempted rape
• Dubious consent: dub-con
• Abuse of any kind
• Gender-changing
• Any sexual fetishes, such as voyeurism, blood play, BDSM, etc.
• Character Death—main character
• Character Death—not a main character
• Cross-dressing
• Eating Disorders
• Mpreg: male pregnancy

4. It is a good idea to have a Beta Reader, or at least someone who will look your story over for errors. Yes, it is important for you to learn grammar rules, but while you are learning, it’s more responsible to have a Beta so that glaring errors can be fixed, and your story can be made more enjoyable for everyone. Even professional writers have Beta Readers, though their job title would be: Editor or Copy Editor.

5. Avoid chat speak in your stories. A story is not a text message or an IM conversation, so please don’t treat it like one.

6. Avoid the excessive use of foreign languages in your story. Readers become frustrated when they come across a story and the author has large parts of the text in a foreign language. It makes the reader feel inferior and annoyed because they cannot understand it. Providing a glossary at the end of the chapter helps somewhat, but scrolling back and forth will quickly become tedious. It is best to limit or eliminate foreign languages in your writing.

7. Make sure that you check your story for spelling errors very thoroughly. Constant errors will ruin the flow and jar the reader out of the story. This is another reason why having a Beta Reader is so important.

8. Use words appropriately. If you’ve been writing with shorter words, keep with that flow. Suddenly adding in a long word can change the whole flow and disrupt the reader.

Examples:

Correct: Harry sighed as he realized that not even his emotions were private.
Incorrect: Harry sighed as he realized that not even his emotions were sacrosanct.

Yes, the second sentence could work, but the use of ‘sacrosanct’ throws off the flow, as you should be able to tell.

9. As a writer, it is your duty to do your best to keep the characters in character. Changing them doesn’t take any skill whatsoever and can offend people who try to keep their characters in character. Yes, they may be different, but only if you have a logical and reasonable explanation.

Example: If Harry Potter had been placed in Slytherin, some of the pureblood ideology might have rubbed off on him. However, when everything else is canon, and he’s suddenly calling Hermione a ‘Mudblood’ for no reason, and he’s best friends with Draco Malfoy, I’m confused.

Especially make sure that they're in character when they're speaking. Snape should be intelligent and sarcastic, biting even. Hermione tends to over explain, or interrupt to clarify something. Harry speaks more informally, and so on.

10. Make sure that you do the appropriate research in your fandom. There are many lexicons online, and the books/shows/movies exist as well. There is no excuse for incorrectly spelling someone’s name, or a location, when there are many resources that can be utilized.

11. When posting, do not do any of the following:

• Answer reviews in the chapter
• Post Author’s Notes that are excessively long
• Post notes in the middle of a chapter
• Demand a specific number of reviews before the next update
• Have discussions with your imaginary muse, or the characters

12. Do not ever plagiarize another author!

13. When writing, do your best to come up with a truly unique idea, or take an old idea and twist it into something new. Readers quickly grow bored when they find what seem to be carbon copies of the same overused idea. Authors who can take a cliché and make it unique are truly worthy of praise.

14. Avoid excessive clichés in your writing. Just because it might sound like a good idea at first, doesn’t mean that it is. If it sounds completely unrealistic, it likely is, and you shouldn’t write it in. Only add what you can create a viable explanation for.

15. Avoid adding unnecessary information. If your story is about a war, and you have three chapters on someone going shopping, which are completely irrelevant and do not tie in, delete them/rewrite them. If you’re writing about a war and your character is buying crossbows and machetes, and they’ll be used, now I’m interested.

16. When writing adult language, make sure you do it appropriately. Excessive profanity, which serves no purpose, only annoys the reader. If someone is trying to kill your character, they have every right to swear. If your character says ‘fuck’ every other word, then your story better be about prison inmates, because it’s getting old fast.

17. Use of the word ‘God’ may only be used in that form. As he is referred to as a celestial/divine being, God is capitalized. Writing ‘Ghod’ makes you look like an idiot. ‘Gods’ should only be used if your character worships more than one God. Likewise, Goddess would be capitalized.

18. Capitalization should be used correctly. Always capitalize the following:

• The first word of every sentence
• People’s names
• Proper Nouns
• Major historical events, eg: World War I

19. Homonyms/Homophones are words that sound the same, but have different meanings. Please make sure that you are using the correct form of the word. People will often leave flames if you constantly misuse homonyms.

Examples:

• Their, they’re, and there
• You’re and your
• Two, to, too

20. Dialogue tags help readers to identify the speaker. They are very important, however, don’t use ridiculous and inane tags. Also, do not be afraid of the word ‘said’.

Examples:

Correct: “We should play Quidditch sometime,” Harry said.
Incorrect: “We should play Quidditch sometime,” Harry postulated.

Let’s be honest shall we, the second example sounds stupid. Avoid such things easily.

Recommended dialogue tags:

• Said
• Stated
• Explained
• Asked
• Inquired
• Whispered
• Shouted
• Yelled

Tags to avoid, unless they’re really necessary:

• Extrapolated
• Interjected
• Hollered
• Murmured
• Muttered
• Intoned
• Postulated
• Hypothesized

21. Correct capitalization for a dialogue tag that interrupts a sentence of dialogue.

Examples:

Correct: “I was wondering,” Harry began, “if you’d like to go to Hogsmeade this weekend?”
Incorrect: “I was wondering,” Harry began, “If you’d like to go to Hogsmeade this weekend?”

Notice that in the correct version ‘if’ is not capitalized.

22. Correct punctuation for dialogue with a dialogue tag at the end.

Examples:

Correct: “I hate Slytherins,” he said.
Incorrect: I hate Slytherins.” He said.

Notice that in the correct version, there is a comma instead of a period, and ‘he’ is not capitalized.

Examples:

Correct: “I hate Slytherins!” Ron said.
Correct: “I hate Slytherins!” he said.
Correct: “I hate Slytherins!” the person in the shadows snapped.
Incorrect: “I hate Slytherins!” He said.
Incorrect: “I hate Slytherins!” The person in the shadows snapped.

In the case of the first correct version, proper nouns are always capitalized. Notice that in the second correct version, ‘he’ is not capitalized, and in the third correct version, ‘the’ is also not capitalized.

Examples:

Correct: “Who are you?” Harry asked.
Correct: “Who are you?” he asked.
Incorrect: “Who are you?” He asked.

Notice that the rules for questions and exclamations are identical.

Examples:

Correct: “I hate Hufflepuffs!” He turned and walked away.
Incorrect: “I hate Hufflepuffs!” he turned and walked away.

Notice that ‘he’ is capitalized in the correct version. That is because these are two separate sentences. If there is no dialogue tag, the dialogue always ends with the appropriate punctuation, and the first word of the following sentence is capitalized.

Correct Examples:

“I love you!” His palms were clenched into nervous fists.
“Why won’t you just leave me alone?” He smacked the self-righteous smirk off the other boy’s face.
“That sounds like a good idea.” He smiled.

23. Correct use for apostrophes:

• In contractions, which combines two word:

1. Can’t = Can + not
2. Don’t = Do + not
3. Won’t = Will + not

Do not be afraid of contractions, especially when writing dialogue. “I am very sorry, please do not leave me!” sounds odd. A person is much more likely to say, “I’m sorry, please don’t leave me!”

• Possessive apostrophes, which show ownership:

1. Harry’s shirt

2. Hogwarts’ Quidditch Pitch
2. Sirius’s Animagus form (Note: The extra ‘s’ is present here because when pronounced, it has an extra ‘es’ sound. If it is not pronounced with the extra ‘es’ sound, then leave off the ‘s’ following the apostrophe.)
3. Its song (Note: It’s is a combination of ‘it’ and ‘is’, and is a contraction. Therefore, when you’re referring to an inanimate object that owns something, ‘its’ is the proper term.)

24. When writing dialogue, always put a comma before/after a person’s name if your character is speaking directly to them.

Examples:

Correct: “Draco, let’s head to Potions,” Theo said.
Correct: “Let’s head to Potions, Draco,” Theo said.

25. Avoid using terms that are solely from anime, and other obscure references. Such as:

• Face-faulting
• Sweat-dropping
• Face-palming

Instead say something to the effect of: Harry could feel the sweat dripping down his back as he became more nervous, or Harry put his head in his hands after the ridiculous comment Ron made.

26. Using gender specific words can be tricky, and make you look foolish if you’re using the wrong one.

• Commonly used male terms: ‘blond’ and ‘brunet’ and ‘fiancé’.
• Commonly used female terms: ‘blonde’ and ‘brunette’ and ‘fiancée’.

27. One of the most important parts of a story is the characterization. This is what makes your characters and brings them to life. You might want to rethink your character if any of the following is true:

• Your character is unable to die
• Your character is unable to lose a fight
• Your character is physically perfect in every way
• Your character is smarter than everyone alive
• Your character can do anything

The above characteristics are commonly associated with Mary Sue and Gary Stu. You really don’t want to write either a Mary Sue, or a Gary Stu. Therefore, make sure your character has flaws.

Also, make sure that you have your characters react realistically! If your character has been abused, why are they all touchy-feely with everyone? If your character has been the victim of sexual assault, why are they shagging everyone they meet?

You need to remember that people’s experiences change them. If your Harry was just rescued after being tortured by Voldemort and the Death Eaters for two months, he better not be perfectly fine the next day, or the next week, or the next month.

28. When renaming a canon character, for whatever reason, don’t go overboard. When people read an extremely long, or geographically inappropriate name, it makes your story seem silly. Once again, I’ll use Harry as an example:

Good: Hadrian James Potter
Fair: Evan Jameson
Poor: Salazar Daemon Ayres Arcturus Potter-Grindelwald-Black

Also, make sure that the name you give your character is easily pronounceable. If you make a name too complex, it will simply annoy your readers. If needed, provide them with a pronunciation.

As for a name being geographically inappropriate:

Harry has lived his whole life in Great Britain. Suddenly giving him an Asian name or a name from South America, regardless of how ‘cool’ it sounds, doesn’t usually fit the story—unless you have an in-depth reason why that name is chosen, and it relates to the actual story, not just your naming preferences.

Finally, if you're not renaming, simply giving the characters a nickname, do so appropriately. Dumblefuck, Dumbledork, Sevvie-poo, and Moldy Voldy are all extremely lame, and will only reflect poorly on you as a writer.

29. If you are going to write in an original character, make sure that you avoid clichés. Follow the advice in the characterization, naming, and other areas. People aren’t likely to be interested in: Amethyst Stardust Rainbow Lovely Diamond Emerald Lupin-Snape-Potter-Black, who’s a transfer student from America that has glowing, pale skin, luxurious, silky, black hair, radiant, emerald-green eyes, and an IQ higher than Dumbledore’s.

30. Have a plot, unless you’re writing a PWP. Dumping filler chapter after filler chapter on your readers is not only cruel, but it reflects poorly on you as a writer. As a reader, I’d greatly prefer slower updates that have content worth reading, to frequent updates that are total rubbish.

31. Please use correct paragraph structure. Every time someone new begins speaking, you must begin a new paragraph!

Examples:

Correct: “I hate you, ferret,” Harry said.

“Well I hate you more, Potty!” Draco replied.

“No, because I hate you the most,” Harry snapped back.

Incorrect: “I hate you, ferret,” Harry said. “Well I hate you more, Potty!” Draco replied. “No, because I hate you the most,” Harry snapped back.

Also, avoid extremely long paragraphs. Long walls of text are easy to get lost in, and they tend to hurt the eyes. As a rule of thumb, try not to have a paragraph that exceeds six or seven lines.

32. Use numbers appropriately in your writing.

Examples:

Correct: Harry Potter, who had just turned fifteen, was very excited to see that he’d gotten twelve presents from his friends.

Incorrect: Harry Potter, who had just turned 15, was very excited to see that he’d gotten 12 presents from his friends.

Unless you’re showing the time, or a date, always spell out the number. For the time: 1:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. are correct. Also acceptable: 1.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m., depending on where you’re from. Now, when writing out the date: September 1, 1995 or 1 September 1995, once again depending on where you’re from.

33. Avoid the overuse of epithets. Let’s be honest shall we? How many people have clicked on a story, Draco/Harry or Harry/Hermione, only to learn that they’ve been deceived and the pairing is really: the blond/the emerald-eyed boy or the savior/the smartest witch of the generation.

Examples of epithets gone wrong:

The blond walked up behind the emerald-eyed boy when he was distracted and enfolded the raven in strong arms. The Slytherin Prince’s pale pink lips pressed succulent kisses to the emerald-eyed boy’s wild raven hair. The raven turned and stared into the blond’s glowing silver eyes. The blond and raven kissed passionately.

The savior of the wizarding world felt the monster in his chest growling as he watched the brunette. The smartest witch of their generation had become beautiful over the summer. The Gryffindor Golden Boy’s emerald eyes followed the brown-eyed witch’s progress as she paced in the common room. His best mate was desirable, and the savior knew he must possess the brunette.

There are these wonderful things called names and pronouns. Please use them!

Draco walked up behind Harry when he was distracted and enfolded him in strong arms. His pale pink lips pressed kisses to Harry’s hair. Harry turned and stared into Draco’s gray eyes. They kissed passionately.

Harry felt the monster in his chest growling as he watched Hermione. She had become beautiful over the summer. His eyes followed her progress as she paced in the common room. Hermione was desirable, and he knew he must possess her.

Raise your hand if you think the second version sounds less stupid. Your hand should now be in the air. Also, notice that in the second version unneeded adjectives were removed.

34. Do not ever change the tense that you are writing in. Pick one and stick with it throughout the whole story. Constantly changing tenses are annoying and will only make readers back away from your writing.

35. Do not constantly change the point of view. You should start and end the story in the same point of view. Changing the point of view alters the way the reader thinks, and thus brutally jars them out of the story. It is highly recommended that you pick one point of view and use only that in your story.

36. Avoid overusing ellipses. For those who don’t know the term, I’m sure you’ll recognize one if you see it: (...) Ellipses are meant to be used when someone slowly stops speaking, or to replace omissions in text.

Examples:

Correct: “I’m not sure if…” Harry’s words trailed off as he contemplated the many possible options.

Incorrect: “I was… wondering… what do you… think of… well, maybe… I’m not sure…” Harry’s words trailed off as he contemplated the many possible options.

The second example has almost no sentence structure, and is very poorly written. It isn’t necessary to have that many ellipses, and it is grammatically incorrect as well.

37. Avoid using hyphens incorrectly. Hyphens have three major purposes:

Showing an abrupt end to a sentence, if someone interrupts the speaker:

Examples:

Correct: “I think we should kill hi—”

“Harry, how can you even suggest that?” Hermione asked heatedly.

Incorrect: “I think we should kill hi…”

“Harry, how can you even suggest that?” Hermione asked heatedly.

Notice that in the incorrect version, the ellipsis is used. This is incorrect as it implies Harry stopped speaking, when, in fact, Hermione interrupted him.

Connecting two completely separate thoughts:

Example:

Correct: “Ron, you need to complete your Transfig—Harry! What happened?”

Notice the abrupt break in thought. First Hermione is speaking to Ron, and then she notices Harry and completely changes what she was going to say.

Including additional information:

Example:

Correct: Ron picked up Crookshanks—ugly, smushed face creature that it was—and wished he could throw it out the window.

Here, enclosed in the hyphens is essentially extra information. 

If you're interested in even more uses for the hyphen, please locate a grammar book.

38. Avoid over-emphasizing in your story. Yes, we all understand that you might mean something one way, but some people go overboard and reading their stories becomes a chore.

Do Not:

• Capitalize an entire sentence
• Underline an entire sentence
• Bold an entire sentence

Do:

• Italicize words that you feel must be emphasized

Examples:

Correct: “Harry, what in the world were you thinking?” Hermione demanded to know.

Incorrect: “Harry, what in the world were you thinking?” Hermione demanded to know.

Incorrect: “HARRY, WHAT IN THE WORLD WERE YOU THINKING?” Hermione demanded to know.

Incorrect: “Harry, what in the world were you thinking?” Hermione demanded to know.

I believe the examples speak for themselves in this case.

39. Make sure that you vary your sentence structure. Extremely simple sentences can be effective, but when several are used in a row, it breaks up the flow. Also, the lack of detail makes for uninteresting reading.

Example: Harry sat on the stool. The hat was placed on his head. He heard a voice. The hat talked to him. It placed him in Gryffindor.

The above reads like a shopping list and isn’t interesting in the least. Adding detail and using sentences that are more complex can remedy this.

Example: Harry nervously sat down on the three-legged stool. He held his breath as the hat was placed on his head and almost jumped to his feet in shock when he heard the hat speak inside his mind. As the hat spoke to him, all he could do was hope he wasn’t placed in Slytherin; he was relieved when he was finally sorted into Gryffindor.

However, on the other hand, excessively long sentences are also annoying. Make sure to avoid run-ons.

Example: Harry sat down on the stool and waited for the hat to be placed on his head so that he’d be sorted into his proper house, thinking only that he didn’t want to be placed in Slytherin where all the Dark Lords supposedly came from, and besides, he wanted to be in Gryffindor with Ron Weasley, his very first friend.

Writing that almost gave me a headache, and I apologize to anyone who got one reading it.

40. Excessive use of song lyrics/poetry, and knowing your limits as a writer. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve come across a story that is little more than song lyrics. Just because you like the song, doesn’t mean your readers will. Just because you think the lyrics fit, doesn’t mean your readers will. I can honestly say that I refuse to read anything that says: song!fic or something similar. My brain equates ‘song!fic’ with poor grammar, no plot, and terrible characterization. If you must use them, do so sparingly.

The same is true for poetry. If you want opinions on your poetry post them on a poetry website or submit them for publication somewhere.

As for ‘knowing your limits as a writer’, please be aware of them. Yes, a great many stories require an author to write a Sorting at one point or another. However, that does not mean that you’re required to detail it and invent your own Sorting Hat song. I’ve read a great many self-written Sorting Hat songs, and the majority of them are utterly horrendous. This is one part that you can freely skip over and most readers will thank you for doing so.

Please let me know if you think I’ve left something out, and you’d like my opinion on it!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

P.S. Make sure you add a disclaimer for all copyrighted material you use!