Saiyan Destroyer
09-20-2008, 12:08 PM
I have permission from Fabala him/herself for this. It's been a long time though, but I'm sure he/she still won't mind. Would be nice to have this sticked so I don't gotta write a billion of these.
Welcome boys and girls to the my Tips & Hints guide for writing fan fictions. As some of you are aware, I am a bit of a seasoned Fan Fiction writer, I've be writing since 2003 giving me five years in the "sport". In my five years I've seen a LOT of fan fictions. I've also read a lot. From those fictions I've learned a lot of things, and I'm passing these skills down to you.
I'll try and keep it as neat and orderly as possible. You can ALWAYS ask me questions via AIM, YIM, MSN, PM or e-mail. I may not get back right away, but I will get back. I will also post FAQs here to update it.
Now where shall we start? I'll start on myself. As I have said I've been writing for five years, my first story is a Raditz/Bulma joke fic that actually had more ratings and reviews that i ever expected. It's a terrible story, and I realize that now. I have read that story atleast a dozen times in five years and I know, I could improve on it SO BADLY but I'm not. As a writer, I realize that not everything I write is gold, and neither should you. Everyone improves over time. So that's the first thing I want to mention...
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
1.) IMPROVING
2.)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
1.) IMPROVING
This is really open ended. You can improve in a lot of ways from grammar & spelling to story structure (more on that later). You have to know that as you get older and read back that ther was a lot of things you could have done to make it better. I personally leave it the same unless it's a spellin error which I change. However I don't use a spell checking program so I gotta read it atleast twice and send it to a friend so he can use his spell checkin program (then I found out I can actually google one).
My best advice is to do what I did to improve: Read. I don't mean goto your local library and order War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy (A 1000+/100,000+ word story of the russian revolution with MANY archs & characters, VERY HARD TO FOLLOW) and read it. No not at all. When you're a writer you need to be able to classify what genre (more later) you write to. If you're going to be writing a comedy fiction, make sure the show/game/etc. you're writing for has a humous element so it's not a complete crack fiction (more later). I write a lot of action stories as I write for Dragonball Z and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
I've read a lot of Stephen Kings, but that doens't mean I write a bunch of horror stories. I have however read a few of his non-horror stories and I watch a lot of horror movies and I know my attention to detail (THANKS YOU U.S. ARMY! >_<). Reading other peoples fan fictions will help you improve greatly. I have a friend who calls her self Debs Dragon. She has written MANY Dragonball Z Fan Fictions, some about lust, some of love and some of action. She helped me improve just by reading her work and payi8ng attention. So like I said: read other people stories. They don't have to be the same series you want to do.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
2.) GENRE
Nothin too terribly difficult to classify your ratings here. Just make sure you put your stories in the right genre. You don't want to write a comedy story and place it as sci-fi it'll make people not trust you. So Here's a list of all POSSIBLE genres...
Historical: Breaks down into Autobiographical (self written), Biography (3rd party writen about a person or event), and Memoir (a memory from story about an event or person)
Historical Fiction: Real people and real world but with with fictional events. Breaks down into Alternate History such as the Condederacy winning their independence. Peroid Piece which is a story that uses history as a back drop to another story, good example is Gangs of New York or The Patriot. Costume Drama is just that, uses a lot of costumed characters. Jidaigeki is a japanese setting story during isolatio nfrom 1603 to 1868.
Adventure: Simple. A protagonist (good guy) going on a adventure to accomplish something. Pokemon is a GREAT example.
Action: Same as above but there's more risk involved for our hero. A good example would be The Matrix: Reloaded. Our hero Neo (The one) near the end has a EPIC choice. 1.) Save the woman he loves and damn the numan race or 2.) Save the human race but allow the woman he loves to die.
Superhero: Do I REALLY gotta explain this one? Fine, a moders story about a person or creature with powers that posses an IMMENSE amount of powre. They use their powers to protect or avenge people, hence why they're heroes. These usually included science fiction or fantasy and even both form time to time. A good example is of a Super Hero that everyone knows is Spiderman. He was bitten by a radio active spider and gained spider powers if they were in a man. Considering that spiders are so little but pack a lot of power, it does the same to him. He's able to lift cards despite his size, stick to walls and sense danger. Superman is another, he's an alien on Earth defending it.
One thing heros MUST realize at some point is that with great power comes great responsiblity. Special thanks to Uncle Ben.
Another type of super hero fiction is MIlitary, usually about a war or battle of a fictional or realistic nature. Spy stories are another kind that are good, this would usually be about a secret agent trying to do something to stop evil. James Bond is the best example I can think of, or even Austin Powers. Swashbuckler super heroes are just that, a hero who commonly uses a sword. there is a TON of these: Kingdom Hearts, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jedi (Star Wars), Ronnin Kenshin (S?), Bleach, etc. Martial Arts is just that, usually based on fighting using variosu martial arts, examples would be Dragonball Z or Karate Kid. Kung Fu is a variation of Martial Arts stories that sticks around the ancient chinese martial art.
Science Fiction: A story about technology or the future. It usually revolves around computers or matiches, time travel or alternate universes (these two are often togher), alin life, and other scientific elements. A good example of science fiction is The Terminator, Time Machine by H.G. Wells, or Bleach believe it or not.
Military Sciene fiction is a sub group which is just that. A story about war or battles with aliens, monsters, and other super natural tings or nations. Uses technology beyond todays reaches but isn't always impossible. A good example is Gundam Wing or Star Trek.
Space Opera is another kind if Science Fiction, uses a lot of space travel and it's has a lot of time that protagonists spend bein active. For example Star Trek, Star Wars and again Gundam WIng are the best examples of this.
Punk is a real upmrella term, means a lot of things in this genre. It normally is cynical about a group person fight government corruption.
Fantasy: This is PROBABLY The most popular one out there. Storie sabout magic or supernatural forces. They usually include other genres into them like Scient Fiction. Jurrassic Park, Harry Potter, Dungeons and Dragons, Warcraft are great examples.
This can be broken down into Scient Fantasy which is a story with mystical elements that are explained scientifically or combines scientific elements.A good example is Dragonball Z or Bleach (again).
High Fantsy is something I actually saw on wikipedia. A story that takes place in alt. universe or different words have different races, traditions, or even relgions. Most of the time they have no real world events but have shades of. Great example is Bleach (Soul Society) or Lord of the Rings (WWIIs' fight against Hitler VS Middle Earths Struggle against Sauron, notice an similarities?)
Romance: A popular one, a story about a characters love interestes or relationships. Has a lot of character story development than it does adventures. Romance is often paired with lemons or limes. Limes would have some sexual atmosphere where lemons would be pretty much written pornogpaphy. I'm not going to get further into this as there are a lot of children who come here. Good examples of Romantic stories are Tenchi Muyo/Tokyo or Home Improvement (BELIEVE IT OR NOT, it's about relationships even though it is a comedy sitcom).
Crime Fiction: Another popular kind of fiction. These revolve around a crime that is bein commited or was. Great examples are Prison Break, Fugitive or Tenchi Muyo (if memory serves right Ryoko is a criminal same with Washu). This is broken down into...
Mysterious which are stories abou tsomeone usually a detective tryin to solve a crime that was commited and why. Usually if a crime is impossible, they have to figure out HOW tey did it. Good examples are Crime Scene Investigations (CSI, CSI: Miami, etc.)
Murder Mystery is one that focuses on a homicide. Usually there's one or multiple murder victims and the protagonists have ot figure how and why, usually there's other crimes that come togher to make this moe complete and sometimes their loved ones are caught in the middle. Usually includes a lot of suspense, action or adventure. Good examples are Detective Conan or CSI: Miami (sue me, I like James Woods)
Comedy: The best in this authors opinion. Many don't share that. ANYWAYS - A story that tells a series of funny or comical events meant to make you laugh. Thesese are very open genres and crossing over is frequent. I'll list a FEW of the comedys as there is a number.
Parody is a story that mocks or astirizes other genres, people, characters, etc. Uses a lot of sarcasm, sterotyping, mockery, symbols or lines from other works as well as teh meaning of the characters actions. GREAT examples of parodies include Robot Chicken, Scarey Movie, Meet the Spartans, Epic Movie, Diasters Movie, etc.
Black Comedy are parody or astirical story based on something taboo like dead, murder, cuidie, drgs war, things like that. Sometime called Dead Baby Comday. Usually looked down upon.
Romatic Comedy are subgrne whic combines romance and comedy. Fuces on two or more people as tehy discover and attempt to deal with their attractions to one another. Usually it's boy-gets-girl that is very stereotypical. There's a lot of variants to this place and some newer twistes like gender roles (boy does girl things, girl does boy things, etc.) and its generally light hearted comedy in things such as sexual tentional or their social interations. and they often refuse to admit they're attracted to one another and must often deal with people meddling in their affairs. Good examples are Something's Gotta Give, Friends or Inuyasha (at first).
Documentary: Retellign of events, not creating them. It's usually about a real historical event. Mockumentary is a story about fictional events thats often humorus. GOod examples are The Office and Best in Show.
Horrors: A story told to deliberately scare or frighten the audience through suspence, violence and/or shock. There's different kinds of horror such as...
Monsters which are about a monster, creature or mutant who terroizes people. The most notable ones are Mary Shalley's Frakenstien or Bram Stokers' Dracula. Giant mosnters are similar to the previous but they're big enough to destroy buildings. Mighty Morphing Power Rangers or Godzilla are EXCELLENT examples.
Slasher is another horror style that is generally a film but can be written about an antagonist who is a serial killer or flat out insane. Slashers are stereoytpically killers who kill their victims by creepin gup to them slowly and killthing with a sharp object like a Che's Knife. Often leads to a Final Girl Theory. Great examples of slashers are Scream, Friday the 13th, Halloween (micheal Myers ones), or Nightmare on Elm Street.
Survival Horror is another horror story about a protagonist who is put in a dangeriosu situation that they must endure, often as a result of something like Zombies, monsters or a virus. The reast of the plot is how the hero or heroes over come this. Great examples are Resident Evil and Dinocrisis.
Thrillesr: A story that is usually a mixture of fear and excite men, usues traits of susense, action, adventure, myster and usually border line horror. It's generally a dark or series theme that makes it similar to drama.
Diaster Thrillers are about something bad that happens to the protagonist and they must survivan and save many others lives too. Often this is a natural disaster, terrioist attack or epidemic. Good examples are Resident Evil.
Psychological Thriller are less action and more psychologically about the hero. The hero usually starts off with some mental illness that might get in his which may get his path. Some Psy Thrills are also complicated stories that are made to deliberately confuse the audience often showin them only same confusing or nonsensical information about the heroes gains.
Crime Thriller is a story that revolves around detectives, mobs or other groups with criminal evetns in teh story. Good example is Cowboy Bebop or Outlaw Star.
Techno Thriller are themes to stories about technology or danger behind the technology we creatre which includes cyber terrorism. Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex are great examples.
Western: Self explanitory, a story about the Wild West.
NOW I AM TAKING A BREAK! I'll perodically up date this topic. I'll include MUCH MUCH more. Please don't lock this, I hope this gets stickied so I can find it easy and I'm able to update it.
SPECIAL THANKS: Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genre) on the Genre part. Saved me a LOT of time.
Welcome boys and girls to the my Tips & Hints guide for writing fan fictions. As some of you are aware, I am a bit of a seasoned Fan Fiction writer, I've be writing since 2003 giving me five years in the "sport". In my five years I've seen a LOT of fan fictions. I've also read a lot. From those fictions I've learned a lot of things, and I'm passing these skills down to you.
I'll try and keep it as neat and orderly as possible. You can ALWAYS ask me questions via AIM, YIM, MSN, PM or e-mail. I may not get back right away, but I will get back. I will also post FAQs here to update it.
Now where shall we start? I'll start on myself. As I have said I've been writing for five years, my first story is a Raditz/Bulma joke fic that actually had more ratings and reviews that i ever expected. It's a terrible story, and I realize that now. I have read that story atleast a dozen times in five years and I know, I could improve on it SO BADLY but I'm not. As a writer, I realize that not everything I write is gold, and neither should you. Everyone improves over time. So that's the first thing I want to mention...
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
1.) IMPROVING
2.)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
1.) IMPROVING
This is really open ended. You can improve in a lot of ways from grammar & spelling to story structure (more on that later). You have to know that as you get older and read back that ther was a lot of things you could have done to make it better. I personally leave it the same unless it's a spellin error which I change. However I don't use a spell checking program so I gotta read it atleast twice and send it to a friend so he can use his spell checkin program (then I found out I can actually google one).
My best advice is to do what I did to improve: Read. I don't mean goto your local library and order War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy (A 1000+/100,000+ word story of the russian revolution with MANY archs & characters, VERY HARD TO FOLLOW) and read it. No not at all. When you're a writer you need to be able to classify what genre (more later) you write to. If you're going to be writing a comedy fiction, make sure the show/game/etc. you're writing for has a humous element so it's not a complete crack fiction (more later). I write a lot of action stories as I write for Dragonball Z and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
I've read a lot of Stephen Kings, but that doens't mean I write a bunch of horror stories. I have however read a few of his non-horror stories and I watch a lot of horror movies and I know my attention to detail (THANKS YOU U.S. ARMY! >_<). Reading other peoples fan fictions will help you improve greatly. I have a friend who calls her self Debs Dragon. She has written MANY Dragonball Z Fan Fictions, some about lust, some of love and some of action. She helped me improve just by reading her work and payi8ng attention. So like I said: read other people stories. They don't have to be the same series you want to do.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
2.) GENRE
Nothin too terribly difficult to classify your ratings here. Just make sure you put your stories in the right genre. You don't want to write a comedy story and place it as sci-fi it'll make people not trust you. So Here's a list of all POSSIBLE genres...
Historical: Breaks down into Autobiographical (self written), Biography (3rd party writen about a person or event), and Memoir (a memory from story about an event or person)
Historical Fiction: Real people and real world but with with fictional events. Breaks down into Alternate History such as the Condederacy winning their independence. Peroid Piece which is a story that uses history as a back drop to another story, good example is Gangs of New York or The Patriot. Costume Drama is just that, uses a lot of costumed characters. Jidaigeki is a japanese setting story during isolatio nfrom 1603 to 1868.
Adventure: Simple. A protagonist (good guy) going on a adventure to accomplish something. Pokemon is a GREAT example.
Action: Same as above but there's more risk involved for our hero. A good example would be The Matrix: Reloaded. Our hero Neo (The one) near the end has a EPIC choice. 1.) Save the woman he loves and damn the numan race or 2.) Save the human race but allow the woman he loves to die.
Superhero: Do I REALLY gotta explain this one? Fine, a moders story about a person or creature with powers that posses an IMMENSE amount of powre. They use their powers to protect or avenge people, hence why they're heroes. These usually included science fiction or fantasy and even both form time to time. A good example is of a Super Hero that everyone knows is Spiderman. He was bitten by a radio active spider and gained spider powers if they were in a man. Considering that spiders are so little but pack a lot of power, it does the same to him. He's able to lift cards despite his size, stick to walls and sense danger. Superman is another, he's an alien on Earth defending it.
One thing heros MUST realize at some point is that with great power comes great responsiblity. Special thanks to Uncle Ben.
Another type of super hero fiction is MIlitary, usually about a war or battle of a fictional or realistic nature. Spy stories are another kind that are good, this would usually be about a secret agent trying to do something to stop evil. James Bond is the best example I can think of, or even Austin Powers. Swashbuckler super heroes are just that, a hero who commonly uses a sword. there is a TON of these: Kingdom Hearts, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jedi (Star Wars), Ronnin Kenshin (S?), Bleach, etc. Martial Arts is just that, usually based on fighting using variosu martial arts, examples would be Dragonball Z or Karate Kid. Kung Fu is a variation of Martial Arts stories that sticks around the ancient chinese martial art.
Science Fiction: A story about technology or the future. It usually revolves around computers or matiches, time travel or alternate universes (these two are often togher), alin life, and other scientific elements. A good example of science fiction is The Terminator, Time Machine by H.G. Wells, or Bleach believe it or not.
Military Sciene fiction is a sub group which is just that. A story about war or battles with aliens, monsters, and other super natural tings or nations. Uses technology beyond todays reaches but isn't always impossible. A good example is Gundam Wing or Star Trek.
Space Opera is another kind if Science Fiction, uses a lot of space travel and it's has a lot of time that protagonists spend bein active. For example Star Trek, Star Wars and again Gundam WIng are the best examples of this.
Punk is a real upmrella term, means a lot of things in this genre. It normally is cynical about a group person fight government corruption.
Fantasy: This is PROBABLY The most popular one out there. Storie sabout magic or supernatural forces. They usually include other genres into them like Scient Fiction. Jurrassic Park, Harry Potter, Dungeons and Dragons, Warcraft are great examples.
This can be broken down into Scient Fantasy which is a story with mystical elements that are explained scientifically or combines scientific elements.A good example is Dragonball Z or Bleach (again).
High Fantsy is something I actually saw on wikipedia. A story that takes place in alt. universe or different words have different races, traditions, or even relgions. Most of the time they have no real world events but have shades of. Great example is Bleach (Soul Society) or Lord of the Rings (WWIIs' fight against Hitler VS Middle Earths Struggle against Sauron, notice an similarities?)
Romance: A popular one, a story about a characters love interestes or relationships. Has a lot of character story development than it does adventures. Romance is often paired with lemons or limes. Limes would have some sexual atmosphere where lemons would be pretty much written pornogpaphy. I'm not going to get further into this as there are a lot of children who come here. Good examples of Romantic stories are Tenchi Muyo/Tokyo or Home Improvement (BELIEVE IT OR NOT, it's about relationships even though it is a comedy sitcom).
Crime Fiction: Another popular kind of fiction. These revolve around a crime that is bein commited or was. Great examples are Prison Break, Fugitive or Tenchi Muyo (if memory serves right Ryoko is a criminal same with Washu). This is broken down into...
Mysterious which are stories abou tsomeone usually a detective tryin to solve a crime that was commited and why. Usually if a crime is impossible, they have to figure out HOW tey did it. Good examples are Crime Scene Investigations (CSI, CSI: Miami, etc.)
Murder Mystery is one that focuses on a homicide. Usually there's one or multiple murder victims and the protagonists have ot figure how and why, usually there's other crimes that come togher to make this moe complete and sometimes their loved ones are caught in the middle. Usually includes a lot of suspense, action or adventure. Good examples are Detective Conan or CSI: Miami (sue me, I like James Woods)
Comedy: The best in this authors opinion. Many don't share that. ANYWAYS - A story that tells a series of funny or comical events meant to make you laugh. Thesese are very open genres and crossing over is frequent. I'll list a FEW of the comedys as there is a number.
Parody is a story that mocks or astirizes other genres, people, characters, etc. Uses a lot of sarcasm, sterotyping, mockery, symbols or lines from other works as well as teh meaning of the characters actions. GREAT examples of parodies include Robot Chicken, Scarey Movie, Meet the Spartans, Epic Movie, Diasters Movie, etc.
Black Comedy are parody or astirical story based on something taboo like dead, murder, cuidie, drgs war, things like that. Sometime called Dead Baby Comday. Usually looked down upon.
Romatic Comedy are subgrne whic combines romance and comedy. Fuces on two or more people as tehy discover and attempt to deal with their attractions to one another. Usually it's boy-gets-girl that is very stereotypical. There's a lot of variants to this place and some newer twistes like gender roles (boy does girl things, girl does boy things, etc.) and its generally light hearted comedy in things such as sexual tentional or their social interations. and they often refuse to admit they're attracted to one another and must often deal with people meddling in their affairs. Good examples are Something's Gotta Give, Friends or Inuyasha (at first).
Documentary: Retellign of events, not creating them. It's usually about a real historical event. Mockumentary is a story about fictional events thats often humorus. GOod examples are The Office and Best in Show.
Horrors: A story told to deliberately scare or frighten the audience through suspence, violence and/or shock. There's different kinds of horror such as...
Monsters which are about a monster, creature or mutant who terroizes people. The most notable ones are Mary Shalley's Frakenstien or Bram Stokers' Dracula. Giant mosnters are similar to the previous but they're big enough to destroy buildings. Mighty Morphing Power Rangers or Godzilla are EXCELLENT examples.
Slasher is another horror style that is generally a film but can be written about an antagonist who is a serial killer or flat out insane. Slashers are stereoytpically killers who kill their victims by creepin gup to them slowly and killthing with a sharp object like a Che's Knife. Often leads to a Final Girl Theory. Great examples of slashers are Scream, Friday the 13th, Halloween (micheal Myers ones), or Nightmare on Elm Street.
Survival Horror is another horror story about a protagonist who is put in a dangeriosu situation that they must endure, often as a result of something like Zombies, monsters or a virus. The reast of the plot is how the hero or heroes over come this. Great examples are Resident Evil and Dinocrisis.
Thrillesr: A story that is usually a mixture of fear and excite men, usues traits of susense, action, adventure, myster and usually border line horror. It's generally a dark or series theme that makes it similar to drama.
Diaster Thrillers are about something bad that happens to the protagonist and they must survivan and save many others lives too. Often this is a natural disaster, terrioist attack or epidemic. Good examples are Resident Evil.
Psychological Thriller are less action and more psychologically about the hero. The hero usually starts off with some mental illness that might get in his which may get his path. Some Psy Thrills are also complicated stories that are made to deliberately confuse the audience often showin them only same confusing or nonsensical information about the heroes gains.
Crime Thriller is a story that revolves around detectives, mobs or other groups with criminal evetns in teh story. Good example is Cowboy Bebop or Outlaw Star.
Techno Thriller are themes to stories about technology or danger behind the technology we creatre which includes cyber terrorism. Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex are great examples.
Western: Self explanitory, a story about the Wild West.
NOW I AM TAKING A BREAK! I'll perodically up date this topic. I'll include MUCH MUCH more. Please don't lock this, I hope this gets stickied so I can find it easy and I'm able to update it.
SPECIAL THANKS: Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genre) on the Genre part. Saved me a LOT of time.