The Writer Inside Me

Quick background: I wrote a Twilight/Dark Shadows crossover that was quite anti-Twilight and ended with Barnabas killing Edward. This morning, I got a whiny review from a Twihard saying how Edward was OOC because I'd written him as dismissive of people and not caring about anyone but himself. I responded to the review, and the guy(yes, GUY) sent me a lengthy PM saying how mean I was and that my story would be like writing a tale about the Winchesters killing Ron and Hermione.

This is the funniest bit of his PM:

. Edward Cullen is a man who constantly feels the desire to kill human beings for their blood but is in fact very ethical, is horrified by those desires. Even when he went off to feed from murderers he found it horrific in the end, not least because his telepathy forced him to "listen in" on their last thoughts. This is not a character who says people are unimportant, shrugging off multiple murders.

EDWARD?! ETHICAL?!  

So, you've decided that you want to write fanfiction for Alice in Wonderland. You've watched the movie dozens of times, read fics by other writers, and now you're ready to try your hand at writing your very own story.  But you don't know where to begin. Fear not, for I have a few Tips that will help.

General Tips.

1.-Have a basic plot decided on. Even if it's simply "Character A & B have a talk", plot out in your head what you want each character to say, what the talk is about, and where it's taking place. You can always expand on it as you go along, which leads to the next point:

2. Have a notebook on hand so you can jot down plot ideas. It doesn't matter how trivial or strange they may seem-write them down. You never know, they might end up playing an important role in your story.

3.  Use Proper Grammar and Spelling! Nobody wants to read a fic that is full of chatspeak, textspeak, and garbled syntax and misspellings.  On that same point, don't make your story a Wall O' Text. This makes it very difficult for the reader to follow along, and will lead to headaches on their part.

4. Spell Check will only catch a word spelled wrong, not a word used wrong! Reread your fic(or chapter) over at least four times before submitting it-and it's also a good idea to get someone else to read over it so they can catch any mistakes you might have missed.


Now, on to Characterization.  I'll start with my favorite character-Ilosovic Stayne, the Knave of Hearts. I realize I'll probably incite some people by saying this, but:

He is NOT this violent, evil, misogynistic rapist. I won't deny that he can be quite the Magnificent Bastard, and he is quite clever, devious, and cunning, but I am in the camp that firmly believes that he can be portrayed as a Good Man and still retain all the qualities that make us Knave fans go weak in the knees.  However, be careful to achieve a balance. The last thing any of us Knave Ladies want is to read a fic that goes like this:

Stayne gazed into the perfect cerulean eyes of Amalise Annabeth Perfection Loveall Sapphire and decided that his life as a soldier was no longer what he wanted. He no longer wanted to be in battles and be a brave knight. Instead, he would rather spend his life with this perfect beauty as they made delicate tender love and she bore him many children. He would spend his days romping through the fields with his perfect beauty and his nights staring into her eyes and gushing about her for hours...

*BARF*  

That is not the Knave we know and love.

Now, on to Tarrant. Again, he is not simply this 'madman'. He does have more than one side to him-he can be quite dangerous under the right-or wrong-circumstances. Many first time writers(or Tarrant/OC writers) tend to forget this in favor of making him a Knight in Shining Armor. He is brave when he needs to be, but he's also flighty, foolish, addlepated, and Utterly Mad. However, he is also clever, crafty, and smart. And he cares deeply for Alice.

As for Alice, remember that this is a woman who flounted Society. She has courage, smarts, and can balance out the Hatter-or Stayne-quite well.

But, you ask me, what if I want to write a story with an OC? Well, go for it! Just be careful that you don't make the OC into a Sue.  Now, in my opinion simply having an OC that falls in love with a Canon Character(as in my Ilosovic/Alannah pairing) does not mean that the OC is a Sue. I'll cover the Signs of Sues in another post.

Anyway, you've written your story-or chapter, checked it over and over for any mistakes(and don't worry if you spot one when the story is up-that happens to all of us) and posted it to fanfiction. Congratulations! Now, here's how to make sure people read your story.

1. Have a good summary. Stories that say 'I suck at summaries, but read anyway' have a good chance of not being read at all. If necessary, expound on the summary in the Author's Notes.
2. Put any warnings-Slash, Non Con, etc..in either the summary or notes. That way, people uncomfortable with those things know that your story won't be their cup of tea, and they won't leave dumb reviews.
3. Spell the title of your story properly. I'll read a story Titled "Love's True Gem" over one called "Their Luv Is Tru."  Granted, both stories may be horrible cliched romances, but the former at least has the advantage of good spelling.
4. Do not hold your story hostage for reviews! This practice irks me. You are writing for yourself, not anyone else. Yes, reviews are lovely, and it's always nice to see them, but you should be writing whether you have reviews or not.
5. Avoid Author's notes in the text:
 Tarrant strode down the path of the forest, his eyes darting about as he searched for the fearsome beast(AN: He's wearing a purple hat) that had clumbered(That's a combo of crawled and lumbered)...
That takes the readers out of the moment.

Follow these Tips, and You'll Do Frabjously.