I'm can't give any advice of my own, but I will share with you some of the advice I have been given by some of the great writers on this forum.

From Acadian: Try to show what you are saying instead of just telling about it. Example: "he crept into the room" verses "he walked into the room"
From Bobg: Always be aware of words you are using, don't use the same word too many times in the paragraph or even the script itself. Find alternatives if you need to express that word.
From Bobg: When you have finished the thought, stop.
From Treydog: When you have finished writing, read it aloud, listen to how it sounds.
From D.Foxy: Watch your grammer, punctuation, and sentence structure
From D.Foxy: Watch your tenses
From SubRosa: Find the viewpoint you are best at writing from.
From Acadian: If you are writing from first person viewpoint, watch how many times you start a paragraph with the word "I"


* BSparrow: Anytime you see a critique she has done on any other writer on this forum, read it completely and take notes on what you should be learning from it.


My biggest advice is when you post something and it gets a critical review - listen. Go back and change it. There are so many extremely high caliber writers on this forum that can help mold your ability to a new level and you should consider it an honor that they took the time to try and help you achieve greater success with your writing.

Thank you, Darkom, really. Your advice is most welcome here. I only hope other beginners here can read your advice.



Okay! Already preordered English edition of One Thousand and One Nights and reading Lord Of The Rings (in English, of course)! My favorite book is originally written in German, so I wouldn’t read the translation, but perhaps I could begin reading Oscar Wilde’s “The picture of Dorian Gray”… that should teach me a lesson or two on proper English…





Darn, mustn’t forget about those! Shame on me! :facepalm:



I think it’s best to follow Dren’s advice and let everybody read the story, if they want. It’s probably even best NOT to eliminate it, because in my frustration, I did it from my pc, so this forum will be my one and only source to some of my previous works. But thanks, Rohugh.



Yes, when I stumbled on some of her critiques. It truly struck me how good she is at doing this. She really is a good source of knowledge for the lesser skilled writers. Thanks for all your effort of collecting and posting these advices, I appreciate it indeed.

Let me remind all the readers that this threat is thought for all persons that have any kind of doubt writing a fan fiction. So, if you have any doubts, you can post them here and, as you already have seen, your questions will be answered by the cr?me de la cr?me (I hope you understand this one ).

Thanks so much for your advices. If you think you could give more advices, please, go ahead and share them!

(Iv'e edited this post like four times now... stop making such silly mikstakes, Albo! :slap: )

I don't have much to add to all the good advice posted above, but if you're worried about spelling and grammar, I would recommend finding a 'beta reader' - someone to carefully check through your writing for errors, as a professional editor would do. They can be very helpful, as long as you get someone who knows what they're doing! Relying too heavily on the MS Word automatic spellcheck/grammar check functions is a bad idea - they can be useful in some circumstances, but more often than not the advice they give is downright misleading (particularly the grammar checker).

:touched: Why thank you. I hate to sound cliche, but I can only hope to be as good as all of you



Agreed, pace is probably one of the most common mistakes writers leaving the beginner phase encounter. It is actually a fairly hard thing to master

As far as a beta checker, I would normally offer my hand in, but I am a little short on time nowadays. Hence why I haven't been critiquing as frequently A strange feeling, to have threads on here that I haven't even read all the way through yet.

I would offer more advice, but I said pretty much all I had last time.

I don't know if it's been said already, but if you have questions about Roleplaying, just ask FC4. He's a good RPer, and an excellent writer in general.

To expand on this, if you ever have questions for anyone, don't be afraid to ask. Asking for criticism is often the best way to get it. No one around here will ever bite your head off just because you're new, as should be obvious from some of the responses you've gotten so far.

As for fanfics... I'll throw in a bit myself and say you should pay special attention to dialogue. It can make or break a story sometimes, and you need to make it sound believable for your character to say. Stiff dialogue is almost never a good thing, and I know it's something some people really struggle with. You just have to make it sound natural, which isn't really as hard as it seems. Adding in small touches to your characters speech, like a certain phrase they may use a lot, the changing of expressions on their face during speech, and so on, can really go a long way.

For fanfic inspiration (if you want any) check out readers such as Sparrow, FC4, Peleus. There are others, but these guys are extra good (though I am heavily biased on one of them). I'd say Nova, too, but I'm not even sure he writes consistently anymore...

I have no idea if anyone else has said this, but CHARACTERS COME BEFORE ALL ELSE. (Is it obvious I haven't read through the thread yet?)

Your characters are never mandated by your story, your story is mandated by your character. Who they are, how they feel, what they do shapes the world, because in most situations writers prefer close third person, which means our view of the world is shaped by the character's view of the world. Railroading, for lack of a better term, is a poor way to start a story. Your character, rather, should want to do something, and YOUR STORY SHOULD FOLLOW THE WANTS AND NEEDS OF YOUR CHARACTER AND NOTHING ELSE. Of course, it's okay if he does something tremendously out of character occaisionally, because from time to time you can use that to your advantage to build your character--we, the readers, aren't in your head, we don't know every facet of the character's person unless you show it to us.

If you've ever taken an English class that explains the methods of storytelling, you'll remember all stories go something like this: Rising Action -> climix -> Falling Action/Conclusion.

The same should be true for your writing. climixes (There can be an infinite number of smaller ones) should always help to shape your character; his personality should never be static at any point in time. Say he's a greedy mercenary; the climix of your story could simply be that he happens across a burning orphanage and saves the orphans--and then refuses a reward for it. A logical following to this could be that he swears to hunt down the arsonists or whatever, but either way, your character should always be changed by every climix in your story. If he never changes, he becomes static and isn't interesting at all. I don't care if it winds up seeming like he has bipolar disorder--doing one good thing and then one bad thing, so long as it paints a realistic character following his wants and needs.

So let me put it this way: It's fine to start a story with a boring character. It's fine to not know every facet of him. But through the story, if you let him change and evolve, he will become an interesting character, and you might learn interesting things about him yourself.

Now, with railroading... It's fine, absolutely fine to railroad your character into doing something, but it always has to meet with his wants. A fat sack of gold might buy one character, while other characters may require more subtle manipulations. Be careful with your railroads, and make sure they match your character's desires so that he follows them. After all, it's not like you could be assed to go into some goblin cave just because "That guy told me to." You're going into that cave expecting phat loots, experience points, and money. A paladin might go in because they've been harassing farms, a farmer's son might go in because they kidnapped his sweetheart, a Prince might send an entire army crashing down into the caverns because they've been raiding his tax collectors--so allow me to say again: RAILROADS MUST MATCH YOUR CHARACTER'S DESIRES.

If you follow these (hopefully easy to understand) instructions, you can make characters that rival anyone's in literary depth, and your stories will flow naturally.

For descriptions: There's some fine line between verbose and direct that varies from person to person. I advise you practice by imagining a room and describing every minute detail in as many words as you can, then write the description again, writing only the important, eyecatching details. I mean, some author's suffice by simply telling us that there's a room--we can make up the rest of it ourselves. The problem is, less description is infinitely more difficult than more. And remember, if you're writing in first person or close third person, use vocabulary your character would use. Say it's a gaudy color of paint, or a pompous suit, or a pretty pink color, or a classy suit. Your character shapes the story we see, remember? It might be a very different story if we just look at it through someone else's eyes.

My Advice, yes I know I am not the greatest, but here I go

Have good grammar/spelling...
Have realistic dialogue (I need to work on this as well, so I understand)
If people flame your fanfiction (you svck, this is horrible, etc.) keep writing and shrug it off, not mentioning any names but its happened to me my fair share of times.
Most of all, have fun, this is for you, not us...

Great advice here, but its also kinda for us... 97% for you 3% for us.

@Shadowstrike ...

What? I mean, your giving us something to enjoy, right?

One more piece of advice, never write for someone else (one person specifically)...

I cut my story, "The Eternal Guardians" short, because they stopped reading...

As you can probably tell from this thread, everyone has their own ideas about how to write a story. The beautiful and confusing thing is: all of them are equally valid. That's the awesome thing about writing: there aren't any rules.

(Well, okay... there are. There are rules of grammar and whatnot that I'm rather notorious for upholding zealously... but those are different. Those are merely conventions of language, so that we can better understand one another. So yeah... not the point.)

The flexibility of writing can be both a blessing and a curse. The blessing comes from the ability for a writer to flex their imagination, creating worlds and characters and letting other people experience them. It's a heady, fulfilling experience, and it's fun as all get-out to boot. The curse comes from the fact that it's a lot of work to put said worlds and characters together in a way that's interesting, realistic (relatively), and coherent. It's a skill, and, like any skill, it takes practice and dedication to hone it.

Everyone has their own process. Darkom, for example, likes to plan extensively. Personally, I'm not so good with planning ahead of time: I usually have the bare bones of a character I enjoy and a vague path I want them to follow, and then I dive into the deep end with very little by way of metaphorical scuba equipment. This is a rather risky way to go for several reasons: the character could fill out into a cliche, minor contradictions might spring up, and lack of direction is a very easy way to kill a story... but I find that the advantages are worth it. One of my favorite parts of writing is the chance to discover more about my own characters as they take shape through the process of the story, filling out and then changing with the plot. Only after I've gotten a couple chapters in--when all the characters and situations have solidified in my head--do I sit down and start drawing up possible plots... even after that, my plots tend to spiral off in directions I didn't expect. Again, spiraling the story off into a dead end is a great way to kill it, but perhaps the challenge of keeping that from happening is also part of the fun.

Everyone has a process. Chances are, you already know what you prefer to do when starting a story, but don't feel the need to do it that way every time. Play around with your writing. Write a couple stories or passages just for you... don't worry about grammar, or critiques, or of all the complicated elements like pacing and POV voice. Don't post the passages online... you don't even need to write them in English. Just try a couple different approaches to your stories, and play.

Learning to write is just as much about time pounding on a keyboard as it is about sheer talent... if not more so. So just do as several people have said, and practice, practice, practice. Not everything needs to be critiqued, since it's useful to have a couple things written without any pressure. Yes, improvement is awesome, but it takes a long time to see much difference in your writing, and it can be very frustrating in the meantime to receive the same types of feedback over and over again (yeah, I've been there). It takes a lot of time and dedication, but if you're really passionate about writing, it won't seem like much work at all. :goodjob:

A little note on cliches... I struggle with that very problem. I'll look back at things I wrote a year ago (*cough*OfFateLuckandAmbition*cough*) and see them riddled with literary cliches that I just want to kick myself over. But don't fret too much over that: the fact that you're catching past mistakes only means that you've improved since then. So take it as a badge of pride, because you're improving. Knowing your weaknesses is the first step of overcoming them ("know thine enemy:" a cliche for a reason!).

As far as writing in a second language goes, I'm afraid I don't really know much about that. But people (read: I) tend to be much more lenient on your grammar and spelling if it's known that English is not your first language. All I can say is to just keep practicing your English if you intend to keep writing in it, just so it's easier on yourself, and so nothing can get lost in the translation (hee, another cliche!). A beta reader is a good idea, but you won't be able to find one for every project.

My main point of advice is... well, I don't think I have one. But I have lots of little ones that really just echo things that have already been said:

-Be patient. A masterpiece doesn't happen overnight, and you shouldn't expect it to. You'll reach the destination eventually... until then, just sit back and enjoy the journey.
-Don't get discouraged by a tough critique or a poor reception. If you're having difficulty with feedback (or lack thereof), take some time to step back. Take a week or a month to distance yourself from the story, then come back with fresh eyes. Everyone here tries to help, even if it can sometimes sound like tough love.
-Do your best to identify your weaknesses and improve upon them. Usually, others need to point them out to you, thus the previous piece of advice. But remember the first piece of advice: learning to write takes time. Be patient. You'll get there.
-Write for yourself, not others. Sharing your writing with others is an uplifting, fulfilling experience; there's no doubt about that... but always remember that you are the author. You are in control, and only you can say what you like and don't like.
-And of course, have fun! You should enjoy writing... even the stressful writing that is going up for critique. If you enjoy it, chances are the reader will as well.

So yeah, that's all I've got.

I feel bad that I haven't been able to give you or any of the other writers the feedback I've apparently acquired a reputation for (Seriously, you and mALX1 both made me all blushy) . Real life has been eating me up. :ahhh:

I've actually been thinking of putting together a "TES fanfiction tips" guide much like IllusionaryNothing's RP guide... but then I remember that that would probably be rather presumptuous of me, and probably be an extended project to boot. Which I can't really do... what with real life eating me up and all.

Hope that helped. :dance:

After seeing that the brilliant BSparrow is concerned that she would be presumptuous to write a "How to Write Fanfic" thread, I am tempted to slip away quietly?. But that is not my way so?.

First- I agree with everything everyone else has said. To be a writer, you have to write. To be a better writer, you have to read. You have to read a lot. And you have to think about why it is you like the stories you like. What makes them "work" for you? Conversely, what do you dislike in books/stories you read?

So far, most of what we have said applies to writing in general- and that's great. But what I really want to do here is focus on the "fan fiction" aspect.

In fanfic, you are using an established world. It has systems that are already in place. Geography, magic, politics, etc. That makes things both easier and harder for the writer. Easier, because you do not have to create those things; harder because you have to work within the framework already provided. If you violate fundamental concepts of the world about which you are writing, some readers will focus on those violations and ignore everything else. That is not precisely the same thing as "going against the Lore." You can have slight deviations from the Lore (what we "know" about the fanfic world and its history) as long as you make clear up front that you aren't trying to follow it strictly. Some of the Lore Wardens will still complain, but that goes with the territory.

Even while you are sticking to the "game world," you can be creative. For example, you don't necessarily have to use spell names from within the game. Particularly a non-mage character might simply describe spells by their effects, as he observes them. Even in a fanfic, your character has a "voice." And that voice is based on education, background, experiences, age?.. Look at "Books by Lorcka" in this section of the forums for an excellent example of providing a character with a distinctive voice.

Overwhelmed yet? You did ask a bunch of people who would rather write than eat for our opinions?. :cookie:

OMG! Totally forgot about Treydog. Read his stuff too. Sorry, Trey. I have a terrible memory.

In my book, there are two kinds of writers.

1. The Content Writers -- They focus on putting in action, drama, and scenery into their posts. It is mostly concrete, easy to follow, and the common out of the two styles.

2. The Insight Writers -- These are very rare, and very interesting to read. To the human eye, it looks like it is impossible to read, because of it's sophistication. You have to study it, not read it, and it provides so much more experience to the reader. Like previously mentioned, this is an extremely hard thing to pull off, I have only read a handful of good work in this style.

Try reading Hawthorne and you will know what Insight Writing is.

Hawthorne as in The Scarlett Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne?

No, Hawthorne as in Of Mice and Men Hawthorne.

Yes, Scarlet Letter Hawthorne.