On Writing Fan Fiction
This Microsoft Office PowerPoint that I made should be able to tell you all about writing Fan Fiction.
What is fan fiction, you ask?
Fan fiction (alternately referred to as fanfiction, fanfic, FF, or fic) is a broadly-defined term for fan writing regarding stories about characters (or simply fictional characters) or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator. Works of fan fiction are rarely commissioned or authorized by the original work’s owner, creator, or publisher; also, they are almost never professionally published. Because of this, many fanfics written often contain a disclaimer stating that the creator of the fanfic owns none of the characters. Fan fiction, therefore, is defined by being both related to its subject’s fictional universe and simultaneously existing outside the canon of that universe. Most fan fiction writers assume that their work is read primarily by other fans, and therefore tend to presume that their readers have knowledge of the canon universe (created by a professional writer) in which their works are based.
If you click that link at the top, I have created a Power Point relating to my own work with an Alice in Wonderland trequel. I will also post my notes in a step-by-step process here, in case you cannot download the Power Point and view the visuals.
1. For this piece, I chose Alice in Wonderland because I have done so much research on Lewis Carroll, and have watched numerous movies and read numerous versions of the classic tale. Try to choose a book that you really feel passionate about, including characters that you easily relate to or feel a strong attraction/deep hatred for.
2. The next step is to choose when your fan fiction is taking place. Is it occurring during the time the original story was set in? Is it the story of what happened before the original story? Or is it a story about everything that happened after the original story? Be sure you have content that correlates with the setting that you choose.
3. No one will be able to understand that you are writing a fan fiction story if you focus on a character that is only mentioned once or twice in the story. If you really want to include that character, you could slowly bring them into the story by creating a tie to one of the prominent characters. The interesting thing about fan fiction is that you are further developing an already developed character, and molding that character into your own vision of them.
4. You need to have some originality in your piece. Of course, you need to include elements that familiarize other fans with the story, but you also want to keep things exciting by introducing your own twists to the story.
5. Self-explanatory. Also, make sure you incorporate both sets of materials smoothly. You need to make sure you’re consistent with your setting, characters, and plot.
6.Variation is key. Having interesting twists is what helps your fan fiction get a good range of readers. You can also mix old and new elements together to create assorted concepts of your own formulation.
7. (This makes more sense in the Power Point, but let me just say that I typed in a section of my story and color-coded it for emphasis.} The dark purple are characters from the original story. The gold is a line that is said in the original story. The green is a new quote that I thought up in the mindset of Lewis Carroll. The light purple is all content that I wrote with my own imagination. As you can clearly tell, I try to thoroughly spread out ideas from the original story, my own interpretation of the story, and the parts that I mixed together with ideas from both stories. Good luck with your writing! 😀
Fantastical Reality 