On Writing Fan Fiction (Rules & Advice)

[WebMistressGina]

In my next chapter of A Nest Divided, it's going to mostly focus on the Muppet gang filming an episode of their show in the theater, and I want to make a musical number the centerpiece of the chapter. Does anyone have any tips for writing in a number without making it seem too wordy or stagy? Or perhaps know of a fic that does a good job of writing in something like that?

I say check out Aunt Ru's Kermie's Girl. She not only has the Muppet Show doing Vegas, but Piggy doing Broadway. You can also check out my latest, Five Ball Cha-Cha; Scooter has two promenient songs in it that I showcased. *shrugs* I thought it was okay, especially when doing a musical number can be hard.

Actually, now that I think about it, the first in that series 8 Ball, also had two musical numbers that I featured. I haven't gone through all the fics here, so there might be more that I just don't know of.

As for tips, definitely describing the scene is helpful. I say do more describing of what's going on and less of the song; most of us will post some lyrics and then just post the accompaning song from a YouTube video.

Oh! Newsie's Monsters story has the one scene where Gonzo did his soft shoe routine with song for Camilla. Sorry, that one just came to me. Hope that helps!

 

[charlietheowl]

Thanks for the suggested scenes to check out. I'll have to read a couple of them and see how they work.

 

[Dominicboo1]

Another point I'd like to bring up is the sticky and landmine topic of placing your fan character/original characters into a fanfic.

Let's face it: 95% of the time, an original character in a fan fic ends up failing. Why? People fall prey to the 'Mary Sue' syndrome. To make a long story short (and maybe Skeeter will expand upon this, as we're both members of the Mary Sues community on Live Journal. *waves* Hi! I'm 'scallisha' over there ^^*), a Mary Sue is an insert of the author and pretty much takes control of the story not to mention getting in bed with their favorite canon character as well. A prime example would be some girl creating a female fraggle that somehow manages to not only mingle with the silly creatures with ease, but also somehow manages to woo Boober into a romance. (No offense to anyone, but merely an example)

However, not all OCs are bad. Herein lies the key to writing them properly so they're not obtrusive to the whole fic. If your story revolves around your OC, I strongly reccomend using a canon main (canon being the official stuff) character as a co-main character, so as the readers don't feel alienated too soon. I sometimes use this in my F-Zero fan fiction, and it works fairly well.

Even then, OCs might be a necessity in some situations. I mean, take a moment and think: would you really see any of the Fraggle Five act as the Fraggle equivalent of a scientist or doctor? (Well, I';m sure Gobo has some skills, but not advanced anough) If there isn't an already established minor character who isn't an expert in that field, then an OC might be called for it. Doesn't need a name or an elaborate back story either.

Also, in the vein of the post above about keeping things in character... please do so. While it might be tempting for someone who doesn't like, say... Gonzo, Oscar or Boober to totally distort the element of their personalities that one might not like. Gonzo isn't way overly eccentric, Oscar wouldn't go 'Grand Theft Auto' on a kid and Boober certainly doesn't slit his wrists and listen to Evanesence. Just... try to use restraint on writing certain characters please.

My thoughts are as I do, give your new character a somewhat small role in their first story, or pair them with a cannon character like you said! By your second story, give them a bit more story time. Then...you can make them a main character ,after characters get used to him or her!

 

[Dominicboo1]

I've seen this commonly with new fan fic writers and sadly, teenagers. It's very rare that I see anyone over the legal drinking age, we'll say, just randomly throw something together that can be done with any character anywhere.

On these forums, I've yet to see that, but then again it's not like I've read through every single fic here, but the ones I have read, I think have been done with your basic understanding and concepts of grammar, a good imagination, and a good dose of knowing your Muppets!



I understand what you mean (I hope) - it's when you get an idea and instead of tailoring it a particular fandom (in our case, the Muppets), a writer will just insert character A with like character B and go from there and you're right, that is the lazy man's way of writing.

While the Internet has opened the door for many people who wanted to try their hand at writing or are writers that never got published, it's also become a form where everyone thinks they're a writer, when - sorry to say - they aren't. Or perhaps it's that they don't understand that writing actually takes time and thought.

It's one of the reasons I turned to fan fiction in the first place - my original works get started and then take years because I'm working out characters, situations, character bios, family ties, etc. I'm still working on the two series that I started way back in junior high!

Ideas are easy to come by, but being able to put people in the right places and vice versa is important. It's like the idea of another actor portraying a certain character if things had gone differently; ie, can anyone see Sean Connery as Gandalf? Or if roles are reversed, not for the purpose of a story per se (like a Freaky Friday-esque plot line), like Fozzie acting like Gonzo or Kermit and Piggy not being a couple (just for the sake of them not being a couple)

The unfortunate thing I think is that many of these writers just don't care or are under the impression that we as the reader have no right to tell them how to write or engage us; that's primarily why I no longer post or read anything on fanfiction.net (though I do get alerts for stories and/or authors that I enjoy, but that's a few). I've had enough 'youngin's' decry the very audacity that I would suggest something for them to consider. I've even gotten called out on it and acquired my very own troll stalker because of it (It's also why I don't review anymore).

Now with all of that said, I can see writers having a hard time with say, a particular character. But, this is where doing the research (which many fic writers do not do) is key and paramount; I don't ever accept the excuse that a person doesn't know about a particular character when we live in a world of YouTube, Wikipedia, and Bit Torrent. Unless something is so obscure or a character a passing glance in something, there is no reason that a writer can't sit down and try to learn about a character.

But as I mentioned, many don't for whatever reason and then we get character A doing something with characters B, C, and D and hilarity may sometimes ensue.

The lucky thing is the Muppets are so zany and unpredicatble as long as you do that, you can do anything at all.

*sigh* I am apparently the lone dissenting voice, but I am going to dissent, and my dissent goes something like this:
Why on earth would you need to kill someone? If it takes a jolt like that to jump-start your story, maybe you should write something different.

Killing off a character--especially one that doesn't belong to you--within a fandom that loves the character and doesn't actually know you from Adam seems like the worst case of grandstanding I can imagine. Is it not possible to tell you story without some sort of artificial sacrifice? And must you sacrifice someone else's characters to the bloody cause? If you do--and I'm going to advice you NOT to--then the payoff for the death had better be plenty huge. If someone's going to die, they had better be doing something pretty self-sacrificial or awfully darn heroic or you're just jerking the reader around by someone else's chain.

Writing is a craft, an art, a skill that can be practiced a lifetime without ever achieving perfection. Let me stand in the gap here in defense of good, well-thought-out storylines that go somewhere, of characters that have purpose and of sacrifices that mean more than emotional manipulation on the part of the author, who often didn't have that much of a story to tell in the first place.

Fanfiction has more than its fair share of emotionally wrenching stories that are emotionally wrenching just for the, um, enjoyment(?) of making the reader writhe. And, to be fair, readers flock along in droves--by the hundreds, at least--to wail and weep and moan in pretended agony because the character they have loved (at least enough to belong to the fandom and read the stories) has been (a) decapitated; (b) flattened; (c) tortured and killed or (d) all of the above. In my not-so-humble opinion, this kind of writing is the "reality show" of the entertainment world and it is often unworthy of the audience's attention even though it gets it. Does this mean that I think fanfic stories should be all butterflies and unicorns and everybody happy all the time? No! Of course not! But if our characters are going to suffer, let it mean something. Let it advance the plot--not replace it. Let it spice up the story instead of merely drowning out the bad taste of underdone characters. Let the story be a slave to the characters, not the characters be slaves to the story.

Why don't you write a story about something that doesn't start out with the idea, "Well, I don't have anything much exciting happening in my story--I think I'll maim a major character and gain the audience's attention that way"?

If you do write a weepy, emotionally manipulative story, then there will certainly be audience members who read it. Somebody reads everything here. Shoot, somebody reads everything they post on fanfiction.net, which means that people are really, really desperate for stories about the characters they already know and love. But why don't you try adding to the characters' stories--instead of taking away from them. I'm sure you--and everyone else who trolls these boards--has a good story in them. Write that one.

Ru
(Who is getting off her soapbox and storming away)

Who and why is the importnat part......in my fantasy series I kill Metora from the Christmas Toy to show Jareth's evil and his powers,but no other Muppet dies in the rest of the story. To show dangers is one thing...but to do it for the halibut is another.

 

[Ruahnna]

Who and why is the importnat part......in my fantasy series I kill Metora from the Christmas Toy to show Jareth's evil and his powers,but no other Muppet dies in the rest of the story. To show dangers is one thing...but to do it for the halibut is another.

Even so, to skill a character to show "danger" seems rather extreme. Death is permanent, and before you take the hatchet to someone else's character, I think you should ask: Is there another way I could accomplish my purpose (to show danger, to show fear, to diminish the ranks, etcs.) without killing someone and is the sacrifice necessary? For example, five Enterprise crewmen against a planet makes for dramatic odds, doesn't it? But the Enterprise need not be destroyed to limit the possibility of help and create those dramatic odds--the Enterprise could simply be out of communicator range, dodging enemy phasers, taken over by pirates, etc.

 

[Dominicboo1]

Even so, to skill a character to show "danger" seems rather extreme. Death is permanent, and before you take the hatchet to someone else's character, I think you should ask: Is there another way I could accomplish my purpose (to show danger, to show fear, to diminish the ranks, etcs.) without killing someone and is the sacrifice necessary? For example, five Enterprise crewmen against a planet makes for dramatic odds, doesn't it? But the Enterprise need not be destroyed to limit the possibility of help and create those dramatic odds--the Enterprise could simply be out of communicator range, dodging enemy phasers, taken over by pirates, etc.

True, but since Metora's a toy I don't know if kill is the right word for her. I didn't want to do it to anybody more memorable, and nobody even seemed to notice what happened.

 

[Ruahnna]

True, but since Metora's a toy I don't know if kill is the right word for her. I didn't want to do it to anybody more memorable, and nobody even seemed to notice what happened.

Well, Meteora is a toy, but since the "death" of a toy is the big bad awful that The Christmas Toy is all about avoiding, then it would still be a significant event. Meteora might not have been "memorable" to you, but she was important to the story of The Christmas Toy. If we take that reality forward, Meteora would them become a beloved member of the toy family--much like Buzz Lightyear and Jessie became integral parts of the Toy Story family in subsequent films. Killing her should be a big deal--certainly to the reader and absolutely to you, the author. If her death means nothing, then it means nothing--a cardinal sin for writers.

I'm not sure what you meant by "nobody even seemed to notice what happened." If you mean that your readers did not react at all to the death of Meteora in your story--even though you earlier stated that you did it for dramatic effect to showcase Jareth's evil--then that rather makes the case that it was unnecessary. If you did it deliberately to make a statement--and no one reacted to that statement--then what you did was not effective.

I'm not trying to give you a hard time or be critical, but I stand by my statement that writers should not go around light-heartedly killing off other people's characters.

 

[Dominicboo1]

Well, Meteora is a toy, but since the "death" of a toy is the big bad awful that The Christmas Toy is all about avoiding, then it would still be a significant event. Meteora might not have been "memorable" to you, but she was important to the story of The Christmas Toy. If we take that reality forward, Meteora would them become a beloved member of the toy family--much like Buzz Lightyear and Jessie became integral parts of the Toy Story family in subsequent films. Killing her should be a big deal--certainly to the reader and absolutely to you, the author. If her death means nothing, then it means nothing--a cardinal sin for writers.

I'm not sure what you meant by "nobody even seemed to notice what happened." If you mean that your readers did not react at all to the death of Meteora in your story--even though you earlier stated that you did it for dramatic effect to showcase Jareth's evil--then that rather makes the case that it was unnecessary. If you did it deliberately to make a statement--and no one reacted to that statement--then what you did was not effective.

I'm not trying to give you a hard time or be critical, but I stand by my statement that writers should not go around light-heartedly killing off other people's characters.

You're not, and I didn't want to do it, but the main thing that I didn't mention was Uncle Deadly and Bobo are on Jareth's side as henchmen, but don't realize how much of a monster that he is. forgot that part, so sorry! Yeah...it just wanted to seem like there was a beliveable reason for those two to reform. Honestly, if I had thought of a more effective way I would have done so.

 

[AlittleMayhem]

This is probably a stupid question to ask here but has anyone thought of getting some beta readers or becoming one themselves? I think we could use some on this site and they're so difficult to find.

 

[charlietheowl]

I'm willing to help look over and edit a story if you ever need any help.