On Writing Fan Fiction (Rules & Advice)

[TogetherAgain]

Agreed, this would make an excellent sticky.

Another thing I thought of:

Let the characters push the story, so that they almost write it for you. Never force a story. If it's not coming to you, just take your time with it. Go outside, or some place quiet, where you can think. Or sometimes it helps to- and no extremes necessary here, but- sometimes it helps to have a little bit of a life. You'd be amazed how many times you'll be having a conversation and all of a sudden think, "Oh, this would be great to go in my fanfic!" It happens, really it does. And as much as I pester for more story more story more story, I would actually prefer you take your time with it and get the story right than rush it and mess it up.

Now that doesn't mean I'll let you leave a story for weeks without a bit of nagging...

 

[Beauregard]

By the way, I think making this thread a sticky wouldn't be a bad move...

*drops a spoonfull of honey on thread*

Great tips everyone, keep them coming!!

Also, from just that one sentence "Sweetums ducked under the doorway..." Harvey, I am eagerly awaiting your fan-fic...

 

[Fozzie Bear]

I'll sticky the thread, then.

BTW: These pointers are for the Fan Fiction, not the outlines.

In outlines, they can work more like a script--the way they've been getting done. We all know who the hero of the outline is: Gorgon Heap! He KNOWS how to do the outlines, and if anybody else tries it should follow his lead.

http://forum.muppetcentral.com/showthread.php?t=15390

 

[Harvey Towers]

Lets talk about character

When writing a new story with original characters some writiers create detailed character notes about their creations in much more detal than they are ever likely to use. This is so that they can make better judgements on how there characters will react in each situation they encounter.

When writing a fan-fic with a group of established characters like the Muppets, it is important that you get to know the characters by researching them. And if that isn't an excuse to watch every possible Muppet production again then I don't know what is.

Anyway, it is important in most cases that a story should be character-driven rather than plot-driven. This ensures that the characters stay "in-character." Although there may be room for some manipulation but making someone do something which is wildly out of character will leave the reader feeling cheated. To have an established, well known and much loved muppet behave out of character is doubly dangerous and willmake any good story jar with all muppet fans.

 

[EleganceLiberty]

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.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Probably with The Muppets (Fraggles, Sesame Street, etc.) I would leave out new characters (ie, in fan fic); it would only then have interest to the author more than likely, don't you think?

However, if it is an 'outline,' and you throw yourself in there as a special guest star (and keep the 'show' interesting) then it could work!! Nothing wrong with that.

I would like to point out that these are family forums so if you write a fan fic to be posted at MC, try to keep it only as violent as you might see in a Muppet Production (yes, it's perfectly fine to blow up a penguin or aim a gun at Kermit), and keep all 'romance' decent (no sexual situations, and no different than you would see in a Muppet Production; ie, Kermit and Piggy hugging and kissing...well, Piggy hugging Kermit and forcing him to kiss her---then again, there was that time in the VMX film...).

I really didn't think this thread would solicit so many good responses!!

Keep 'em coming, gang!

 

[EleganceLiberty]

Yeah. I'd have to say Muppets in general is probably the only series of fandoms where I fail to see a need for fan characters. I do have a 'fan*fraggle' of my own, but she's strictly for the odd art piece every now and then. ^^;

For comedy, I find the best way to get laughs -strictly IMO- is to keep the characters in character while doing a comedic story. How would they normally react to what's going on around them or happening to them? It's a bit tricky, but once you get the hang of it, it can produce some funny results.

 

[theprawncracker]

What about the music?

All fan-fics need music! I mean what's a Muppet story without it? (MFS had Celebration at the end) Wheter it be "Can You Picture That?" "Rainbow Connection" "I Love Trash" whatever! Or if you really want your music to go over well, write your own songs! Everyone loves original songs!

Do you have time?

When you shift from place to place, or a period of time passes, put something in between, like ~~~~~ or _______ or ---------- or /*/*/*/* or^^^^^^ something like that. And don't change it throughout the fic, it'll get confusing.

 

[Skeeter Muppet]

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 ^^*),

*blinks* Well, whaddaya know? Huh, go figure.

Anyway, EleganceLiberty defined Mary Sues pretty well. I wouldn't go so far as to say a Mary Sue is always a self-insert character. I define a Mary Sue as a character created by an author who, to borrow a line from Mary Poppins, is "practically perfect in every way". Using Fraggle Rock as an example, a Mary Sue Fraggle would be a better explorer than Gobo, a better athlete than Red, and a better writer and artist than Mokey. She wouldn't be afraid of the Silly Creatures, would be able to befriend the Gorgs, would get Boober to act like a regular Fraggle instead of like Boober and probably would dispense pieces of advice that the gang could easily get from the Trash Heap. More often than not, the Mary Sue becomes the center of everyone's attention and the story pretty much revolves around her. There are male versions of the Mary Sue, called Marty Sams or Gary Stus, but they're not as abundant as Mary Sues.

That said, I don't think there's much cause for worry about Mary Sues in this fandom, at least where the authors at this board are concerned There's not much call for OCs with Kermit and the gang, unless a new act is being tried out on the show and then it ought to be just like one of the Whatnots being used for a sketch on TMS.

In Fraggle Rock I think it might be tougher to avoid OCs, so I'd say they would be acceptable there as long as you don't fall into the Mary Sue trap.. A good example would be Effralyo's stories about the Minstrels outside of Fraggle Rock. It's highly doubtful that they wouldn't run into anyone else in their travels, so Effralyo has to create characters for them to interact with. There are also more Fraggles in the Rock than just those who have names, and the onscreen friendships between Wembley and Lou or Boober and Tosh show that the Fraggle Five don't hang out with each other all the time. Right now I'm trying to work out a fic idea for Fraggle Rock where one young Fraggle gets chosen to be Gillis "The Maestro" Fraggle's apprentice.

And finally, to second what EleganceLiberty said about keeping things in character...this applies to the entire realm of whatever portion of the Muppet fandom you're writing in, not just the characters. If something is a certain way around the theatre or Fraggle Rock or even Faffner Hall, explain why it's that way. Don't use "because it's fanfiction" or "because I said so" as your reasoning.

Remember, "fiction" may be part of the word "fanfiction", but so also is "fan". If you're a fan of the universe you're writing for, then write it true to what's been portrayed in canon.

-Kim

 

[TogetherAgain]

This'll sound weird, but it works. At least it does for me. When I'm trying to figure out what a character would say in a certain situation, and it's not quite coming... I put my hand up in the air and pretend I'm muppeteering that character. It looks silly, but it helps. Maybe it's just a psychological thing, but... I just thought I'd share...