How do you begin Fan Fiction/Own Story??

[Marileangorifurnimaluim]

There's a great book by the only person to win both the Nebula and Hugo awards two years in a row, Orson Scott Card (who's also a well-loved professor) called Characters and Viewpoint.

Many of the suggestions here (write what you know and love, pick a character or idea you like) are in it, but there's a much more than you can glean off a few who can't back it with the kind of thought a carefully planned book can give you. Expecially from a writer and teacher of his experience. Among other ideas, he suggests ways to help you dig into your characters and bring them into three dimensions.

Some favorite points he makes early on, are three reader responses to avoid:

[*]"Huh?"
Make sense. Avoid assumptions your readers know what they can't. A BIIIIG problem with fan fiction since fans typically assume you have their vast knowledge (or memory) of the LotR/Star Wars/whatever. Tolkien doesn't make this mistake. We shouldn't either.[*]"So what?"
Give the reader a reason they should take interest. Usually if you care, your reader will. But I've noticed a tendency to clue us in to that reason way late.
Tolkien awakens our curiousity (immediately) with this party, through Shire-gossip hints of Bilbo's oddity and uncanny associations with wizards and dwarves. You can't wait to find out what he's like and why he's so different. And if you already read the Hobbit, you smile to see old friends through stranger's eyes.[*]"No way!"
Believability.
For example: It's believable that as soon as Frodo and Sam strike out on their own towards Mordor, they get lost. What if they had just 'stumbled' on some direct route to Orodruin, or it just wasn't addressed how they find their way without maps - ?
Or what if Merry had bested the Witch King in hand-to-hand combat -? Ugh.
Yet, inexpert with a blade, ignored, giving a stab to the back of the calf when another could take advantage of the distraction? This is the kind of careful thought that makes Tolkien great.

An awful (and I do mean awful) LOT of fan fiction is particularly bad on these three points, because they assume, assume, assume, and love the stories they imitate so much they don't question themselves and their story.
Tolkien challenged himself constantly. There was one point where he looked up the phases of the moon, so Sam could look up outside of Lorien and discover a month had gone by.

Card gives lots of exercises from his group workshops to help shake loose ideas, question, delve deeper, find plot twists you hadn't considered, depth of motivation. Great stuff.

See if you can find it at the local library.

Go for it!

Last thing. Like everything you get better with practice. Write a lot.

-Maril [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[ February 16, 2002: Message edited by: Marileangorifurnimaluim ]

[ February 16, 2002: Message edited by: Marileangorifurnimaluim ]