1. art and entertainment
2. books and literature
3. fan fiction

Introduction
The heart of good fan fiction is planning. Before you can write a story, you have to know what
that story is about and what will happen.
In part one of the How to Write (Great) Fan Fiction tutorial, we talked about all of the basics you
will need to get started in writing a good piece of fan fiction. Your fandom, your media and all of the
other pieces that we discussed will come into play as we start getting ready to write a truly amazing
piece of fan fiction. I strongly recommend that you read through part one again before starting on part
two. You will be using the things that you learned in the first part with everything that I will teach you
here. If you need a link to part one, here you go:
How to Write (Great) Fan Fiction – Part One
In this part of the tutorial, we are going to talk about the writing process, planning and the first
three steps of my own personal method of creating fan fiction. I am a very prolific writer when it comes
to fan literature. I really love sitting down and cranking out chapter after chapter if I am feeling inspired.
I have been known to turn out more than 30,000 words in a day because I was feeling so fired up. I am
only able to do that because I plan. I plan well, I plan thoroughly and I double-check everything in those
plans once they have been completed.
As we go through each step of the writing process, I will write a short piece of fan fiction to
show you how each step works. You can watch it in progress as we go. Let us get started with planning
your story!
Why is planning important?
Planning is important because it solves several major problems for you.
Firstly, planning will eliminate writer's block. Now, I cannot guarantee that you will always feel
totally jazzed about writing. There are times when you're going to sit back and go ‘Ugh, do I really have
to write today?’ and no amount of planning will ever be able to defeat that. However, if you are doing
your job right, you will never have a moment when you stop and ask yourself what is supposed to
happen next. It will also eliminate any questions or confusion you might have about exactly how
something was supposed to happen in your story, or where you needed to go with it.
Secondly, planning improves coherency. Your story will make more sense when you can look at
your plans, know exactly what happens from the beginning to the end and know how each piece relates
to each other. Nothing can ruin a good piece of fan fiction the way that random elements in the story
can, and those only happen when the author does not know, or forgets, what is supposed to happen.
Everything should have a purpose in your story. Planning will allow you to find out what elements you
need to include so that those pieces, and your entire story, can have that meaning.
Third, having complete plans before you write will improve your professionalism.
I know, I know. It is 'just fan fiction.' However, I maintain that the fan fiction authors of today
are the novelists of tomorrow. Take pride in your work and always turn out the best story you can. Every
story you post online is a representation of yourself. Do you really want to be represented by a typofilled mess that has more plot holes than Twilight?
Planning will help to improve the quality of your writing by allowing you to learn how to write in
a systematic, efficient way. When you don’t have to worry about what happens next, or whether or not
Bob and Suzy should start dating (because you really aren't sure!), you can focus more on your writing
and bringing the story and characters to life.
Lastly, planning will help to save you time. By eliminating flailing and panic when you do not
know what to write, you can save yourself time by learning to write efficiently. Make every moment,
and every word, count.
The Zoni Method
We are going to get started by talking about the writing process. In this case, I am going to teach
you my writing process. Very modestly, I am going to call it the Zoni Method. I use a seven step writing
system that cuts back on actual writing time by basically having you teach yourself what to write.
I know, that probably seems like a lot of work. You are probably used to sitting down, writing
without a plan, possibly checking it over once and then uploading it. You know what I have to say about
that? I say it is sloppy and irresponsible.
If you think that using a seven-step process will make your writing take even longer, think again
- I find that my own writing time is cut in half (if not more) by simply following the steps every time I
write. It might take you longer the first few times, as you get used to planning more thoroughly or
writing this way, but it will definitely save you time in the end. I do not just use my writing process for
lengthy chapter stories, either. I even use it for one-shots, PWPs and other things for which you might
not think that you would need a terribly coherent plan.
If you have worked with other writing methods (such as the Snowflake Method), be aware that
the Zoni Method is not the same. In fact, it is rather unique in many aspects. Pay attention and learn
how I write my stories!
So, here are the steps of The Zoni Method:
Concept
Outline
Write Out
First Version
Second Version
Upload
Aftercare
In this part of the tutorial, we are going to discuss the first three steps of my writing process.
The Concept, Outline and Write Out are the foundation you will use to build your story from the ground
up. As you get used to working within this format, you will be able to adapt this particular process to suit
your individual needs.
Don't be intimidated by the fact that there are seven steps. Many of these processes (the
Concept and Aftercare, especially!) are very short and do not take much time. However, they're also
very important. So, make sure you pay attention.
Before we dig in, however, I'm going to go ahead and give you the definitions for the steps of
the Zoni Method that we will be discussing.
Concept
A one-sentence statement that summarizes the story.
Outline
A chronological list of the events in the plot.
Write Out
A guide to the events, emotions and effects within the story.
Now that you know what each step is about, let us get started with building your Concept.
Building Your Concept
The Concept for your story will be one of the single most important things you will ever create
while writing. Ideally, it should be a one-sentence statement that summarizes your entire story. I know,
that seems pretty daunting. You may be looking at writing a twenty chapter, sixty-thousand word piece
of fan fiction and you are looking at me and asking how you are supposed to fit all of that into one
sentence.
So, let me rephrase. A Concept is a one-sentence summary that should be relevant to any
chapter in your story. You should always be able to read your chapter, look at your Concept, and see
how they relate to one another.
The Concept is the first step of the Zoni Method for two reasons. The first reason is very
important. When you first sit down to write a piece of fan fiction, you will probably only have one thing
– an idea. That idea can get lost over time when you start working on fan fiction. By using that idea to
construct your Concept, you can be certain that your original vision for your story will be preserved.
Secondly, I will always encourage you to build from the ground up whenever you are writing. It
does not matter if you are writing fan fiction, articles or a novel. You need to go little by little, rather
than jumping in headfirst. The Concept is as basic as it gets when it comes to writing. Consider it a seed
from which you can grow your story.
I will not walk you through coming up with an idea for your story. After all, that is up to you.
However, once you have your idea – even if it is pretty bare – you can start writing your Concept.
A Concept is made up of parts. Before we can put your Concept together, we need to make sure
that we have all of the elements. A Concept should also have most of the same parts as a sentence. That
is because stories and sentences all have the same things. They need a strong opening, a subject, an
action, a goal and a powerful ending. Your Concept is a highly condensed form of your story, so it should
have all of those things included.
First off, let us look at the subject. The subject of your Concept is whom your story will be about.
This can be a character, or a country or whatever the main focus of your story will be. While the subject
can be as broad as a country or an army or what have you, I strongly encourage you to pick a specific
character or two to focus on. Even though other characters may show up or even come into the
spotlight from time to time, you need a character whose perspective you will be following.
In some cases, you may find yourself writing about a series, movie or book that includes two or
more characters as a group. Sometimes, that is a given. For example, if you were writing
Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler fan fiction, you would find it very difficult to write a story about Ciel
Phantomhive without also including his butler, Sebastian Michaelis. After all, Ciel never goes anywhere
without him. Therefore, Sebastian Michaelis and Ciel Phantomhive would be the subject of your
Concept.
However, be careful when you list a group of characters. If you are writing about a sizeable
traveling group (like the adventuring group in Lord of the Rings, Fushigi Yuugi or Inuyasha), will you be
writing about the entire group as the focus, or just one or two of the characters? More often than not,
you will be focusing on one or two of the characters rather than the entire group. The more people that
you write about, the harder it is to give them equal screen time. Be as specific as possible and be honest
with yourself.
Even if you write a story from third person, you need to follow one character's point of view. If
you follow two (or more) characters, do not switch perspectives in the middle of a scene. I will even go
so far as to encourage you to stay with one character per chapter. A while back, I recall reading an
article in a magazine that claimed that multiple perspectives within a story were a mark of professional
writers. I am going to call bullshit on that. Sloppy writing that jumps back and forth just confuses your
readers, makes it more difficult to follow a story line and prevents your readers from becoming
engrossed in a character and their emotions.
You want your readers to become involved and invested in your story. By staying with one
character for an extended period, or at least for a chapter, you give your readers a chance to feel as if
they are being caught up in the story. Give your readers someone with which they can empathize. Give
them a reason to read.
When choosing a subject for your Concept, be certain that you will be able to write that
character. By that, I do not mean that you have to know the ins-and-outs of that character the very
moment that you sit down and write that Concept. However, you have to be willing to get to know that
character well enough to write them. That may require you to do some research, re-watch the original
media for whatever you are writing for or even role play a bit with friends to get the hang of it. If you are
certain that you will not be able to write the character, do not even think about choosing them for your
subject.
Next up, we will take a look at the goal. The goal is what your subject is trying to achieve. Is he
going to kill the villain? Does she need to buy groceries? Must the prince kiss the princess?
When we are talking about goals with actions, you want to focus on the largest and most
dramatic end point for your story. Whatever the major plot is about, what your character most
desperately needs to achieve should be the goal. Within scenes and individual chapters, you will have
smaller goals that make up one big picture.
One mistake I see frequently is a goal that is not a goal. If you list your character’s goal as ‘save
the world,’ you have a problem. Saving the world is great and all, but your goal is what he had to do in
order to save it. ‘Kill the villain’ or ‘disable the bomb’ might be better choices. Specificity can make or
break a story.
Your goal will serve as a way to check yourself with each chapter you write. When you look
through your chapters and the plans for them, you should be able to see how each chapter moves your
subject towards the goal. If you cannot see how your chapter is moving the subject toward the goal, you
will need to do more planning or go through and re-plan so that you can fix that problem.
For some stories, there may be two goals. This, however, is definitely the exception rather than
the rule. For some stories, it may be confusing whether you have one goal or two.
Let us look at a good example, like Lord of the Rings. Frodo first had to take the ring to
Lothlorien. That is not actually a goal, even though it might sound like one. That is a plot point. After all,
the story did not end with the Ring being taken to Lothlorien. The goal for the overall story was to
destroy the One Ring. So, instead of there being two goals (take the ring to Lothlorien, destroy the ring),
there is only one real goal: destroy the One Ring. The characters may not have been aware of the
eventual goal for the beginning of the story, but that is still where the story wound up going.
The action is the way that the subject works to achieve the goal. This should be a verb. Even
better than that, use a descriptive verb or an adjective-verb combination. Instead of traveling, your
group can be wandering exhaustively. Instead of investigating, they are conducting an in-depth search.
Look for words that can enhance the feel of the sentence. Instead of ‘walking’, try ‘journeying’ or
‘wandering’ when you describe what is happening. This will give you more of a feel of how the
characters are doing whatever it is that they are doing.
While the action may not be the main focus of each chapter, there should be some element of
that action visible somewhere within the structure of each chapter. Even if your characters are chasing
after a deadly assassin and wind up being stuck at a spaceport for a week due to a blown engine, they
can be thinking about what they will do when they get back on the trail.
For many stories, you may think that the action is obvious. Always remember to consider
whether or not that action will carry through to the end of the story. The direction of the plot may
change in the middle of the story, but the action should remain the same. Do not cut yourself off from
the rest of your story by writing down the action and goal for the first half of your story and forgetting
about the last half entirely.
Remember that, right now, we are just thinking about what we want in a story. Do you want a
story where people travel around? Use that as your action. Do you want a dark story, filled with
introspection and self-contemplation? That can be an action, too. For now, just write down what is
appealing to you. While a Concept is something that you will base your story off, you may find that it
changes as you continue with the planning process.
Lastly, we are going to talk about the opening and closing. These are important, because they
help set the tone for your story. The opening of your Concept will affect the opening if your story. The
opening is what will set the tone for your readers for the entire rest of your story. Therefore, the
opening of your Concept is just as important. Likewise, the ending will be how your readers remember
your story. You want to make an impression.
While you cannot capture everything in the single sentence that is your Concept statement, you
need to give yourself the general idea. After all, this Concept is what the rest of your story will be based
on.
Openings for sentences, and therefore Concepts, seem limited. This is even more so if, like me,
you are a very repetitive writer. In order to fix this, think descriptively. Rather than ‘The group walked’,
try ‘In 16th century Japan, the group traveled.’ While that covers more than just the opening (after all,
you have an action and subject in there, too!) it gives you more of an idea of the setting.
Settings can be used as the opening for your sentence. After all, the setting is something that
you will wind up utilizing in your entire story. It has to take place somewhere, after all. If you choose to
use a setting as the opening, be as specific as possible so that you do not accidentally confuse yourself.
You have two options for the closing. Either you can leave the closing off entirely, or you can
state the result of achieving the goal. For Lord of the Rings, your Concept might be ‘In Middle Earth,
Frodo journeys to destroy the One Ring, saving Middle Earth from Sauron.’ ‘Saving Middle Earth from
Sauron.’ is going to be the result of destroying the One Ring. So, that is very acceptable to use for a
closing.
I did say that you can leave the ending off, and you can, but I will encourage you to try to include
an ending in your Concept. Since your story will always refer back to your Concept, putting an ending in
will help you to keep that particular ending in mind as you write.
There is one part of a story that you may have noticed is very clearly missing from my Concept
statements. Can you tell what it is? A motive. If you want, you can give the motive for the characters
actions in your Concept statement. Personally, I always try to slide that into either the opening or the
goal. However, it is also possible to write a Concept without providing the character’s motives.
Hopefully, you know why the characters are doing what they are doing. The Concept is your reference,
and you should (ideally) never need to remind yourself why the characters are doing what they are
doing.
Now that we have talked about the parts of a Concept, let us look at putting all of those parts
together. Before we create our own Concept, let us look at some possible Concept statements for
popular books and movies, shall we?
I am going to be cheeky and use an example I have already given:
| Opening |
| Action |
|
Closing
|
In Middle Earth, Frodo journeys to destroy the One Ring, saving Middle Earth from Sauron.
|Subject|
|
Goal
|
Now, you should be able to see the parts clearly outlined on that particular example. I will not
outline them on all of the examples, but see if you can pick out the various parts of these Concept
statements:
Going back in time, Kagome and Inuyasha search for the shards to complete a legendary jewel.
(Inuyasha – anime/manga)
Using alien morphing technology, Jake and his friends transform into animals to save the world by
defeating the evil Yeerks.
(Animorphs – book/television series)
In a struggle to regain her memories, Anastasia travels to meet the Russian Empress, finding the family
she lost.
(Anastasia – movie)
In Victorian London, Ciel Phantomhive and his butler, Sebastian Michaelis, work to achieve revenge
against those who sullied the Phantomhive name.
(Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler, anime/manga)
After discovering his godly heritage, Percy Jackson embarks on a quest to find Zeus’ Master Bolt.
(Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Lightning Thief, book series/movie)
Looking at these, you can already tell that I have a bad habit. I almost never include a closing in
my Concepts. I hope that you have also noticed that these Concepts are very brief. They do not tell you
the whole story, but they do give you the general idea. In fact, a great Concept can also be used as a
summary when you finally go to post your story online.
Take a look at the original media for any of these five examples. Would you agree or disagree
that these are the main ideas for the plots? If this was a statement you had written, would you be able
to base a story off it? If you pick any particular point in the media, you should be able to look at the
Concept statement and see how it relates.
While that is the rule of thumb, it will not always be true. A good example would be
Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler. While the main theme of the story really is (supposedly) revenge, it does not
come up as often as it could in the actual story, simply because of how the series is written. You will find
that this is true of a number of media, especially comedy series or television sitcoms. Some things are
very hard to summarize in a single sentence. That is just one example. I am sure you can think of others.
When you find yourself having a difficult time summarizing your story idea, or you have several
major plot points and cannot choose which to use, try this:
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Quickly, jot down a generalized list of events you might want to happen, in
the order you think they will happen.
Pick the last chronological event.
Write a Concept based on that!
Keep in mind that, just because something could be used in a Concept also does not mean that it
should. I will use my Kuroshitsuji Concept as an example yet again. In the Concept I gave, revenge was
the goal, but the entire Concept could be rephrased to better capture the feel and content of the series.
You are the only person who knows about what you want to write. As such, it is up to you to come up
with a truly satisfactory Concept.
Choosing Your Story Bulk
While not an official part of the writing process, this is something important that you will need
to tackle either while you are considering your Concept or just after. What type of story do you want to
write?
I am not talking about what genre you want your story to fall under, but the length and content
that you intend to produce from your Concept and, eventually, your story as a whole. This is called your
story ‘bulk.’ I will give you a run through of some of the basic types of bulk that you can have within a
fan fiction:
One-Shot
The one-shot is an entire story in a single chapter. One-shots can be anywhere from a few
hundred words to more than thirty thousand. They just are not divided into chapters. One-shots
are best suited for shorter stories whose plots may not be as in-depth as the original media.
Even if you are an author who prides him or herself on lengthy, thought-out chapter stories,
one-shots can provide a much-needed break from your standard and bring you a boost in
readers who may not want to wade through longer chapter stories.
Drabble
A drabble is a very short piece of fan fiction, never to exceed more than five-hundred words.
Originally, drabbles were limited to one hundred words. However, in the past couple of years,
the acceptable length has expanded slightly.
PWP (Plot? What plot? or Porn without Plot)
PWPs are adult fan fiction with no actual plot. While they tend to fall under the category of oneshots, PWPs can have multiple chapters and can amass a very high word count. That being said,
the word count does not matter – you can have a thousand words or fifty-thousand words. If
you are an adult fan fiction author, PWPs can be an easy way to get a quick page view and
reader boost.
Short Fiction
Short fiction, in the world of fan fiction, refers to chapter stories under fifteen-thousand words.
Well-written, meaningful short fics are hard to find. When one enters a fandom, it tends to be
noticed. Readers enjoy short stories that pack a punch.
Chapter Fiction (or Long Fiction)
Any chapter stories that are between fifteen and fifty-thousand words will land in this particular
section, which encompasses most fan fiction.
Novella
Longer chapter stories, up to sixty-five or seventy-thousand words, are considered novella
length. A novella is a short novel, or a collection of short stories. With fan fiction, the
connotation is slightly different than it is with original fiction. Very few novella-length fan
fictions manage to pack a strong punch, as poor planning leads to story degradation over time.
Well-written novella fan fiction is rare, and can attract die-hard readers.
Grand Fiction
Stories that hit up to ninety-nine-thousand words are considered ‘grand.’ Occasionally, they are
also called ‘book fiction,’ even though the stories are not published as books (and may or may
not be based off books.)
Epic Fiction
Exceptionally long, on-going stories (which may or may not ever be ended) are considered epic
length stories. Epic length stories are decided based on one of two facts. A word count of more
than one-hundred-thousand words qualifies a story to fall into the epic category. Similarly,
having more than thirty chapters also puts a story into the epic category, regardless of the
actual word count. Epic length stories are good because the authors keep providing more
material for their readers to enjoy. However, they are also bad because authors tend to lose
interest over time and may abandon the story, thus disappointing their readers.
Keep in mind; this is just an abbreviated list. There are dozens of different types of bulk. The
types of bulk that you work with may even change based on your fandom. I know that a few years ago, a
fad went around involving ‘stick fiction,’ where people wrote single sentence stories. Explore your
fandom and find out what readers enjoy before deciding what you want to write.
Before deciding what type of bulk you want your story to have, ask yourself these questions:

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



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

How much time do I have to write?
Why do I write?
What types of stories are popular in my fandom?
Do I want to be a competitive writer?
What genre do I want to write?
Has this kind of story been done before in my fandom?
How hard do I want to work on this story?
Can I handle criticism well?
Do I have a support system?
How many places do I want to keep my story?
Many of these questions are also questions that you will need to consider before we move on to
the next step of the Zoni Method. Let us take a closer look at each of these questions and see how they
can affect the bulk of your story.
How much time do I have to write?
Unfortunately, writing does take time. How much time you can dedicate to your writing, and
how fast you write, will affect how long the stories you write should be. If you only have twenty minutes
a day to dedicate to your fan fiction and you type at twenty-five words per minute, you probably are not
going to want to shoot for an epic length story. That would just be dumb, and you would wind up
making your readers angry when your updates turned out to be sporadic and low quality. You would
want to stick to writing short fiction, one-shots or drabbles while you got into the swing of things.
Writing fan fiction is something that can be done in your spare time. Even so, I still encourage
you to set aside time to work on it. Be realistic about how fast you can write and be realistic about how
much time you are willing and able to put into it. Your typing speed, and the amount you can write in a
single sitting, will improve as you write more often. Do not let yourself get frustrated by giving yourself
goals that are too great to reach.
If you want to open the door into original fiction writing, novel writing or article writing, you
need to learn how to write on a schedule. Learning to schedule your fan fiction writing, and learning
how to regiment your writing to suit different word counts, can be an invaluable tool for you. Use your
fan fiction to help you grow as an author.
Why do I write?
Congratulations, you are an author. However, just because you write does not really mean that
your heart is in it. So, tell me. Why do you write? While things are never really black and white, most
writers can be shuffled into two categories: those who love to write, and those who love the profit it
brings them.
People who love to write will find it easier to get themselves engrossed in a lengthy,
complicated plot. If you are one of these, it may be more to your taste to work on a novella-length piece
of fan fiction, where you can really sink your teeth in and get all tangled up in the story and world.
People who love the profit that they get from writing will thrive on feedback and in-put. As such,
you will probably want to hone your skills as a writer and work on improving the quality of your fan
fiction. Working with short fiction, chapter fiction and one-shots will allow you to not only work on
improving your craft but also get more feedback to feed your comment addiction.
What types of stories are popular in my fandom?
Every fandom has its own quirks and preferences. As part of the research that you should be
doing before you write, look and see what kinds of stories are popular within the fandom. Some
fandoms are filled with people who just do not have the attention span to last out longer stories. Others
really dislike short stories and one-shots. Your fandom, much like a person, has a personality – get to
know it before you join in.
Fandoms also have a social hierarchy, one that you will be intruding upon when you post up
your very first chapter. Somewhere out there, there is an individual whose fan fiction has its own fan
base, their story is well written and people are clamoring for the next chapter. From the very day you
decide that you want to write fan fiction for the same fandom, that person is your rival. Find the top
authors in your fandom. Look at what they write. Study their writing style, subject matter and the way
they present their stories. Then, do better.
Do I want to be a competitive writer?
As a fan fiction writer, you need to have a competitive attitude. By a competitive attitude, I
mean that you need to have the desire and drive to improve your craft. Throughout this tutorial and all
of the other tutorials I have written and will write, I will encourage you to get fired up and give a damn.
If you never read a story and find yourself thinking, ‘wow, they really screwed that up. I could have
written that so much better,’ you will forever be doomed to writing one-shots, PWPs, drabbles and any
other form of short fiction which never goes beyond the absolute basics.
As you write more fan fiction, what you become capable of writing will grow and change. If you
were a slow typist beforehand, you will find your typing speed picking up. As you write more stories, you
will be able to handle longer and more complex plots. By being competitive and trying to outdo other
writers, you will improve. While I will not say that you should start with novella-length fiction or
anything of the like, challenge yourself by picking a type of story that you have never tried before. Push
yourself to advance.
What genre do I want to write?
It is time to face the facts – some stories are just doomed to a certain length. If you are looking
at writing a sappy romance story with only the barest edges of plot, you’re probably going to be looking
at writing short fiction. Similarly, you will never fit that adventurous exodus that spans continents into a
five-thousand word one-shot.
Be realistic about what you want to write and what sort of format might suit it. The more fan
fiction that you write, the easier this will become. I am a rather productive author myself, and I am still
just figuring out how to gage what length stories will wind up being from the genre or content I want to
include.
Has this kind of story been done before in my fandom?
One thing you always need to ask yourself is, ‘Why should they read my story instead of
JoeBob86’s story?’
One possible answer is the bulk of the story that you write. Fandoms do tend to have favorite
formats, and you will probably discover this pretty quickly. One glance at FanFiction.net and you will be
able to get a feel for the types of stories people write. While I will generally encourage you to go with
the crowd and try to stay with what is popular, it can also pay off to branch out and do something that
nobody else has done. That foray into the unknown can bring you new readers who are delighted that
you have decided to think outside the box.
How hard do I want to work on my story?
This should be a no brainer. A fifty-thousand word, eight-chapter story is going to require more
effort than a five-thousand word one-shot. Your twenty-thousand word romantic chapter fiction will
take more time, effort and care than a four-thousand word PWP.
There will be times when you really do want to go for the gold and write an entire novella. At
other times, you may just want to play around with an idea. Choose your bulk appropriately and do not
force yourself to work on something that you do not realistically think you will enjoy writing. While I do
encourage you to take fan fiction seriously, have fun with it. If you do not, you will never love writing.
Just keep in mind that a sudden burst of inspiration can also burn out quickly, and any idea you commit
to should be something you genuinely feel is worth the time you will spend working on it.
Can I handle criticism well?
The longer that a story goes on, the more likely it is that you will receive negative comments.
Now, do not get me wrong. As an author, you will get negative comments. It does not matter how good
you are, how well written your story is or how much effort you put in. Somewhere out there, someone
will have a problem with what you are writing. Trust me, I know.
However, one-shots and shorter chapter stories are likely to attract less negative attention than
on-going fiction that gets periodic updates. Why? There are three reasons.
First, people wind up giving a damn. If someone comes back from that first chapter and reads
the second, then comes back and reads the third, you have managed to keep them interested. Good job.
However, when they start caring, they want to see a good story made even better. There is a clear
difference between helpful critique and cruel commentary. Sometimes, those lines are blurred. Know
that if you write a chapter story, someone will point out the flaws within. They may be helpful, or they
may not, but they will definitely point out problems.
The second reason is a bad one, honestly. Train wreck fiction. Some people have issues with a
specific story and keep coming back just to see how much worse it can get. I will admit, I am one of
those. I have one story that I read very faithfully just because I was morbidly curious as to what the
author will do to horrify me next – and not in a good way. The problem with that is, eventually, the
readers want to point out the errors, either for their own sanity or out of the bafflement as to how you
could have missed them. You can avoid train wreck responders by posting up your very best work,
having friends read it before you post and by using beta readers.
Lastly, trolls. Trolls are people who like to come and ruin the party just because they can.
Popular stories are good targets. The more people that enjoy your work, the more likely you will be
trolled at least once. Personally, I get about one troll per chapter posted. If you get a troll, ignore them
and report them to whatever site you post your fan fiction on.
Do I have a good support system?
As a writer, you need a good support system. Friends, family and beta readers can all work to
help support you as an author. The size of your support system will also help to dictate what sort of fan
fiction you will be able to write well. If you have a bunch of friends who are all willing to proof read your
story (and do so quickly!), you are probably pretty set. If you only have one or two people, and they are
a little slow, you might not want to write as much at one time. That could affect the size of your stories.
If you need extra help, never be afraid to ask on forums. Luckily, authors are pretty supportive
of other authors. Even if you are on the wrong site for that sort of thing, or nobody has enough time,
you will probably get someone who can point you in the right direction. Also, remember that even
though your friend may be the worst writer you have ever seen and cannot string two words together,
he can still spot problems in your story. Any help you can get is good help.
Never forget that your readers are also part of your support system. After all, they give
you valuable input, encouragement and suggestions. If you are ever in doubt, turn to your readers for
the help and support that you need to keep your writing going.
How many places do I want to keep my fan fiction?
There are a number of places to keep your fan fiction. We will not talk about it in this part of the
tutorial, but I will eventually talk about fan fiction hosts. Deciding how many places you want to keep
your fan fiction is an important thing to do before you write. After all, once you have written the story…
you have to post it.
Posting involves more than just uploading a file and walking away. Aside from the aftercare (one
of the steps in the Zoni Method!), you first have to format your story. You do not think that sounds too
bad? Try formatting eight thousand words on six different sites. For me, six thousand words takes
between forty-five minutes to an hour to format on a single site. It may take longer for you. Now
imagine doing that for four sites. There are four hours of your day gone. That is definitely something to
keep in mind.
Now that you have considered all of those questions, it is time to start putting the pieces
together.
Preparing to Plan
Now, here is where we are going to go back and pick up the pieces that we started with in Part
One and start putting together everything that we have discussed so far. Hopefully, you have your
Concept statement ready to use. As promised, I am going to write a fan fic using this tutorial as the
tutorial goes. I am going to go ahead and start here and show you the process that I have used to get to
my Concept statement.
While the things I discussed in Part One are not part of my writing process, they are something
that you will need to go through every time you start to write a new piece of fan fiction. Rather than
making them a step in your writing process, learn to automate these decisions before you even decide
that you want to write a piece of fan fiction. To demonstrate, I will get started on putting together my
own piece of fan fiction for this tutorial.
First, I need to decide what fandom I want to write for. I am already a fairly well established fan
author, and I am known for work in two fandoms – Inuyasha and Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler. Of the two, I
am a little out of practice with the Inuyasha fandom. Kuroshitsuji is also a lot of fun to write about. On
top of that, most of the people who read what I write (this tutorial included) are Kuroshitsuji fans. So, if I
write for Kuroshitsuji, I am likely to get more readers. While you cannot make a profit from fan fiction,
‘readers’ are the fan fiction author’s equivalent of ‘money.’ If you can find a way to get more of them,
you would probably be wise do to so.
That, in and of itself, would probably have been enough to push me to write for Kuroshitsuji.
However, I also happen to have recently finished re-watching the anime series for what must be the
eightieth time. I even re-read the manga. I already have twelve finished stories for Kuroshitsuji, as well
as five currently unfinished chapter stories. I am very familiar with the series, so I know that I will be
able to write for it. My choice is easy, in that particular instance.
Choosing what form of Kuroshitsuji I want to write for is more difficult. Kuroshitsuji is a Japanese
animation/manga series, but it also has two musicals, radio dramas, a sequel series and six OVAs. These
are all rather different from one another – both in the facts of the universe and the way the characters
are portrayed – so I need to pick one.
I have the entire anime, but I only have a little of the manga on hand. I am very familiar with
both, but I know that it is good to have reference material available. This is also true because the manga
is more than sixty chapters long and still on-going, and I may forget details that I would need to know.
That argues against using the manga as my primary media. However, I am sure that I can access the
manga if I need it. As a fan of the series, I am very partial to the manga portrayal of some of the
characters. I already have a good idea of what sort of theme I want for the story, and it happens to use a
fact that is only mentioned in the manga. Therefore, I have decided to base my story off the Kuroshitsuji
manga. Now, I know which particular form I will be writing for.
As Kuroshitsuji is a Japanese animation/manga series, I have to make a decision about whether I
am going to use Japanese or English vocabulary words for some of the things in the series. Luckily, the
series makes my decision for me – it takes place in England. Most of the jokes and puns translate easily
into English, and some of the characters have catch phrases that are spoken in English originally. So,
English it is.
Now, it is time for me to come up with a Concept statement. Here is what I came up with, and I
even diagrammed it for you:
| Opening |
|
Action
|
Late at night, Ciel finds Sebastian dozing by his bed and takes advantage of the chance to study.
|
Subject
|
| Goal |
While it is not terribly action packed or epic, it is still relatively solid because it expresses the
idea of the story. While I do write action, I tend to make my one-shots less than action-packed. As such,
my Concept has problems. It is missing a closing, and the action is not terribly action-y. In this case, I also
included two actions – one for each of the subjects – and both of them are very sedate.
If you are not satisfied with your Concept, remember that you can change your Concept as you
continue to work on your story. Just keep in mind that you always want to be able to refer back to it and
see whether or not your story measures up.
With my Concept statement in hand, and a general idea of what I want to write, I can decide
what sort of bulk I want my story to have.
I am very familiar with the fandom I will be working with. Therefore, I am aware that most of the
stories available for Kuroshitsuji are short fiction. I myself have two pieces of short fiction, two long
fictions and a novella already in progress for the series. On top of that, I am writing the fic for use with
this tutorial, so I need to keep it relatively short. However, I hate drabbles and I do not think that writing
a drabble would help you out any. Since I tend to write longer stories, my readers are probably looking
for some relief from my incessant chapter story writing, I need to write something short and simple. A
one-shot would also be a good way to get new readers. That, combined with the fact that tasteful oneshots for the series are rare, leads me to choose a one-shot as the bulk I will aim for with my story.
With my bulk decided, a little bit of inspiration and my Concept statement at the ready… it is
time to head into the real planning. It is time to hit the second step of the Zoni Method – Outline.
The Outline
I do not know about you, but I always thought that Outlining was pretty damn boring. It can be,
if you are doing it wrong. Before we actually hop in and start building an Outline, let us talk about what
an Outline is.
If you think about your story as a building, then your Concept statement is the foundation. You
need a strong foundation to hold the rest of the story up. However, if you never put up any supports to
hold up the walls, you are just going to be left with… a nice foundation. Your Outline is the support
structure that will keep the walls up, keep the roof in place and make sure your building keeps standing.
Many people have a serious misconception about Outlines. They think that the most important
thing is being creative. Yes, creative in pink letters. That sort of creative leads right down the road to bad
fan fiction. Do you have any idea what is better than creativity when you write fan fiction?
Logic.
You will need a big helping of common sense in order to write an Outline that will support your
story, create a wonderful piece of fan fiction and up the quality of your writing. If you have ever had a
meandering story line, ever been unable to figure out what happens next or have even completely
forgotten where you were going with your story, your problem is very definitely a severe lack of
common sense.
Building a plot is not about figuring out the strangest or even the most interesting way to get
from point A to point B. It is figuring out how the characters did get from point A to point B and what
might have happened along the way.
As an author, it is not your job to make up bizarre things to happen to the characters. Stop
thinking up new ways to torture them, and stop wondering if you can do something random and get
away with it. Trust me, I have done that. It never works. Just write logically.
Growing Bones
When you start writing an Outline, you are starting with only two things. The first is your
Concept, the statement against which you will check your story as it progresses. The second is what you
want to have happen in your story, the idea you originally had.
While we are starting to grow the bones of your story, there is only one thing you need to be
concerned with: the events in the story. You do not need to worry about doing research or doublechecking your facts right now. You just want to wind up with a list of events that you want in your story.
I will note that Outlining does work a little differently between one-shots, like the one I will be
working on, and longer chapter stories. After all, with chapter stories, instead of having one Outline for
the entire story, you will wind up with multiple Outlines. Each chapter will have its own Outline, but you
will probably also have a generalized Outline for your story as a whole. It is probably a little confusing
right now, but I promise that you will get the hang of it.
So, how do you get started on building an Outline from your Concept? Well, let us take another
look at our Concept:
Late at night, Ciel finds Sebastian dozing by his bed and takes advantage of the chance to study him.
Your Concept will provide you with a good place to start. We can already see one point that you
will need on your Outline. Open Notepad and begin your Outline with the opening and subject of your
Concept, like so:
-
Ciel wakes up and finds Sebastian asleep by his bed.
The next plot point on your Outline is actually going to be the ending for your story. You need to
have some idea of how you want the story to end. Even if it is very generalized, go ahead and put that
in. Now, my Outline looks like this:
-
Ciel wakes up and finds Sebastian asleep by his bed.
After tucking Ciel into bed, Sebastian wishes him a good night.
Obviously, there is a lot that has happened between those two points. We do not know what it
is yet, but we are going to figure it out. With the beginning and ending of a story, you can usually see a
few of the pieces that you will need to put into place. With this, we can assume a few things.
Firstly, we know that Sebastian will wake up at some point. After all, the end of the story has
him tucking Ciel into bed. So, that can be added to the Outline. Secondly, we can assume that what
happened in between Sebastian waking up and the end of the story could not have been terribly
negative because you would not wind up with an ending like that otherwise. That leads us to start asking
questions. What did Ciel do when he found Sebastian asleep by his bed? What woke Sebastian up?
What happened after he woke up?
As you answer these questions and keep providing answers, you will get more and more points
on your Outline. These questions should answer themselves, or at least be easy to answer.
What you want in your story is a natural, relaxed flow that is easy for your readers to follow.
Remember: Simple is better. Even when you have a complex story line, you need to keep your actual
events and explanations simple. Think of your readers as little kids. If everybody who read your story
were seven years old, you would not want to have to stop every three minutes and explain something
again.
Also, keep in mind that you are telling yourself what you want to write with this Outline. Each
point needs to be concise, but you also need to give yourself enough information that you can
understand what you wanted out of that scene.
When I finished the Outline for the one-shot that I am working on for this tutorial, it wound up
looking like this:
-
Ciel wakes up and finds Sebastian asleep by his bed.
Ciel decides to take advantage of that opportunity and approaches
Sebastian.
Secretly wondering what Sebastian's hair feels like, Ciel reaches up and
touches it.
Emboldened by his success at touching Sebastian's hair, Ciel gives in to the
temptation to touch Sebastian's face.
Being so close, he can detect Sebastian's scent. He leans closer to try to
figure out what the demon smells like.
Tempting fate, Ciel kisses Sebastian.
Sebastian surprises Ciel by leaning in and kissing the boy after he pulls back,
revealing that he is awake.
A brief conversation, during which Sebastian tells Ciel that stealing kisses
from people who are asleep is not polite, followed by another kiss.
Sebastian scoops Ciel up and carries him back to the bed, tucking him in.
After tucking Ciel in to bed, Sebastian wishes him a good night and says he
will stay by the bed.
This is a very short Outline, especially for someone like me. I am a very wordy writer and I tend
to have many bullet points in my Outlines because I like to put many things into my stories. As you write
more, you may find that your Outlines are incredibly lengthy. On the other hand, you may be exactly the
opposite, maybe you only need a few generalized points to show you what direction you want to go in.
To start, make sure you put in bullets for just about everything. There is nothing worse than
having a great idea and then completely forgetting to include it in your story. While I always encourage
keeping a .txt file or something similar just to throw random ideas in (I have about ten of these!), it is
always good to include them in your Outline as well.
When you look over your Outline, each point should logically run into the next. If one plus one
equals six instead of two, something is wrong. There are exceptions to this rule, however. If you are
writing a chapter story (or even a longer one-shot) that has a complex plot, you will find that scene
changes may interrupt the flow of your Outline. This is not as problematic as it seems – so long as the
previous scene has a solid conclusion in your Outline, and the new scene has a solid opening, you should
be good to go. If you need help coming up with Outlines for each chapter, try writing a Concept
statement for the chapter to see how you might be able to start, and end, that particular segment.
With chapter stories, you will want a new Outline for each chapter (and, yes, as I mentioned
earlier, it is good to have one for the overall story, too). If you are having trouble keeping the scenes in
your chapters organized, try writing individual Outlines for each scene. You will find that it helps your
story to flow more smoothly and can help your readers understand what is going on when you actually
start writing. Remember: more planning is a good thing. The more you plan, the less problems you will
run into in the future.
The Anatomy of a Chapter
Chapters, much like people, have anatomy. You have already started on the bones. Your Outline
will help you to create interesting, dynamic chapters. Even so, it helps to understand the parts of a
chapter.
A chapter should have an opening, a body and a close. The parts of a chapter should lead one
into the other, allowing the reader to feel as if they are flowing naturally through the story. Chapters
should not feel contrived or forced. If you are having to try and make something work, go back and see if
there might be an easier and more natural result of the event in your Outline that comes directly before
it.
Before we can write a chapter, we need to understand how it is put together. Let us look at each
of the parts of a chapter and see what elements you need to have in them.
Opening
The opening of a chapter is the first scene, the first paragraph and even the first sentence that
your reader will encounter. It sets the tone and pace for the rest of the chapter, brings the reader in and
introduces themes that your reader will encounter throughout your story.
Body
The body is the main part of the story. This is where you will tackle the actual plot, bring up new
issues and really dig into the meat of your fan fiction. A body should have one or two main events, but
not more than that.
Closing
The closing is the end of the chapter. It should be the part of your story that hints at the
contents of the next chapter, gives your readers a reason to keep reading and provides additional pieces
of plot that will come up in the future. It is a preview of your next chapter.
While the content, events and even the format you use for each chapter will vary, you should
always include these three elements in every chapter that you write. Let us talk about each of these in
detail.
The Opening
As a writer, I find that the opening is the hardest thing to put to paper. It is not just the opening
sentence that is the problem; it is the entire opening scene. After that is written, it seems like smooth
sailing from there on.
Not knowing how to, or not being able to, start a story is a problem that many authors have. If it
is something that you have trouble with, rest assured that good planning can help you figure out how to
get going. I maintain that good planning can solve everything, openings included.
The hardest decision you will have to make when you plan your opening is whether you want to
start in the middle of action, or if you want to lead up to the action. Do not delude yourself into thinking
that your story has no action. Even if your entire story is one guy sitting in a corner and lamenting his
dead girlfriend, ‘sitting in a corner and lamenting’ is still an action. After all, that is what he is doing.
Most of this decision will rest on what sort of story you are writing and how you want it to play
out. Some stories have definite formats that work well for them. For example, a mystery does well if you
start by leading up to the action. Finding the mystery in question, before your characters can solve it, is
usually part of the plot.
When you are in doubt over whether to start in the middle of the action or not, try writing it
both ways and see which one works best for you. You may realize that you forgot something important,
or that the story is more dramatic when written one way or the other. As a writer, you may think that
action is always the answer. As a fan fiction author, I can safely say that is not entirely true. You may find
yourself wishing you had a little less action and a little more drama, especially if your story is not
intended to focus on motion so much as introspection.
The Body
If your readers survived your opening, they will find themselves in the heart of your fan fiction –
the body. The body is where all of the forward motion in your plot should show up. This is where you
can dig down into the details, address the main event (or events) for that chapter, and really get down
and dirty with your story.
Every chapter needs at least one major event in it. I strongly recommend that you do not have
more than two major events in each chapter. The reason for this is that readers, like children, are easy
to confuse and need you to keep things simple. You will also be able to put in more loving care and
detail if you are only including two major events in the body of the story.
The trouble you may find yourself having with a body is the fact that, on some level, it needs to
tie in with the opening. Whether you just have characters think back to something that happened in the
opening or something in the opening affects the body, these two things need to connect. This will help
your story to remain cohesive throughout the chapter and, hopefully, throughout the entirety of your
plot.
If you find yourself having trouble tying the body in with the opening of the story, come up with
key words that you can use in the Outline. Use those key words in both the opening and body sections
of the Outline to help keep yourself on track. That will remind you to bring everything back and tie it
together.
The Closing
Where fan fictions are concerned, closings are very tricky things. They have to do double duty,
after all. Not only do you need your closing to sum up and bring to a close everything that has happened
in the chapter, you need it to bring your readers back for the next chapter.
The closing for the chapter is every bit as important as the opening. You need to remind your
readers that they need to stick around and see what will happen in the next chapter. There are a few
ways to do this.
Cliffhangers are always a favorite. Ending right in the middle of something exciting (or
worrisome) is always a good way to make sure people will come back for more. After all, people hate
being kept in suspense – but they love to hate it. So long as you do not draw the suspense out for too
long, you can use it to lure in readers.
Unfinished questions are also another option. Even if you resolve a problem, you may leave your
readers wondering about something that happened either during the resolution or at another point in
the chapter. If it is something you addressed in the body, make sure that you remind readers why they
need to be thinking about it.
Now you know the parts of a chapter. What else do you need to keep in mind? How about your
chapter length?
Determining Chapter Length
What is the ideal length for a chapter? What about a one-shot? The honest answer: there is no
right answer.
As a writer, you will discover what sort of stories you enjoy writing and what chapter lengths
you prefer to work on. Wordier writers, like me, tend to have long chapters and even longer planning
files. Other authors, especially if they have done journalism of any sort before, tend to write shorter
chapters.
No matter what the word count in your story, there are definitely a few ways to tell just how
long your chapter should be. First, start by asking yourself these questions:





What part of this chapter should my readers look forward to?
Does this chapter have a solid opening?
Does this chapter make readers want to read more?
How can I give this story a greater impact?
Will people balk at a certain chapter length?
What part of this chapter should my readers look forward to?
Every single chapter you publish, regardless of whether it is a one-shot or the eighty-sixth
chapter of an epic story, needs to have something for your readers to look forward to. If your readers
are bored or unhappy, they will not come back. Why should they? Disappointing your readers, even for
a single chapter, can tell people that your story is not worth reading. Give each and every chapter at
least one (and never more than two) major events that the readers can look forward to. Over time, your
faithful fans will learn that they get a lovely treat for coming back repeatedly – they get to see those
nice, big plot points that they enjoy.
However, instant gratification is no good, either. Whatever the major event is, do not use it to
start your chapters. After all, if you get the fun over and done with, why would the reader need to stick
around for the rest of the chapter?
If you have put characters in peril in a previous chapter, definitely look to put the resolution of
that danger towards the middle or end of the current chapter. Why? Because you want your readers to
keep reading. Readers become involved and invested with what is going on in the story line. One of the
major drives to reading more is to see whether a character is going to survive a dangerous situation (or
whether or not he is going to get the girl, which is equally as dangerous as dragons or bombs). Like it or
not, there are some people who really will read a chapter insofar as they know that the character is
going to be okay, then turn around and go to read something else because… well, he is safe. What else
could there possibly be to care about?
Keep an eye on your chapter layouts. By figuring out where in the chapter you need to place
your major plot points, you can start to determine how long each chapter should be. While I do caution
against starting chapters off with major events, do not always put them in the same place, either –
people will just learn to scroll halfway through your story to find out what happens. Always make sure to
keep things fresh, new and interesting.
Does this chapter have a solid opening?
The very first scene in your chapter should be considered a preview of the rest of the events in
that chapter. If the very first event is traumatizing or boring for your readers, they may choose not to
read the rest of the chapter.
When you are deciding what you should open your chapter with, ask yourself if you would read
a chapter that started with that event. After all, as a fan fiction author, you should also be a fan fiction
reader. Look at how other fan fiction authors start their chapters. Look at what sort of responses their
chapter openings received – if readers have a problem with something, they are usually pretty vocal
about it.
A solid opening contains three elements. First, it has to have draw. Draw, in this case, is a
question that it makes the readers ask. “Who is that person?”, “Why are they here?” or “Why is that
happening?” are common examples of questions that your readers might ask after reading the first
paragraph of your story.
Secondly, your opening needs to have appeal. You want to make your readers enjoy that very
first paragraph, and they need to enjoy it immensely. If you are writing a story with romantic elements,
throw in a little fluff. If it is an action story, an explosive opening is always a good way to pull readers in.
Third, your opening also needs to contain suspense. An appealing, fun first scene is no good if it
does not give your readers a reason to read the rest of the chapter. Give them an issue that you will
spend the rest of the chapter resolving. Remind them of something from a previous chapter that you
will be tackling later. Always give them a reason to keep going past that first scene.
Does this chapter make readers want to read more?
Have you ever read a well-rounded chapter and come out afterward feeling completely and
totally satisfied? If you have, did you go back for the next chapter? If you were completely satisfied, you
probably did not. After all, you had no reason to. Complete satisfaction implies that you did not wonder
what would happen in the next chapter. You were not worried about one of the characters, or whether
or not something would happen. While you want readers to be happy, you do not want them to be
completely satisfied with the events in your chapter.
In fact, go a step above not satisfying your reader – ruffle their feathers. You want your story to
make your reader feel something, to stand up and take notice. If you can make your readers feel, they
will come back for more. Make sure that you really push them into it. Always try to look at your story
from a reader’s point of view. If you would not find it interesting, no one else will, either. If you look
over your outline and do not feel excited, think about how you might be able to make your story more
dynamic or ask yourself if you might be missing something.
How can I give this story a greater impact?
The best fan fiction is fan fiction that really makes an impression. While I always encourage you
to think logically, it is okay to look for a way to make a scene more dramatic so long as it would still be a
logical progression in your story line.
For example, if you have characters who are trying to escape from pirates on the ship, rather
than just having them jump over the side of the ship, consider alternative ways to achieve that same
goal. Perhaps the ship could catch fire or blow up. After they jump in the water, maybe they encounter
sharks. One of the characters could be injured in the escape. The possibilities are endless, and they all
make sense.
If you have a story that is more emotionally focused, try to consider what emotions you want
your readers to feel. One of the easiest (if most cruel) ways to give your story impact is to make your
readers care about a character or pairing and then break their hearts. One of my own stories does that,
and though I have had numerous complaints about a sad ending, I have also had more feedback for that
story than any other from people who tell me that the story is one of the best they have ever read.
Impact is anything in your story that will make a lasting impression on your readers. As the
author, it will be your job to figure out how you can give your story more impact – just make sure it has
it in the first place!
Will people balk at a certain chapter length?
While there are no standard lengths for chapters, readers will definitely have set expectations.
As a rule of thumb, anything under one-thousand words is considered very short. Some readers,
myself included, will not touch anything that is not at least fifteen-hundred words. Short chapters just
do not have enough length to them to build up any tension or impact. If your readers come back for
more, they want more. So, give them longer chapters that have enough content to keep them occupied
for a while.
Similarly, exhaustively long chapters can be problematic. The definition of ‘exhaustively long’ is
variable, but anything over seven-thousand words can easily be considered very lengthy. Some sites
(DeviantArt and Y-Gallery, most notably) will not allow chapters over a certain character or word length.
It tends to be somewhere around ten-thousand words. That is actually why this lovely tutorial that you
are reading is in a PDF format, rather than just being posted up like a normal writing submission.
A good length to aim for is somewhere between three- and six-thousand words. Save the sixthousand word chapters for longer chapters with a lot of plot. Try not to dip below three-thousand
words even in the most sedate chapters. For your average reader, that will still give them plenty to focus
on without getting bored, but it will not take them a week and a half to wade through. As you do more
with your writing and work on more fan fiction, you will get better at gaging your word count based off
your Outline and, in the next step of the Zoni Method, your Write Out. I can guess my eventual word
count within about fifty words just from looking at my Write Out, nine times out of ten.
Now that we have talked about chapter length and Outlines, let us look at the Outline I prepared
earlier and have a look at what parts of the chapter are where.
-------------------------------Opening
-----------------------------
-
Body
----------------------------Closing
-
Ciel wakes up and finds Sebastian asleep by his bed.
Ciel decides to take advantage of that opportunity and approaches
Sebastian.
Secretly wondering what Sebastian's hair feels like, Ciel reaches up and
touches it.
Emboldened by his success at touching Sebastian's hair, Ciel gives in to the
temptation to touch Sebastian's face.
Being so close, he can detect Sebastian's scent. He leans closer to try to
figure out what the demon smells like.
Tempting fate, Ciel kisses Sebastian.
Sebastian surprises Ciel by leaning in and kissing the boy after he pulls back,
revealing that he is awake.
A brief conversation, during which Sebastian tells Ciel that stealing kisses
from people who are asleep is not polite, followed by another kiss.
Sebastian scoops Ciel up and carries him back to the bed, tucking him in.
After tucking Ciel in to bed, Sebastian wishes him a good night and says he
will stay by the bed.
----------------------------Take note of how much longer the body is than either the opening or the closing. It does not
matter what you have going on in your chapter, your body should always make up the majority of your
story. The reason for that is that the opening should be the introduction, not the main production. The
same goes for the closing.
If you wind up with a very long opening or closing, consider instead if it might work better as the
body for another chapter. It is okay to re-arrange things so that you may have more (or less) chapters
than you had originally aimed for. You may even find that you discover unexpected parts of your plot
coming to the fore when you rearrange your story like that.
Since the story I am doing in this tutorial is a one-shot, I know that the entire account is going to
be relatively short. However, I also know my own writing style. I am wordy, and I like to put lots of
description in. That is especially true of stories where I have less action and more emotion (or plotless
sap, as this thing looks like it will be). I tend to average out somewhere between four-hundred-and-fifty
and five-hundred words for every bullet point on one of my Outlines. Since I have ten points on this
particular Outline and I expect to be wordy, I can go ahead and guesstimate that this story will wind up
being somewhere around five-thousand-words long when I finish it. I will be slightly more realistic and
take into account the nature of the story, which is not incredibly plotful, and reduce my estimated word
count to around thirty-five-hundred due to common sense. As you write more fan fiction, you will learn
to better gage your word count.
Knowing a ballpark estimate for your eventual word count is important. It lets you know
whether or not you have too much in a chapter and if you may need to rethink part of your story layout.
While I love my Outlines, they are not flawless. Sometimes, you may discover that you have put too
much into a chapter and that you need to move some of it over to a new chapter. By taking a careful
look at your possible word count, you can spot these problems before you write the entire chapter and
find yourself with a monster on your hands.
Now that you have a Concept statement and an Outline, your story is really starting to take
shape. You can see how it is going to play out. You know how long it will probably wind up being.
However, your story is still just a rough sketch. In the next step of the Zoni Method, we are going to
flesh that sketch out so that you will eventually be able to turn it into a masterpiece. It is finally time to
head on to the third step of my writing process, the Write Out.
The Write Out
The third step of the Zoni Method is called the Write Out. It is absolutely vital to your writing,
because it tells you exactly what you need to write and when to write it. It goes far past what your
Outline will tell you and walks you through every step of creating your new chapter. The best part is that
you are teaching yourself how to write your own fan fiction.
The Write Out is the one thing that will save you from writer’s block when all else has failed.
While, like the Outline, you will build logically on the information you have, this is also the part of the
Zoni Method where you get to employ your imagination and have a little fun.
Unlike the Outline and Concept, we are not focusing on the story as one entity. Instead, with the
Write Out, we take time to work with each individual scene that will wind up in the story. The reason for
this is that the whole is only a sum of the parts. Each scene deserves your individual attention and,
together, they make up your fan fiction.
While it is not properly writing a chapter, I always try to view this part of the writing process as
the one where you really get to build the story by adding in everything that you want. While writing the
actual chapters will require you to put quality, detail and care into the work that you produce, your
Write Out is a chance for you to have fun and play. Rather than keeping a close eye on the number of
words that you put into your Write Out, it will require you to exhaust yourself by pouring out every last
word and thought comes to mind. In short: you are going to rant about your story.
We, however, are going to rant in an organized manner. When you work on a Write Out, you
need to make sure that you are giving yourself all of the information you need in order to be able to
write the story. You never want to have to go back through and do research in the middle of writing.
There should never be a moment of doubt, or something you need to double-check. The time to do all
of that is while you are preparing your Write Out to make it everything that you need it to be. By
organizing everything into your Write Out, you will save yourself valuable time and learn to write in an
organized manner. That means that your fan fiction quality will increase while you will also cut down on
the time it takes you to finish chapters.
So, first, let us look at the information you will need to give yourself in order to be able to write
quickly and efficiently.
What elements does a Write Out need to include for each scene?
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Setting
Emotion
Action
Interaction
Reaction
Thought
Intention
Information
Setting
In general, the setting is the time and place in which your chapter (and in the case of the Write
Out, the individual scene) takes place. However, the setting encompasses much more than just the day,
year and place.
Detail can make or break a story. With the setting, detail is everything. You are not just writing
about a living room. You are writing about a cozy den with oak furniture that has black accents. The
edges of the Oriental rug are singed from being left too close to the fire, and telltale dust on the floor
tells the reader that it has not been swept in a while. The heavy air still smells of tobacco and cheap
wine, lingering scents from the meeting that took place earlier. Even though everyone has gone, you feel
as though you can still hear the whispering voices in the silence. These things are also an invaluable part
of your setting.
When you talk about the setting in your Write Out, include even the most minute details. These
details help your readers to picture the world about which you are writing. Even though this is fan
fiction, and therefore your readers should already be familiar with the setting, you can use your setting
to enhance the emotions and characters in your story. Remember that your characters are nothing
without a world to exist in. As the author, it is your job to create that world and bring it to life.
When you consider the details in your setting, also keep in mind the fact that some of those
details can change other things in your story. Did your character murder someone in their cozy den? If
there is ash or soot from the fireplace and your character came close to it, he is running the risk of
leaving a very noticeable trail away from the crime scene. So, including more detail in your write out can
help you to avoid other problems in your story.
Emotion
Much of the richness and depth of writing comes from the emotional undertones, expressions
and tension that the author puts into the story. Regardless of the events, every single scene in your
story should carry emotion. Writers, and fan fiction authors especially, have the opportunity to bring
their readers to their knees with the depth of the feelings that they include in their stories.
Not only do you want to put emotion into the story itself, you also want to prompt an emotion
from the person reading your story. While working on your Write Out, always make sure to tell yourself
exactly what it is that you want your readers to feel while they read the chapter. Every story has an
emotional impact on a reader, and knowing what impact you want yours to have will help to guide your
writing.
While I encourage you to include as much detail as possible in your Write Out, make certain that
you are very specific when it comes to the emotions involved. Not only will you inform yourself of how
those feelings should be carried across, but also you will keep thinking about them as you write. With
practice, it will become second nature to blend those emotions into the chapters that you create. Being
able to both include emotions and inspire them in others is something that you should aspire to achieve
in your own writing.
Action
Even the briefest scene has action. Whatever happens, needs to happen or should happen will
become the action in your Write Out. Unlike the action in the Concept statement, this action may be
more complex. After all, your Write Out will be much longer than a single sentence and you want to
include every detail.
When you are including an action in your Write Out, make sure you include more than just the
obvious. Sure, he is kicking a ball. What sort of ball is it? How is he kicking it? Why? How hard did he kick
it? Where did he kick it? Did he kick it with his toe, his heel or the side of his foot?
You may think that details like that are useless or pointless to include, but you would be amazed
how often you may find yourself needing them later in your story. Even if they never make their way
into the actual chapter, you will still have your Write Out on hand to look at for later chapters. Your
Write Out is more than just your guide to writing your story – it can also be a lifeline to keep your story
consistent later on.
Interaction
Interactions are more than just characters relating to each other. While that is a major part of
the interaction element, it is definitely not all-inclusive.
Never forget that your characters will also be interacting with the world around them. They
have five senses that, as the author, you should always be aware of. Your character will be hearing,
smelling, tasting, touching and seeing everything around them and, in that way, interacting with the
world. When you finish writing out a scene, always go through and look to make sure that the characters
are also involving themselves with the world and not just the other characters. If there is a screaming
baby, your main character probably will not be curling up to go to sleep. If something smells funny, she
is bound to notice. Always remember these things because they are part of the realism that you want to
achieve in your writing.
Character interactions will form a large portion of your story. Whether it is a conversation
between two characters, one character thinking of another or even indirect interactions (such as mailing
a letter or conducting an investigation on someone), you will have numerous things to consider when
writing your interactions. Always remember to ask yourself what the characters intend to get out of that
particular interaction, what it makes them feel and why. You need to be able to understand everything
about the interaction when you write it. Even if the two (or more) characters do not understand, you
need to. Remember, in this story – you are God.
Reaction
Every action (and interaction) will have a reaction. Consider the events that are happening in the
scene that you are planning and always make sure to list the possible reactions that might come about
as a result, along with the one you intend to use in your story.
This has two particular purposes. Firstly, it will help you prevent a plot hole. While you consider
every possible reaction, you may come across a solution that you may not have previously considered.
Keep in mind that, when you consider the possibilities, the character you are writing about might
consider them, too. While your thief is trying to break into that safe, he might be thinking about what
will happen if he is caught. If you know, he can know, too.
Secondly, by listing the possibilities, you can be certain that the reaction you have decided to go
with really is the best and most logical option. Remember that you want your story to flow logically,
naturally and effortlessly. Pick the reaction that most thoroughly fits that description.
Thought
There are three aspects of thought that you will need to keep in mind when you are working in
your Write Out. Your character’s thoughts, what he should be thinking about and what your readers are
thinking are all important to the way you will write a scene.
Regardless of whether your story is in first person or third, your character will still have
thoughts. Know the thoughts and considerations of whatever character you have decided to focus on in
your story and apply them to the scene you are working on. This does not necessarily mean that you will
type out those thoughts into the story, but what your character is thinking may have an effect on his
actions in the story.
Keep your readers thoughts and reactions in mind as you work both on your Write Out and on
the chapter itself. Always approach your story from a reader’s perspective and make sure you are not
going to do something that a reader would find offensive (unless you want them to!). As a fan author
who reads a fair amount of fan fiction, I have seen a number of stories that have scared readers off by
being unintentionally creepy. By considering your readers thoughts, you can avoid this problem in your
own work.
Intention
Everything that you include in your story should have a purpose. When you are writing the
intentions for that scene, you need to be able to clearly state the purpose of it. Are you using the scene
to try to build or enhance the characters? Are you giving your readers a valuable clue? If you cannot find
the purpose for that scene, it has no business being in your story to begin with.
Along with the purpose, intention can be just that – intention. What do you want the scene to
be? Are you looking for something long and emotional, or do you just want to add some humor to your
story? Are you worried about something in the scene not coming across right? You need to let yourself
know. When you are sitting down to work on a twelve-thousand word one-shot, I guarantee you that
you will forget why that one scene three-quarters of the way in was bothering you when you first came
up with the idea. By reminding yourself of things like that as you go through each scene individually, you
can head off problems that might otherwise have snowballed or been forgotten.
Information
The devil is in the details, and there is a lot of information that you will need to include in your
story to make sure that your own plot does not go straight to hell. When you are writing, try not to think
generally.
Think very specifically. Your character is serving tea – what kind of tea? Loose leaf or bagged?
What kind of china should it be served in? Did he boil the water, or is it microwaved? In fact, how are
you supposed to fix tea in the first place? I am sure that you are going to say that this is also part of the
setting – and it is – but there is a distinct difference. With the setting, you can decide many of the
details. Something like this may require research. If you are using the tea, for example, find out what
brands of tea might be used and what varieties are available within those brands. Find out the proper
way to make tea. Learn a little about what you are writing.
I will be the first to admit that this is much more prevalent in some fandoms than others.
Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler is easily responsible for the tea example (for which I happen to know all about
Fortnum and Mason’s First Flush Darjeeling, which may be served with a sugar-glazed cinnamon teacake
on Havilland’s blue rose china) , but every fandom has something that will definitely require you to do
research. Do not just find out information about the subject, actually learn about it. If it is something like
cooking, learn how to cook whatever it is that the character has to make. Does your character have to
build a pyramid out of Q-Tips? Why not try it yourself? If you can get hands-on experience doing
whatever it is that your character has to do, you will be able to write about it with greater aplomb.
Remember to research even the broad or obvious details. If you write for a series which is
historically based (even something like Inuyasha), you would benefit greatly from learning about the
time period in which it takes place. You may actually find out that your series is historically inaccurate,
and feel the need to try to correct that a bit. You may also learn the meaning behind some of the things
in your media that you have never considered before.
If you feel that your research is too bulky to include in your Write Out directly, make a separate
file in which to keep the information you have uncovered. If you have many subjects that you have to
cover, make an entire folder and keep things organized. So long as you have done your research and
have quick access to it, you should be good to go. However, I do encourage you to remind yourself of
facts or files that may be helpful in your Write Out.
These elements are not things you will go through and list separately. At least, they probably will
not be. If you have trouble remembering to include these things, perhaps go through the list and write
them one-by-one. The goal for a Write Out, however, is not to come up with a list of facts and figures.
Since the best way to explain a Write Out is to create one, let us go ahead and do so for the fic
that I’ve already created an Outline and Concept for.
Writer’s Tip:
Keeping a quick-reference list of facts about your
characters, world and scene can save you time when
you are actually writing the chapter!
In Notepad (or whatever very plain text editor you are using – no frills!), create a new file and
save it as “Write Out” (or just WO, like I do) in whatever folder you are going to be using for your story.
And guys, create a new folder for every fan fic you write. Do not try to cram them all into the same
folder. That will get insanely complicated and messy when you have several stories. You also do not
want to combine the Write Out file with the one you have your Outline in, because you may find it
helpful to go back through and just have a quick look at your Outline from time to time. A Write Out
should be an entity unto itself.
After you have done this, open your Outline in another window. Resize both windows, and then
place them so that the Outline (or at least a portion of it), is visible above your Write Out, like this:
Remember in Part One where we talked about eliminating distractions? Eliminating distractions
is part of why I want you to stack your windows while you write. You will stack your Outline over your
Write Out. Later, you will stack your Write Out over your First Version and so on and so forth until you
are completely done. Why? Having both windows visible eliminates the distraction of having to flip
between windows. You will absolutely need to have your Outline up and in plain sight when you work on
your Write Out.
Much like you did when you turned your Concept statement into an Outline, you are going to be
building on the information and wording that you have created in your Outline. Your Outline simply tells
you what you will to detail. So, we have our Outline up and we have created a Write Out file.
The way that you start your Write Out file is up to you. You may enjoy simply diving in and
getting down to business by tackling the Outline and fleshing it out, as we will talk about shortly, or you
may prefer to introduce yourself to your story.
I am quite sure that sounds very silly, but whenever I am working in a Write Out, I always
introduce myself to the story that I will be working on. If it is a chapter story, and I am working on
something other than the first chapter, I will re-introduce myself to the story and then recap the events
of the last chapter (or two, if needed), so that all I have to do is scroll up and go ‘Oh, yeah, that did
happen!’
If you feel the need to introduce yourself to the story at the beginning of your write out, do so.
Tell yourself what you want to call it and why. If you are looking for a certain emotional feel, include that
and also tell yourself how and why you want that emotion to come across. You should talk about what
inspired you to write and what you hope will happen, how you want people to react. Anything and
everything you think of, write it down. You need to be enthusiastic about your story. By ranting and
building your own excitement, not only will you start fleshing out your ideas but you will also build your
own enthusiasm for what you are about to write. This is also a great way to figure out problems in your
story if your friends (beta readers, drooling fans, mindless zombie trolls, etc.) are not around to help give
you input. Learn to be your own fan.
When you feel that you have sufficiently introduced yourself to your story, it will be time to start
working with your actual Write Out. To do so, let us first look at that first bullet point on your Outline.
Mine looks like this:
-
Ciel wakes up and finds Sebastian asleep by his bed.
This is good, because it tells us generally what is going to happen. However, it is definitely
missing details. Remember all of those things I just told you that you would need to include in your
Write Out? This is where we need to add them in. Setting, emotion, action, interaction, reaction,
thought, intention and information are all sorely missing from this particular point. That is fine, because
it is an Outline. All of those details are what you are getting ready to add. I am going to start by fleshing
out the details of the setting in my Write Out file, because I will need to know what is going on in my
chapter.
I tend to be very casual when I work in my Write Outs because, well, I am talking to myself and I
really could not care less what I am saying so long as it helps me to write. However, I never skimp on
detail. Most of the stuff I mentioned will never make it into the actual story, but it is still something that
I will keep in mind.
Within the notes about the setting, I tend to point myself towards reference points that I can
check if needed (therefore the mention of being able to check the manga). However, since I have
written for this fandom for a long time, I’m pretty confident that I know the layout of the room this will
be taking place in. As such, I am much more concerned with things that I am not used to using – the fire
that has been out for a long time, Sebastian sitting in a different place than normal. Always note things
that strike you as unusual, because you will not be able to think of them when you are actually writing. A
handy reference right in front of your face can help you to remember things that are out of the ordinary
and might otherwise be forgotten.
As you do more with Write Outs, you will learn to spots your strengths and weaknesses with
your story. One of my weaknesses is the time of year that stories take place in. If you read through my
fan fiction, it is fairly obvious – I tend to set my stories in spring, if only because I forget what season I
had originally intended to put them in and therefore I can get away with mentioning cold days, warm
days, snow, rain, wind and everything else and just using the excuse of ‘Oh, it’s spring.’
Take some advice from me – do not be like that. Pay attention to details like that in your setting.
Sticking with one thing, and doing so well, can really enhance a story. If I wanted to imply a season in
this fic, I already have the floor and room being cold so I could easily have it snowing outside, and note
that the moonlight throws shadows of the falling snowflakes across the wooden floor. Not only is that
poetic, but it also tells the reader that the story probably takes place in winter. Something like that could
add a lot of atmosphere to my story, especially since winter and the month of December have a lot of
importance to the fandom I am writing for. Therefore, I could even use that to add more meaning to the
story I am writing. Consider the options before you make your decisions and see what might have the
best impact on both your story and the people who will read it.
Since I really do like the winter thing, I went back and wound up adding it later. With setting,
you will really only need to cover it again when you change scenes. Since this entire chapter takes place
within the same day (same hour, even) and in the same room, I should not need to touch on it (or at
least, not in so much detail) again.
Now that we have covered the setting, it is time for us to go and add the emotion. I need to be
able to know what emotions Ciel feels on waking and on surveying the room around him. However, it is
also in this section where I will tell myself how I want to make the readers feel, as well. Emotion is more
important in some stories than others, but it will always be a major factor because it affects so many
other things.
You need to keep in mind the possible emotional outcomes for your story, as well. Look for
areas where readers might take something out of context or feel differently than you might want them
to. Try to head off problems before they start.
This is what I decided to use for my emotion section of the write out. Even though I am focusing
on the first scene, I wound up thinking of a later scene and went ahead, and mentioned it for my own
reference. If something comes to mind, make note of it. You do not want to wind up forgetting
whatever it was that caught your notice. Remember that it is always better to have too much in your
Write Out than too little.
When you are considering the emotion for your story, be as descriptive as possible. Do not
worry about spelling and grammar (as you can tell, I do not – oops). You just need to focus on your
story. You will need to remember to tell yourself why the character should be feeling the way that he
(or she) is. If you cannot find a reason for it, it has no business in your story. Just as with your Outline,
you want everything to flow smoothly and logically.
After emotion comes action. Action is the part of your scene where you will tell yourself exactly
what you want to happen. This is important, because you need to be able to know exactly how the
scene is going to go. Without action, you do not even have a scene.
The amount of action that you have in a scene will change depending on exactly what the action
is. For example, having a character get out of bed is less complex than, say, having a character fix a
seven-course dinner and serve it to three hundred people. Be detailed. You need to know what the
character is doing and exactly how they are doing it. There should never be a time when you go back
and ask yourself, ‘How did he do that?’
With the action, the most important thing is being able to know what will happen. You do not have
to go into excruciating detail (‘he mopped the ballroom floor with exactly 722 strokes of the cotton-fiber
mop using water from the unfiltered sink in the...’). However, you need to know what happened (‘After
filling the mop bucket and adding cleaning solution, he grabbed the mop from the broom closet and
mopped the ballroom floor’) so that you do not have to think about it when working on the first version
of your chapter. Do not worry about going too in depth, because that will be what the second step of
the Write Out is for.
While the action seems pretty cut-and-dried, this is what I included for the action section for the
first scene of my Write Out:
My action section tends to be relatively short in this first section, because I get right to the
point. Actions are usually pretty basic when you are not combining them with emotions. That is because
actions are nothing without the emotional force driving them forward. For some scenes, you may only
have one or two sentences to tell yourself what is happening. Do not worry if your action section is not
very long. So long as it covers everything that happens in that scene, you are good to go.
Now, you are ready to include your intention. Intention is important, because you need to know
what the characters want to accomplish. Alongside that, you need to be able to plainly state your own
intention for the scene.
You may think that this is unimportant because, as the author, you feel as though you know the
purpose for the scene’s existence. However, you will be surprised at how many scenes have no purpose
for being in a story. If you find yourself unable to describe the intention for a scene, take it out.
When you put your intention in, keep in mind that most scenes will have more than one
intention. Along with your character intentions, you will probably the short-term intent (what the scene
will accomplish right then) and the long-term intention. The long-term intention is the impact that the
scene will have on the story as a whole. Even chapters later, you may still be able to feel the effects of
one powerful emotional exchange or even a single sentence exchanged between two characters. Always
keep that in mind when writing, because it will help your chapters seem as if they are all tied together
more than a meaningless scene that never shows up again… or an entire story full of them. Even with a
one-shot, try to think of how a scene at the beginning might affect the ending of the story.
As you write your intentions for the scenes in your stories, you should notice a distinct increase
in complexity as your story continues. If you are writing exceptionally long or detailed stories, you may
wind up with more than a page of your intentions for later chapters. The reason for that should be
obvious – your intentions are also the information that your readers need to know. If your scene is going
to give your readers a clue about something that will happen later in the story, that is one of the
intentions. If you need to use it to tie two other scenes together, that is also an intention. When you are
including that information in your Write Out, make sure you also tell yourself how it is supposed to
accomplish that. After all, it is always good to have a reminder.
Character intentions are an important thing to include in your Write Out. Ask yourself what the
characters want out of this scene. In most cases, each character will have their own motivations and
intentions in any given scene. After all, if you are writing realistically (and you should be), not all of the
characters will have the same thoughts, reasons and aims.
Here is what I came up with for my intentions for the first scene in this one-shot:
Short and to the point, each paragraph lets me know what I am thinking and what I want to
bring across. There is one very important piece of intention that I actually forgot to add in, however: The
opening scene for your story will invariably have the intention of introducing your readers to the story,
and making them want to read more.
Once you have finished with your intention, you have actually reached the final section that you
will need to include in your write out: information. Information, despite being the very last section, is
the very important. This is where you will go through and double check all of your facts, tell yourself
what you need to know and make absolutely certain that you are going to be writing a factually,
historically and intelligently correct story that will not be viewed as an insult to your fandom.
The errors that I most frequently see in information tend to come from two sources. One,
assumptions that people have made regarding either their fandom, history or something that someone
else told them. The other problem is best stated as words without thought. Sometimes, these two
combine forces in such a way that manage to make the author seem like a complete idiot.
Usually, when I am writing in my chosen fandom of Kuroshitsuji, I have to check historical
accuracy. The series takes place in 1889 and I need to make sure that technology I am mentioning
existed in that time period. If you work with any historical fandoms, keep a very close eye on this.
Nothing ruins a good story like having your character sit down to watch television in 1722.
In this case, I do not have any concerns about historically inaccurate technology. The scene is
very sedate and does not deal with anything incredibly out of the ordinary. However, there are a few
facts I will have to check out. The layout of Ciel’s bedroom is very important to this story, so I will need
to go check that out. I also need to know what the floor in the room is made of, and whether or not
there is a carpet over it.
A little research reveals that we actually never see a fireplace in the bedroom that will act as the
center stage for this story. So, I will have to take the fireplace reference out. This leaves me with a
problem, as I wanted the smell of smoke in the story. Luckily, that is easily remedied. As I research the
fireplace, I note that he does have oil lamps and candles, both of which can have unique scents. While
you are doing research, always keep an open mind and look for other options that can help to solve your
problems.
Research does not always have the answers. As I was researching for this one-shot, I was
interested in knowing whether or not the bedroom that the story will take place in has wood floors. As it
turns out, the mangaka for the series never actually specifies. She simply depicts the floor as a flat
surface that could be wood, tile, carpet or something else altogether. When you come up with a
situation like that in your own stories, it will fall to you to make some decisions.
If you are having trouble researching a subject, never feel afraid to ask for help. You have
friends, family, readers and an entire selection of people who will happily assist you. Turn to them for
any help you might need, and never feel ashamed. By writing fan fiction, you are becoming part of
community. Community means helping each other out.
Research also is not terribly difficult. If you are needing setting references (like I was), check
with your original media. For almost everything else, Wikipedia and Google are your friends.
For my story, this is what I came up with for information:
With the information section completed, you have officially given yourself every single thing
that you will need to be able to write your scene well.
Now, all you have to do is go through and write every scene in your chapter out like this. Believe
me when I say that it is not nearly as daunting as it seems. You will soon find yourself turning out Write
Outs in fifteen or twenty minutes. Once you get the hang of putting all of the information in, it is a piece
of cake.
Once you have completed your Write Out, go through and read it again. In fact, read it through
several times. Look for places that you might be able to expand the detail you have included. If you
come up with new ideas, work them into the Write Out so that you will have them available for your
reference when you sit down and write the chapter itself.
Once you are satisfied with your Write Out, you have finally reached the point where you can
begin actually writing your chapter. Having a solid foundation will help you to build a strong story that
will captivate your readers, enchant your fans and help you to build up a faithful base of followers.
In the next part of this tutorial, we will get started with writing the actual chapter for your fan
fiction. Next up, in Part Three, Writing Your Story!