The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Harry Potter Fanfics by wolvesorrow Rating: G Ship: Harry & Hermione Canon: Books 1 - 6 Genre: Humor Status: In progress Length: 2,396 words in 2 chapters Published: 1 Feb 2007 Last updated: 23 Apr 2007 What do you think after reading that title? All help is welcomed but beware: written within are tips that might actually make you a better writer! OMG! From the Unofficial Portkey Archive: https://portkey-archive.org/story/6912/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. PART I Alright here is my own personal version of `The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Harry Potter Fanfiction.' I can assure everyone that this guide will be updated as more things come to mind to avoid getting headaches while reading. Now here we go! *^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Heavy steps plodded down the corridor, prompting a surprised Harry Potter into action. He immediately turned in the opposite direction of the steps and after a moment's hesitation, ducked into an old classroom that he had never seen be used. A quick two spells later and the room was silenced and locked. Taking a calming breath, he let it out slowly, willing his heart to stop beating so viciously against his chest. “Bloody hell that was a close one,” he said to himself, raking a hand through his hair. He let it down with a sigh. “That's what I get for trying to be complicated and wanting a snog in the middle of the night.” A humourless chuckle left his lips and for the first time, he actually looked about the room. Directly across from the door was a window, allowing the dense moonlight to filter in. In the streams, he could see the dust he had disturbed swirling in its centre, settling back on the ground after a moment. The room was mostly empty, except for the book that sat atop a pedestal in the middle, directly shined upon by the light. Curiosity swirled within his chest and so he took a step forward, coming to a stop directly in front of the book. Cocking his head to the side, Harry realized that the cover was well covered in dust. He gently blew on it, regretting his decision when the dust floated up into his mouth. Sputtering around dramatically, he waved his arms in front of his face, inadvertently hitting the book and knocking it off the pedestal. The sudden thump of noise shocked him back to his senses and he quickly cast an alohomora at the window, popping it open and allowing the wind the clear out all the offending dust. Problem solved, he picked up the book, reading the title, `The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Harry Potter Fanfics'. More than a little surprised, he settled down against one wall and opened it to the first page… *^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Welcome to the wonderful world of fanfiction. As an author, it is your duty to give your readers the most interesting and fulfilling stories that you can. Here is something that will hopefully help you on your quest. These are just basic guidelines that will help even the most inexperienced writer. Further into the book things start getting a bit more specific. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^* TIP #1: As you, the writer, are typing out your story, you should safely assume that the reader, if he or she is reading HARRY POTTER fanfiction, is somewhat knowledgeable in basic Harry Potter history. I.E.: Voldemort attacking at him one, where his scar came from, Quirrell attacked him in first year, the Chamber of Secrets in second, and so on and so forth. You DO NOT need to go over his ENTIRE history in the beginning. If you are going over it, do it only in terms of telling your reader when they should expect the story to take place. If Harry is depressed, it is probably after fourth or fifth year. If he is happy, it is probably before fourth. Do not give out the whole history; it is rather annoying to read repeatedly. TIP #2: GRAMMAR! Being good at it, or having a friend who is good at it, will only help you in the long run. Most readers give up on a good story simply because it has horrible grammar. Learn the verb tenses, especially if English isn't your first language. TIP #3: Spelling is also a must. There is a difference between `QUITE' and `QUIET'. Knowing the difference helps with confusion. I.E.: `Ron was quite finished with his meal' VERSUS `Ron was quiet finished with his meal.' TIP #4: If you're going to write super!Harry, at least make him take some time to learn it all. I'm sorry but there's no way in the world you can learn all the martial arts in the world in under twenty minutes. I mean, not even the almighty Neo learned everything in twenty minutes. If he DOES learn it all in one chapter, there had better be a time skip in there somewhere. TIP #5: If you're writing a betrayal story that lands Harry in Azkaban, don't make all his closest friends abandon him over flimsy evidence. Okay, if his wand was found in his hand with the spells still in said wand, that's classified as circumstantial. Although it is hard to use another wizard's wand, it is not impossible. If they are going to betray him, at least make it for a good reason. TIP #6: As an author, you should write for the pleasure of writing. Do not beg for reviews because I can guarantee, even if you're not getting reviews, the hit count number is still going up. Reviews are just sprinkles on top of an ice-cream cone. They are nice, but not NECESSARY. Do not hold your story for ransom. It is very unprofessional. TIP #7: If you are going to borrow some idea from another author, ASK FOR PERMISSION FIRST. It is extremely rude to take without asking. And if you cannot get a response, simply say at the end of the chapter of your story that you got it from someone else. It is very flattering for another writer to see their ideas being used in someone else's story. Always ask for permission and thank the author. It makes it easier to share things when credit is properly given. TIP #8: Do not get angry with people who flame you for not keeping the story in canon. Reality check people: THIS IS FANFICTION. IF YOU LIKE CANON SO MUCH, READ THE BLOODY BOOKS!!! TIP #9: Keep your author's notes to the beginning or the end of the chapter. Mark an asterisk or something that leads to the author's note. Readers want the story, not comments after every single sentence. TIP #10: Make things believable. You have a revenge story, don't just say he woke up one morning and said to himself, `Gee, a lot of people have been awful mean to me this past week. I'M GOING TO KILL THEM!!! *insert evil cackle here*'. Making things believable makes the readers more impressed with your ideas so it pays off to wrack your brains for a little bit to create something new. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Snapping the book shut in his shock, Harry jumped to his feet, and bolted out of the room, determined to show it to Hermione and Ron. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^* And that's all I can think of at the moment. PLEASE!!!! If you have something to add, leave it in a review or email me! I'm trying to write this for all the annoyed readers and frustrated authors. We all want to read good fanfiction so why not tell each other what is generally annoying and what is generally acceptable? I'll add anything that pops up and is general enough to be added. Thanks to everyone who is responding like they are. I am truly surprised with how much feedback I'm getting. Even now, I'm working on a part two for all the little things everyone is bring to my attention. Also, as soon as I can, this is going up on ff.net so tell all your fellow authors that there is a guide to writing good HP fanfiction. And to just make it like an actual fanfiction, I'll be rewriting it as a book the characters read, fair enough? I don't really want it taken down so no one report me yet kay? Hey, I might even get around to writing a guide for reviewing stories, what you should say and what you shouldn't. What do you think? Would it work? --> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. PART II And here's the promised part deux. Now I know a lot of you are wondering why I'm not posting this in the forums or something. The reason is rather simple: because I know, as an avid reader, I don't go to a website like portkey.org to read the messages in the forum. That's not why I'm here! I go straight for the stories. Thus it only serves as common sense to put this where the most people will probably read it. And I'm sorry if this disappoints some people but there won't be a section on smut. Why? Because as an eighteen year old, I have yet to experience the act. It would be hypocritical of me to tell other people how to write something that even I know little about. In reality, almost all smut stories are merely copies of other stories probably written by experienced authors. Thus, the quality goes down since the writer probably doesn't know what they're talking about. Okies? *^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Wasting little time and putting all his knowledge of Hogwarts to good use, Harry made it quickly back to the tower. After a rushed, `poisoned rationality', he was in the common room. Luckily, it was somewhat late since the room was empty. As expected, both Hermione and Ron were waiting up for him. “Harry! There you are! I was starting to suspect that you had gotten yourself caught somehow,” said Hermione, smiling at him. A roguish grin spread across his face. “Oh ye of little faith, I just got sidetracked.” “By what? Getting distracted supposed to be my job!” cried Ron, leaning over the back of a couch by the fire. With a little flourish, Harry pulled out the book and tossed it to him. “`A Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Harry Potter Fanfiction?'” “What the bloody hell?” Harry walked over and plopped himself in between his friends. “Yeah I know. I was kinda surprised too. All I read was the beginning though.” “Give me that book Ron, I want to see what's in the table of contents.” He passed over the book without a fuss. As if he'd really give one. “Let's see…`Characterization'…`Writing Your Original Character'…`Grammar and Spelling'…” “Go to chapter two: writing your original character. That looks interesting.” *^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Chapter Deux: The Original Character. Oh lord…the OC, or original character, is often times a necessary part of a fanfiction. However, many authors tend to want to create Mary-Sues and Gary-Sues. What are they you ask? They typically have such characteristics: * extraordinarily smart * color changing eyes * super strong * super cool * have cool toys * some type of super ability that no one else possesses While at the same time, the main characters don't have anything special going on that would help them outshine the OC. REMEMBER: your story should be about the main characters, not the ones you create. If you want to make a story using your own characters so much, post it somewhere else. Harry, as the main character, should not be outshone by a random girl that just so happens to pop up from the middle of nowhere. *^*^*^**^*^*^*^* “What the hell?” repeated Ron in surprise. Hermione shot him a whithering look. “Have you never heard of fanfiction?” “Of course not. What is it?” Both of the muggle children sighed and shared a glance. “It would take too long to explain that to you actually. What else is in there Hermione?” “Hmm…this looks promising…” *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Chapter Quatre: Writing Reviews One of the best things a reader can do is leave a review for the author as it shows that someone is reading their stories and someone wants to let them know that. Just a simple, `This story is really awesome, keep up the good work' is very appreciated. However, for some, this isn't enough. So you could do what others do. While you go through the chapter you're reading and some comment about the chapter comes to mind, write it down in a review to send when you're finished. If there was one line that just made the chapter for you, tell the author that. If you want more action, tell them that too. Most authors, myself included, have no problems with adding a scene here or there for a reviewer who has asked for it. If anything, it makes more people want to review if they see things they really like happening. Even better, ask questions when you don't understand. Address discrepancies you see when you read so that the author can go back and make the story better. Nevertheless, you should never, EVER tell someone their story sucks or something equivalent to that. If you don't like the story then dang it, don't continue reading it. How much sense does that make? You don't like the story yet you're still reading it. Never flame someone because the way they portray a character isn't correct. Suggest that they think about rewriting the character because something that they are doing are just really out of character, or OOC. Most people post their stories so that they can receive help with them. Who gave you the right to play God in a world where the only `God' is the original author? Also, decent grammar is very much appreciated. `Lke OMG! Dis chappie wuz lke da coolest eva! Update real soon!' This should never be a review. And never threaten an author in a review, that's seriously unprofessional. *^*^*^*^*^*^*^* “Looks like you could learn a thing or two from this Ron.” “Hey! I know how to use good English!” “I think what you really mean is proper English Ronnie old chap,” said Harry with a grin, clapping the boy about the shoulder. Ron shrugged the hand off, moving to the armchair on the other side of the fire. With the added space, Harry pressed his back up against the couch while Hermione laid down next to him, drapping one of his arms over her waist. “It's still a really weird book though,” mused Ron. He snorted. “As if someone would create a book series on your life!” *^*^*^*^*^*^*^* And here is the next one. I hope I did everyone a hand with that little section on reviewing. Sorry if it seems a little rushed but I honestly could think of nothing more to put here.