Bravo.

Another thing to avoid is a title that says "-----'s first fanfic" or something. Titles like that drive away readers like bug spray in their eyes.

IT HURTS.

If you attract any readers with a title like that, they're almost always going to be people in a bad mood who want to take out their anger by criticizing the work of a nub.

You don't want that, do you?

Also, getting someone to read over your work before you post is almost always a good idea. Not necessary, but very helpful.

I have a suggestion. Don't make the main character in your first fanfic share your name and/or any of your favorite pokemon or anything else related to the genre of the fic becauese you'll often find yourself making him, her, it, or them uber tough and almost unbeatable for unjustified reasons.

If you really want to make a fanfic staring someone with the same name as you, write a multi-chapter fanfic or several one-shot fanfics before you write that story so you can get a feel of what the main character should and shouldn't be capable of at any given time. Once you have done that, start out by making things as hard on the character with the same name as you as you can. Have him or her always needing help and being unable to accomplish basic things unless he or she is taken by the hand.

This way, you don't start out with a trainer or a hero who is invincible thanks to something like "the heart of the cards" (<=biggest B.S. in any story, ever).

Another thing you have to be careful of is how many times the character with the same name as you wins at whatever he or she does. You can't have the character with the same name as you lose forever, it's unrealistic, but it's even more so to expect them to keep winning forever. So remember, DON'T BE AFRAID TO HAVE THE MAIN CHARACTER REGULARLY LOSE!


NOTE: Notice that throughout this post, the character with the same name as the author is referred to as the character that shares the author's name. This is because sharing a name doesn't mean that they are you. It is the same with RP's, they share your name and that's it. You have to treat that character like any other hero that you would write about.

However, if losing means they die, that is a whole other pot of fish . If losing means something of great danger can happen to the character, so much so that it would end the story, do not take the 'make then lose' idea to heart. A character can overall win in a story, and have set backs as well. Just make sure if you are going to have the story end in their glory that you: A) Make the character someone the readers can feel for and relate to. B) And make sure that getting to the top is a slow climb that the character has to work for.

The trouble with already perfect characters is they have no room to grow, they are already the best at what they do. What makes a good character isn't if they are or aren

That's why I say you shouldn't name the hero after yourself. To do that is really going to make it very difficult to write about, because what you do to the hero you feel like you're doing to yourself.

And what if you want to add a romance?! Don't you think you'd look like a loser if you started writing a love story about how a person with your name has a totally beautiful/handsome/hot male/female fall in love with you? It would just be embarrasing to write about.

I basicly do that whenever I read a romance novel so it is no skin off my nose. But then, I am older than most of the members here so I've gotten way past feeling embarrased about those sort of things

The embarrasing part is that you're writing a serious romance story about YOURSELF....

I'd imagine that would be the least worst part of writing a fanfic with a character that shares the author's name. Unless of course, the person they had the romance with was named after someone else that the readers knew.

Yes, that would be bad. But the only way you'd do end up doing that was if you asked other forum members to give character submissions and end up with only one girl. So, don't do that either. :p

Well, it doesn't have to be that. It could be like naming the love intrest Spittney Brears or something like that.

Yeah.

*coughs*

Fortunately, we aren't getting that anymore. A few people tried it to make their fics look cool. Soon, everyone realized that it was just stupid.

Perfect characters all around, aka the Mary-Sue or Gary-Sue, can be the death of a great story.

I found this test on Gaia that can help with original characters. It's a huge help, but it at times can only work as a kind of guide line. There are characters that are considered Mary-Sue but don't ruin the story. It really depends on how they're a Mary-Sue and the plot line.

The Official Mary-Sue Litmus Test

Writing is subjective, as are most forms are artistic expression. There aren't really...rules, there are pet peeves and guidelines.

Your main character doesn't really count as complying to the things stated here though...after all original works are welcome as well as fan works in the forum.

And humor is capable of being humorous while still complying to some/most of the view points stated in this thread. So that isn't a very strong argument.

Writing IS subjective, which is why so many people enjoy writing. But, because its being subjective affects who and how many likes it. Which is also why you should always write for yourself first and other second.

Can anyone tell me what's a cliche? I am constructing the plot of a new fic now and I don't want my story to be a cliche. Give examples too.

An example...well you could look at almost any fantasy story. Um...Ash's storyline is pretty cliché. And you could look around at some of the stories on here that are written by new writers.

But, a cliché story line may be overlooked if everything else is highly, and I mean highly original. It's just like how a Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu character may not get on people's nerves because of a strong story. It really depends on the writer's abilities and what they make out of all the elements of a story. A Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu is basically the perfect character an example would be...Ash again and probably some others. If you want I can give you the link to a 'Mary-Sue' test that would work for testing a guy character too.

But every writer has at least one cliché story that they really like but reread later on in life and wonder what the heck they'd been thinking. I'm not sure on your experience in writing so don't get too bent out of shape.