Genre tips

Today’s #AtoZChallenge Topic: Fan Fiction

Posted on by 61 Comments

A to Z Challenge asks bloggers to post every day except Sundays during the month of April on a thematic topic. This year, I’ll be covering writing genres.

Today’s genre:

atoz-fFan Fiction

Definition

Fiction written by a fan of, and featuring characters from, a particular TV series, movie, etc.

Tipsa to z

  1. Write about celebrities, movies, or characters you love — but make sure your subject has a mass appeal.
  2. The success of your story doesn’t depend on reinventing the wheel, it depends on you putting your work out there.
  3. Write a universal story that everyone will nod agreement with. Don’t include knowledge that’s not already out there.
  4. Pieces range in length from vignettes (1000 words) to short stories to full blown novels (50,000+ words).
  5. If your characters have to act out of character from the fiction they’re pulled from, your plot doesn’t work.
  6. Spelling and grammar count.
  7. Know the story on which your fanfic is based. Respect the rules of that story.
  8. Don’t expect to be paid for fanfiction. It’s for sharing, posting, enjoying.

Popular Books

  1. The Student Prince by FayJay
  2. Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky
  3. Fangirl by Ranbow Rowell
  4. Bond by Anna Fugazzi
  5. No Homo by Remain Nameless

More F Genres:

Click for complete list of genres

Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy, and the thriller, To Hunt a Sub. She is also the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer,  a columnist for TeachHUB, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find her books at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning. The sequel to To Hunt a Sub, Twenty-four Days, is scheduled for May 2017. Click to follow its progress.

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61 thoughts on “Today’s #AtoZChallenge Topic: Fan Fiction”

  1. Fanfiction -my own and so many other’s entryway into writing. I’ve faced some criticism for it – people think we aren’t creative enough to come up with our own stories. But I think a lot of people use it for beginning practice, getting used to story telling before they dive into the deeper roles of character development and world building. You still learn lessons on characterization and plot in a safe (usually supportive) culture.

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  2. Pingback: Today’s #AtoZChallenge: Genres–Flash Fiction Genre | WordDreams...

  6. I wrote Tolkien fan fiction for a time. It was fun. It’s inspiring.
    I’ve heard multiple time that starting out by writing fan fiction may help newbee writers to hone their craft, because they don’t need to craft an entire world of their own. It may be, I mean, it makes sense.
    It wasn’t my case, I started writing fan fiction a log time after starting writing. I had some good results too, but what frustrted me (and eventually made me stop) is that you’re not really the owner of those stories, you can’t do whatever you want with them.
    I much prefer to have total control of what I write 😉

    @JazzFeathers
    The Old Shelter – 1940s Film Noir

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  10. Hi Jacqui – I could never get interested in fan fiction … and I certainly couldn’t get hooked into writing about someone who was ephemeral – at least in my eyes. But I see Sharon’s comment above … it will interest others and provide a different take on writing … I’d have to do a lot of homework before I could even start- not for me!

    Cheers Hilary
    http://positiveletters.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/g-is-for-goose-gobbling-or-otherwise.html

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  11. I’ve never read or written fan fiction. I think that’s because I’m not a movie/film type of person.
    It doesn’t make sense to me. What’s the reason for writing it? Is it a form of practise for when you write your own stories?
    Since the story has to fall into an already-structured world, wouldn’t writing fan fiction actually inhibit one’s own creativity?
    I’m just wondering to what extent dies it actually promote creativity?

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    • It is a form of practice writing, but I think the biggest motivation is community: Fan fiction writers love reading about that topic and want to share their stories with each other. I haven’t heard of any of the writers I listed, but according to Google they’re quite popular.

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