I'm a prospective writer who needs help/advice

Started by Pkmn Trainer Butthead July 1st, 2012 5:39 PM
  • 879 views
  • 2 replies
Male
Seen August 25th, 2015
Posted May 24th, 2015
118 posts
11.1 Years
Hello, I am looking to start writing a fanfic I have planned, but I need some advice. Since I have experience Roleplaying (on this site, look in the RP Forum), I was wondering if you guys here have any advice on how to transfer the fundamentals of writing in the RP format to writing in a fanfiction format? All advice is accepted and thank you in advance to anyone who replies.
Age 30
Male
Northern Virginia
Seen 1 Week Ago
Posted May 26th, 2018
1,184 posts
15.2 Years
My advice is to not focus on RPing at all, because it's totally different from writing a whole story, and to think more about books you've read.

But that's a lazy answer, so I'll do my best to answer your question more directly:

I'm not an RP veteran, but as I understand it you often have to think about how your character will react to other characters and events in the story 'in character.' When writing a whole story, it is absolutely essential to consider this for all of the important characters. Who are your characters? What motivates them? How do they play off each other?

Just as important is to consider the events in your plot: Why do they happen? How are they influenced by the characters? Why should the reader care? The logical connections between your characters, their actions/interactions, and the world around them are a big part of how you keep the reader engaged.

And most important of all: just dive in. The community here's all about helping each other become better writers, so don't be afraid to get your work out in the open.
Old, Janky Fics
[url-inline="showthread.php?t=146381"]Gary Stu's Unpredictable Adventure[/url-inline]
Complete and FULL of lame jokes
[url-inline="showthread.php?t=127518"]Kanto: The Disputed Frontier[/url-inline]
Canceled
(Now with MST3K'd chapter 1!)
Chapter Fics
[url-inline="showthread.php?t=406057"]Roving Degenerates with Dangerous Pets[/url-inline]
Canceled
[url-inline="showthread.php?t=387471"]Will Somebody Stop These Kids?[/url-inline]
Complete
[url-inline="showthread.php?p=9293373"]Digimon Campaign[/url-inline]
Complete
One-Shot Fics
[url-inline="showthread.php?t=404864"]Wild Horses in Winter[/url-inline]
2017
[url-inline="showthread.php?t=385011"]Hubris Island[/url-inline]
A&D Collab 2016
[url-inline="showthread.php?p=7449808"]Giovanni Destroys the World and Everything in It[/url-inline]
2012
Small Writing Contest
[url-inline="showthread.php?t=193500"]2009[/url-inline], [url-inline="showthread.php?t=230366"]2010[/url-inline], [url-inline="showthread.php?t=258543"]2011[/url-inline] (1st), [url-inline="showthread.php?t=305055"]2013[/url-inline] (1st), [url-inline="showthread.php?t=332174"]2014[/url-inline] (1st), [url-inline="showthread.php?t=374329"]2016[/url-inline] (2nd), [url-inline="showthread.php?t=400230"]2017[/url-inline] (1st)
Family (kind of?): [url-inline="member.php?u=25615"]Strange person who calls me strange names[/url-inline]
Age 36
Seen 17 Hours Ago
Posted 2 Days Ago
With writing as compared to RPing, you have much more control over everything. All the characters are ones that you "play", and all the plot lines are ones that you come up with. Like icomeanon said, you have to keep all these connections in mind.

I guess then that I can say that the main difference between RPing and writing a story is that you have more control over what happens. You can get a feel for what every character will do, you can direct the story, and you have some idea where they're going to end up. It's all in your hands.

Since I've only RPed twice several years ago, I'm not experienced with that many differences between RP and writing stories. So if there's a specific thing that you're worried about with your writing, feel free to ask. Again, as icomeanon said, we're here to help.

Avatar credit: Fairy