Post by Tilly on Mar 25, 2004 1:41:24 GMT -5
I thought I'd write some. If you have suggestions for revisions/things to add to this thing, let me know.
-Use decent spelling, grammar, and punctuation. It's really hard to read things otherwise. If you don't have a spell check, there are free ones online if you search google-and you can always look up individual words in a dictionary. I'm guilty of misspelling things myself, but in a finished fic it's not a good thing.
-Read over stuff a few times before posting it. You'd be surprised how many missing words, typos that are a word but not the correct one, and other things you'll find.
-If you don't want constructive criticism, say something. If you ask "how's my fic?" and someone says they like it, but Raven seems out of character, that's their opinion. You were asking for it. Insulting something is different, of course. I find people pointing out flaws in my writing helpful most of the time-then I can try and figure out how to improve them.
-Keep the same tense/style for a whole fic. For example, if you're telling the whole story in past tense or present tense, keep it that way.
Past tense: Bit stared at the mug in shock. Sure enough, there was a miniature Liger Zero in it, and it was happily lapping up the coffee.
Present: Bit stares at the mug in shock. Sure enough, there's a miniature Liger Zero in it, and it's happily lapping up the coffee.
Don't do this: Bit stared at the mug in shock. Sure enough, there's a miniature Liger Zero in it, and it was happily lapping up the coffee.
Script format is also not very good for most fics, since there's not much room for detail, as you can see:
Bit (shocked): Ack! There's a Liger Zero in my coffee!
-One formatting error I see all the time is not putting a new line for a new paragraph. Also, when a new person starts speaking, you need a new paragraph:
"Ack! There's a Liger Zero in my coffee," Bit said, quite confused. The Zero turned to him and meowed.
"Actually, that's my coffee." It was Ballad. "But that's not my Liger."
"Well, then, how'd it get here?"
-Do research. If you're not sure what weapons a Zoid has, look them up. Beware of RPGs (like MMM), though, as they often make stuff up. This is fine for their RPG, but that interesting description might be someone else's work-you don't want to steal it. If your character is injured, for example, you could look up stuff on medical sites-something I've done myself. Things like that can add realism to a story, if you're going for something more serious.
-Try to keep characters in character. You might say "it's a fanfic, I can do what I want!", which is technically true. But if Raven is dancing around in a pink plaid dress saying "Fwee!", is it really Raven any more?
As far as humor fics go, I've found it's more fun to throw characters into insanity while keeping them somewhat in-character and seeing how they react, but that's me.
-Make original characters interesting. Don't just make them a beautiful person who can do anything-that's boring. Give them a personality-little quirks, flaws, etc. That's not to say that you can't make an overpowered silly character-but they're much more likely to work well if they're still 'human'. Give them some background/history, too-even if you don't say it outright, having it in your mind will help you write about them.
-Use decent spelling, grammar, and punctuation. It's really hard to read things otherwise. If you don't have a spell check, there are free ones online if you search google-and you can always look up individual words in a dictionary. I'm guilty of misspelling things myself, but in a finished fic it's not a good thing.
-Read over stuff a few times before posting it. You'd be surprised how many missing words, typos that are a word but not the correct one, and other things you'll find.
-If you don't want constructive criticism, say something. If you ask "how's my fic?" and someone says they like it, but Raven seems out of character, that's their opinion. You were asking for it. Insulting something is different, of course. I find people pointing out flaws in my writing helpful most of the time-then I can try and figure out how to improve them.
-Keep the same tense/style for a whole fic. For example, if you're telling the whole story in past tense or present tense, keep it that way.
Past tense: Bit stared at the mug in shock. Sure enough, there was a miniature Liger Zero in it, and it was happily lapping up the coffee.
Present: Bit stares at the mug in shock. Sure enough, there's a miniature Liger Zero in it, and it's happily lapping up the coffee.
Don't do this: Bit stared at the mug in shock. Sure enough, there's a miniature Liger Zero in it, and it was happily lapping up the coffee.
Script format is also not very good for most fics, since there's not much room for detail, as you can see:
Bit (shocked): Ack! There's a Liger Zero in my coffee!
-One formatting error I see all the time is not putting a new line for a new paragraph. Also, when a new person starts speaking, you need a new paragraph:
"Ack! There's a Liger Zero in my coffee," Bit said, quite confused. The Zero turned to him and meowed.
"Actually, that's my coffee." It was Ballad. "But that's not my Liger."
"Well, then, how'd it get here?"
-Do research. If you're not sure what weapons a Zoid has, look them up. Beware of RPGs (like MMM), though, as they often make stuff up. This is fine for their RPG, but that interesting description might be someone else's work-you don't want to steal it. If your character is injured, for example, you could look up stuff on medical sites-something I've done myself. Things like that can add realism to a story, if you're going for something more serious.
-Try to keep characters in character. You might say "it's a fanfic, I can do what I want!", which is technically true. But if Raven is dancing around in a pink plaid dress saying "Fwee!", is it really Raven any more?
As far as humor fics go, I've found it's more fun to throw characters into insanity while keeping them somewhat in-character and seeing how they react, but that's me.
-Make original characters interesting. Don't just make them a beautiful person who can do anything-that's boring. Give them a personality-little quirks, flaws, etc. That's not to say that you can't make an overpowered silly character-but they're much more likely to work well if they're still 'human'. Give them some background/history, too-even if you don't say it outright, having it in your mind will help you write about them.