1001 things you don't do in a fanfic

Another rule: If you have a good idea, please, please for God's sake develop it the right way!

My anecdote: I'm a GSR fan, so I don't like to read fanfic that contradicts my ship. But for some reason, I read one Grillows fanfic where it turned out, Grissom and Catherine were Sara's real parents, and Grissom was Lindsay's real father (making Sara and Lindsay sisters) and they were secretly married for like 1000 years. On a GSR perspective I thought "that blows", but intellectually speaking, it was a good idea.

Problem is, for starters Cath's only 10 years older than Sara. And no, there's no way in the world Grissom could go all "Oh Sara, you know why I haven't corresponded to your unrequited love for me? Because I've been married to Catherine! And she's your mommy! And I'm your daddy! and Lindsay's your little sister!" and then have Sara go all "Oh, so that was it? Ok! Mommy, Daddy, Sister, I'm so happy for you! And for me! Let's be a happy family!", and then have a Happy Anniversary cake in the break room and everybody happy. It-doesn't-work-like-that! To the author: just imagine that happening to yourself. How would you react? wouldn't there be some drama (or better yet, trauma) involved? Can it really be resolved in a one-shot?

 

To whomever said not to jump around between perspectives, I see nothing wrong with that if done properly. Using third person omniscient necessitates that, and it's a widely used form, especially for longer multichapter stories.

And about the gay thing, if a character in a show is canonically straight (ie in a relationship with a female, period) I don't think it's unfair to want writers to steer clear of making Grissom some sort of wild homosexual sex-crazed buffoon who's also into BDSM (true fic). If a writer is going to make that a plot, I think they should count it as AU and mark it so.

Also, this is advice to all writers, not just fanfic. When you've finished a chapter, or a chunk of a story, or even an entire story. Before you post it, put it away for a week. Then come back to it and re-read it. If you don't find at least 5 things you want to change, consider yourself on par with Hemingway. Even if you don't have that much time, at least put it away for a day. Give your mind a chance to rest from it, and you'll come back even more excited about it and much more objective as to problems.

 

Well yeah or at least handle it properly. Sometimes people have straight relationships before turning to same-sex ones, but I'm sure those who are into those kinds of fics would agree you have to write things believably for it to work. And not sure if the BDSM would work in any form.

ETA: I do find it helps to put fics aside and come back to them later. I do it especially if I'm writing late at night.

 

90. Remember what's happened IN YOUR OWN STORY. It's bad enough when people can't remember canon, but quite another thing entirely if you can't remember what you yourself wrote two chapters ago. That's where re-reading it just before you post for all the world to see comes in handy.

 

- Don't make your stories too long, fanfiction is meant to be a writing exercise, a way to make something you wish happened in the show happen, or something you do just for fun. But if your fic can compete in volume with a Harry Potter book, there are two options: a. You're not that talented and you won't be able to handle such a long story, so don't do it, or b. You're that talented and then, what are you doing writing fanfic? Write an original book with original characters and get rich!

- To all CSI fic writers, but more specifically to CSI:LV fic writers: Halloween, Christmas and New Year's eve are not slow nights by nature. If anything, they're the busiest nights. Just a little something to keep in mind.

 

While I completely agree that most people shouldn't be writing epics, sometimes the characters and plot just grab you and you go with it. I think until you've exhausted all that needs to be or can be said in your story, there's no point in stopping because you've reached some arbitrary point.

Still, I know it annoys me to read 30 chapter stories...especially when the chapters are long. I'm just not that invested in someone else's rendition of a world. And I guess that's the salient point; if the world is not completely original and is really just a facsimile of an established world, then our interest is cut in half of what it was for the original material.

 

You're right about that. But if you're writing (Hypothetical, illustrative example) "Roads to Redemption; Volume V: Chapter 87" chances are, you've already said and done all what needed to be said and done in your story (and there are true fics like that), and there's a high risk that you stray away too much from the original characterization and what goes on on the show.

 

This, I have to disagree with. The story I'm currently working on could be loosely classified as a song fic in that the main idea was inspired by a song.

Originally it was supposed to be a simple 3-5 page story when i began almsot three years ago. Now, its 230+ and headed in a totally different direction than what i had planned...

Speaking of which the first part is at the beta now. Some of my friends have been insisting that i post it even though I'm not finished. Since I'm beyond halfway so i intend to see this through to the end.

I also have to say that I am guilty of the Warning note: Slash (If you don't like, please don't read. Flames will be ignored). Becuase i have seen some writer's that i like and who HAVE posted warnings get flamed and such becuase of the content of their stories...

On a note, nothing can throw me out of a story so fast as a small fact that will clash with something that the author has previously written.

This is where i find rereading after a while helpful. It helped me to catch a magically changing room. *headdesk* One one chapter i had it be the first door on the left then when i started work on another story in the same AU it had changed to the right. Found it, fixed it. Still gotta pst it.

 

I don't think they're talking about fics inspired by songs, Wolfsong.
They're talking about the fics where the lyrics are stuck throughout the story, or at the top, and everything in the story has to do with a line.

 

This one thing literally makes me want to throw something: when someone write 'must of' or 'should of' instead of 'must have' or 'should have'. I just really, REALLY hate that. And that's all I have to say on the subject, or else I'll have to go to the 'Rant and I can't say this out loud' thread.

 

Well definitely. You can get away with pretty much anything in dialouge as long as it's in character. It's just when it's not! I read a story the other day that was a great story, really in-character, with a killer plot, then right in the middle it said something like 'the bullets must of hit the gas tank, because the next thing she saw was flames engulfing the car.' It was awesome, and then I had to stop reading at the climax of the story to figure out what it meant. It just rips you out of the story! It's practically breaking the fourth wall! I agree that it's okay if it's dialougue though, that could just be how a person talks, but it still bugs me in the middle of a story when I have to stop to decifer spelling and grammer mistakes.

 

My biggest gripe with CSI fanfic especially is the inordinate number of shipper fics, and the lack of episode fics, ie stories that could be an episode and not just a 20 page story on the OOC relationship between Nick/Sara or Wolfe/Boa Vista.

 

That's probably because writing a really good (that is, interesting) case file fic is much harder than a gushy one about love. Besides, we (by that I mean me) write fanfiction because we want to see things that can't happen on the show/won't. There's already plenty of cases on the show