So You Want to Write Fan Fiction!

So you finally decided to write down that obsessive fantasy you've been having about your favorite person. Wonderful! It's about time. Here is a step-by-step guide to creating your very own fan fiction story. This easy to follow guide will lead you through every step of the fan fiction writing process in easy to understand, user friendly language. It will also tell you things those other fan fiction guides don't want you to know. You can have unlimited access this essential guide for free with your Internet service! Aren't we sweet?

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Step One: Be A Fan

This may seem obvious, but we thought it deserved a step anyway. The first step to creating fan fiction is to be a fan of something. Choose your favorite musician/TV show/fantasy character/whatever floats your boat and prepare to have fun with them.

Note: Many guides will tell you that it is unacceptable to write fan fiction starring real people. This means that while it is okay to write about Indiana Jones, it is not okay to write about Harrison Ford. However, since this little rule excludes any and all fiction about musicians (except maybe the Monkees, and only if you do it right), we have chosen to ignore the hell out of it, and write what we want. You should too! (More on this later.)

Step Two: Write

Many people consider this the most important part of writing fan fiction. You must now take your favorite person/fictional character/whatever floated your boat from Step One, and put them in a story. When you have created a beginning, middle and end, you will have almost created a fan fiction story!

Step Three: Edit

This is the most important part of writing fan fiction. Edit your story. PLEASE. Once you have made sure that your story makes sense grammatically, and that it doesn't have as many plot holes as it takes to fill the Albert Hall, you will have written a fan fiction story! Hooray!!! Good for you! Pat yourself on the back, brag, and treat yourself to something nice.

Step Four: Edit

Edit your story again. PLEASE. You'll feel better if you catch that typo that turned "shut" into "shit" before someone else reads it. I promise. (By the way, we do know that it is virtually impossible to catch every single mistake one may make in a piece of writing, so please don't think we're hypocrites if you find an error in one of our stories. We're probably editing it yet again as you read.)

Step Five: WRITE WHAT YOU WANT

This is one of the most important steps to writing fan fiction, and it's one that virtually NO other guide will tell you. WRTIE WHAT YOU WANT! If you get bogged down by other people's rules and expectations, and you end up turning your fan fiction story into (God forbid) work, you'll never finish. You will be denied the grand and glorious title of fan fiction author! Don't let it happen. Fan fiction is to be enjoyed! If you want to Mary-Sue yourself (that is, put yourself in your story), go for it! If you want to involve your characters in graphic sex and/or torture fests for your own pleasure, more power to you! If you want to put your characters through all kinds of pain and torment for the express purpose of coming to their rescue and/or nursing them back to health, DO IT. Fan fiction is there to make you happy. It's your fantasy about your favorite people. If other people like your story - great! If they don't - oh, well. They can write their own damn story!

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There you have it! In five easy steps, you have created your very own fan fiction story! Now you can copyright it (either by mailing it to yourself, or sending it to the copyright office), and get it published (either by submitting it to someone's site, or creating your own). Pat yourself on the back again! You're the bomb. Many people will say that you are lame and pathetic and you need to get a life right now, but screw them! You're a fan fiction author! Hold your head high, and get revenge on them in your next story.



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