100 Things I've Learned by Writing Fanfiction-Masterlist

{Take the 100 Things challenge!}
I've committed to take the 100 Things challenge on Livejournal and will be posting my content on Fandombouquet (linking from here to my LJ). The following is my master topic post, which will be updated as posts are made and as new topics get added. I won't be writing them in order but the plan is that when they're finished, I'll have a list of posts that are useful/insightful in some way to people who are starting out in fanfic writing (or even for people who've done it a while and are looking to try something different or improve. You can start anywhere you like on the list, but some of the topics are connected.

  General Observations
1. There Are Awesome People Out There.
2. There are big old jerks out there.
3. Nobody Will Ever Love Your Fanfic as Much As You Do.
4. EVERYBODY WILL LOVE YOUR FANFIC OMFG, THIS IS THE BEST STORY EVER!!
5. Writing Good Fanfiction is Hard
6. Writing Good Fanfiction is Easy
7. Fandoms Change
8. Fandoms Never Change That Much
9. Write Something Every Day
10. You Don't Have to Write Every Day

Write Better Fanfiction

1. Don't Listen to Me
2. Listen to Me
3. Understand Your Canon (sub posts about anachronisms, setting, continuity, characterization, story development, fandom canon debates)
4. Make Up The Details
5. Someone Will Always Know More Than You
6. Nobody Knows Everything.
7. Understand the Language In Which You Are Writing. (Probably sub posts on grammar/POV/tenses/etc.)
8. This is Not An English Class. (Or a Spanish Class, or Whatever.)
9. Write What You Know
10. Don't Be Afraid To Break Out of the Comfort Zone
11. Every Good Fic Writer Has a Good Beta.
12. Not Having a Beta Is Not the End of the World.
13. Mary Sue and Why We Hate Her (sub posts about sue-isms)
14. Mary Sue and Why We Love Her
15. Nobody Fricking Cares About Your Dumb OC.
16. Give Me A Good OC Any Day! I LOVE A GOOD OC!
17. Fanon Is Not Canon
18. Fanon Happens For A Reason
19. Finish Your Damn Story Before You Put It On The Internet!
20. Post.  Just Post.
21. Familiarize Yourself With Fanfic Genres and Other Fan Culture Lingo
22. Don't Obsess Over Categories
23. Write For Yourself
24. Write For Your Audience
25. Understand Your Characters' Motivations.
26. Your Characters Will Do Things You Don't Expect
27. Use Fandom Cliches.
28. Don't Use Fandom Cliches.
29. Have Something to Say
30. Plot? Point? What? Where?



On AUs, Crossovers, And Epics
1. The Appeal of AU is Endless Possibility
2. Endless Possibility Is Not An Excuse To Do Whatever You Want.
3. Have An Outline
4. Your Outline Will Become Useless
5. Write Missing Scenes and Snippets
6. Write The Story First
7. Give Me The Background (Especially For Crossovers)
8. Don't Tell Me Everything (Subposts about re-writes of canon and what needs to be shown.)
9. Why Are You Writing This Anyway? (subposts-Is it better as an original? When isn't it fanfic?)
10.  It Doesn't Matter Why You Started It.
11. Worldbuild Too Much.
12. This Is A Story, Not a Worldbuilding Exercise.
13. Take a Break
14. Push Through the Fatigue
15. Reviews Don't Mean Much
16. Reviews Are Everything.
17. Write It Out of Order
18. Don't Use Up The Good Parts
19. Make People Sad (Especially When The Story Ends)
20. Make People Happy (Especially When The Story Ends)
21. Piss People Off (Just Not When the Story Ends.)
22. Give People What They Want (Just Not Every Time)
23. Have a Feedback Group
24. Don't Write Your Story By Committee
25. Magic Has Rules Too.
26. "Known" Science Means Just That
27. Epics Hurt.  They Hurt A Lot.
28. Epics Make You Feel Amazing.
29. Let The Idea Sit For A While
30. Don't Let The Idea Go Stale.



Other Thoughts and Advice
1. Talk to Other Authors
2. Take a Writing Challenge
3. Take Fic Requests
4. Start Small
5. Collaborate
6. CREDIT PEOPLE
7. Write That Idea Down
8. It Takes Courage To Post Fanfiction