User blog:CartoonFan14/Tips For Fanfiction Writers

So, I know there is a ton of LH fanfictions here, most of which range from good to great to very great, as someone who's written in the past, and notices some recurring issues I have with fanfics, I thought I'd leave a few tips on how to improve already great fanfics.

Avoid Filler
This one doesn't appear as much, but is often common on Fanfiction.net and appears here too sometimes, if you want to tell a joke that has nothing to do with your story, try to make it short and sweet, don't extend it so long it becomes a distraction, because it can sometimes get so bad that it makes you feel you are reading a fanfic completely different from the original plot.

Don't Flanderize Characters
I'm sure we've all heard this term before, if not, here is a small explanation. Flanderization is when you take a character, and make the character essentially out of character, focusing too heavily on one trait, and ignoring pretty much every other one.

This one also is more common on Fanfiction.net, but is frequent here too. Many writers notice a character is mean to a character, and write about that character harassing the character and showing no remorse for it.

A great example of this being done right is in ReddWalker's One Step Too Far, in that story, Lynn brutally beats Lincoln, and can't bring her self to face Lincoln, not because she thinks "he isn't manly enough to take her beating", but because she cares so much that she fears she could do it again if provoked. We may never see Lynn be nice to Lincoln, but we know she genuinely doesn't hate her brother, and would genuinely feel bad if she harmed her as bad as she did in the fanfic.

That's really it though, I can't say I really have any other nitpicks, and these are really the only two common issues see in most fanfics.

If you did or have done any of these, please don't take offense, like I said earlier, I don't think I've read a fanfic here I would call bad or only even decent, most of them are always good to very great, and these are just my personal issues. Keep writing those awesome fanfictions writers.