Be warned: I’ve got too much to say, and I can’t get this all down… welp, ironic how my “destresser” is writing about writing.
Seriously WIP, this is an essay like no other.
Sources[]
Spilling Ink: A writer’s best book. Please check it out, it’s amazing.
Schaffrillas Productions: For helping me learn to analyze fiction.
Hello Future Me: For helping me learn to analyze fiction.
Overanalyzing Avatar: The segments in which I obsessed talked about ATLA.
Getting This Sh[oo]t Done[]
Planning[]
(Ironic how I can’t plan my planning segment, isn’t it?)
Plot, Pacing and Plans[]
A Good Plot[]
The best way to start your fanfiction is a loose plot. Keep it simplistic, natural, and well-paced (see later segment). And by simplistic I don’t mean a basic or boring plot—rather, I mean one that isn’t too complex, especially when you’re just starting out. Overly detailed plots lead to confusion, plot holes, and unnaturally acting characters. A prime example of this would be the popular series Keeper of the Lost Cities, which relies so much on its overly complex plot (no spoilers, but from Lodestar onward everything goes downhill) that it makes its characters act strangely and out-of-character, it confuses the reader, and begins to become dull because of bad pacing.
An example of good plot twists is The Hunger Games, which does have plot twists (again, no spoilers, but Catching Fire has quite the big twist) yet doesn’t turn it overly complicated, the twist was clearly planned, and it’s perfectly natural for Katniss to respond the way she did. (*cough* freaking out *cough*)
Pacing[]
The Beginning[]
The Climax[]
The End[]
Plotholes[]
Characters are People Too[]
The number one most important thing to remember whilst making a character is that they’re a person. They act like a real person, have real feelings, have a personality, etc.
But how do you do this, and how do you do it well?
Characterization[]
| “ | “Stop! Put me down!” the person cried, beginning to panic. Tears started to run down their face - not just because they were being threatened, but because their dress was totally ruined. “HELP!” | ” |
What does this tell you? Well, they’re a “damsel in distress”. They’re spoiled, expect help, didn’t even expect to be in any danger as their life is so luxurious, etc.
And how did you figure this out? Purely through dialogue and a bit of narration “…their dress was totally ruined now.”
Maybe I’m not doing a damsel. Maybe I’m doing somebody a bit less stereotypical.
| “ | I groan. “Yeah, yeah, Dad. I get it. Don’t worry.” Then I add under his breath, far too quiet for him to hear, “You always do.” |
” |
Now Kaminari is a bit more complex. But here’s what can be gathered. (Or at least what I’ve gotten. Maybe you think something different!)
”Yeah, yeah, Dad. I get it,” shows that he’s chill, doesn’t want help, brushes off concerns (especially those of his father’s), and that he’s heard this many times before. And this is only from six words!
”Don’t worry,” pushes this further, and also shows how his father worries often.
”far too quiet for him to hear,” shows that he doesn’t always tell his father everything, and their household isn’t an open one.
”You always do,” tells us that his father worries very often and Kaminari is sick of it.
See? Good character building.
Growth[]
Protagonists[]
Deuteragonists[]
Antagonists[]
Morally Grays[]
Ooooh… I have a lot to say about these.
Morally grays are, in my opinion, the funnest and easiest to portray—though I definitely understand if people find it hard to portray them. Morally grays can be many things, so I made some sub-topics:
Hero to Villain[]
My personal favorite thing to write, hero to villain is hard to find and portray well. It typically takes quite a while for the transformation to occur, and said hero must go through hardships, trauma, and much more pain to transform in this way. And yes, of course, I’ll talk about her.
Jade’s my favorite example of a hero to villain. She starts her story out incredibly young in A Prodigy’s Journey and shows signs of psychopathy and ruthlessness—in fact, she isn’t nice at all and doesn’t exactly seem like your typical hero. And, of course, by the time she hits the ROTW roleplays, tragedy strikes time and time again. Her descent is slow, and I like to think of it like this:
APJ: The tiny glimpses.
Shadow's Rising: The tragedy hitting.
Libra's Scale: Eternity's Gamble: The first signs of villainy.
The Wardens Renowned: The slip into the realm of gray.
Xenophobe: The final strike.
Warfare: Breaking the mold and slowly becoming a villain.
Ceasefire: Villain all the way!
Void's Reign: Permanent breaking.
Broken Beyond Repair sums it up, and besides I’ll never be able to write it without breaking so it doesn’t even matter.
As you can see, it took eight stories, around thirty years, and 1,284,117 bytes (minus Void’s Reign and APJ) for her to become a villain. This descent must be slow, carved from tragedy and pain and loss.
It’s also tragic. It’s hard writing APJ (or your own story in which the to-be villain/gray is a hero) and knowing that this smiling little girl will become a woman who can’t control her own body, who lost everything, who’s still waiting for a death that will never come.
Yet I still love this arc for what it does, and chances are you do too.
Villain to Hero[]
| “ | Now you are at the crossroads of your destiny. But lately, I've realized I'm free to determine my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark. I’ll never say sorry to anyone! Ever! There’s not one person left in the world who cares about me. |
” |
Villain to hero. An amazing arc that takes an incredibly long time. Not as long as its flip side, but I digress.
These quotes are taken from my two favorite character arcs of all time, period. Zuko and Catra.
Well technically the first one is Iroh to Zuko but whatever that’s not the point.
Zuko is probably the most renowned arc, and for good reason. He starts his story out as the antagonist, however he’s clearly sympathetic and has reasoning for what he does. A few examples include the episodes The Storm, which showcases his genuinely horrifying backstory and childhood and portrays him saving his crew, The Winter Solstice, which shows him choosing to save Iroh over capturing Aang, and The Blue Spirit, which shows him saving Aang. Granted, that was so he could capture him himself, but either way it was a push in the right direction.
It really gets started with Book 2, though, which is where his arc gets actually good. Credit to Overanalyzing Avatar for this take.
Zuko gets cracks in his armor. One by one. Song, who affected him on an emotional level by showing him that “the enemy” had suffered just like him. Lee, who affected him on a familial level by showing him how families could be torn apart just like his. Jin, who affected him on a romantic level, by trusting and caring for him like so few ever had.
And yet… he does bad things all the time. He steals. He hurts. He threatens. His nature won’t change so quickly, which is part of why his arc works so well.
Then it all comes crashing down in my second-favorite episode in ATLA. The Crossroads of Destiny. It’s time for him to choose.
He chooses evil.
That’s what makes his arc so powerful. He isn’t perfect, he makes terrible decisions, but, as Iroh said, he lost his way, but he found it again.
In the end, he decides he doesn’t want villainy. He’s not happy. He wants to do the right thing.
OhmygodZuko’ssogood-
And only one arc can even compare to his.
I’m biased.
Catra was always my favorite character, I related to her too much, and an incredible amount of favoritism will cloud my judgement but whatever.
Perhaps one of my favorite things about SPOP is the way it starts. Adora is literally part of the team of villains, The Horde, and the fact that Catra is always second-best or lower is… part of the reason she’s relatable. She is technically the main antagonist of Seasons 1 and 2, but she and Adora start out as best friends. I just love her battle between good and evil, her hatred of Adora because of her attachment to her, and her relationship with everyone else—Scorpia, Entrapta, Hordak, and most of all Double Trouble.
She’s so back-and-forth, she went through so much, and it’s genuinely captivating because… after she chooses good, she’s still brainwashed and made one of Horde Prime’s puppets. And recovering from that is just amazing to watch.
I’ve fawned over my two favorite arcs enough. What does this have to do with your own writing?
When you write your own character arcs, don’t make them solid arcs. Make them up-and-down rollercoasters, or, in Zuko and Catra’s case, mountain ranges. It’ll all be for the better.
Genuine In-Betweens[]
An in-between is what most people think of as the “typical gray”. The one teetering between good and evil, the one with their own morals and motivations, the one you can love and/or hate.
There are a lot of in-between morally gray characters on this wiki, most notably the versions of Gale and Mira.
The realm of “in-between” is wide, from mysterious and antagonistic Starheart to innocent and broken Shadesong.
They all have a few things in common, though - something in their past broke them (typically with their family/abandonment), they aren’t fully recovered, they can be slightly mysterious, and have their own motivations and beliefs.
When making your own “in-between”, be very careful. It’s hard to get that exact mix of good and bad, victim and villain, innocent and evil.
Back-and-Forths[]
A “back-and-forth” morally gray is a character who switches between good and evil.
Mysterious…[]
Side Characters[]
The Dreaded Sue[]
The Sue is infamous for popping up all over this wiki. It’s very easy to see how they occur - the creator is obsessed with making their character perfect, thus making them terrible.
Strengths and Weaknesses[]
When to Be a Monster[]
Answer: always.
But in all seriousness, you should always make things hard for your characters. Tragic stories are amazing, but happily ever afters are great too.
Flat Characters[]
Plot Relevance[]
Where Are We Anyway?[]
Introduction[]
Realism[]
Mood/Tone[]
Setting the mood for an area is essential.
Example:
| “ | The forest was bright and sunny, flowers blanketing the soft grassy floor. Birds tweeted about, their chorus pleasant and rather delightful—not a care in the world. | ” |
The tone is happy, carefree, light. As opposed to:
| “ | The darkness of the forest loomed over anybody who dared come close. The crooked branches of trees seemed to scream “stay out”, and the cries of crows sounded like funeral dirges. | ” |
The mood is dark, scary, mysterious.
And again—why? What sets this off? What differentiates the two? They’re both forests, yet everything about them are different. The light against the darkness, the flowers against the crooked bracnhed, the songbirds against the crows.
Importance to the Plot[]
Affecting the Characters[]
NOW WRITE YOU PIECE OF-[]
Writer’s Block[]
We’ve all dealt with it. You’re breezing through a paper, fingers tapping furiously against the keyboard, and then… it strikes. Writer’s block. Every writer’s enemy.
Yet how do you get around it? Well, I’ve set up a simple analogy, as a rock climber as well as a writer.
Writer’s block is like a wall. Obscuring the path ahead, blocking out your progress, too stiff and hard and unrelenting to allow you to pass.
Or is it?
Writer’s block’s wall isn’t smooth. It’s got handholds, small and hard to grasp as they might be. All you have to do as a writer/rock climber is use them, with the help of your twig arms and nonexistent muscle. But how? Simple. You avoid it. Move on to the next wall, an easier one. This could be another project that you abandoned for “lack of importance”, a relaxer that you pushed away to work, or really anything that gets those creative juices flowing… or moving along like sludge. For all you know, it’ll take months to get past this wall—and believe me, it’s happened. Yet during that gap of time, you practiced on other walls, and accomplished other things. One day, you’ll get past that wall, and if you don’t? Well, maybe try doing some rock climbing.
At least writing doesn’t require muscle.
A Rush of Ideas[]
Another, completely opposite yet just as painful problem? Too many ideas. As Spilling Ink said, “Too many ideas is like an overflowing toilet.” (Or something along those lines, I need to go find it and get the direct quote.)
But how to deal with it? Well, just sit down, take a deep breath, and sort it out. Just write out a mess of words. They could be utterly incomprehensible later, but so long as you understand it, you’re fine. (Trust me—my “writing trashcan” is a jumble of words and scenes so chaotic even a certain actress from hit TV sitcom “I Love Lucy” would be stunned.
Booooored…[]
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