TG's General Writing and Publishing Advice

I stole borrowed this idea from Brady Bunch go follow him.

Should probably preface this by saying I am barely a high schooler, but apparently people like what I do so there's my qualifications.

Ok so first off, you gotta read stuff. From everywhere. Go to the library, pick up some stuff and just read it. Or do what I do and browse Wikipedia and WikiHow (there's actually some decent advice there). Make mental notes while you read. What makes this piece work? What draws me to it? Or Why did this story make me want to gouge my eyes out with a lit cigarette? You could also do physical notes, but mental notes work better for me at least. You could also go down a fimfiction rabbit hole. If you look under a work you'll find a 'similar' tab. You'll find works with similar tags and characters. It's a pretty easy way to read lots of fanfiction. You're already on here, so I would recommend reading lots of fimfiction. Unlike most other fanfiction sites, fimfiction has some semblance of quality control.

Different authors have different ways of interpreting characters. Take Celestia for example. Some authors depict her as a serious, but empathetic ruler. Others have her being irresponsible and a mere figurehead of the government. Think about how you would imagine a character being like if you saw them in real life. You can stay true to the show, or flip those implications on its head. Or you can bend the show's rules and canon to your advantage.

But what if you wanted to make your own characters? Well, when I'm creating a character I typically start writing the first few sentences of the story, and look at what I've written and what it implies about the main character. And then keep going. And side characters. I haven't seen this in any book, but from what I've seen in television, having one really stand out side character really draws attention to your story. What I mean by that is make a side character that could be a main character, but keep their involvement limited. This will keep your audience interested in your story because they want to see if that side character plays a role in a story.

Have you ever seen a Mary Sue character? Think about how people in that story look at her. That's how you want people to view your side character.

Speaking of Mary Sue, a character has to have flaws. Actual flaws. ZOMBIES is a perfect example of what not to do. The female lead is physically perfect, except for the fact that her natural hair is a lighter shade of blonde than her wig. *gasp* Don't do that. Give your character a lesson they need to learn or thing they need to get through. You can make this lesson obvious or implicit. But it needs to be clear that your main character is a different person at the end of the story than they were at the start. And don't make these flaws too evil. Your protagonist needs to be likeable, and an unsympathetic protagonist is a great way to ruin a story.

But what if you want your protagonist to be unlikable st the start of the story. What if you want them to start off as a villain? First, make the fact that they do bad stuff very clear. And show how other people are impacted by the protagonist being bad. And if you want to do this, this character needs to have a damn good backstory. Don't make it a "my dad died and I had no male influence and I'm sad". Make it a "my parents were in an unhappy marriage and I'd often be kept up late at night by their yelling, which caused me to do poorly in school so I had to turn to a life of crime to keep food on the table." Unravel it gradually, info dumping this is very amatuerish.

And if you choose to have a villain, make their threat clear early in the story. They don't have to be redeemed, but maybe give them some decent traits. Make them spare children in their killing spree because they remember what it's like to be youthful and full of hope for the future. All of your characters need to be sympathetic, even your villain. Are they bad because they're angry at the world? Do they truely belive they're doing the right thing? (Be careful with this one or you'll end up with a cheap kids movie sequal villain) Do they have a reasonable bone to pick with the protagonist. Give the reader something to relate to.

I like to do character driven sitcom style stories, if you want plot advice I'm not the person to get that from.

And publishing. This advice may be outdated since the fimficiton scene has changed a lot over the years.

Publish between 7 AM and 10 PM. Best hours are probably between 7-10 AM on holidays and 6-9 PM on normal days. That's when people check their computers. Sunday afternoons are also a pretty good time.

Like and add your story to a bunch of your folders right after you publish it. This gives it a slight boost in the algorithm.

Add it to allll the groups. Shameless self promo, fim will live on forever, decent writers club, character specific groups (probably most important). Don't be annoying with post promotion, nothing turns me off from a story more than seeing it clog up my feed, but seeing an interesting story added to groups is often what piques my interest.

Don't compare yourself to others. People don't make sense. A story getting featured is mostly dumb luck, unless it's a sequel to some already popular story. And it doesn't overall matter. Getting addicted to the hype is really something you should try and avoid. Because having expectations is what destroyed my mental health when I started declining a while back.

Don't delete comments. Unless it's just blind hate (condemning the author instead of the story), don't delete comments. I've probably deleted a total of 5 comments on all my time on fimfiction. Give people a chance to debate (it helps to boost you in the algorithm as well).

Add an image. Go to google, find something that relates to your story, and use that. Boom, done. I generally don't read stories without an image, the lack of colors turns me off because I have the mental capacity of a 6 year old.

Oh yeah, run your story through grammerly. You don't have to listen to all that prenium crap, but having someone tell you when you used the wrong you're is really helpful. It's free!

That's all I can think of right now. I may make a part 2 one of these days but that day is not today.

Positive vibes!!

Comments

[BradyBunch]

Wise words of wisdom from a wise, wisdom-filled person! I'm glad you were able to contribute your tips in your own little way. You're very knowledgable, and with luck, skill, and hard work, I'm confident you can create something great!

[Zapper Frost]

I generally don't read stories without an image, the lack of colors turns me off because I have the mental capacity of a 6 year old.

I was not expecting to be called out in this blogpost...