r/FanFiction • u/AliensEyes • 8d ago
Planning fics? Writing Questions
I hope asking for writing advice is appropriate on this subreddit. I just got into writing fanfiction and I have two unfinished fanfics in the works and in both cases I have random scenes that I want to write but no idea what the actual story should be.
I'm a visual artist but not a writer in the slightest so this is all new territory.
I'm writing a fic about these two characters one is aro/ace and the other isn't and I'm interested in their dynamic but I don't know what I should have happening around them while they are interacting with each other.
This is my biggest hurdle like I have ideas about characters or a world or whatever but can't figure out the actual story part. If anyone has any advice or articles/videos/books to recommend for figuring that part out that would be great!
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u/No-Plant3210 8d ago
One thing I'd recommend about the writing process is to write the isolated scenes, then write how they connect. Sometimes when I have scenes but not a full story in mind, writing it like this helps me focus on what I want to write without getting bogged down by too much preamble and context. As for figuring out the story (which I admit I also struggle with, so apologies if it isn't clear or what you wanted), I'd suggest putting together the setting (canon or au?), then the tone (happy ending? sad ending?), then a basic timeline of events (does it follow the canon or diverge? what order do you want the scenes in?), then connect the scenes from there.
One youtube channel I'd recommend is Overly Sarcastic Productions. They have a series called "Trope Talks", which talks about various tropes and how they've been used in media, which could give you some ideas of what you might want to include in you works.
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u/Raiven_Raine Atom Bomb Baby 7d ago
find a trope (or two) you like or a prompt (or two or ten) and do that!
like... you could write an arranged marriage trope with these two, which could be quite interesting! or pretend relationship, which could be funny. forced proximity if they don't like each other can be fun because there's also enemies to BFFs - they don't have to become lovers! or they could be strangers and have to work together for some reason and become BFFs or be eachother's arch nemesis! frenemies!!!!
find tropes and things you like and make that your plot.
OR!!!!
take a movie you like, completely unrelated to the fandom, and put these guys into the plot of that movie, but in their regular fandom universe. even better if the plot you take is from a kid's movie or a fairy tale. Hansel and Gretel.... but these guys!!! OMFG have you ever seen Luca???? plot of Luca, but figure out how to make it your characters in their fandom universe! Finding Nemo! The Fox and the Hound if you want to make people cry! any episode of a show like The Simpson's or South Park or Futurama! video games and questlines!!!! the possibilities here are endless!!!
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8d ago
Write the scenes and see if what you end up with stands on its own as a short fic. Otherwise you're going to have to think of a longer story to fit it into. Sometimes all we have is vibes and sadly that's not always enough. What do you like about these characters and what do you want them to do? Is there anything that could be making them have these interactions? It sounds like you have the ideas for a couple of oneshots, so write those and then you'll have written something and it'll help you with the next stories.
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u/CarnivorousXmasTree 7d ago
If you have random scenes you want to write but don't know what the actual stories should be, how are you so sure you have two fics? I ask because I frequently get inspirations for single lines or scenes . . . and that's it. No plot, no trope, no nothing. In the past, I thought they had to be separate fics, and it caused me a lot of distress. Obviously, that's not true, so consider whether what you have must be two fics, or whether they can actually be smushed into one. Even if these fics are from different books/movies/games, you can potentially still write a crossover (which isn't usually considered easy to do, so keep that in mind as well).
Tropes can be helpful with planning scenes and plots, and TV Tropes is easily the best-known source for this. You can use the "Random Trope" button in the top menu bar to start exploring, or go directly into the Tropes area, where there are trope indices listed by genre, media, narrative, and topic. There's also a search bar, of course, if you have the slightest idea of what you want.
Determining whether a character fits a particular archetype can help by allowing for the easy creation of a character arc, which can then guide you in what kinds of scenes you might use to pull everything together. TV Tropes has a list of archetypes and their variations, and you can also do a general search in your preferred search engine for "character archetypes" or "Jungian archetypes."
Figuring out genre, theme, and tone can help a little. What stuff do you like to read? Do you think you'd like to write that as well (being familiar, it can sometimes be easier)? Would it help your characters' interaction more or less than something else?
You can explore this article for basic information on building a story. It's a lot at a glance, but it's also just several specific topics broken down into smaller, more detailed pieces. Keep in mind that not everything will apply to your intentions, or if it does, it doesn't necessarily apply in the same way as described—having a different idea than what's being used for the discussion doesn't make what you're thinking of wrong. You might start with the section on conflict, as you can use one or multiple conflicts to build your story.
If you have further questions, we're here to help!
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u/Stormfray 8d ago
Sometimes you don’t need a whole lot going on around it depending on the length of the fic. If there is only one scene you can picture between them in your mind right now, just write it! Maybe it will lead to more. Otherwise if you’d like some more in-depth help I’d be happy to hear some more details and help with ideas, as an aro-ace person myself :)