Fiction Writing

To write fanfiction, you must know the original works. Read all the books or comics, or watch all the movies or shows - you must know the characters and world enough to be able to write believable fiction about them!

That said, if you wish to be a writer, you must come up with ideas. It's part of what makes a writer - if you can't think of any ideas, perhaps you need to do some more studying. Here are some ideas to get YOUR ideas flowing:

• Read, Read, Read!! The more information you have, the more your brain has to work with!
• Ask questions. Ask "what if this never happened?" or "what if that plan had gone wrong?" or "what if those two characters had never met?" Any questions will lead to ideas.
• Mix things up. Try a crossover story with characters from two different universes - Harry Potter meets Bella and Edward, or Sookie Stackhouse travels to Middle Earth. Just be sure you know the second original works as well as you know the first!

Only you can come up with a good name! Book Titles come from the story, not from some anonymous person on the internet! Titles are not as important as some writers think, also - your title might change many times between your first write and your final draft!

Think about your story - what is going on and who is involved? Why is the cat afraid? Think of a title that would show something from the story.

I'm sort of assuming here, but I think this would be a children's book - why not just call it "The Cat Who Was Afraid to Say Hello"?

Check out the Related Questions for help with your book, too!

Your teacher wants you to imagine you go to the center of the earth and write a story about what happens to you - this means you have to use your imagination, not copy what one of us writes for you!

Here are some related questions to help you write your stories by yourself.

you have my permission to use this

"i looked over, as he began the horrible transformation from man to beast, i could see his eyes turning from normal to yellow as he lurched tward me"

As you can see, trying to get someone else to write your book for you isn't going to work. That's not a very vivid description.

You're the author -- you do the describing. What does a wolf look like? How about a werewolf -- how is that different from a wolf? What does the man look like? Write how he changes from that look into the werewolf look by using the senses. What do you see/hear/smell/feel??

Fantasy is a difficult genre to define! Here's how Sandra C. Durham divides the genre:

• Contemporary and Urban Fantasy - Stories taking place in the real world, but with an element of magic or fantasy. Memory of Fire by Holly Lisle.
• Epic and Heroic Fantasy - Stories that involve a battles of Good vs. Evil or quest. Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R Tolkien.
• Historical Fantasy - Stories that are set in factual History, but contain fantasy elements. Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
• Mythic Fiction - Stories directly inspired by myth, folklore, and fairy tales. The Gates of Sleep, by Mercedes Lackey.
• Humorous Fantasy - Light hearted fantasy stories. Xanth series by Piers Anthony.
• Science Fantasy - Stories where science and magic work, or science extends to magical abilities. Darkover series by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

Worldbuilding is a crucial step in writing fantasy - see Related Question! Your fantasy world needs to be rich, vivid, and believable.

Here are some more tips for writing good fantasy:

• Give your characters plenty of personality! You need especially rich characterization in fantasy, because most of it is character-driven. Make sure that your characters are unique individuals, cleanly described so that the reader feels as if they would recognize them in a dark bar!
• Know your world and your characters - avoid unexplained shifts in character personality, or continuity problems because you forgot where that mountain was!
• Make it believable - your readers are going to be willing to go along with you up to the point where your internal logic starts falling apart. If magic works a certain way in your world, then it must always work that way; if you have dwarves, they can't be six feet tall.
• Avoid copying - fantasy is an area where it is very tempting to "take the easy way out" and just toss in some generic "dark elves" or dragons - Just Say No! Use your own imagination to create a unique world.
• Use rich imagery and vivid descriptions!
• Action! Make your stories full of adventure and excitement.
• Sometimes the best ideas come from others. Check out writing idea sharing sites, or "plot bunny" websites for inspiration.

• Use the unseen - Gothic horror relies less on blood and gore and more on spookiness! You are going for psychological thrills in this type of story.
• Develop good characters. These characters should be the type of people who will succumb to their negative thoughts and give in to their amoral desires. but should also be believable to the readers - click on the related links on more information about making characters.
• Pick a good setting - Gothic horror relies more heavily on location than other horror stories. A physically decaying setting will mirror the decay of the character's mind, emotions, morals, and whatever else you are writing about.
• Throw in the supernatural - ghosts, vampires, demons - Gothic tales almost always have some sort of supernatural element.
• Throw in some sex - not cheesy romantic sex, but dark forbidden sex. It doesn't have to be graphic, but it should be disturbing - incest, fetishes, forbidden relationships, violence, obsessions - whatever would best add that psychological thrill to the tale.
• Use the taboo - whatever you write should make your reader squirm.
  

• Gloomy and foreboding atmosphere
  
• Usually a large Victoria style mansion with lots of secrets
  
• secret passage ways, rooms, attics, graves either secret or misidentified etc.
• Curses, spells, or terrible personal secrets, skeletons in closets
  
• Usually a Heroine - a girl protagonist who's in some sort of trouble or grave commitment.
  
• The heroine is usually aristocratic in status or at least behaves that way.
  
• Love interests, of many different types and intensity.
  
• Obstacles to love. All over the place.
  
• The threat of grotesqueness or death.
  

Any idea that is interesting enough to you will be a good idea. You cannot write a story or novel based on ideas that someone else invents - you won't be interested enough in the subject to be able to research and write anything that will actually sell. Plus, anonymous people on the internet have no idea how old you are, what your interests are, or how well you can write!

In order to write, you need a personal connection to the subject. Write about whatever you enjoy, or whatever you find interesting, and you will end up with your novel or story.

WikiAnswers is happy to help you learn how to write better. We will not do your writing for you by giving you ideas and paragraphs to copy.

Here are some more suggestions from WikiAnswers contributors:

• Write about what you know. A good idea for a first novel is to write your own personal story. Everyone has at least one novel in them waiting to be written.

• Observe the world around you. Anything interesting can be an idea for a story or novel.

• Research. The more you know, the more ideas you will have.

• Read stories and books that other authors have written in your chosen genre. This way, you can see how other people do things.

A story can be either plot driven, character driven, or both. Most are stories are both but one or the other usually takes precedence. Charles Dickens' novels are primarily character driven Ian Flemings' are plot driven (although all the plots are the same.) If you need a place to start - trying thinking up interesting characters who can be developed and evolved against an interesting plot, or think up a good crisis that characters can be illuminated through.

Only you can come up with a good name! Titles come from the story, not from some anonymous person on the internet! You're getting this backwards I'm afraid -- you need to write the story first and think of the title last.

Titles are also not as important as some writers think - your title might change many times between your first write and your final draft!

Think about your story - what is going on and who are the people involved? What is something special about the story that might make a good title? Don't sweat it - just write something down and get on with the story!

Click on the link for more information.

Only you can come up with a good name! Titles come from the story, not from some anonymous person on the internet! Titles are not as important as some writers think, also - your title might change many times between your first write and your final draft!

Think about your story - what is going on and who are the people involved?

Check out the Related Questions for help with your book, too!

A good story idea is one that makes you want to sit down and write. It excites you and intrigues you and doesn't leave you alone until you write the story. Good story ideas are not delivered gift-wrapped by your muse. You have to seek them out and develop them. A good story idea is uniquely personal. What is a great story idea for you may be completely uninteresting to someone else. That's because each of us has a unique personality and history. Write the stories that only you can tell.

New "plot bunny" websites can give you good ideas for stories.