All writers here!

[formallykat]

Hmm ... don't know if starting this thread is a good idea or not. I'm just gonna throw it out there and see what happens

Seems alot of people are taking offence to advice and/or criticism to their writing around here. I thought maybe we could start a thread where people could discuss openly what they think makes a good/bad SPC fic without pointing a finger at anyone in particular, so nobody feels 'attacked'. Rather just chat about their own experiences with writing ...

For me, I've been doing this on and off for years! I wrote my first SPC fic when I was fifteen so that's like ten years now. I think the best thing for any writer is to just keep writing. I feel I've learnt more and improved with each story. I'm still learning, I don't think you ever stop learning (it'd be boring if you did).

For me the most important goals when writing an SPC fic is retaining the humour (which means being crazy and random - quite easy for me to achieve) and keeping the characters in character. The Cats feel like old mates now, so that's not too hard to achieve either. At the moment I want to take a darker and more 'dramatic' approach and have some more character development ... with periods of random/crazy humour, of course. You can't leave that out! I've found it helpful to write my own character profiles and dig 'deep' into each personality. In-depth psychological profiles ... The Big Cheese is not happy.

Pet-peeves concerning other fics. Now, to be honest, I'm total crap at reading other peoples stuff. When I start reading other peoples fics I get distracted and just want to write my own! But I can generally say that Mary Sue/Gary Sue characters should be shot. Writing an original character into an established series is not easy - its something I personally don't like to do much, but if it is done it has to be done in a way that the character compliments the other main characters rather then overriding them. Spelling and grammer as well is always a plus. I need ages to go over my work ... lots of drafts! Don't like it much 'cause I get impatient, but its something you gotta do.       

Right now I'm having trouble with my latest work because I'm taking it so seriously. Usually I get an idea and just run with it. The last thing I wrote 'Not Love Actually' was great. Somebody here on the boards suggested a love letter scenario and 'boom' I wrote the thing in a couple of days! Not the case here. I'm trying not to be so judgmental and to just write without back-tracking or pausing (good ol' speed writing!).

As for criticism ... I'm very senstive to people not liking my work! It hasn't happened so much with my SPC stuff, but with other fandoms it has. But sometimes I get really good advice. I remember somebody here saying that the Narrator talked too much in one of my fics ... and, after some reflection, I realised they were right.

I don't want to sound too preachy here or come off as an expert, everybody's got their own style and methods. The best advice anyone ever gave me is to write write write and not judge yourself. And less is more! Don't overdescribe things or try to show off how many adjectives you can use in one sentance. Say your dialogue out-load - does it sound like the character would actually say this? Unfortunately this does mean you'll have to have conversations with yourself, which could make others around you rather concerned

Well, that's all for now. I remember wanting to write more, but it's getting late and I need a shower. 

[TGLucario475]

i can smell ya from here


well TBH, i'm not the best at the writing Fan-Ficts, but i've got a 2nd Fan-Fict ready to be posted



well, TBH a bad fan-fict, IMO, is:
one where it 99.99% follows one person
one that is too short, like less than 30 lines
one that is too long, like over 175 lines
one where it just doesnt follow the story line & makes no sense

i'm no expert on Fan-Ficts

[Blackcat]

My strong point is humor, and my main problem is the language barrier (Internet is most about English stuff and my language is Spanish). I have done lots of parodies, some drama, a bit of romance, two or three poems, and a stupid magical girl story called Rur that’s over 40 pages long and still going. When it comes to SPC (That means English) I have improved a lot since 2002, to the point my stories are readable, and I plan to write the next ten pages of my current SPC project alone. I just need some adrenaline and people telling me I can’t do it. For me SPC is most about humor, I think of it as a KNT parody; however you can have fights and humor, is a good combo. The romance is just there to get the female readers. Drama and SPC don’t mix well, but that doesn’t mean I can have small bits of it in an SPC fanfic, that’s why is called a fanfic. A fanfic is a fiction done by fans, and I think the main goal of a fanfic is to show things you don’t have in the official stuff. I hate Mary Sues and don’t think I will have some compassion if your use those. I try to keep the main characters as accurate as possible, unless is a parody, where I give them crazy personalities for the sake of humor.  Unfortunately my own view of how the characters are may contradict the cannon a bit, but you will still have An Angry Polly, a greedy Francine, Vi being the spoiled princess, Fred as the crazy Emperor, and so on. My SPC fanfics tend to get populated by new villains and new secondary characters, but so do many new seasons of official stuff, so don’t complain. I try to give every character a bit of screen time, but in some cases I can’t, Mama San and Junior are Ok for an animation or a comic, but for a fanfic… well... they don’t work well (Unless I can do THAT joke). My current project is going to give some screen time to the Rude Noise, and that may contradict the cannon of both SPC and KNT, because after the first two episodes they appear, they have less screen time than the Rescue Team!.

Anyway… if you want advice, here are the big five:

1) Don’t use Mary sues

2)  Don’t overuse the narrator

3)Remember the main point is humor

4)Give a warning if your fanfic is a bit too much out of the cannon

5)Have fun!

[pollygirl]

An Angry Polly, a greedy Francine, Vi being the spoiled princess, Fred as the crazy Emperor,

Aw, why an angry Polly?    As Tim Mcgraw puts it in his song, 'I Don't Know Why She's Gotta be Angry All The Time'! Polly's not angry all the time, a lot of the time she's sweet and kind. She's only mad if ya tick her off (as Guido knows out of all of them!! Yes, ladies, you like seeing HIM get hit, admit it, ya do!!  )

Come on, can't there be a nice Polly SOME of the time?

But I agree with ya on Vi and Francine, those two you HAVE to put that way! 

[Blackcat]

An Angry Polly, a greedy Francine, Vi being the spoiled princess, Fred as the crazy Emperor,

Aw, why an angry Polly?    As Tim Mcgraw puts it in his song, 'I Don't Know Why She's Gotta be Angry All The Time'! Polly's not angry all the time, a lot of the time she's sweet and kind. She's only mad if ya tick her off (as Guido knows out of all of them!! Yes, ladies, you like seeing HIM get hit, admit it, ya do!!  )

Come on, can't there be a nice Polly SOME of the time?

But I agree with ya on Vi and Francine, those two you HAVE to put that way! 

If Speedy and Guido are cannon, then Polly gets angry!

[Crow]

An Angry Polly, a greedy Francine, Vi being the spoiled princess, Fred as the crazy Emperor,

Aw, why an angry Polly?    As Tim Mcgraw puts it in his song, 'I Don't Know Why She's Gotta be Angry All The Time'! Polly's not angry all the time, a lot of the time she's sweet and kind. She's only mad if ya tick her off (as Guido knows out of all of them!! Yes, ladies, you like seeing HIM get hit, admit it, ya do!!  )

Come on, can't there be a nice Polly SOME of the time?

But I agree with ya on Vi and Francine, those two you HAVE to put that way! 

If Speedy and Guido are cannon, then Polly gets angry!

Quote for truth.

Totally OOC for Polly to be sweet and cute all time, when we all know she's a cold hearted bit'ch.

[pollygirl]

OH. she is NOT a cold hearted bit'ch!! She is NOT, go back and vvatch some eps, she is svveet and kindhearted a lot of the time!! I didn't SAY all the time!! But a lot of the time she is nice and caring!

VVhy can't there be fanfic vvhere Polly is NOT angry except vvhen she fights the Ninja Crovvs? That's NOT out of character!

[TGLucario475]

OH. she is NOT a cold hearted bit'ch!! She is NOT, go back and vvatch some eps, she is svveet and kindhearted a lot of the time!! I didn't SAY all the time!! But a lot of the time she is nice and caring!

VVhy can't there be fanfic vvhere Polly is NOT angry except vvhen she fights the Ninja Crovvs? That's NOT out of character!

look dont get angry about something, just "take a deep breath & count to 10" (Truro's Radio Play 2006, when Polly gets angry when Princess Vi calls her ugly, or something)

& TBH, MOST people think of polly as a hot-head, as in MOST episodes you can see her getting angry over something:
Episode 1: angry over speedy & guido, pizza for lucille
Charm School: angry cos Big Cheese called her loud & obnoxious

i dont want to list the others, as i cant be bovved (bothered) to at the moment & my mind is still sleeping!

[pollygirl]

But she's NOT cold-hearted! She's NOT mean! Being jealous does NOT make you mean! You vvouldn't like it if someone called you loud and obnoxious either!

That does not make you mean.

[Sarahsuke]

One can be kind-hearted and yet still be tempermental at the same time. I suppose a good way to describe Polly would be "passionate."

[pollygirl]

Passionate! THAT'S better! She's passionate. 

So, does that mean Razgriz27 and I are gonna be thrown out of this forum for not following the "writing rules" at the top of this page?

[KyoZaber]

Oh peeshaw. Come now folks. Fan works are just that, made by fans, for fans. What's wrong with seeing another way some fans want to see our favorite characters?

I'm as bad as anyone with breaking the "True Feeling" of a character.
I do feel though that as fan writers, it's up to us to do as we wish with the characters.

If as a fan writer you want your works to be seen as something "Official" then you'd best stick with the tenants that were created by the original writers from the series.
However, like fan comics in Japan, some fans want to either expand on or fully change a set of characters. If you're prepared to do that, then please be prepared for the negative comments of folks who are strict in their views of the characters.

Keep in mind, those who strictly want a character followed to the letter are doing so out of their own care for the character.
On the same token, those who may be trying to expand on a character are doing so also out of their own care for the character.

When all is said and done, you are your own critic. If you see something you want changed, go ahead and do it.

*********************

As for Ms.Polly... I tend to fall this way on her character...
- She's sweet once you get to know her.
- She's decent to those she doesn't know as long as they're decent to her.
- If you upset her, stay out of her way.
- She appears to want to be loved. In a good way.
- She doesn't want anyone to treat her like a glass angel, but she doesn't want to be treated like 'one of the guys' either.

In the end... Almost sounds to me like a usual gal. She's prone to mood swings, sweet when happy, a force to avoid when upset.

[formallykat]

She doesn't want anyone to treat her like a glass angel, but she doesn't want to be treated like 'one of the guys' either.

Nicely put Polly's out there fighting for love and throwing hearts around. Sure they're dangerous killing hearts - but all the same, they're hearts! To me, that's Polly. She's sweet ... but she's got claws

Absolutely, Polly is kind-hearted. She's very sensitive. Sometimes too sensitive. I think she does very much want to be seen as feminine and pretty (like in the 'Samurai Charm School' episode) - which she is, but later learns she can't deny the fact she's also a feisty, ass-kicking samurai. This is not a balanced character! But I'm not complaining. Polly Ester beats 'Pollyanna' any day. That's my two cents on the topic 

So, does that mean Razgriz27 and I are gonna be thrown out of this forum for not following the "writing rules" at the top of this page?

There are no rules, you write whatever you want to write. If there are any rules it should be good editing!

[TGLucario475]

well...the only rule i can think of is...no swearing