Rulez for Writing Fanfic That Doesn't Suck

1. Self-insertions should be invisible.

   Only your friends care about you interacting with the characters. If you want to be a character, make yourself a character, but don't let on to your reader.

2. Under NO circumstances should editorial asides be placed within the text of a story.

   While you may very well want to credit another author with an idea, do so in notes before or after, not during the story. It ruins the mood and the scan, and annoys the pig.

3. Have someone, anyone, proofread your story.

   It may look good to you and your best friend, but another author can help you find the problems. For god's sake, spellcheck your work.

4. Nouns and verbs should match, in both tense and number.

   This becomes exceptionally important with words that do not have plural values, e.g., Senshi: "The Senshi was" and "the Senshi were" imply different things - make sure your reader knows which you mean.

5. Don't write a story just to piss people off, or to spite them.

   If you do that, you're not a writer, just an elaborate troll. Once a writer gets more concerned with the reaction to their stories than the stories themselves, it's over.

6. There is no rule 6.
7. If you don't understand why there is no rule 6, you're too young to be reading most of the stories on this site, let alone writing them.
8. Formatting

   Formatting is not everything, but it can help a lot.
   White space is your friend, but don't abuse it.

9. Crossovers

   Put simply: don't. It's almost impossible to make one that works, and they almost invariably involve hideously contrived plot devices and ludicrous deus ex machina.

10. If you have excessive violence or depressing material:

    Please, please, let the reader know. It's not fair to subject people to extreme situations without giving them the option to avoid it.

11. Apostrophes and other bugbears
    • "It's" is not a possessive. Really.
    • Neither is "you're".
    • Similarly, "your" does not mean "you are".
    • "There", "their" and "they're". Get them right.
12. Final thoughts

    English is a difficult language. Every word you use has subtle nuances, undertones and overtones of which you should be aware. Get a thesaurus and know how to use it - a careful choice of wording can make the difference between the merely good and the outstanding. Equally, don't try and force your writing to be something it isn't - you're not being paid for each 9-letter word you can slip in (if you are, we'd respectfully suggest that you learn German...).

• Keep the file short. No zip files, 170K stories, or stories in multi-part posts. Because a submission to the FR is, in effect an application to the group, we really only need a short example of your best writing. The first chapter of your magnum opus will give us a good idea of your writing style.
• Sending the fic as inline text is preferable to attachments. If the fic doesn't fit in its entirety in email, what does fit will suffice - see above.
• Please do not send fics to the submissions link if you really only want a general opinion. Several of our members would be happy to provide you with criticism and commentary, and you can contact them directly for this - the submissions address is for applications to the group only.
You'll be notified within a few days of when your fic is received of whether you've passed the initial review. If so, your story is sent on for commentary and review by the rest of the group. Notification is prompt - really. We won't leave you hanging for weeks - maybe days if someone is out of town.

Still think that your work is up to scratch? Take some time to read some of the stories the members of the list have written - with any luck, you'll be putting us to shame...

If you're still convinced we'll want to hear from you, then send your story to us at submissions@fanficrevolution.org.

We look forward to hearing from you.