(Part 3) Top products from r/FanFiction

Okay, so I'm not home so these are the few off the top of my head that I can remember I've read and loved.

• On Writing Well - this book was used for my Script Writing class in college - I loved it, and I still have it on my bookshelf.
  
  
• How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy - This book by Orson Scott Card is genre themed, but I really suggest it no matter what genre you write. It's just a great source to have all around.
  
  
• No Plot? No Problem - Somewhat humorous take on those of us who procrastinate and have lots of writers block.
  
  
• Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction - Okay, so I haven't read this yet, but it looks amazing and I might actually just pick it up myself.
  
  
• Book In A Month - Okay, so this isn't really in the same category, but it's incredibly hands-on, fun book that can really, really, really help with outlining. I always suggest this book to people who participate in NaNoWriMo, because it's just super helpful.
  
  I hope one of these can help out!

Advice from Jerry B. Jenkins, and Stephen King's On Writing

For the writing process: be consistent. Try to write every day, or almost every day. Try to write for a set time or reach a set word count each day. Try to do it in the same place each day. Make it a part of your life. And don't be hard on yourself if life happens, you can always adjust and customize, but establishing those habits now will help yourself be more disciplined for professional writing.

As far as constructing the story, most writers start with some kind of a plan, whether it's doing all of the detailed outlines and research first, or just jotting down a few ideas to get started, or something in between. ALL professional writers then create the first draft, get the whole thing out of their head, then go back and revise it. They may do all of that differently, but the important part is that the first version of a story is never perfect, and you'll need to look it over for more than just spelling errors and such.

If this is truly an interest, just start writing. As others have said, it's going to take a while to learn "how to write," as well as to develop your own writing voice and style. It'll come with time, and it'll change over the course of your life.

For advice: an idea is not a story. That's why jotting down notes can be so useful, you can turn it from an abstract thought to concrete words and figure out what the actual story is, or if it's just an element to use in a story. Especially with fanfiction.

Don't get too attached to your prose, because sometimes you'll write the most amazingest scene ever, but it doesn't add squat to the story so it'll need to be pruned out. You can stick it in a folder somewhere "to use later" if you must, just accept that not all the words will make it to the final version.

When in doubt, look it up. There's a whole frikkin internet and so many people don't use it.

Check out the other /writing subs too. Writing prompts and challenges are a fun way to get in a little practice. There's also NaNoWriMo each November, and come to think of it Camp NaNoWriMo starts today.

Get a mug. Writers have a mug, sometimes for beverage and sometimes just for pencils or something.

And don't forget to stand up and stretch now and then. It's good for both body and mind.

Oh, and the old computer mantra: save often and back up your work. Flash drives are cheap and awesome.

Many years of reading, along with a few terrible fics that I learned a lot from, but never saw the light of day. I did read this book, and I strongly recommend it to anyone. Although it helps that it's super cheap. If you have any questions about it, I love to talk about it.



For grammar and technical stuff, I use Ellen Brock's blog. I also like the writing excuses podcast. I think it helps a lot with staying productive even when I can't be writing.


Granted my writing ethic itself is pretty terrible and inconsistent. Oops.

Edit: ^And ^thank ^you ^so ^much ^I'm ^squeeing ^inside ^right ^now.

Off the top of my head, I tend to refer to these four the most:

Self-Editing For Fiction Writers -- When it comes to editing, this book is what helped me break things down and showed me how to get the most out of my writing in a way that clicked.

Alan Moore's writing for Comics -- Nifty if you're really into comics or want to write your own. Spotted this in a thrift store. Best $1.00 I ever spent.

On Writing Horror -- Writer's Digest has quite a few of books on writing. And they all have exercises and excerpts, but out of the small collection that I have this one is my favorite. Kind of gave me an idea of what to watch out for. It's like reading bits of advice from different authors.

The negative Trait Thesaurus -- Actually, I love the entire series as a resource. The kindle has to be good for something. (Much cheaper) But it helps keep my traits together and my character's reactions from getting stale. Out of everything I'm always pulling these books out.

*Started with three, but I really had to mention the trait thesauruses.

Jenkins' Textual Poachers is a classic. For a general history I'm fond of Jamieson's Fic: Why Fan Fiction is Taking Over the World. This is an anthology of variable quality, which somehow seems appropriate for fan fiction studies. Worth it for the intro chapters on the history of derivative works, and the Sherlock Holmes fandom as an longstanding case study.

The bigger question here is what do you mean by "literary genre"? One of the whole points of fan fiction is that it exists independently of the publishing industry's power structure and literary fads. Plus there's a huge range of motivations in writing it, and hence the final product varies wildly in topic, tone, and writing quality. About the only thing we all have in common is cribbing off the source material for characterization; with the rise of radical AU not even the canon setting is a common factor anymore. Is this enough to qualify as a coherent "literary genre," or maybe it's a collection of many different genres?

Side note: I loathed Fangasm. May as well title it: "Two Otherwise Intelligent People Lose Their Minds in Pursuit of Celebrity Crushes." One of the authors is an actual professor (media studies?) that published a fan studies textbook, so a compare and contrast of what she says academically vs. what was marketed to SPN fans would be interesting.

The Negative Trait Thesaurus, with the Emotion Thesaurus, Positive Trait Thesaurus and the Emotional Wound Thesaurus.

Also Careers for Your Characters: A Writers Guide to 101 Professions from Architect to Zookeeper which "Provides over one hundred descriptions of occupations that can be used for writing fiction, detailing the daily life, jargon, and salaries of such fields as dentistry, entertainment, law, and architecture."

And The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook is good for times when I can't get online to find names.

Master Lists for Writing is also a good one.

The Psychology Workbook for Writers

Creating Character Arcs Workbook

Thinking Like A Romance Writer: The Sensual Writer's Sourcebook of Words and Phrases A friend got me this for Christmas, mostly to laugh at, but I thought I'd add it anyway.

There's a book called https://www.amazon.com/Where-There-No-Doctor-Handbook/dp/0942364155 which I found super useful for stuff like this.

This book is used in college biology classes. Most of it is about invertebrate reproduction, but told in an engaging and funny way. Chock full of ideas for how aliens might do it, I'd think.

https://www.amazon.com/Dr-Tatianas-Sex-Advice-Creation/dp/0805063323

It was "The Pirate's Pleasure" and this is a link to it on Amazon, I read it as a teen so can't guarantee it's not awful now but I have fond memories of Skye being taken and ravaged by this dude lol

Clue, I would probably say. Specifically, the one story I wrote in the fandom was a fanfic set in the old A.E. Parker Clue line of books. Used to love those books so much.

The Emotion Thesaurus has been one of my best purchases this year. I do intend to buy the other books in the series eventually too.

They're not on ao3 or FFN, but Ryan North, the guy behind Dinosaur Comics, has done CYOAs based on Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet.

However, there is a crack crossover with Harry Potter. I've heard it's fairly good, and you can probably find more by checking the "SHAKESPEARE William - Works" tag on ao3. linkao3(The Lamentable Comedy of Severus, Half-Blood Prince of Denmark)

Little Brother

/smartass

It really is quite good, though.

https://www.amazon.ca/Emotion-Thesaurus-Writers-Character-Expression/dp/0999296345/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=emotional+thesaurus&qid=1571706681&sr=8-1

the link to one of the books (if it helps)

I finished this one a few months ago and thought it was stunning--and a page-turner. I'd at least give the first five pages a try (free preview at iBooks and Amazon) to see if it's up your alley.

https://www.amazon.com/Lune-Philip-Glennie/dp/1329780876/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481996983&sr=8-1&keywords=lune+glennie