Tips for Writers by Redone
FeatureSummary:

We have all seen those stories that get no comments and those stories that regularly get a handful of comments per chapter. This series will focus on providing tips on how to be one of the latter, not the former!

reading

Newest Segment: Developing Minor and Supporting Characters


Categories: Admin Only Characters: None
General Warnings: None
Trigger Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 34 Completed: No Word count: 26875 Read: 105248 Published: Jan 19, 2015 Updated: Sep 11, 2017
When the Dog Bites. When the Bee Stings by Redone
Author's Notes:

Story cliches, word fumbles, cringes.....and fixes. Part 1.

*NOTE: If you find this offensive, know that is not my intention*

We've all had those moments when we are trying to get into a fanfic/reading a fanfic that we love and all of a sudden we're like no. This segment is for those moments. However, this isn't meant to trash people or choices. TBH, some of my favorite stories have some really cliche parts....the author just carries them very well. At the same time, using too many of them and/or poor execution can bring down a story. So, along with listing a few of those moments, I'll include some possible alternatives. I appreciate any help that those of you reading can give in identifying more. I'm sure that I'm going to leave out a cringe-worthy moment or two, as well as a few fixes. Pay it forward, peeps, because we are all constantly improving and learning.

 


 

CRINGE

FIX(ES)

It's been less than a dozen chapters and in that time the OG and Michael have met, fallen in love, had sex, and developed cutesy nicknames for one another

 

Michael and/or the OG is/are PERFECT

 

The story goes from conversation to conversation to...X weeks/months later, thus disrupting the flow of the story and skipping over a good chunk of the momentum the author had built up.

 

The plausibility of a good relationship between the OG and Michael is under serious doubt by readers.

 

Most/all of the periphery characters in the story are "bad" guys/girls or have slept with the OG and/or Michael

 

The OG alienates herself from every single person but Michael, and he encourages that.  This makes the OG look like a fair-weather friend and Michael look controlling.

 

The OG is very naive and innocent; Michael is wise and experienced and assumes the role of father parental partner. He helps the OG continuously, often as an almost heroic/savior-type figure, making her dependent on him and unable to handle adversity herself.  While not biologically related, the relationship feels almost incestuous.

 

The story has a ginormous banner, long summary, tons of individual shout outs, and/or something else that causes your display to take up a considerable amount of screen space

 

A storyline unintentionally breaks a serious real-life rule (e.g. a character somehow attends medical or law school while in college, a psychologist has a relationship with a client, a minor has a romantic/sexual relationship with an adult and it doesn't raise an eyebrow or have consequences) or in some way defies what happened in a rather obvious way (e.g. Michael does a non-US tour in the US in the wrong era w/the wrong songs, Michael is able to go around without fans/press stalking him, Michael meets strangers and invites them to stay at his house for unlimited periods of time, Michael hires incompetent women just to watch their asses/have threesomes with them, etc) <- Yes, I had to cut myself off.

 

They forgot a condom/the birth control failed.  It's a one night stand and....she is now pregnant (bonus points if the pregnancy test magically shows this within a week of them having sex)

 

 


Here are some of the common within text problems:
What was written... what was meant
sense (as in smell) .... since (because)
consitent (not a word).... consistent (occurring at regular intervals)
collage (as in a form of art) .... college (a level of schooling)
mines (multiple weapons or sites for digging).... mine (possessive 'my')
is (singular) .... are (plural)
will (is going to) .... well (healthy or a source of water)
were (past tense of 'are') .... where (location) or we're (we are)
ganster (not a word) .... gangster (aka gangsta)
there (place) .... their (possessive of 'they') or they're (they are)
to (destination) .... too (also)
half (1/2) .... have (to possess)
your (possessive 'you') .... you're (you are)
its (possessive 'it') .... it's (it is)
loose (aka baggy).... lose (aka go missing)

And because no one piece on the usefulness of punctuation would be sufficient, I'll leave you all with this:
lol

 

End Notes:

 


What fanfic moments make YOU cringe? (taking ideas for Part 2)


Thanks as always for your feedback :)

This story archived at http://www.mjfiction.com/viewstory.php?sid=6661