What do you struggle in Fan Fics?

[The Teller]

I guess one thing I used to struggle with was balancing description and actual plot events. I tried to very carefully walk that line, and I often tied myself up into knots trying to figure out if I was describing a scene well enough. I've reached a happy medium now, and I've made it my policy only to give my readers the information they need at that point in the story. If anything else becomes relevant later, I'll let them know then in a way that feels natural. I don't feel compelled to give physical descriptions and paint a mental image of my characters as much anymore. Certainly I give some kind of nod as to their physical appearance, and I continue to build on that as the story progresses. But so long as the reader's image of my characters doesn't directly contradict something I've established in the story, I don't really care how they picture them.

Sometimes I still worry that my writing isn't as descriptive as it should be, and I don't really want a bare-bones minimalist style. But I've decided to stop worrying about it so much and let my writing style develop and evolve naturally without me trying to shape it into something it's not.

A "trademark" of mine has always been not physically describing any of my characters. Some physical descriptions can be pieced together with logic and the information given throughout the story (ex. If the main characters are sophomores in an American high school, you have a general sense of how old they are). I always told my readers that it was up to them to imagine how the characters looked, to better relate to the characters, since readers do that to begin with anyway. If a character is described as "hot," the reader should interpret that as however they view attractiveness in that gender to be. If I were to say that Guy X is hot AND is a redhead, but Reader #5203 thinks blondes are the hottest, well that breaks immersion. So physical descriptions are (almost) always left out. A couple clues are thrown around here and there, and those are the only restrictions on the readers' imaginations I impose (ex. Guy Y is taller than Girl Q, so it is thus canon for everybody).

As far as world-building is concerned, something I'm doing with my current story is making "fun facts" and putting them at the beginning of each post (this world's cultures, rumors, sayings, holidays, scientific discoveries, history, etc.). Most of them are nothing more than more immersion for the reader's benefit, but occasionally, something WILL BE plot important later on. I think it's a creative way to foreshadow future events without being overly blatant about it in the story proper (HEY GUYS!!! THIS WILL BE IMPORTANT LATER SO YOU BETTER REMEMBER IT NOW!!!).

 

[Estellise]

I normally have a hard time with completing fics. :/ I'll start one, and then I'll never finish it... It's sorta like a bad habit, but more like writers' block, in a way. For example: I've recently started a one-shot about Marceline from Adventure Time; and already I've ran out on ideas on how to keep it going. Sometimes I'll ask people to give me ideas, but even then it's rare for me to get another chapter up. D; Oh well.

 

[TheBlackDuelist]

Probably trying to decide how long my stories should be. I've always wanted to over 50+ chapters but I've never been able to think of things to happen past like ten or eleven.

 

[Toxic Nightshade]

One of the major things I struggle with is chapter length. I have seen the error of my ways ever since I posted my fan-fic. I used to make them about 3 word document pages at most. I still struggle in writing long chapters, but I'm learning with every word I type.

 

[Liltwick]

To me, I have two thing in FanFiction I really struggle with: Completion and Characterization. Whenever I start a story I normally can get into the first two chapters just fine, but at a certain point I sometimes need to force myself to sit down and start working on the chapter. I guess procrastination is the problem here, and it eventually leads me to have no interest in the story.

Characterization is also a very hard point for me. I feel like my characters start to all seem like one person, instead of multiple, mixed people. It's hard too when I have characters with such interesting dynamics and they just fall flat instead of shine. I feel like it's a detriment to the readers when all the characters start to blend together as well.

 

[The White Wolf]

Quality > quantity. I can't tell you how many 180-230 page fantasy novels I've read that hit stronger emotional cords and have a more gripping story than the many 330-800 page "epics" I've read. I'm looking at you, Wheel of Time, Lord of the Rings, Sword of Truth. As long as you give your characters a satisfying arc, you've fulfilled the needs of your story.