Writing Engaging Fan Fiction

So you love playing MMOs and roleplaying adventures for your online character, but did you ever wish that there was more to the story?  Writing your own fan fiction can be a way to invent new adventures with your game character with no restrictions or limits to your imagination.  Once you’ve decided to venture into the world of game fan fiction, there are some techniques you can employ to make your stories stand out and engage your readers.

Help Us Picture Your Character

One advantage of writing fan fiction is that the environment is already created.  For example, if you’re writing about Wizard101 or Pirate101 then you’re automatically writing about the Spiral – a land where your readers will be familiar with.  What we’re not familiar with however, is your character.  What do they look like?  What are their dreams?  Who is their enemy?  Take a look at the two paragraphs below to see what I mean:

I am Lauren SparkleWeaver, a myth Wizard questing day by day in Wizard City.  One day I aim to rid the Spiral of Malistaire’s evil.

I blew a strand of long blonde hair out of my eyes, and tightened my grasp on the worn wooden handle of my magic Myth staff.  “I am Lauren Sparkleweaver,” I hissed as I cut my eyes across the pond in Wizard City, “and one day I’m going to rid the Spiral of Malistaire’s evil.” 

With any kind of writing, the big rule is show, don’t tell.  In your fan fiction, show us your character by lots of description!

Create a Dynamic Intro

The best writing grabs the reader’s attention from the very beginning!  Open your fan fiction story with compelling content like beautiful description, an interesting problem that needs solving, or fun dialogue.  Check out samples from these two stories from KingsIsle players for an example of how to nicely introduce a fan fiction story.

The duel finally ended with a solid touch to the left shoulder. “Good! Very good.” Morgan Lafitte stood back, regarding her student with a pleased eye. Anne Radcliffe beamed at the praise, only somewhat tempered by the knowledge that she was sweaty and winded from the bout, while Morgan was not even breathing hard. Still, she had managed to get past her teacher’s formidable guard, not an easy feat at all.

By Virtuous Anne Radcliffe, a Pirate101 Player (read the entire story)

Something totally unexpected happened to me today. This was stranger than anything I’d ever witnessed before. It was even more surprising then the time that John couldn’t move anymore because I’d glared at him, or the time that the snowman came to life because I’d been thinking about Frosty. It was even stranger then the day that the public swimming pool turned into an ice skating rink because I had wished for it. No, it was even more astonishing than all those things combined. Well, to start, have you ever heard of Ravenwood School? ….. No? Well then, maybe I should start from the beginning.

By Sierra Winterbreeze, a Wizard101 Player (read the entire story)

Keep Your Dialogue Clear and Interesting

• When a new person speaks, you need to start a new paragraph.
  • Even if they only say “Ok!” you still need to create a new paragraph every time a different person speaks.
• Break up long strands of dialogue with description
• Use verbs instead of “he said”
  • He replied
  • He laughed
  • He screamed
  • He sneered

Divide Your Story Into Appropriate Sections

It is a trend in a lot of fan fiction to create stories with multiple parts or chapters, and in a lot of ways that can be the right thing to do.  It leaves your reader wanting more, breaks up the story into readable chunks, and gives the story an epic feel.  What you don’t want to do though, is have each part/chapter be extremely short.  Make sure your story has enough “meat” in each segment to introduce/remind your readers of the conflict, describe your character(s) and develop the plot.

Have a Friend Review Your Work

Nobody can create beautiful art all by themselves!  Having a friend or family member read your story before publishing is a great way to get someone else’s opinion on your work as well as have a second pair of eyes look for spelling and grammatical errors.  Spell check helps too!

Have Fun With It!

Even though writing good fan fiction can be a difficult challenge, it’s also a lot of fun!  The game worlds that we have created are now in your control, and you can do whatever you want with them.  Maybe Professor Greyrose is taking everyone on a field trip to Grizzleheim, or your Pirate wants to build their very own Buffaloon stable in Cool Ranch!  Wherever your imagination may take the story, your enjoyment at writing will shine through to your readers.

When you have a finished piece of game fan fiction, you can always submit it to the Wizard101 fan fiction or Pirate101 game fan fiction sections!  We publish a variety of stories per month.  Happy writing players!

Want to read some amazing fan fiction? Check out some of our favorites!

• The Adventures of John Drake by Heather LegendHunter
• The Most Powerful Spells of All by Aliah LotusPetal
• The Chosen Three by Sabrina Icebane
• A Survivor’s Word by D.S. Devereaux
• Seekers of the Spiral by Witty Nathan Bowman
• The Ninja Pig & Her Foster Child by Virtuous Anne Radcliffe

Lauren Mauldin
Marketing Website Producer