Writer’s Workshop: How to Make Fanfics Original

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Hey, at least I’m more original than the other guys!

Fanfiction makes a nice stepping stool for the beginning writer. You don’t have to worry about world building or creating three-dimensional characters – all of that has been done for you. Instead, you can focus on plot, character interactions, scenes, and finding your voice.

At some point, however, you have to branch out on your own. But that doesn’t mean you can’t draw on what you’ve already written. With a few key changes, your fanfiction can turn into original fiction.

If you find yourself with a fanfiction you really love, and would like to translate into original fiction, start finding ways to modify all the trademarked aspects. It sounds silly, but you definitely don’t want to be accused of stealing a character or world. That means you can’t just change names. It might take several rounds to change everything to your satisfaction, but it’s worth it.

Take my Fragment of the Moon novel. Originally, it was an Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfic. Set fifteen years after the show, Toph takes on a student and helps save the new Earth King from assassination. The fanfiction project fell apart, but I loved the idea too much to abandon it entirely.

You’ll recognize the king’s assassins from my novel description, and the main character can manipulate metal, but pretty much everything else has changed.

At first, I altered the basics. Toph became Nadika, a light-eyed girl with a tough attitude who could “bend” earth, metal, and water. Iroh in retirement became Hoji, a local innkeeper who had a fondness for tea. All magic was element-based. Her student wasn’t a sandbender, but he was a street rat.

Yeah, no one would be able to tell where that came from. Obviously it needed a few more tweaks.

I switched to the Chinese elements, expanded the magic system, and added a pantheon of gods. Hoji and the student disappeared entirely, and Nadika dropped most of the attitude and her magical talent. Now I had something more closely resembling an original world with original characters. And with each incarnation, it’s only getting further away from Avatar.

Some similarities you’ll never be able to avoid. Say you re-write your Harry Potter fanfic, and two of your characters like each other but/and bicker constantly. Chances are, readers are going to be reminded of Ron and Hermione. But don’t sweat it. Lots of authors use that device; you’re in good company.

The key to translating your fanfiction? Choose one or two aspects of your fanfic that you want to use, and make sure you keep that in mind throughout all your changes. If you don’t lose sight of why you’re re-writing the fic in the first place, you’ll be all set.

The Game is On!

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Sherlock is a modern-day adaptation of the ever popular Sherlock Holmes, and a smashing fanfiction.

Modern adaptations are a tricky business, I find. They have to add a certain flair to the original, or they inevitably fall flat. Sherlock did not fall flat.

“A Study in Pink” (a play on “A Study in Scarlet”) is brilliant, with Sherlock and Watson trying to find the man behind a series of apparent suicides. From the unforgettable first encounter between Dr. Watson, looking for a flatmate, and Sherlock Holmes, who can read him like a book, to the winding streets of London, there is danger around every corner. Or at least a “high-functioning sociopath.”

It’s also fun to see how Sherlock thinks. Text or pictures will pop up over what he’s looking at when he’s doing his deductions. But don’t worry, there’s plenty of silent deductions as well, so his conclusions are always surprising!

Fanfiction Countdown

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Here are the top five reasons fanfiction is so difficult to write.

5. Building an Audience.
No one said you could only write fanfiction based on what’s popular. But if you pick a smaller fan base, you’ll have trouble building an audience to read your work. A fanfic on Fanfiction.Net for five years might only ever get 20 hits.

4. Finding an Interesting Plot.
Generally speaking, the best plot for a cast of characters was done in the original novel [or other medium]. Fanfic writers are confined to writing prequels, sequels, or tiny fluff pieces in between original scenes. For Pride & Prejudice sequels, what else are you going to write about but a happy Darcy marriage? Since they’re already together, you have to marry off someone else (Georgiana, Kitty, Mary, the Darcy and Bingley children, etc.). That severely limits your options. And I, for one, am getting severely sick of Darcy children stories.

3. Keeping Track of Canon.
This doesn’t apply if you’re trying to do an alternative reality piece, but for most of us, we like to keep things canon. But that means being up on your literature and memorizing otherwise meaningless details. If you’re throwing canon out the window, you better warn your readers up front to avoid hissy fits.

2. Mary Sues.
Those all powerful characters who ruin a good story. Whether the author is literally inserting herself into the story or has imagined an ideal person who either attracts everybody and their cousin, is more powerful than the ten most powerful wizards, or what-have-you, she is annoying, and needs to be deleted. Permanently. The problem is that fanfic writers love to use them. Why? I’m not entirely sure. They’re not interesting to read about.

And the number one reason fanfiction is so difficult to write?

1. Keeping Everyone “In Character.”
Nothing is worse than someone being out of character (OOC). Whether they’re brave when they should be scared, or funny when they should be serious, characters who are OOC will jolt you right out of the story. But accurate characters are the most difficult thing to accomplish when writing fanfiction. The trouble is that these characters aren’t your creation. If the original author put them in the situation you created, they would probably act completely differently than what you imagine. It’s tough, but there it is.

What challenges have you faced/witnessed in writing fanfiction?

  • Welcome

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    Hi, I'm Jenn, new grad student and old YA fantasy writer. I've long dreamed of being a novelist, and I bet you have too. I hope you find my blog helpful, inspiring, and maybe just a little bit fun. (But not too much fun. Writing is serious business, you know.)

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  • Official Progress


    4/21 segments

    A narrator hijacks a cliche fantasy story, much to the chagrin of its characters.

    Status: Second revision



    1,639/70,000 words
    A young noblewoman with strange powers must choose: her king or her soul.

    Status: First draft



    1,087/70,000 words
    When a girl's heart is stolen, she's plunged into a world of magic and shadows - but can she get her heart back before she loses it completely?

    Status: First draft





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