How To Write Fanfiction - A Reference Guide by Wattpad

At Wattpad, we wholeheartedly support fans, fandom, and cultures from across the globe. As an international community, our fanfiction reflects the writers we support who remix, modernize, and elevate storytelling.

On Wattpad, writers share an average of 60,000 fics daily and, in February of 2017, over 1.6 billion minutes were spent reading fanfiction. For that reason, our fanfiction data has been featured in major media outlets like The Daily Dot, New York Magazine, and WIRED.

Fanfiction reading and writing trends on Wattpad also tend to reflect pop culture. The release of Pokemon Go, or airing of the MTV Movie Awards, and ESPY Awards all provide data insights into how Wattpad content and fanfic mirrors our society.

This reference guide aims to provide an overview of best practices for people who want to write fanfiction with added information on fandom and fan culture.

What is Fanfiction?

For starters, if you think we misspelt “fanfiction” in the above then much to learn you still have, my young Padawan. Culture reporter Aja Romano says it best:

“When you write fanfic as ‘fan fiction’ you’re implying that a) you’re not one of us, because if you were, you’d call it fic like normal people, and b) you’re thinking that ‘fan’ is an adjective that somehow separates our fiction from normal-people fiction. Fanfiction is a literary format with its own subgenres. You wouldn’t call a play ‘stage fiction’ or a movie ‘film fiction.’ They’re things. Fanfiction is a thing.”

-A Guide to Fanfiction for People Who Can’t Stop Getting it Wrong

To avoid confusion, fanfiction is written as fanfiction, not fan fiction. Do not camel-case the fs.

For all intents and purposes fanfiction, fanfic, or fic is any fan-produced writing that uses, remixes, or subverts existing fictional stories, worlds or characters to create unique stories. It fulfills a social and emotional need for self-expression (and wish-fulfillment). It also forms community around interests and passions, simultaneously being driven by relationships and driving new ones.

How to Write Fanfiction:

Know the lingo:

Do you know what a  Mary Sue is? What about an RPF? If not, you should brush up on your fandom terminology.

Fandom is all about participation, so knowing the common tongue will help you understand the type of fic you’re most likely to enjoy writing. Each fandom has it’s own OTP, ships, and cool buzz words. Learn to talk the talk before walking the walk.

A full glossary of fannish terms can be found here on Fanlore.

Write about what you love:

It doesn’t matter who you ship, how old you are, what fandom you call home, or if you have a fandom at all: Wattpad wants to connect you to the content and conversations that matter to you.

Odds are you’re interested in writing fanfiction because you’re a fan of something. As humans, we strive to share our collective experiences - fanfiction amplifies this behaviour tenfold by building narratives on a shared collection of established assumptions in a fictional universe.

How familiar are you with the characters in the universe? Are you subverting the way they’ve been depicted? Veering away from or towards established canon? Can Harry Potter wield a Battle Axe? These types of questions will be easier to answer depending on your familiarity with, and love for a franchise.

Yes, certain fandoms will inspire larger audiences, but pandering to those audiences isn’t fun for anyone. The people actively involved in the fandom of your choosing can smell a faker from a mile a way so authenticity matters. You’re dealing with the most devoted of devotees, write from a genuine place, or risk being called out.

Learn from the best:

The best way to learn is by doing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t improve by studying the masters. Read as much fic as you can!

There are over 75 reading lists on our official fanfiction profile. They cover an array of today’s most popular and niche topics like:

• The Walking Dead
• Harry Potter
• One Direction
• The Phantom of The Opera
• Supernatural

Additionally, fanfiction writers in our community have already prepared helpful advice on planning your story, working with canon, and creating alternate universes.

We’re constantly floored by the community’s ability to craft original, entertaining content. Here are a few fics that can teach you a thing or two about originality:

Ignorance, Bliss, and Mexican Food

In February 2016, Twitter user joshholzz tweeted a video montage of him complimenting his friend Daniel on his fashion choices, particularly his shoes, exclaiming “damn, Daniel!” The meme was spread massively on social media, and eventually resulted in a Damn, Daniel-inspired story. Ignorance, Bliss, and Mexican Food follows the story of “Enchilada Ed” who must cope with internet fame after a photo of him in an enchilada costume catapults him into stardom. The story is a direct response to the ways in which social media and virality can affect young people in both positive and negative ways.

Kim Kardashian: Trapped in Her Own Game

The Kardashians are ubiquitous in pop culture and the media, and have been particularly for the past few years. In late 2014, kfxinfinity (otherwise known as kfan) published a hilarious story based on the immensely popular mobile game Kim Kardashian Hollywood, where Kim is an emoji-casting witch out to smash the patriarchy. The story has now amassed over 2.3M reads, and spawned a sequel, Kim Kardashian #BreakTheGame, which is currently being serialized.