Animation Source Forums

My first fanfic about Balto's father! It should be posted soon. I was also wondering if a few members could give me some tips? Some of the characters could possible be up for adoption too! If you want to know anything about my fanfic, just ask!

Tips? Well, I can give you a few that would work for any fanfic:

1. The characters do not necessarily have to be 100 percent dramatic; if they are sort of ordinary, people can relate to them well. Not that dramatic is bad, but it's not necessary.

2. You might want to write a few little stories to determine your writing style if you're new at this sort of thing. While a very first fanfic might be awesome for a first try, you can really boost a fanfic's potential if you've written something before it.

3. Edit your story after you've finished it. Once you have a firm plot set down, you can really make the fanfic so much better if you revise everything so it all fits into that plot.

4. Give your characters depth. If one of your characters is, say, a dog who is very shy, then it is easy to tell how he will act in any situation. If this dog is shy except when he is pulling a sled, his favorite thing to do in the whole world, then this can keep the reader guessing; if the sled breaks and the musher ties the dogs up so he can set up camp, will the shy dog open up a little more? Will the other dogs like him from before and convince him to be friendly? Or will the he sink back into brooding?

I hope this helps!

So you want to be a writer, eh Aniuwolf?
Well, let me tell you a little bit about writing... (Learned the hard way... from experience.)
In order to write you must have the patience of a saint, the willingness to shoot yourself on a daily basis, the ability to dredge on through a story, even though you have no idea where it's going, the strength of a thousand men, the mindpower of Einstien, and well, I guess that about sums it up...

No, but seriously, the best thing you can do to become a good writer is to...

...WRITE WRITE WRITE!

The only way to get better at writing is to do it. No amount of classes or teaching can make you much better than you already are, only practice.
Also, the only real mistake you can make in writing a story is not writing it.
A Fanfic is your own creation

That being said, here are a few things I find helpful in my stories.

1.) Keep the Characters and Storyline believable for your audience. I do this by putting my characters in very real danger almost constantly. This is rarely done in cartoons, but this isn't a cartoon, this is a fanfic, this is YOUR fanfic.

2.) Set up your setting correctly. The setting is one of the most important parts of your story to get right. Now, for Balto Fanfics (FF) you (most likely) will have the setting of Nome, AK. The key isn't neccesarily WHERE to set your story up, but to make that place beliveable to your readers. The easiest way I can tell you how to do this is describe the *ell out of everything your character sees, smells, touches, tastes ext. This will give the reader the info he needs to visualize the action in his head, theby drawing him in, therby insuring that he will finish the story.

3.) Be original. I can say this: not much is gained (in experience or popularity) by doing whats already been done a million times. Try to come up with something no one has done, or put a twist on an already familiar topic. Please, oh PLEASE do not become one of those writers who simply re-words existing stories. They *i*s us writers off.
I feel an explanation is warrented here. It is true that I have copied ideas from other writers before, but this is okay because:
a.) I give the writer credit for the idea, and;
b.) I only copy the idea, not the story.
An idea is simply a one sentance description of the plot of your story (usually in the form of a question) such as: What happened to Aleu's pack across the great waters? Now, I've written a story based on that idea (Balto: Who She Is) but, if you were to take that same sentance and use it, I'm sure we wouldn't wind up writing the exact same thing. This kind of copying is not wrong, using entire pieces of an author's work, or simply re-wording it is wrong.

3.) Set up your scenes so as to evoke the most emotion out of your reader. This will ensure that he/she keeps reading your story. If you want to get a feel for great pacing... well, I hate to say this, but I learned it from the soaps. (Guiding Light, As the World Turns ext).
(Hey, critisise me if you like, but a. it worked, and b. My mom was always watching the *amned things.)

4.) Try to take your story in a direction that the reader wasn't expecting.
Believe it or not, your readers like to be surprised, and they will read more of your stuff if you keep surprising them.
(Bear in mind though that the "surprises" need to be plausible. Suddenly having Balto rescued from an angry wolf pack by his alien pal Reebo in the middle of an otherwise "normal" story is not plausible and probably won't be looked at well by your readers.)

In closing, my best advice is this...

Write, Write WRITE AND WRITE SOME MORE!

Try to set up a schedule and keep to it.
If you can write for at least an hour a day, that's great, write an hour a day. Keep to your schedule even when you're: Ttired, sick, don't feel like writing, ext. Try to never compromise that schedule and you'll be writing great stories in no time.

Well, guess that's all for now.

See Ya!

- RTW

P.S.

If any of you have any specific questions, PM me and I'll try my best to help ya out!

Thanks for all the tips guys! I'll use them the right way. My fanfic is posted now so I hope I get some reviews soon! I'm waiting patiently. I'll begin drawing my characters soon too!