Shadow & Rouge; Night and Day Difference.
Do anda remember the first time anda ever drew your fan character? When anda created him/her, anda had thought everything out; who they dated, what they wore, and if they had any powers. Believe me when I say that fan characters are the best characters in the world. Their stories are also the most fascinating things on earth.
Believe it atau not, Lil was actually a re-drawing of Rouge the Bat when I invented her. This was way, way long yang lalu when Sonic Adventure 2: Battle was just out and before Blaze atau Silver. I was tracing the big-busted gal with wings, when I decided that I wanted a cat. It turned out…well…looking back, I’d say crappy. But, it was the beginning of a character I wanted to have for a lifetime.
Now,when you’re menulis a fan fiction, there are a few things anda NEED to know.
A. Fan Fictions CAN NOT get published for the world to read in print. Due to copyrights, your fan fictions will never get turned into books. anda can, however, go to different fan sites where there is normally an option to post stuff on forum atau articles.
B. Correct Grammar and Tenses are everything. anda might have the best story in the world, but if your readers can’t understand it, then that’s useless. (See Step Four: Tenses.)
C. Research, research, research![u] Write what anda know. If anda make someone -like Shadow, for instance- do something that they wouldn’t normally do, anda end up making your fan MAD! I learned this lesion the hard way when I was a writer for Fanfiction.net.
Time for the 5 Steps:
Step One: Characters and Settings.
anda need to know the basics first about writing. When creating characters, make sure they have a purpose and not just so they can make out with Shadow. XP! fan girls will have their moments, but gf/bf’s of original characters are just plain annoying!
I like fan fics that have characters that don't take control over the original characters' places. For example: in this one story I had to review, Sonic was stupid and so his "Girlfriend" had to stop Eggman. XP!
Fan characters should ALWAYS support the original characters, but also have their own roles to help inprove the story. Like say, Lil. She's one of the main character, but she doesn't take the place of Sonic. Right now, she's setting him up for a bigger adventure.
[u]Settings.
When anda have your characters, settings should reflect the Sonic games atau Sonic X. DO NOT just make up worlds for the heck of it atau bad things happen, like negetive reviews! *hisses*
The most common settings are: Station Square, Mystic Ruins, luar angkasa Colony ARK, Sand Deserts, Eggman's Headquarters and alternate dimensions. Each one is a place from a game and have millions of locations to choose from.
Time Periods create a fuller story. But, they too have limitations. Sally hasn't been around since Sonic's "Genesis Period." Here are the time periods. Remember, each time period grows atau disappears with each new Sonic Game.
1. "Genesis Period." This is when Sonic was first introduced. If anda notice, mentioning names from this time period is very RARE! They don't fit with the rest of the periods. This is a classic time, when the Freedom Fighters existed. BE WARNED! Origin stories explaining Sonic's family is overdone.
2. "Experimenting Period." This branches only 2 years, when Sonic was being shifted over to 3-D from the 2-D world. anda need to look for resources to find out which games were made during this time.
3. "Adventure Period." Ah! This is the most populer time period. Takes place during both Sonic Adventures and Sonic X. This is the classical period when Shadow was introduced.
4. "New Generation Period." This is the time when Sonic Riders, Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, and the other games were being made. New technology was being tested. Chaos Emeralds are no longer that needed.
5. "Beyond Period." Every game including Sonic Unleashed will be added to this period. It's time-defying, new graphics and dramas, everything goes period. Don't underestimate anything!
6. "Prequel Period." This is the time that Shadow still lived on ARK with Maria. This is the time Knuckles lived in the Ancient Times with Tikal. Only a few stories exist from this time.
7. "Future Period." I perfer this period over the rest. No one knows what the future will bring. The sky is the limit. Very rare fan fictions from this time actually see the light.
Step Two: Plot.
One of the most dangerous and hard steps is to figure out how to write your plot. First, does anyone know what plot is? According to flanaganhighschool.com, plot is, "the sequence of events that take place in the story." In other words, the events have to flow to resolve the problem. If the story doesn't have a plot, than it's worthless.
Your plot needs:
1. A big, huge problem atau conflict found at the beginning of the story. Sometimes, the problem grows over the course of the story. Often times in fan fictions, the problem is Eggman himself. Add some other element to make your characters concerned other than, "He's the Bad Guy!"
2. A huge event atau various small problems caused oleh the problem. This takes care of most of your troubles. Like in Sonic Adventure DX, Sonic had to find all the Chaos Emeralds but still had to battle Chaos 0,2,3,4,6, and Perfect Chaos.
3. A Climax, which is the highest point atau turning point of the story. The climax is the final battle, the most emotional part of the story. The climax of SA2B was fighting the FinalHazard, just in case anda want to want to know.
4. Falling action, where the conflict becomes destroyed atau beaten. Yeah, they need to be beaten to make a good story. Like, Sonic saving the hari would be nice.
5. Resolution, where the conflict is resolved. The resolution of a story may have either happy atau sad outcomes. atau if anda want to have a series, don't have a complete outcome.
Step Three: Plan Your Story.
Outlines can be very helpful in this area. They help plan your story. Here is the outline for bintang Wars Episode 4:
Beginning:
1. Death bintang Attacks Leia's ship.
2. Darh Vader Kidnaps Leia; Droids Escape
Tantooine
3. Luke buys droids from Jawas.
4. R2D2 runs away to find Obi-Wan Kenobi
5. Luke finds Obi-Wan and goes to help.
Lalalaa.
6.
7.
8.
9.
End.
10. Obi-Wan & Darth Vader fight, Obi-Wan dies
11. heroes return home, prepare for battle
12. Luke blows up Death bintang and saves day.
As anda can see, I got impatient. Now, anda have an idea of a plotline.
Here is an outline for anda to use. Write "keywords" to fill out basic information.
Beginning
1.
2.
3.
Middle
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
End
11.
12.
13.
14.
Step Four: Tenses
anda NEED CLEAR TENSES!!!!! "Tense" is the narration and flowing of story. anda have three tenses. anda have past, present, and future. The tense is the how the verbs respond.
1. Past. This is where "ed" and "d" and others were usd. Verbs like, "swam," "saw," "said," "sang," "cried," "whispered," and "yelled." Just as long as it described the verbs.
2. Present. The present tense includes the past and future tenses. "S" and "es" and "ing" desribes the verb; what the verb is currently doing[i].
3. Future includes the present. Most of the time, it [i]will tell anda what will happen, but is harder to read. Plain verbs will be used.
The selanjutnya part of this step is choosing the narrative voice.
1. "First-Person." Wikipedia says that, "First-person narrative is a narrative mode in which a story is narrated oleh only one character at a time, who explicitly refers to him- atau herself using words and phrases involving "I" (referred to as the first-person singular) and/or "we" (the first-person plural). This allows the reader atau audience to see the point of view (including opinions, thoughts, and feelings) only of the narrator, and no other characters." Example: I saw the lake farther up the road. It's too far, I thought. I couldn't tell what Bobby was thinking at the time. We ran until the storm caught up with us.
2. 3rd-Person. The third person is the narrative voice which is outside the action. The narrator allows the readers to view the story like they're god. The narrater knows ALL the characters thoughts and actions. For example: Marcia cried loudly. "Why won't they stop shooting?" Marcus thought.
3. 2nd-person. This is the narrative voice used for "Choose Your Own Adventure" Books. The pronoun you is used. Example from Wikipedia: You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning. But here anda are, and anda cannot say that the terrain is entirely unfamiliar, although the details are fuzzy. See what I mean? YOU should not use this tense unless YOU know how to control the others correctly.
Finally, we have
Part Five: Off We Go
No one, not even I, can tell anda a step-by-step instruction on how to write a story. It takes guts. NEVER STOP WRITING! Only those worthy of creating stories will continue on. I can give anda advice, since I am in the process of finishing a novel seperate from "The Misadventures of a Wandering Soul."
1.If anda hit a writer's block, open a new document atau grab a fresh piece of paper and begin menulis whatever comes to your mind first. anda CANNOT BACKSPACE atau FIX SPELLING ERRORS!!!! anda need to just write. This is the only way to defeat those blank moments when nothing comes.
2. Never let anyone discourage you. If anda find that anda NEED to stop because your story isn't flowing write, stop. But don't let anyone say that your stuff is junk. It's not. Not unless anda say it is.
3. "The only way anda yourself is if anda never dream." That's a quote I use a lot. (Look out for it in the upcoming parts "The Misadventures of a Wandering Soul.") It's true, though. I still have a lot lebih creativity than some of my friends. Whenever I find a new idea popping in my head, I jot it down before I forget. That's what anda should do.
That concludes our little lesson. I hope anda enjoyed it. "May the Force be With You...Always..."
"AMY! NOOOO!"
