Home | About Me | Elf Quiz | Fan Fiction | Links | Guestbook
Fan Fiction
Recently there have been many people complaining about fan fictions rejected to the archive, and so I thought to make this space to answer questions, solve problems, and be a general nuisance to the civilized writing world.
-
Lesson One: Making a well-rounded, fleshed out, believable (female) character.
This is one of the most troublesome things in fandom today, and I can’t tell how many times I’ve crossed the problem myself, or heard another author proclaim their character was rejected on this basis.
A character that is not believable is often dubbed ‘Mary-Sue’. Just to show how easy it really is to make a character real. I’m going to take Mary-sue, (written by myself, for this occasion) and turn her around.
-
Celbrindel was Arwen’s younger sister. She didn’t mind being Arwen’s sister, as they were good friends as well as sisters, and they both had secret loves. Arwen’s was Aragorn, and Celbrindel’s Legolas. It was just that she sometimes felt over-shadowed by her beautiful sister, almost as if she weren’t good enough to be in her presence. Everyone told her she was just as pretty, and she was with soft raven hair and clear grey eyes. Her lips were the color of ripe plums and she was pale as starlight. Everyone called her beautiful, and Arwen assured her she was wise, too. So, Celebrindel was content while she waited for her love to return to Rivendell from his palace at Mirkwood.
-
Let your mind wander onward to the council, and Legolas and Celbrindel plighting their troth upon Cerin Amroth if you want to know how the story goes, but for now let’s give my OC a few flaws and some changes in character and status.
1. Take her down a notch
Instead of being Arwen’s sister, why don’t we make her a (very) distant cousin courtesy Elros. Important enough to be Arwen’s hand-maiden, but still pretty low in rank.
[The trick to de-sueing a character is to not make them expressly beautiful, or anyone of much importance. People relate better to a common person rather than a prince. So go for normal as well as your plot will allow. Hand-maidens, soldiers, common spectators and little people who do great things are what you should aim for. Just remember the initial theme to the Hobbits! Small people can do big things. Or they may just do a little thing that might mean a lot to another person.]
2. Think up a reasonable plot.
Arwen sowed a banner for Aragorn the entirety of his quest, so as a hand-maiden our character would be charged with small details of this banner, and would certainly know to whom it would be delivered. So, we have the beginnings of a story. But we’ll just let these ideas sit for awhile, as we move on to characterization.
[If you have to, go the appendices of Lord of the Rings, and see what was happening at the time your story is taking place.
Unfinished tales and the History of Middle-Earth series are riddled with wonderful ‘what if’ ideas.
The Appendices of Lord of the Rings can supply not only a time-line, but a life-line for a floundering plot.
A messenger sent from Mirkwood to Lothlorien, warning about the danger in Dul Gulder, might be a good person to write about. Any obscure details that bring about new meanings in the text are priceless. Try for the never-been-done-before ideas, though.]
3. How does she act, and why does she act that way?
Let’s add a few flaws. Clumsiness and an unmistakable urge to go on for hours without ever getting to the point of what she wants to say sound like good vices to me. Now, we need some virtues. She’s loyal. She loves her lady and her lady’s chosen lord. She’s a good seamstress, and can embroider minute details onto delicate fabric. She’s also human, so she’ll know many things about Aragorn’s people that might prove useful to Arwen. These are all probable things that make her unique.
[Try to make you character as unique as possible. Talent in different areas like cooking, riding, sewing, etc., and Vices like tousled looking hair no matter *what* she does with it will make her a more likable character, because we can all relate to having an obscure talent such gardening, or suffering a bad hair day.]
4. How does she look?
This is one of the most over exaggerated points of writing. The best thing to do is to not describe your character at all. Unless the description is and adjective to compliment another sentence, don't use it.
Such as – ‘[nameyoulike] pushed a dark, knotted strand of hair away from her face, and once more cursed herself for not pulling it up before she retired.’
[Keep the descriptions to a minimal and the beauty to a moderate state. She doesn’t have to be ugly, but she also doesn’t have to be Luthien re-born. A comely maid with a large nose or to big of feet is just as (if not more) interesting than someone to rival Arwen’s beauty. And your fan fiction is more likely to be accepted into the archive.]
5. Back to the plot.
After we’ve let the ideas stew a bit, here’s what I’ve come up with as a reasonable plot for on of Arwen’s hand-maiden of human descent.-
What if she embroidered some special message onto the clothe for Aragorn? Something that maybe she had heard her Chieftain say when she was a child that was so moving she never forgot it? Maybe some special Dunadain ‘good luck’ that wives would send their husbands into battle with? Perhaps she told Arwen of this custom? Suppose it gave Aragorn a little reminder of just *what* he was fighting for?
Small acts of bravery build the foundations on which heroes stand.
Tell about Arwen’s brave hand-maiden, who out of her place and against all proper lady-like behavior, rushed to the courtyard just as the Twins and their ranger escort where about to ride off to whisper in Arwen’s ear of an old custom that Ranger’s wives sent their husbands off with a good luck charm of some sort. A little phrase embroidered into the banner, a note attached, a small hope in the darkness.
Instead of the thousandth tenth member fan fiction out there, wouldn’t you rather read that?
6. Make your own ending
I challenge you to try this! I’ll even help you out.
Here’s an opening line for you:
[nameyoulike] flew down the corridor, her hair falling out of its fastenings and wind sweeping past her skirts, flowing over them like a breeze on water, as She hurried to her lady, calling upon Varda to give her feet wings so she should not be too late.
Go ahead and give it a try. You never know.
-Princess
PS. I’ll be compiling a list of Elven names and what they mean, as well as a few plot ideas over the next few days. Feel free to check back on this page any time you like and take any names/ideas/plots you find to your liking. |