How do you make your fanfic stand out?

[ShadowSJG 62]

Especially if your fic is doing a concept that has already been done before. How could you make it stand out from others like that?

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

The best thing to do is to approach the concept from a different angle. This may take a lot of thinking and brainstorming. 

[Idris 241]

I'll add that an eye catching title art and an inviting first paragraph makes a difference.

I don't think I mean inviting though? I mean that it has to be sharp and grab the readers interest. Then they will read the rest.

[SFyr 1,982]

Well, the level of cliche you're repeating is gonna make it a lot more delicate; what's your general concept?

 

Either way, the majority of pointers remain the same. Standing out often comes down to first impressions quite a bit. First comes the split second readers glance over your image. Then, they probably skim your tags and brief summary, which only takes seconds to decide if they should go further. After that, comes several minutes of reading through the beginning before they're fully invested in seeing where everything is going. After that, well... it's often a matter of just keeping their interest, and letting the story unfold, evolve, and grow. Still, the beginning needs to be particularly solid for obvious reasons.

Right, umm...

• Use an eye-catching, relevant, and pleasing image for your cover if possible.
• Make sure the introduction, summary, and all that has some kind of fresh angle to it. Pay special attention to this area, and make sure the first few sentences they read are interesting.
• Pay special attention to grammar, word choice, and writing conventions of the like. I've passed over plenty of stories because I suspected they wouldn't be well written... solely by the writer's lack of proper basics.
• Use visual language when it adds to the story; sentences with detail and 'life' leave a better impression than dry sentences that do little more than convey something that happens.
• Don't be afraid to spoil a little to hook your reader in sometimes. The reader should never be able to guess major plot points, but they'll need some kind of idea of what they're reading going in.
  (I make this point because I've much preferred the "OC finds out friendship is harder won than he thought" story summaries to "What happens when OC enters equestria?," unless it's a crossover of some kind. Zerg + Equestria still has me sold every time.)
• Mane 6; use them wisely, especially if you're shipping them in some capacity.
• If you're using an OC, don't make everything work out in their favor. Fight the urge to always/often have them look great/in the right/damaged in a way that others feel bad for them.
• Find cliches that are unnecessary to the plot and see if you can do something more interesting or unique. Waking up in the everfree and saving the CMC from timber wolves is officially the bane of my interest in a story, along with Twilight taking in an alien creature to exchange details of their worlds, or Fluttershy finding a wounded human and nursing him back to health.

[Guest]

I try to avoid doing things that have been done too much before and try to come up with something original really.

[rst64tlc 11]

All I can say is that make a story with a original idea that both similar to the norm but unique...that's very vague on my part.

 

We are Writers, our imagination is both our tool and clay, we form the idea from our mind to be brought forth and give new shape. What form with you make.

[captainborgue 343]

Honestly, the best way to write a fanfic is to read. Not read fanfics, read in general- read everything you can get your hands on. Read the classics, read the epics, read your favorite authors, just read EVERYTHING.

 

Also, read Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. It's dense, wordy, and very very dry- read it anyway. It will help you understand how humanity crafts stories- EVERY story. Don't try to be original, because you can't- everything has been done, only details change. And reading Hero with a Thousand Faces shows you how- it tells you what it is every story humans tell have in common, and it will give you a solid outline for your own work. Everything from Gilgamesh to War & Peace to Star Wars, all of it, is the Hero's Journey.

[ShadowSJG 62]

Do you get discouraged if your fic gets any dislikes?

[SilverStarApple 849]

Spend a great deal of time intentionally and awkwardly subverting cliches, and then have self-aware characters call attention to it with all the subtlety of a reactor yelling "Look at me! Look how good I am!" into the mic, while insulting any fic you find with a concept similar to yours.

 

...That was a joke, please don't do that.

[Idris 241]

ShadowDJG- not any more, they mean nothing. Views and comments are your only valuable contact with consumers. That goes for YouTube and Fimfiction.

A comment is worth a lot because a download isn't a full 'read'. I reckon 1:100 on YouTube is a genuine intake of the product. 20,000k means 200 real interest. What you don't know is what your media-fire is up to? Somepony might listen to the first few seconds on YT, download the MP3 and listen to it several times in the car.

The same is true for being added to library's in FF and watches. A 'watch' is a generic thumbs-up