From Fan Fiction to Original Fiction

Many authors today start by writing fan fiction, which is amazing! I found my love of editing in the fan fiction world too.

However, I sometimes see authors who are new to writing original fiction struggle to adapt to the demands of an original story.

These authors often forget to flesh out their characters’ backstories and the world.

How can you shift to original fiction without making this newbie mistake?

It all comes back to why people read certain kinds of writing.

Fan fiction exists because people want to keep existing in a story or a world. Readers want to see their favourite characters in new settings and in different relationships or to keep living in the world of the story.

That means in fan fiction, the author is working under the assumption that the reader understands who the characters are already. A fan fiction author gets to focus on the “right now” of the story.

When switching to original fiction, you have to remember your reader doesn’t have the backstory yet.

People pick up original novels for various reasons. Generally, people like to meet new characters they can love, hate, or love to hate; to escape into a new world; or to learn about new people and empathize with their struggles.

This means the author has to create a world and characters from the ground up. Which is hard—especially if you’re used to skipping directly to the action! So how can you integrate backstory and worldbuilding into your novel?

Give your reader clues as the story unfolds.

The typical reaction to learning you don’t have enough details is to provide all the details. But it’s best to avoid an info dump, so here are two ways to include backstory without making it clunky.

Add specific details through interiority.

For example, if a character mentions liking team sports and your main character is from Canada (and that’s an important detail), include what they think of hockey and how that compares to the national feeling.

Here’s an example:

“I’ve never really understood why people like football,” Jackie said, shrugging.

“I don’t know…There’s something nice about feeling like everyone’s in it together, you know?” I replied.

I might not have understood the appeal of football in particular, but there was this buzz in the air every time there was a hockey game back home. Admitting I didn’t understand the rules of hockey felt like forsaking my Canadian citizenship, but not knowing the rules was never a big deal. It was always about rooting for the team together.

Have characters let slip information through dialogue.

People often blurt out things they shouldn’t in real life. Or they keep quiet about something. Both are telling, and you can use these moments to your advantage. Just remember to flesh out the details in a later character discussion or using interiority later if the detail needs to be developed.

For example:

“Hey, Cara?” Janie said. “Could I have your parents’ phone number?”

“Why?” I asked. I bit my lip and wondered how I could sidestep the question altogether.

“Oh, I just need it for my emergency contact list.”

“Could you use my aunt’s number? She’s local.”

“Oh, yeah, sure.” Janie frowned, scribbled something out on her clipboard, and wrote something else down. She looked up. “So where do your parents live?”

Before I realized what was coming out of my mouth, I blurted, “The don’t.”

Janie looked confused. Her brows furrowed. “They don’t?” she repeated.

I sighed. Avoiding the issue was no longer an option. “They…don’t live.” I closed my eyes. “They died.”

Both genres are rich in their own ways. You just need to know when to give a little more detail.

I read a book recently that was a published as fan fiction first. As fan fiction, the book has a rich story. Even though the author gives a few contextual details about the main character's history in this modern setting, the audience can fill in the blanks.

Once I found out what original work the book was based on, I knew immediately that the main character had a hard childhood in the desert but that her parents loved her. I knew that despite them abandoning her, she still held out hope they'd come back for her. I understood that's why she was so scrappy.

However, before I knew those details, I wondered what the main character's parents were like and why she’d left her home without looking back. I wanted to know why she was alone in the world and how her childhood shaped her drive to find a cure for cancer.

So when you’re switching to original fiction, don’t forget to include the backstory for the reader.

They’ll love your characters more for it!

Want to know what book I was talking about? Sign up for Write Now for bi-weekly writing tips and takes that are too hot to share on a permanent blog.