So you've jumped into the ocean-like pool of Harry Potter fanfic authors. Congratulations. You have entered one of the biggest, richest and most diverse fandoms on the internet. It can be a fun and rewarding place, where you find a wealth of talented, intelligent and wonderful friends... or it can be a vicious, belligerent group of warring factions. Either way, you've a new identity of a fashion: an amateur author playing in the sandbox of one of the most popular and beloved book series of all time. And as all amateur authors start out, you've a clean slate.

It's up to you whether you produce art or tripe on that slate. But of course, you want to produce something worthwhile, right?

Yes, that's a cue for all those who WANT to be "plebes" and "Suethors" and "trolls" to click on the little X at the corner of their browsers right now.

Those still reading, I commend you. I know that it's a daunting place to start writing: certainly if it's your first fandom, and even if it is your second or third. There are, of course, some common pitfalls that you can avoid. You know, those things that you think are okay when you first start writing and then, a year and several flames and hissy-fits and a measure of gained maturity later, wonder what the hell you were thinking.

Now, without further ado... here is a guideline to writing quality HP fanfic in general and quality D/G fic in particular. Please hold all your applause and rotten vegetables until the end.

Mechanics

This is the most important thing, and in my opinion, the most basic as well. I believe that one cannot LEARN how to "write well". That is to say, no one can learn how to become a Bronte or a Shakespeare or even necessarily a Sarea Okelani or a Mynuet. I've played piano for twelve years. This doesn't mean that I will ever be the second coming of Mozart. My point is... genius and talent in writing isn't necessarily something that everyone is gifted with. However, I think that it is possible for everyone to learn how to "write properly".

Sure, English can be a contrary sort of language, and the category of "mechanics" covers a broad range of things. For the purposes of this essay, we'll say that it encompasses spelling, grammar, diction and usage of general words and sentences.

No, it isn't necessary to go over your fanfic like a phD student goes over his or her thesis. It's not necessary for you to have a degree in English (though for the purposes of this site, keep in mind that several Cabal members do). However, remember that though you're not writing anything to be published in a book for money, you're still writing in a 'verse that was carefully created by an author who values her work very much, and as such, it would be simple respect to at least try to give your fic a basic standard of mechanics.

MS Word has spellcheck. Sure, it'll tell you that words like "Quidditch" are spelled wrong, but it will also help point out that there's SOMETHING wrong with the phrase "teh wizzerd had a pet draggen." Spellcheck is not perfect, nor is it even close to a replacement for a good beta, but it will certainly catch the most glaring of the errors. That and a careful read-through after writing by yourself should at least catch half of the spelling errors and typos.

I personally think it should go without saying that netspeak is a no-no in HP fanfic, particularly of the D/G variety. Maybe in certain fandoms, it would be believable or all right, but the chances that two pureblood protagonists are well-versed in something like the internet-- let alone so familiar with it that they'd forsake their fairly conservative upbringings to resort to very grammatically improper, slangy and generally lazy lingo is just extremely unlikely. Furthermore, AIM jargon is all right for communicating with friends, because it's shortened and simplified and casual, but a fic based on someone else's work deserves at least enough effort to use proper English. Same goes for things considered acceptable in IM and emails, like excessive exclamation points or random capitalization, though those things can't be considered strictly netspeak. People, this is NOT the e. e. cummings fandom, and even if it were, YOU are not e. e. cummings!

Grammar and usage is a slightly larger category than netspeak, and is often considered the most difficult part of the English language. Once again, no one is asking for a dissertation explaining the difference between a past participle and a conjunctive or the definition of "uxorious" and "belles lettres", but a basic grasp of usage, punctuation and proper sentence structure is necessary. Things like "there/their/they're" and all those other commonly confused words that your third grade teacher warned you about. Please, people, make peace with the apostrophe. Learn it, live it, love it. Check over your grammar before submitting a fic. Make sure you separate paragraphs. Underline titles. Capitalize names. Most fic archives require people who submit fic to be at least thirteen, and I know that by seventh/eighth grade, these things have already been taught in English class.

As for English not being your first language, it wasn't mine, either. Again, no one's expecting perfection, but keeping mistakes to a minimum isn't too much to ask. Besides, considering all this is done on the internet, it really wouldn't be difficult to find a beta whose first language IS English.

And no, a beta isn't your adoring best friend or your pet chihuahua. A beta is someone with sound knowledge of mechanics and canon and will honestly tell you the strengths and weaknesses of your fic after picking out the glaring mistakes.

Word usage is also important. Especially considering that HP takes place in Britain. Very few things drive me as batty as seeing Americanisms in fics. Understand that they don't talk that way across the pond. The very profanity is going to be different. Again, no one's going to require an explanation on the origin and meanings of the twelve most popular phrases in Cockney slang, but just like netspeak would be unlikely in HP verse, similarly, Ginny would never say something like "Dude, you're such a hottie" to Draco. Nor would Draco, pureblood elitist snob that he is, tell Ginny that he wants her "digits, because you're just such a babe". If in doubt, read the books over again, and see what sort of diction JKR uses.

As a slight aside, I'm going to add a note on formatting, which ties in with grammar and punctuation, but isn't completely in those categories. Of course, separate paragraphs, make sure that your punctuation marks don't appear as funky characters, etc. etc. But also, PLEASE do not put in-text Author's Notes in the fic. It's distracting, it's annoying, and a lot of the times it seems a bit smug, too. As though the author is TELLING the audience what to think. Honestly, your fic should be able to stand alone and explain and describe itself. Of course, we all know that Tom Felton is the prettiest thing since Marilyn Monroe too (or, at least, we know that the majority of fandom thinks so), so we do NOT need notes along the lines of "(OMGLOL Tom Felton is so fuggin' HAWT Draco in leather pants yay yummmmmmmmmm)" anywhere.

Still with me here? Good! Now that you know to read it over very carefully and get a competent beta, more likely than not you'll pass muster to post in THIS archive.

The next section, coming very soon, should enable you to be able to upload any story you want to this particular site, if you follow the guidelines.

Welcome to part two, day two of the guidelines! Hopefully everyone has now gone into the process of looking for a beta, etc. etc. Or, y'know, adding words like "Quidditch" and "Muggle" and "Hogwarts" into your MS Word's spellchecker dictionary so that you won't be tempted to ignore all words with the squiggly red underline automatically when you write your fic.

Now, speaking of canon terms, we come to the next section of the essay, which is pretty much everything else you will need to know to get your fic accepted on this fic archive. Keep in mind that the Fire and Ice Archive is NOT very picky in screening submitted fics, despite what all of you might think. Really, all we ask for here is acceptable spelling/grammar and proper capitalization and spelling of canon terms and names.

General Canon

This is the basic stuff. The stuff that everyone who's carefully read the books at least once should know. And those who haven't... why the hell are you writing fanfiction? No, the movies are NOT canon. Harry does NOT equal Daniel Radcliffe. Hermione CERTAINLY does not equal Emma Watson. However, even the movies come closer to canon than a great portions of the fics that I see.

For one thing, Daniel Radcliffe et al are at least British, and far too many fics have the tendency to clone Hogwarts into an American high school, and London to whichever big city the author lives closest to. We'll cover that later.

The most important thing about general canon in fanfic is getting terminology and names correct. Honestly now, anyone who has read the books should be able to spell McGonagall, considering how many times her name appears. No one's requiring you to mention Blaise Zabini in your fic. Therefore, writing anything along the lines of Blaze Zamboni means that it's an automatic out. If you care enough about canon to write about Blaise Zabini at all, you'd better care enough to spell his name right.

Same goes for canon terminology. Muggle is capitalized. Spells are italicized and capitalized if it's the incantation. Again, follow the format that JKR uses in the books. Considering how consistent things are in that respect, this should not be beyond the scope of possibility for anyone to read over the books and make note of the formatting and spelling. Barring that, the HP Lexicon is a wonderful source of information in this regard. Bookmark it.

This means that I won't ever be seeing "Weasely's Wizaring Wheezes" instead of "Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes" in fics, right?

Well. I can hope.

Now that everyone knows that the Zabini rule is sacred, one of the commandments of this fic archive, let's go into general canon and why Hogwarts is NOT an American high school.

For one thing, Hogwarts is in the UK. Just because they speak English across the pond doesn't mean that everything else is the same. There are different terms for various things (i.e. "trolley" instead of "shopping cart", "lift" instead of "elevator", etc.), and certainly, there's very different slang. Americanisms were already covered in the previous chapter, so I won't repeat it here.

However, seriously, please keep in mind that Hogwarts is like any strict boarding school. People go to dormitories at set hours. People go to classes and meals on time. Uniforms are worn in classes and sporting events. Sneaking around after-hours and nicking food from the kitchens is not likely the norm. And shagging in the open-air, very high up, very unfurnished Astronomy Tower, where anyone flying overhead can see? Please.

Also, let's get some basic facts straight about characters and canon.

Draco is not a blond version of Harry.

Ginny is neither perfect nor the succubus queen of darkness.

Harry is not perfect, or even particularly suave with girls. Sure, Romilda Vane might've had a thing for him, but chances are, most females won't be squeeing and throwing themselves at him. (Though the ones who do seem a bit unhinged anyway, usually. Some are sending hate mail to Cho Chang's actress because she stole "their man". Yeah, padded room for a few fandomites to go, please. Anyway, I digress.)

For that matter, neither is Hermione. She is also not Pureblood or an heir of anything but a bunch of analytical brainy genes from her very Muggle dentist parents.

Ron is not a clown.

Snape is not dashingly handsome and suave.

American exchange students are unlikely to come to Hogwarts. Ever. JKR stated that there won't be any American students in Hogwarts. I'm sure America has its own Magical academies.

There is no Hot Topic in Britain.

"Merlin" is not the only exclamation/oath ever to be used, and Muggleborns are NOT likely to say it. In fact, they probably grew up saying things like "Oh my God" or "Bloody Hell" or even "Shit!"

Remember that by JKR's time line, HBP took place in the 1996-1997 school year. Therefore, let us NOT have any canon characters listening to or singing or aware of such bands as Avril Lavigne, Good Charlotte, Evanescence, etc. Furthermore, electronics do not work in Hogwarts. See GoF regarding Rita Skeeter.

Also remember that if McGonagall can scold Parvati for wearing a butterfly clip in her hair, there would be all manners of smiting for anyone who had the audacity to wear random piercings and fishnets to class. Think detention with Filch for the rest of their school careers.

Oh, and for the love of God, Hogwarts students are NOT Wiccan. Easter and Christmas are hardly Wiccan holidays to celebrate, are they?

One last thing: Lucius/Narcissa, Molly/Arthur, Bellatrix/Rodolphus, Frank/Alice, James/Lily and Andromeda/Ted are MARRIED couples. Deal with it. And for the purposes of this fic archive, Draco/Ginny is the way to go as well. Next person to submit a Draco/Hermione fic to this site might get ridiculed. Or fed to the crocodiles. We'll see.

Now that all of this is clear... everyone should know what it takes to write an acceptable HP fic for this site.

We'll go into what makes a fic score in the "Exceeds Expectations" or "Outstanding" ranges rather than just "Acceptable" in the next section.

Welcome to the third portion of the essay, perhaps the most interesting one of all! This is also possibly the most difficult one, because honestly, it will involve more work than enabling spelling and grammar checkers and a few glances at the Lexicon. Now we get into the deeper mystery and intrigue of those elements that truly MAKE or break a story.

Before you read on, let's take a moment to remember the fics that you DID enjoy, the ones you remember and read over and over again. These are the cream of the crop, the classics, and what exactly is it about them that makes them so wonderful and memorable?

It's not grammar and a passing knowledge of canon, that's for sure. Those things make a fic acceptable, but don't do anything in terms of making it stand out and truly shine. So what's the secret behind those fics we all love so much?

There are three main areas in which a fanfic author can really "show off" his or her skills. Often, an author will find him or herself stronger in one of the areas than the other two, or so on. It's not often that anyone is equal in all three. At least, not equally GOOD. These three are, of course...

Plot, Characterization and Style.

Plot can simplistically be defined as the sequence of events that happens in the story. No, there aren't that many original ones left... especially if we're considering original ones that still work within the constraints of canon. Depending on the setting of the piece (time frame and location), there might be some plots that are just not feasible. D/G set in Hogwarts is just NOT going to include, say, the two sitting on a porch reminiscing about their days and memories together while watching their children play.

Sure, the plots might be somewhat recycled, but that doesn't mean that the fic will automatically be bad. The main thing about a fanfic plot is to find something that's kind of a happy medium. By this, I mean, a plot that's not SO cliched that it should have been shot five badfics ago, and not SO outlandish that it would be morbidly improbable if not impossible for it to happen within canonical constraints. The latter is fairly simple to understand. For Ginny and Draco to embark upon a rainforest safari while they're still in Hogwarts, quickly followed by a trek through outer space, for instance, would be just a LITTLE bit of a stretch.

I'm sure we all know what most of the plot cliches are, but just in case, I'll mention a few for D/G. Meeting at a masked ball, for instance. Snogging on a dare or a game of Spin the Bottle. It was good when Davesmom did it years and years ago, but it's getting a bit tired now after it's been wrung through five billion and three fics. Similarly, please let's not rehash the plots of popular teen movies/novels/whatever. It's almost as bad as plagiarism. If we were in the mood for Clueless, we'd be popping Alicia Silverstone into the VCR or DVD player. Besides, characters are distinctive. Alicia Silverstone's character is NOT supposed to be like Ginny or whatever. Follow?

This does bring us to the next subcategory, possibly my personal favourite. Characterization is just as it sounds: how the characters are written and depicted. Personalities, backstories, interactions, motivations, likes and dislikes... all those things fall into this category, and I for one have a lot of fun with it.

It's also a category where some of the most heinous sins of fanfiction are committed on a daily basis.

The most obvious and notorious of these would undoubtedly be the Mary Sue. The author's self-insert character who has all the qualities that the author has or wants to have, embodies the entirety of the author's dreams, and pretty much warps canon all-around, snagging the canon male/female (depending on the author's preferences) of choice, saving the day, dying heroically, outshining all other characters, and generally annoying the piss out of anyone who comes across her. Sure, she might be labeled "Ginny Weasley", but that doesn't mean that she's not inaccurately portrayed, unrealistic and more or less a walking masturbation.

Of course, not all bad characterizations are necessarily Mary Sues. There are ones that are merely flat, two-dimensional and boring. Flatly good characters, flatly evil characters, characters without reasonable motivations or backstories, you name it. There are the types that seem as though they've stepped out of cliched cookie cutter romance novels or teen movies. Come on now... we all know that characterizations can be made more believable, intelligent and lifelike than that. Honestly, if you HAVE to turn to other sources to come up with characterizations (and you shouldn't, not really), use something less insipid than the above.

Then, we have the other side of characterization, the side of adherence to canon as opposed to creativity. For heaven's sake, let's read the books carefully and understand that Draco Malfoy is NOT, and I repeat NOT... a blond version of Harry. He's not a Gryffindor in disguise. He's not particularly brave. He's not excessively reckless. He's not noble or heroic. He might make a great antihero (depending on how you interpret him), but for heaven's sake, let's not make him this angsty whiny gothboy, okay?

Not that Harry should be written as Goth, either.

Ginny... all right. I've seen FAR too many cliches with her. First of all, people, she's not perfect. She can be a right nasty little bitch, not above humiliating her brothers and lying to her mother to get her way. So let's leave the sparkly happy Mary Sue Ginny away. On the other hand, though she can be mean and spiteful, she's not EVIL. If I had a dollar for every black leather goddess of darkness and evil Ginny I've seen and every Ginnyslut I've seen, I'd be the proud new owner of a plasma screen TV the size of a ping-pong table. And possibly a pair of diamond earrings on the side.

I won't go into every last character, but... for godsakes, please keep true to what we know about them from canon. Let the fic make SENSE. Visit Deleterius on livejournal to see what you should NOT do with characters. Visit oc_analysis, also on livejournal, for help. Just make it work somehow.

And please don't describe them to death either, by the way.

Which of course brings us to part three of this section. The style of your writing is your own, your trademark. This is the hardest of the three for ANYONE to imitate. There are plenty of good writing styles out there, and they can be varied as world climate.

Therefore, I can't say what's necessarily "good" in this essay, because there are too many "good" styles out there. The main thing with style is to have a happy balance of exposition, dialogue and description.

Exposition is the "meat" of the content-- the part that actually tells what's going on. This is where the plot is mostly narrated, backstories are set up, etc. Too little exposition makes a piece confusing and hard to follow, and too much makes it sound more like a college lecture or a report than a piece of fiction.

Dialogue is the communication between the characters. As a side-note of this, PLEASE learn how to format it correctly. New paragraph for each new person speaking. Punctuation inside the quotation marks. Get a basic grammar primer and study it well. But dialogue should flow like a normal conversation would, and if in doubt, read it aloud and see if it sounds about correct. It's very important that dialogue is formulated so that the diction of the words chosen reflects the speaker. For instance, if you're writing a piece in which Percy Weasley has a conversation with his sister, Percy's parts are not likely to be peppered with slang and vulgarity. It's probably almost painfully proper, grammatically correct, a bit pedantic, and a bit old-fashioned. On the other hand, if you were writing Hagrid, it's not likely that he'd say something like "Albus Dumbledore was truly the epitome of a wise, visionary, benevolent leader, a paragon of our times. The others in the Order of Merlin would do well to emulate his shining example of conduct and courtesy."

Description is like seasoning, the herbs and spices of the fic. Without it, the piece would be bland and dull. With too much of it, it's scorching and acrid and we lose sight of the actual subject. If there's some ecstatic three-page panegyric on Draco's aristocratic, fallen-angel beauty, by the middle of page two, no one will remember who the hell the thing was describing. Quality is more important than quantity. "Ginny's eyes were over-bright with unshed tears, and really, she hated that he could make her feel that way. Why should he have that right and that ability, when she never even cried over Harry?" is more effective than "Ginny's young, fairylike face was pale and milk-white, her cinnamon-brown orbs fluid with crystalline drops of sadness which threatened to flood forth like a river bursting out past a broken dam, sliding down cheeks like ivory silk peppered with speckles of dusky red paint, and the anguish in her heart was tempered with a feeling of resentment which she could barely understand. Draco Malfoy, the prat, the enemy of her family and the son of the enemy of her father, who she'd even hexed two years ago-- he was somehow the only one to make her cry like this, and that didn't make any sense to her. Draco Malfoy was handsome, to be sure, with his stardust eyes and hair like platinum woven with moonlight, but shouldn't she be crying for Harry instead? Draco Malfoy was supposed to mean absolutely no more or less than nothing, zero, because after all, he was the enemy, right?"

See what I mean?

In general, though it varies for each individual piece, there shouldn't be too much or too little of any of these three. Just enough exposition to make the reader easily follow what's going on and understand the motivations of the characters, just enough dialogue to bring the characters and their interactions to life, and just enough description to paint a vivid picture of the scene in the reader's head. And then... success! You've just created a masterpiece, truly the filet mignon of fanfics!

This section is a bit disjointed, and took quite a few evenings to write... but hopefully after wading through it, people do have a better understanding of the finer things in writing. Actually, what's in this section can apply not only to writing fanfic, because plot, characterization and style separates good original work from mediocre, and outstanding from good.

Now, go reread the books and have at it!

The next part will be the last... and it will be a conclusion. Now that you all know how to write a quality fanfic, we'll finish off by discussing how to be a good author, not just a good writer. You'll see what I mean.

And at long last, after an extended period of internetlessness, here is the final section of the D/G essay.

In this part, we will explore not what it takes to be a good writer, because those things have already been covered in fairly extensive detail in the past three parts, but what it takes to be a good author-- a good contributor to the fandom.

This fandom, quite possibly one of, if not THE largest one in existence on the internet, is not at all lacking in good writers. Simple law of averages: if, say, one out of every twenty fanfic writers is a decent writer, and one out of every fifty a truly GOOD one, it obviously stands that the more WRITERS there are in general, the more GOOD writers as well. In such a popular ship as Draco/Ginny, this is especially true. There are a LOT of D/G writers, after all. One glance at this humble archive should give a very good indication of such.

And yet, there are so many people who "hate" fandom, even though they love fanfic, the HPverse, the characters, and what have you. This portends to a problem not in the quality of fanfic, but in the behaviour of fans as a general group.

Let's face it: Harry Potter is a very large, diverse and creative fandom, but it's also a very vicious, divisive and elitist one. In a lot of ways, it's like a very large suburban high school: not in a bad neighborhood, but full of class distinctions, with each group dead set against each other group. Perhaps the so-called "BNFs" are a group unto themselves, opposite the "n00bs". Or perhaps these groups are divided by ships. In any case, the rampant stupidity that is exhibited by fandom time to time reminds me of those petty, moronic spats between immature high school girls (apologies to those of the species who do not exhibit this behaviour) over such things as boy bands, whether pink is the new black, and, like, ohmyGAWD that's so tacky can you believe she's dating HIM?!??!

Honestly, can't we all just get along? Somehow?

Writer and Reviewer courtesy is an underrated commodity.

Writers, yes, after you've spent your precious time working on your brainchild and bringing it to life, after you've taken the plunge and posted it up online in a public forum or archive where anyone can read it... it's human and reasonable to want some sort of feedback on the work. However, amiably welcoming reviews is one thing, and review-whoring is an entirely different matter.

Please, let's not have any of the "If I don't get 979875983645 reviews by the next full moon, I will not write any more and you all will die evil, horrible, gruesome deaths OMG!" BS. We all should have more class and maturity than that.

Also, please let's not get all snippety over constructive criticism. A flame is one thing-- but a well-meant, carefully thought out critique is supposed to be HELPFUL, and should be taken with respect and humility. Let's not have retaliatory flame wars over negative comments. It's truly a waste of time-- time that could be spent improving your fic.

Speaking of flames, though... THESE are pretty much unacceptable in 99% of situations. Sure, not everyone will write brilliant, amazing fics every single time from the first moment they enter the fandom. There is no need to become all smug and superior because someone doesn't write flawless, inspired prose. Think back when you first started. Let's be honest: have there been improvements since then?

There damn well should be. And therefore, remembering how such improvement is a gradual process, can we please cut others some slack for honest mistakes if effort was put forth?

This is not to say that anyone should necessarily sugarcoat. I'm a big proponent of brutal honesty, and if I take it in my mind to review a fic that I think is less than fabulous, I make sure to point out what needs work in it. I usually also give detailed reasoning to back up my position. I'm not saying that everyone needs to write a thesis critique on anyone's fanfic, but seriously, saying "OMG THIS SUX" helps no one.

It should go without saying that in order to be a good fanfic author, your work should be original. Yes, this sounds kind of like a paradox, considering that the very nature of fanfic requires some imitation and copying of another's original work. However, credit must be given where credit is due. We always put in disclaimers that Harry Potter, etc. are property of J. K. Rowling, because it was HER hard work-- HER blood and sweat and tears-- that make it possible at all for us to even play in her sandbox. So why is it that when people take ideas and characterizations and backstories from other writers that such credit so often gets neglected?

Imitation is NOT the sincerest form of flattery. Not here. Sure, it's fanfic. It's not something that could ever actually be published for money or copyrighted, but chances are that someone had spent quite a bit of time imagining and brainstorming and drafting and honing and polishing all the same. To rip off someone's idea is not only morally wrong in the sense that it's a theft of intellectual property (property that cannot be replaced, copied, insured or warrantied), but it's LAZY. Anyone who isn't willing to spend at least some time coming up with his or her own idea and just wants to coast by on someone else's brainchild shouldn't write. It's like slacking off all semester and cheating off the class brainiac on the final exam. And while some dotty old professors may not catch a cheat, it's almost a complete certainty that in a fandom this size, any patchwork can be pinpointed, isolated and exposed with immediate and damning speed.

And then, really, who loses? Sure, the one whose fic was ripped off is likely furious and hurt and sometimes betrayed... but really, the one doing the actual plagiarism "gets it" in the end. Because most respectable archives won't host known plagiarists, and bad names spread on the web faster than one can say "unoriginal".

And then in the end, what do we have but a pile of wank, which stinks up fandom like a pile of dirty socks? Now, wouldn't it just be better to simply get along and be reasonable? Truly, it's not that difficult. Though this is the last section of my essay, I honestly think that it's quite possibly the easiest. No rocket science required here-- as long as people maintain a certain standard of behaviour.