>>I'm scared I'll fuck up the characterization (aka; make him OOC), <<
Okay, let's unpack this a bit.
* It's okay to write OOC. This is why some people want to write fanfic in the first place.
* If you're trying to stay consistent with the character as presented in canon, then that influences the range of stories you can tell. You might not get it perfect at first. That's OKAY. If you're not making any mistakes, you're not learning, you're coasting.
* Anchor your fanfic with bits of canon if you want to keep it close to canon. Think about the specific things that make you interpret this character in a certain way, and reference them. Frex, I wrote Tony Stark learning blacksmith skills, which is a very dirty, physical, blue-collar skill that doesn't seem to mesh with a rich man. But he already is a blacksmith, per the movie Iron Man; and you just can't learn that from a book, you have to build the muscle memory the hard way. So for an aro/ace character, look for lines in canon that sound different than an allosexual person would say.
>> but I have to remind myself 2nd drafts ARE a thing I'm allowed & even encouraged to do.<<
I can tell you from experience that editing skill responds very well to plain old level-grinding. By this I mean get a big heap of stuff and edit it; you will get better. So one effective way to improve editing skills for your own work would be to volunteer to beta-read someone else's work. If you want to practice proofreading in particular, feel free to use mine -- when I post things during a fishbowl, sometimes I scramble letters and don't notice it. Or you could offer to beta-read stuff that people submit to your communities, for anyone who's interested in that. Some authors crave it, others avoid it.
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Re: Thoughts
Date: 2024-01-13 08:47 am (UTC)From:Okay, let's unpack this a bit.
* It's okay to write OOC. This is why some people want to write fanfic in the first place.
* If you're trying to stay consistent with the character as presented in canon, then that influences the range of stories you can tell. You might not get it perfect at first. That's OKAY. If you're not making any mistakes, you're not learning, you're coasting.
* Anchor your fanfic with bits of canon if you want to keep it close to canon. Think about the specific things that make you interpret this character in a certain way, and reference them. Frex, I wrote Tony Stark learning blacksmith skills, which is a very dirty, physical, blue-collar skill that doesn't seem to mesh with a rich man. But he already is a blacksmith, per the movie Iron Man; and you just can't learn that from a book, you have to build the muscle memory the hard way. So for an aro/ace character, look for lines in canon that sound different than an allosexual person would say.
>> but I have to remind myself 2nd drafts ARE a thing I'm allowed & even encouraged to do.<<
It's a valuable skill.
https://www.emwelsh.com/blog/how-to-edit-a-short-story
https://www.wikihow.com/Edit-a-Short-Story
https://michellerichmond.com/sanserif/story-revision-checklist/
https://www.highlightsfoundation.org/2018/05/07/tools-and-tips-on-character-revision/
https://www.almostanauthor.com/how-to-edit-characters/
I can tell you from experience that editing skill responds very well to plain old level-grinding. By this I mean get a big heap of stuff and edit it; you will get better. So one effective way to improve editing skills for your own work would be to volunteer to beta-read someone else's work. If you want to practice proofreading in particular, feel free to use mine -- when I post things during a fishbowl, sometimes I scramble letters and don't notice it. Or you could offer to beta-read stuff that people submit to your communities, for anyone who's interested in that. Some authors crave it, others avoid it.