#fangan writing advice

[a-student-out-of-time]

Teach me your massive writing nerd ways, senpai!! 😫

(For real though, hope you get better soon ^^)

//Thank you ^^

//I'm not really an expert in this department, but here's Sixteen Steps on how I oversee the Fangan writing process:

Decide on your story's theme first and foremost. What's the major conflict? What ideas are being put forward and challenged? How will your Killing Game's story, character and environment reflect these? Are you sticking with the classics (Hope vs. Despair, Truth vs. Lies), something similar but new (Trust vs. Doubt, Growth vs. Stagnation, Redemption vs. Corruption) or are you going with something completely different? All of these can and should play a role on the nature of the Killing Game itself.

When you've decided on what kind of story you want to tell, work on the characters. Your characters shouldn't just be there to die and crack jokes, they should be an active part of the story and their arcs should ideally reflect the conflicts and themes. You also are not bound by the archetypes used in canon and can vary it up however you want.

Character arcs: Have them. Even with characters whose fates are sealed and they aren't going to die, there's no reason not to allow them some degree of growth and change in the time that they do have. Their arcs can even naturally conclude with their deaths in trials or the like, which can vary from them choosing to save someone else to one final act of spite against the rest of the group.

You are not bound by the almighty outline. You're also going to need at least a general idea of where you want your story to go, but it's okay to provide yourself with a degree of flexibility. Who's going to survive? Who isn't? Why? What are the motives? Are they doing anything besides just faffing around waiting for the next murder? Maybe your ideas will change, just make sure you can smoothly integrate those new ideas without upsetting the flow and clues you've established.

Small moments are more important than big ones. Moments of characterization in the plot, like vulnerability, small confrontations, even casually-provided pieces of dialogue can do more for your characters than just having them die horribly/dramatically or them revealing something major in or after the trial. FTEs should be supplemental, not the place you dump all their best/worst character qualities.

Characters should communicate. You shouldn't define characters purely by their relationship to the protagonist or to one other character. See how many dynamics and interactions you can come up with, and how you might be able to include those into the story. Diversifying interactions opens up a lot of potential new dynamics and story opportunities.

It's okay to be a LITTLE self-indulgent. I say this because I got flak for saying writers shouldn't let their self-indulgence overwhelming their fangans. I will clarify that it's okay if you want to include something just because you want to include it, as I have in my own writing, but if you want a murder method/execution/confrontation/what have you in the story, please at least integrate it in a way that makes sense. If you don't, it's going to feel jarring at best and actively harmful and disruptive to the story at worst.

Your setting should feel like a part of the story. The place where your cast is trapped shouldn't feel like a featureless prison with setups for murders, it should have an active role in the situation and clue us into the story. Is it run-down and grungy? Unnaturally clean for an inhabited space? Is it dark? Is it colorful and lively? What's keeping them from leaving? What do they find as they explore?

Avoid stereotypes about mental health. If you're going to use DID, Schizophrenia, Autism, OCD, depression, PTSD, Bipolar Disorder, any personality disorder, etc., PLEASE do your research before you even think about writing a character with any of these. Mental health being equated with violence is grossly exaggerated; people with these conditions are more likely to be victims of violence, not the perpetrators. Please don't make a character built out of negative stereotypes just for the sake of drama or making the story "interesting." A good character is vastly more interesting than another Genocider Syo knockoff.

Idiot Plots are Unacceptable. There's a fine line between a character making a bad decision because of pride, fear, miscalculation, or any sort of understandable flaw, and them making one because the story needs them to in order for a murder to happen. Your characters can make all the right decisions that they reasonably could, and still ultimately fail. That often makes the antagonists seem much smarter and more threatening.

Do not overly focus on the rival. If you've ever heard someone say that villains are more interesting than heroes, that person is probably just bad at writing heroes. Your protagonist does not have to be boring and your rival doesn't have to, and preferably shouldn't, be the most important and well-written character in the story. A good rival challenges the protagonist and serves as their foil in some way, but that also means the protagonist can challenge them in other ways; e.g. Byakuya has no chance of solving Trial 4 because he couldn't even conceive of a situation where someone would sacrifice themselves for another.

Suffering does not equate to sympathy. Yes, a killing game would be a miserable experience, but just making the characters miserable and putting them through the wringer constantly, with no chance for them to breathe or get any kind of victory often feels more exhausting than sympathetic or interesting. This extends beyond fangans and into writing in general; if you've established that a character is never going to succeed at anything they do, people are going to emotionally check out of the story because there's no reason to get invested that something might go wrong.

The mastermind should reflect one side of the conflict. For the driving theme, whichever side the protagonist is on, the mastermind should represent the opposite. For extra thematic flair, maybe have their backgrounds parallel each other in some manner and see how their lives too very different paths as a result. If they don't, they're going to feel very disconnected from the story and like they had no reason to do this at all.

Ask yourself what kind of mastermind works best for your story. Do you want someone loud and bombastic? Quiet and scheming? Angry and bitter? A deluded paragon who thinks they're doing good with their killing game? Someone not even human? When you have it in mind, work backwards and ask how this person would then decide to become the mastermind of this killing game in the first place.

If you're stuck, try reverse-engineering. A lot of us have the outcome of a story in mind first but aren't sure how we get there, especially with murders in these games. I find the best way is to work backwards, starting with the outcome (basically the Closing Argument) and scattering all the pieces of the murder scene around to where it becomes a mystery. Motivations, of course, should be the first thing on your mind and why they targeted a particular character.

EXECUTIONS ARE NOT A STORY. This is probably the biggest hurtle I see with a lot of aspiring fangan writers, where they focus very much on the deaths and executions over everything else. Your fangan can't just be a paper-thin plot designed to get us from one execution to the other, it needs an actual story and characters to keep us engaged. Furthermore, your executions shouldn't just be spectacle, they should have a purpose in the narrative and provide character insights in and of themselves, whether it's ironic punishments or some final revelation about the character.

//And there you go, some tips for writing a fangan. Hope these help! ^^

[danganronpa96]

can you link all of your writing related tumblr posts ?

By writing I'm going to assume writing tips/advice. If not I hope this post helps someone lol

Tackling character personalities in stories

Writing dialogue for characters (in a crossover fanfiction)

Fanganronpa death order advice (DR96 spoilers for case talk)

Extra advice on choosing victims/killers

Tips for a larger scale crossover story (like UDG)

Putting together a fangan murder case

Execution planning

Overall chapter planning

[vonbabbitt]

hiya, long time listener, first time caller. what was the casting process like for tetro? do you have any advice for making a project of a similar scale? Im making an audio fangan and im in early development, but i feel like its necessary to start planning ahead for casting so im less in the dark when it comes to working with a large team.

CAST LAST.

there is no reason to bring in a cast until you are certain you will be able to provide them with CONSISTENT WORK. that doesnt mean casting once you have a draft for a prologue. it doesnt mean casting when youve got one chapter done and are planning to write the next one in a few months. CAST WHEN YOU ARE READY TO PROVIDE CONSISTENT SCRIPTS!!

have an organized space where you can speak to all of your VAs! we use discord for this because its something that most VAs tend to have these days. keep professional boundaries and dont expect anyone to be as invested in your project as you are just because they work there. your biggest fan is you! theyre there to do their jobs - if they get invested, thats a big bonus, but dont expect it automatically!

treat your VAs with respect - they're likely working for you for free, so remember that and treat them well! optimize your scripts so that they're as convenient as possible for your VAs to access!

as for the actual casting itself - CALLBACKS! you do not want to end up in a situation where youve cast someone only to realize they arent a good fit for the character. do callbacks and make sure the voice is exactly what you're looking for.

hope this is helpful!

[review-anon]

Chiba plz!

Never become Bubbles's favourite or else you will die/j

Either way opinions are under the cut.

In most Danganronpa games, whenever it be canon or fangan you always have one character who's wwaayyy shorter then the others, to the point they are child sized. Most of the time this character is female as while we have had short males in the past, they don't often get the same treatment from the fandom. In Goodbye Despair this is Hiyoko, in Killing Harmony this is Himiko, in Danganronpa Another this is Kanata, in SDRA2 its kinda tied between Iroha and the Otonokoji Twins and in Tetro Pink; its Chiba.

However I say Chiba is a rather darker take on the trope because while with the others its explained they haven't hit their growth spurt yet and at some point they do and become more "normal sized" in Chiba's case, I feel her small size is due to malnurutation. And this stunted growth I believe was done on purpose since we know Chiba has been acting since she was 8, so her mother, who I'm getting heavy Stage Mum vibes from, probably underfed Chiba on purpose so that she would remain small and be ready for the child roles. The fact she also has heavy makeup on to make herself look younger then she really is; means despite being the same age as the rest of the cast; she looks younger.

And this actually plays a big part into a character because part of Chiba's character arc in Chapter 2 is twofold, firstly she is tired that nobody takes her seriously and looks down on her like she is a child, when she isn't. And the second is even though Sasaki is dead and with that the absolutely moronic vent plan should be put to rest now, she still insists on climbing up the vent, even though its very clear she's struggling big time to do so. You think its a case of sunk cost fallacy, but I feel its more like stubborness then anything.

She forms a friendship trio with Hama and Harada quite early on, with Harada I think at first its because she likes the fact he has a tiger cub and enjoys playing with Sawa. But later on, when Harada opens up about the fact he used to be a bully due to the fear of nobody taking him seriously, I feel this deepened their bond as its the exact same problem Chiba herself faces, that she isn't taken seriously due to how cute and small she looks.

Its interesting she seeks advice from Mai about how to be taken more seriously, and while she gives honest advice that Chiba needs to act more mature and tell people she means business, Chiba obviously misinterepted it as "act like Hiyoko Sainoji" which as others such as Hama and Harada pointed out, is gonna make Chiba more of a target then anything.

Chiba and Hama is more interesting because I feel Hama was drawn to Chiba because she reminds him of his younger sister, who as we later find out has chronic illnesses and so he has to be mindful of her, but of course while the friendship is nice Chiba doesn't like the fact Hama treats her like a child at times, telling her to not do stuff she can obviously do. This I felt was a case of poor communication between the two, but and this is a absolute peak of Tetro Pink's writing, while in most situations this would lead to tragedy, eventually both Chiba and Hama realise where they dungoofed and do make it up in the end. I'm glad this happened before Chiba was killed or else that would have been so much guilt on Hama's conecious.

Now I know people are gonna be concerned that Chiba had Okazaki's reward and was packing heat this whole time, bringing mind those sprite edits many have done of Hibiki and Kanata with a gun, you know who you are, but I'm more concerned about the fact Chiba actually knew how to use a gun. My best guess she played as a child gangster or something in one of her acting roles and as such learnt to use firearms then, as some actors and actresses do like to do their own stunts. Still worrying that Chiba was carrying the gun at all times though.

Of course it seems being decleared as Bubbles's favourite character is the kiss of death since Chiba wound up as victim number two, to the point Timeline Anon decleared open session on whoever killed her. Naturally this was backpedaled when the truth came out about the case but the real tragedy was while Sawa would have always gone crazy and attacked someone, Chiba was probably the only person who could have been killed by her, as if Sawa attacked any of the others, they would have suffered injuries, probably really bad ones but wouldn't have died. But since Chiba was so small, she could be killed a tiger cub.

I also liked it that she had a interaction with Hiroaki and he actually gave her his number when he found out she doesn't have many friends prior to the Killing Game and has a busy worklife like he does. Again this is proof that none of the characters here are heartless and they have their moments of empathy. I know I give Okazaki some slack but the fact she kept herself so composed is probably a realisation that her moral code isn't compatable with everyone else's and is trying to keep the peace that way.

Overall Chiba is a very sweet character who tries to address some of the common tropes her type of character tends to have and has a very heartbreaking death. Nobody liked her death at all.

[illusionsofcontrol]

Hey guys, thanks for the kind messages you sent me. Sorry I couldn't respond to them individually, but I promise I did read them and really do appreciate them. I am feeling better now, though some days it's really just one step at a time.

As for THV, I am not going to give up on it for the time being. However, I have had to accept that it is going to take plenty of time and effort to finish and get over my "shame" of spending so much of my life on a silly Minecraft Danganronpa fic. I made the mistake of trying to rush through the process and "get it over with" which ironically only made my progress that much slower (kind of like cramming a square piece of clay into a circular hole and jamming it vs taking the time to mold it properly beforehand). I took the common advice of forcing myself to write a certain number of words per day, but that only resulted in rushed unsatisfying writing that I could never bring myself to untangle. Maybe it could work for others, but I don't think this way of writing is particularly great for a mystery novel that requires a lot of careful planning.

So... I'm not starting the planning from scratch but I am scrapping a lot of what I originally wrote. I've essentially had to figure out what on earth was making me so unsatisfied with the story, which was honestly quite a lot and I'll probably make a separate post to discuss some of that. But one by one I've been tackling these issues and making some major revisions, and now I am a lot more sure of how I want the story to go. There's still more things to work on in my head, but I'm going to take my time with it.

However! In recent months I have been using a wonderful site called 4thewords.com which essentially turns your writing journey into a fantasy adventure game with quests to complete, monsters to fight, and rewards for your writing progress. It's not free but it is only 4 USD a month and it has pushed me to write so much more than before because I'm someone who cannot resist Obtaining Achievements. I would really recommend it for anyone like me who wants to write but has trouble pushing themself to just sit down and do it. (I promise I'm not sponsored or anything I just really fucking love this site 😭)

Anyway, that's where I'm at for now. I can make no promises that I'll ever finish this story, but I am going to keep taking things one step at a time and enjoy the journey itself. I also want to say that I'm probably going to be pretty inactive on this blog as I don't really feel like talking about THV itself before it's done. I'm still down to talk about writing and dangan/fangan stuff in general though! But I hope you guys can understand my general silence here.

Thank you guys again for all your support (:

[mythgirlimagines]

hi! how do you manage writing a fanganronpa? like writing all the characters in. btw is there any way i could be dream anon?

Sure lol

I have general fangan advice here but writing all the characters in... I'll admit, it's tough. You have to figure out who would be more talkative while still fitting everyone in. Usually for me that means going back and seeing who's already spoken a lot in the last half page and trying to move to someone else. Sometimes that goes naturally, sometimes not.

No matter what, you have to have their personalities in line: who would butt heads with whom, who would joke around, etc. That makes writing the whole bunch so much easier when there are so many potential ways a conversation could go.

Hope this helps!

[tributetotheliving]

Oh the art is so good! And the ultimate talent is interesting, but vague. It sounds really cool, but it may need to be explained in more detail if it was a fangan game. 

For the design, I really like the coat and the boots. Maybe a bit too simplistic? It makes sense with the ultimate though, so yeah. With an ultimate like that, you can either go simplistic or full out, with a really complicated design, but I wouldn’t recommend that, cause it would be a pain to draw more than once. Some smaller details would be nice though, like maybe a design on the rim of the glasses? (I think those are glasses, sorry if I made a mistake)

Even if they can do basically anything well, maybe they have more specific interests or specialties? Then base their design off that :)

I like the highlights, just experiment with the way you draw the hair and settle with what you like best. Danganronpa doesn’t go full on detailed with the hair, but it’s not completely simplistic either. It’s a hard style to nail, but there are some things you can go after. 

The sweater is one of my favourite parts about the design...it just looks so fluffy! The shape language can say a lot about personality, so a soft, round shape gives off a shy/innocent vibe.

As for the role in Dgr, I couldn’t see them being one of the survivors, but they wouldn’t die immediately. Because you mentioned them being selfless, they would kill for someone else, but maybe end up being the victim...? Idk how that would work cause I’m not good at planning out stuff like that. Actually I haven’t really tried...maybe I should. All I’m saying is that they would have a really bomb class trial. 

I could also see them being manipulated by one of the other characters, or it would be interesting if they feel bad for the antag (whoever it is) and end up trying to cover for them. Just something I thought of.

Finally, this is just my opinion, and not a very valid one, but this was fun to do. Overall, it’s a great base for an OC! I wish you the best of luck with it. 

alright so-

I need a bit of help with my self-insert danganronpa oc

Here they are(its a crappy sketch but its a base for my character)

Traits-

-Name: Ren Ume

-Ultimate Jack-of-All-Trades

-Selfless but can't say no

-Enby with they/them pronouns

-Chaotic Neutral type personality

-Awkward but friendlt

What role would they play in the dr universe?(but not the protag)

like would they be a supporting character for the protag? the antag? the mastermind? the person who dies for no reason? a victim? a blackened?

Please help me with this....

[luckcycler]

Hello!

I really like your fanganronpa and would like to make my own fan project as well.

I have a few questions for you,i hope it's okay.

Is it okay to make fangan characters not japanese and the story not related to Japan at all?

Also a different universe without Hope's Peak.

Would it be alright to have a completely different art style for the character designs?

What about talents related to some countries national things,like art,music,etc?

Talents that are only known in one or a few countries and that is unknown to the rest of the world?

Talents and jobs that are not really popular or known in general.

Would it be okay to make a fangan in a different language if english is not your first language?

I hope to hear some advice from you.

Thank you in advance!

I don't own DR and I'm not Japanese so I don't think I have any higher power to tell people what to do with their fanganronpa projects

In my opinion you are allowed to do all of these, I don't see any problems as long as you do your research, especially with the nationality related talents If you have looked at my work, you can see that my art style is pretty different to the DR one, I think it makes it unique and easier for people to recognize your work. I do it with Heartbreak because I like to add a little bit of me in it despite it being a fangame

And I do have a couple of pretty niche talents (robot combat champion, scapegoat, etc.) as well as one European and a couple of half Japanese characters

When it comes to the language, if you are more comfortable writing in your mother language, I recommend you should go for that because the writing will be more natural and expressive it may not find as big of an audience (unless your mother language is Spanish or French I assume) but you will be more happier with your own writing English isn't my first language either, but I'm doing this project in that language because I'm a better writer in English than in Finnish due to practice

I hope this answered your questions!

[danganromps]

Um... Hey, I saw you giving people advice on their FanganRonpas, so I would like your input. I'm planning on making a fanfic where the students are trapped in their school (NOT Hope's Peak Academy, a similar school called Hope's Horizon High) and they have to kill to get out and I'm worried that it's too similar to Trigger Happy Havoc since it follows some of the same plot beats as it (Namely two students become friends after they have an endurance test in the sauna, (1/?)

girl that seems important to plot gets killed off in the first chapter, buff guy gets freaked out and accidentally kills someone in the second chapter.) Like obviously it's not all the same, I just feel like I'm going to be called a copycat if I post it online. What do you think? -Jess💝👩‍💻 (2/2)

I guess some people might say you’re copying but honestly... who cares? As long as you are writing something that you want to write, it’s going to be great!

With anything Fangan-related, there will always be certain aspects that have to mimic the actual games - it’s a necessary part of the genre to have students trapped somewhere having to kill to survive. 

That said, if you feel awkward about some aspects, look at changing them slightly. For example, the students becoming friends after an endurance test in the sauna - if you’re worried that’s too similar to THH, then think about changing the situation slightly: could they bond with a different type of endurance, such as running laps around the gym? Or maybe you could stick to the sauna and have one of them pass out, and have them bond when the other saves them?

But hey, even if you write the exact same game with different characters, you’re still writing something and adding to the many amazing stories that us DR fans come up with - and that’s pretty awesome!

-Alice

(hi, yes, I’m not dead)

[imaginefanganronpas]

Any advice on making a Danganronpa series? (As I fear it may end up like garbage.)😯

Well, I am still working on my own fangan on course, and I don’t know if I can offer much useful advice, but in my time of beta-reading stories for people and test-reading plots to see if they hold up to expectations, I can try and offer some things here.

The most important thing I noticed a lot of people do: Plottwists don’t equal a good story, alright? Don’t throw in plottwists just for the sake of it being surprising, especially if they don’t add anything detrimental to the story. Don’t make a character suddenly a psychopath when you don’t do anything with it later on, you know? Think good about what would and would not make a good plottwist and then think about how to add them in a believable way!

Second thing is characters. Characters are very important, because it is what the reader will latch onto and identify with. It is okay to make comedic characters or write characters over the top, as we have seen with Ishimaru it can be very entertaining to watch or read, but try not to make perfect characters or characters you just can’t hate because they do nothing wrong, characters like this are either boring or you hate them anyway, just because they have no flaws. Think very well about every character and try to come up with believable backstories that explains their behaviour, give them a few quirks only they do,  make them recognizable and let the characters talk with each other and show their potential! I can’t stress how important that is!

And last but not least, lets go with the setting. An elaborate plot is all well and everything, but maybe try to not make it too gritty or edgy. Danganronpa always holds a certain comedy, even when facing tragedy, even if it is being carried by the characters. And try not to make more of the plot  than it is. If they are in a simulation because something happened? Thats what it is. You can add onto it but don’t make it too unbelievable. The background plot is in my experience not AS important as the main plot, considering you never see the bbackground plot play out.

Okay, I hope that was in any way helpful? I am a bit in a rush, I would have written more otherwise, but I hope I could help you in some way! If you want more advice, feel free to ask again!

[dreadnought-despair]

aaa sorry if this makes your backlog of asks worse but!! what kind of advice would you give to people who want to make their own fangan? especially if they have little experience as an artist!

ur fine!! im sry i havent been getting around to the asks but im queuing some up today

i hesitate to give too much advice when i haven’t even gotten through the first chapter yet but

try writing samples of all your characters before you start the actual fic! i had rough concepts of everyone before i started, but a couple of the characters changed personalities entirely as i started actually writing their intros and one even got a complete backstory rewrite at the last minute :’D

you don’t have to do art to write a fangan! you can absolutely write a great story either way, so dont feel pressured into it just because other stories do it too. that said, it's a LOT of work but great art practice (character design, expressions, BACKGROUNDS) and i bet you’ll start seeing improvement in your work just from having to draw so much ;0

i use clip studio paint for almost all the art bc there’s so much inking and VECTOR INKING WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE im not even joking. if you want something free though krita is actually my main workhorse for digital painting. inkscape is what i use for maps, the interface is a lil strange but it’s the best free vector art program i know of

perspective guides are ur friend. i need to use them more often lmfao

don’t be afraid to go a little nuts with the character designs! this is dangan ronpa after all. youve got over a dozen characters of near equal importance and focusing on/exaggerating just one or two distinctive traits per character helps people remember who’s who. picking one color to consistently associate with each character helps with this too

write something YOU want to read! it’s really easy to get bogged down about notes and follower count and update scheduling but in the end what matters is that you are creating something new and you’re having fun doing it!

good luck and be sure to link me when you start posting!!

[a-student-out-of-time]

Hey, Mod, I have a question: I’m making a few fangans, however, some of their plot points WILL be spoiled in fanfics of mine. What should I do?

//Best advice I can offer? Write the story to the best of your ability, but also ensure that knowing those spoilers will not make the story weaker. You never wanna write a story where having knowledge of what's coming harms the overall impact

//Plus, not everyone is going to start with your fanfics, so it's best to approach it like it's their first experience with the story

//Hope that helps!

[danganronpa96]

I'm always endlessly impressed by how the murder mysteries are written each chapter. Do you have any tips, advice, or general info on writing murder mysteries for someone looking to write their own fangans?

Thank you both for your fantastic work!

Aww, thank you so much!! Honestly I wouldn't think I'd ever be that good at writing murder cases (I mean, just look at the first case from DR69), but with practice comes experience, I suppose haha.

In fact, I have given tips about putting together a murder case before, which you can find in this post here!

My extra advice on top of that? Do things you find interesting or fun to write, or something that could really spice the trial up as everything unfolds piece by piece. The more insane it is, the better.

[a-student-out-of-time]

In fairness was it not a passion project of his own? And while I can’t say I disagree with your critiques (I haven’t seen through the whole game), it is something that seems to have worked for him and for a lot of the audience. Whether you agree with said people or not, the quote isn’t 100% applicable. That said, you make a good point, and as a guy who wants to write a passion project himself but sucks at dialogue and “common sense”, I will definitely be considering that advice.

//It was a passion project, sure, but it was also something he made publicly available. I do the same thing with this blog, but I try not to let my indulgences take priority over good storytelling.

//The issue in SDRA2 isn't the self-indulgence or the passion project aspect, the issue is that indulgence taking priority over the characters and story and how he ultimately had to derail everything to make it work. As I've said before, Chapter 3 of SDRA2 is not only poorly-written, but feels like it's completely disconnected from the rest of the story. You can skip it and miss nothing that you don't learn later.

//LINUJ sounds very much a discovery writer, and that's completely fine for a lot of things. A lot of ideas can change over time, sometimes you have something new in mind and sometimes your goals change. That having been said, you shouldn't just throw characters or elements into a story just for the sake of having them.

//It helps to at least have a plan for each of your characters' arcs before your fangan starts. You shouldn't create them and have your only concrete idea for them being their execution, and then decide you'll work out the details from there.

//I feel like I'm an anomaly in the DR fandom because I don't really care that much about the murders or executions. I go into these games for the story and characters, and yes I know that many of them die, but it's ultimately a character-driven story. It should tell us about them and give us some sense of how their actions lead to these events. They should not feel contrived to make a particular murder or execution happen for the sake of happening.

//If LINUJ wanted to have a double blackened, he could've at least done so in a way that didn't prove detrimental to the actual story, and he could've made Hibiki, Kanade or whomever else feel like they're actually here for a reason beyond just dying.

//Passion project or not, when you make something like this publicly available and you build an audience, you have a duty to at least give them a quality product and satisfying experience in return for their support.

//It's the sheer wastefulness behind this self-indulgence that really bothers me. I think fans of Hibiki and Kanade deserve better than to be told that the characters they wanted to get invested in were ultimately never going to matter.

[a-student-out-of-time]

Nikei evil twist just not working for me because there almost no foreshadowing in chapter 1-3 like this dude was going opposite that his character must be do. Like he could be part of group and grath the trust of character so he could use them but no. He avoided them and for some reason was working with Setsuka who was smart enough to get that there chance that Nikei could manipulated her but she trusted him. Nilei evil twist feels justification of what shit going happened in chapter 4

//I know I've complained frequently about Chapter 3, but Chapter 4 honestly has a lot of similar issues. It at least feels like part of the same story, but it also derails a lot of characters, especially Teruya and Nikei, for the sake of being different from another fangan.

//Another bit of writing advice: while you should strive to be unique, don't prioritize being different from everything, be it other stories or audience theories. Your story being consistent with its own rules is more interesting and more important than it just being original.

[illusionsofcontrol]

Are there any tropes that you see in Danganronpa fan-projects/stories that you made sure to avoid?

Interesting question! I admittedly haven't exposed myself to many Danganronpa fan stories, so I don't know how widespread these tropes are, but here are a few that come to mind:

1. Trying to be "another Danganronpa story".

(Note that there are spoilers for every main DR game ahead.)

The original Danganronpa tends to follow a strangely strict formula with its plot and character designs. For instance, Chapter 3 always has two victims killed by someone who reveals their darker nature. The big beefy character always dies in Chapter 4 in some form of sacrifice. There's always a headstrong girl who shows a ton of cleavage for fanservice. There's always one asshole character who seems to enjoy messing with the protagonist and the rest of the cast. Chapter 5 always has the most confusing case orchestrated by someone who cannot be trusted. There's always a scene where the male protagonist peeks into the girl's bathroom (Why... Why.) (And yes, according to a friend of mine, at least one fangan exists with that kind of scene.) The list really goes on.

While this repetition isn't necessarily the worst, I feel like with v3 it became especially apparent and left me feeling tired of repeated tropes. But unfortunately, I think a lot of fangans feel obligated to follow the same formula too. Believe me, I completely understand why. I've definitely done the same thing and repeated some tropes I liked. But some fangans seem to want to follow Every Aspect Of The Formula and it just feels unoriginal and forced. Hell, even looking at fangan casts/sprites sometimes gives me this vibe. The art style/character designs look like Danganronpa down to a T and while that's very impressive... It personally doesn't spark my interest.

I do criticize Danganronpa a bit on this blog, but I completely understand loving the story and wanting to replicate the same feeling in one's own fangan. However, there are countless fangans out there and I believe the first step to standing out is breaking away from the formula. As I said earlier, this is something I have struggled with myself, but I am hoping to fix this more in the revamp.

To emphasize, I don't mean my thought process is "don't do anything similar to what happens Danganronpa". Some tropes are natural to have in a fangan; for instance, everyone having some level of memory loss or the outside world undergoing some kind of apocalypse. Some tropes are fun and harmless, like having a Monochromatic Mascot or the protagonist having an ahoge. My philosophy is moreso "do what I want to see in a Danganronpa story, not necessarily what a Danganronpa fan expects to see". And of course sometimes there's an overlap there, but it has to be what I really want.

That was a lot longer than I expected...

2. Gratuitous Gore

All of you who've read WH know I am not against gore or violent deaths. The original Danganronpa could get horrific and bloody too, especially in v3. But holy crap, I've seen some fangans become a complete gorefest. Especially the executions...

Obviously this one is more of a personal preference. But in my opinion, gore for the sake of gore just feels like a cheap way to evoke horror. If you do it too much, the effect wears off. I try to keep extreme gore to certain events. Also, I always found the appeal of executions to be in the irony and pure chaos, not the potential violence. While it is definitely tempting to go the gory route, I always try to think about if the execution is still relevant to the talent or the character's backstory. One thing I hope not to do with the revamp is underutilize the potential of the new talents' executions.

3. The Rat

This one is highly subjective, and I don't actually dislike this trope. A rat character is definitely a nice stand-in for the antagonist role before the mastermind is revealed. However, I'm personally a little tired of this trope. While this was also partially because the original characters were based off YouTubers, I found that I quite liked writing a fangan cast where no one really is an (intentional) asshole. Keeping MonoWither (and the Puppetmaster by extension) as the main asshole was fun and made them a stronger villain.

4. Having too many characters

I don't know if this was just in the DR/MCYT sphere but I definitely saw a bunch of fangans there with a TON of characters. We're talking like... dozens. Anything more than 18 to me feels excessive. It was hard enough juggling 16 at the start. If the author can't remember that many characters, the audience definitely isn't...

5. Hope's Peak Academy Setting

Again, not a bad trope and kind of inevitable especially for fangans. But I just didn't feel like having WH take place in that universe. Not only would I have to convert things to take place in a Minecraft world, but it just seemed restrictive. Having a different setting and world has been fun for me to develop!

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That's all I can think of for the moment. Sorry this turned out so long, but thanks for asking! Please remember that these are mainly personal preferences, not necessarily advice.