#first Teba doesn’t get any spoken lines; and now this?!?!

[gio-scrabbles]

Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom spoilers…

I’ve just arrived to Goron City and I can’t believe Yunobo is a capitalist! What happened to my boi?!?!

[botwstoriesandsuch]

Hey so I wanna start writing botw fanfiction of my own, and I was curious if you had any tips for writing for this fandom?

I don’t know what gave you the impression that I am qualified to give advice, but I will try!

If you have the game, I find it helpful to actually go to the places in Hyrule that you’re writing about, so you can get a sense of what everything looks and sounds like, and even gather context clues of what it smells and feels like. Plus, to make sure the tone of my whole fic is consistent, I usually put up music from the BOTW OST or whatever music fits. Then I couple it with the website A Soft Murmur for any other world building sounds, like fire, wind, rain, birds, or whatever

You can use the website Guide of the Wild to find any other details whether on the map or compendium if you don’t have the game. And just searching up images or gameplay works too

Take advantage of the great world of botw to pace your dialogue! My biggest struggle (and pet peeve that I can fall into myself) is dialogue pacing. Sometimes it’s appropriate to write blocks of text for context or exposition purposes, but for regular banter I always like to put a few sentences in between to flesh out the actions and scenery. This person says that, as the wind blows their hair into their face. That person responds, while running their fingers on the morning dew caught on the blades of grass. Stuff like that

Sometimes I’m tired of switching between the character’s name and “he/she/they” so to spice it up, I use “The Zora” or “The Hylian” (etc. etc.) as an alternative. Although, this only works if you’re working with two different races, and it ultimately depends on how your fic flows

Do the characters that you’re most familiar with or you feel you understand the most. Don’t feel obligated to shove Zelda in just because they hang out with Link, if you don’t know how you’ll use her. Unsure of how to write for Sidon? Then don’t! I promise you that a fic is 102% better when you write two characters really well, rather than shoving in a few popular ones for the heck of it. It’s you world, do what you want.

More under the cut:

Then again, if there’s no way around it and you need to write for a character and you don’t know, first I’d rewatch all cutscenes with them on youtube. If that doesn’t give you ideas, try the Creating a Champion book (There is a free pdf online, and it’s also great for references and research/world building in general) and if you can’t get anything from that, just search up headcanons and fics about that character from other good works. Luckly, most of Nintendo characters are crafted around a simplistic trait, and are made more complex off of that starting point. Sidon is kind supportive shark prince, Revali is an asshole with a heart of gold, etc, etc, so just build off of whatever character traits you have. 

And again, you’re the one writing the fic, so honestly you could write them however you want. Write for yourself first, rather than writing to appeal to canon

Dialogue has so much room for characterization and take advantage of it, especially for Nintendo characters because again, they’re usually written around a central character trait. Revali uses long, complex words to show off, Mipha is typically more soft spoken and polite. So did your character “say” something? Or did they “enunciate their words,” or maybe they “whispered tentatively while avoiding their gaze.” Did they say “That’s great,” or did they say “Extraordinary! Fantastic! Truly this is a marvelous event!” Or maybe they said “Who would have thought? I certainly didn’t expect something so monumental coming from you.” 

I don’t even have to say the characters but you know instinctively what kind of characters were speaking for those last two, just from the connotation and diction alone. Use that! Use your word choice to convey character!!

Now this might just be the screenwriter in me speaking, but I usually frame my scenes using the upside-down triangle method. LFTS explains it really well in this video, and you should just follow them in general. (Also the youtube channel hello future me has some fantastic videos on writing so follow them too!)

Anyhow, the upside-down triangle or funnel method is basically the principal that the first line of a scene establishes the broad premise that the scene moves around, and the last line of the scene establishes the point and purpose. (Now this doesn’t really work that well for one-shots on cute fluff or whatever, and it’s more of your multi-scene things, but there are a few things you can still apply!) 

It doesn’t have to be your literal first line or last line, but essentially it breaks down into a question and an answer. The first part of a scene should establish a question, and the stakes. Why are your character’s here? What do they hope to gain? What is preventing them from such? What is there to lose? Then the scene ends with the funneling point, purpose, or answer. At the end of the scene, they realize their feelings despite the obstacles, or they decide they have to go rescue someone, or maybe nothing about their attitude changes at all, despite of something.

See using this method I’m able to focus on the purpose of a scene, I can frame my dialogue and banter to establish characterization and motives easily. I can make sure that every detail and action serves to further the scene’s ultimate goal. I can pace everything to my liking, to make things more dramatic, tense, or comforting, and I can cut out anything that isn’t needed

When you follow this, it makes the payoff, the resolution, or the tragedy all the more satisfying. This kiss is all the better when it’s framed as the perfect funnel point after a scene centered around the premise of their pining, or banter. The angst hurts all the more when your entire scene is focused on building tension and growing insults that dance around the question of “why?” Scenes should either move towards, or away from a certain goal or point. If nothing changes, if it affects nothing, and it doesn’t add to world or character building, scrap it.

Also write your scenes out of order if you must! You have all those great ideas for dialogue and cute fluff or whatever, but you’re not at that point yet? Write it down!! You will forget, and you will regret it. Write the entire ending if you must, even if you haven’t finished the first scene. In fact, you should actually do that because again, the funnel/upside-down triangle method means that the ending is a very important part. So yeah, when you get that idea just write it in the margins, don’t stop the flow of your brain!

I act out my scenes. It’s stupid but it works for me. I say the words outloud as I talk down to the dishwasher. This way I can also get a sense of the body language, whether it be for Revali, speaking to someone with his wings tucked behind his back, or Sidon who always expresses his gratitude with grandeur arm motions!

And I keep using Revali and Sidon as examples because foils!!! Botw characters are so perfect for foils oh my gosh. Foil your characters, please. If you’re using a side character it’s so great if they are also a foil. I already mention Revali and Sidon being opposites, but similar things can be done with Yunobo and Link, or Zelda and Mipha. Foils don’t mean that an entire character is the opposite of another, just a certain trait. Teba and Revali are similar in their attitudes, but still work as foils when talking about Revali’s flamboyancy to Teba’s stoic and grim demeanor. 

Final point, if you didn’t enjoy writing it, if you wrote to please someone other than yourself, you did it wrong.