#flash fiction stories 500-1000 words

[authortoberecognized]

                    WRITER’S FORUM  FLASH FICTION

                        WEBSITES HELPFUL TO WRITERS This is a series of posts which, I think, will be beneficial to writers. But first, I would like to include my usual warning about using websites. Whenever you check a website you are, in my opinion and I talk from experience, being put on a list for sale. So, expect the possibility of being bombarded by ads from companies you, perhaps, have…

[writingquestionsanswered]

Hi. I'm the person who asked for help with the enemy of the week type thing. I was wondering if you could explain the different types of writting? (fanfic, novella, all that stuff)

Different Types of Writing and Stories

By Word Count: *

Drabble: 100 word story Micro Fiction: 50 to 500 words Flash Fiction: 2000 words or fewer Short Story: 1000 to 10,000 words Novelette: 7,500 to 20,000 words Novella: 20,000 to 50,000 words Novel: 50,000 to 120,000 words Epic Novel: 120,000 words or more * (estimates vary)

By Type:

Poetry: literature using figurative language and crafted verse Fan-Fiction: fiction written by fans of existing canon material *** Diary/Journal: personal account of life experiences Travelogue: personal account of one's travel experiences Fiction: prose literature describing imaginary events and people Non-Fiction: prose literature about factual events/subjects/people Creative Non-Fiction: creative writing used in non-fiction narrative Play: a script for a story to be performed on stage Screenplay: TV/movie script including acting and scene directions Technical Writing: professionally written technical information Critical Writing: personal reviews of a product like film/food/book Expository Writing: provides facts and research about a given topic

By Fiction Genre: Fantasy Sci-Fi Adventure Thriller Romance Historical Fiction Contemporary Children's Fiction Dystopian Mystery Horror Paranormal

*** fan-fiction can be any word count/genre

By Non-Fiction Genre: Memoir Humor Travel Self-Help History How-To Motivational Humor Personal Development Cookbook Art Family & Relationships

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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[flashfictionfridayofficial]

✨#FFF YOU | 200th PROMPT CELEBRATION ✨

Dearest writers and Flash Fiction Friday enthusiasts!

Today isn’t just any Friday. “It’s Flash Fiction Friday”, you might think and, yes, of course it is! But it’s even more! Today, we’re posting our 200th prompt. 200 prompts, 200 weeks: That’s way over 3 years—nearly 4 years even. We’ve been around for quite a while! But what would our prompts even be if there was no one to write for them? To bring them to life?

Exactly. Then it would just be three meaningless words each week.

Even if we had only 20 entries per week, that would mean that there are 4000 flash fiction pieces in existence that have been written for this event. If everyone had only written 500 words per entry, that would make 2.000.000 words written since. That is all YOUR work!

So when we want to celebrate our 200th prompt, we actually want to celebrate you.

One of our dragons whispered into our ears that every now and then, people write way more than our limit of 1000 words. Not just a little more. But whole universes have been created because one tiny flash fiction piece has given them the spark of inspiration.

Today, we want to shine a light onto those pieces that never make it onto our blog, even if they are, in some way, an inherent part of it.

Below you will find a link to a form that you may fill out if you have a piece, or even pieces, that only exist because we once posted three magic words. We will create a post especially for your piece and post it on our blog. It doesn’t matter whether it is a 5k short story or a published book, we will give it a shout out either way! 

But wait, wait! ✨

If you read this and think "But I have always kept to the limit, so I can't participate!"—fret not! Of course, we've thought of you too. To celebrate your creativity, we will shoutout your favourite FFF entry. Simply send us your post via DM, and we will give it a(nother) reblog to make sure many people can read your favourite FFF piece. <3

(This is an either/or situation. Either you participate by filling out the form, or you send us your fave entry via DM.)

Deadline: This celebration will be open for a whole week until May 19th!

Disclaimer: We do not claim ownership of the contents of the posts or the stories presented within. The contents of the stories and books are unknown to us and we do not take responsibility for it. All rights and responsibility lay with the respective authors.

Until then, take a look at last week's entries, and see you with a fresh prompt in an hour!

.

.

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The Collective <3

[nine-aetharia]

OPEN CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS

HELLO WRITEBLR. HERE IS A SMALL LIST OF MAGAZINES / ANTHOLOGIES OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS.

Legend:

PAYING - pay for accepted stories

NON-PAYING - currently not a paying market

CATEGORY - may be fiction, nonfiction, reviews, art, etc

GENRE - genres accepted

WORDCOUNT - wc limit

These have a deadline for their submission calls, so this post may not always be useful, but perhaps you can use it to keep an eye on these presses!

INKEDINGRAY

DEADLINE: MARCH 30, 2024

THEMED SUBMISSION: AFFECTION

PAYING | FICTION | ADULT OR YA SCI-FI OR FANTASY | UP TO 8K WORDS

FUSION FRAGMENT

DEADLINE: NOT STATED

PAYING | FICTION | SCI-FI, FANTASY | 2K - 15K

FLAME TREE PRESS

DEADLINE: APRIL 7, 2024

THEMED SUBMISSION: SUN RISING

PAYING | FICTION | SCI-FI, FANTASY, FOLKLORE, AND MYTH | 2K - 4K WORDS

FLAME TREE PRESS

DEADLINE: APRIL 7, 2024

THEMED SUBMISSION: MOON FALLING

PAYING | FICTION | SCI-FI, FANTASY, FOLKLORE, AND MYTH | 2K - 4K WORDS

FLASH FICTION ONLINE

DEADLINE: APRIL 22, 2024

THEMED SUBMISSION: WEIRD HORROR

PAYING | FICTION | HORROR | 500 - 1000 WORDS

There are a couple more litmags / presses open for submissions, but this seems like a good place to start with posting these (I'm currently building a spreadsheet because I just realized I have too many bookmarks lmao). You don't need prior experience of submitting stories for publication, you just need a submission-ready story. If anyone needs a template for the cover letter, I can post the one I've been using (thankfully short story letters aren't as mindmelting to craft as full manuscript query letters lmao so don't be intimidated!).

[the-corey-lynxx]

bruh I have to write 1500-2000 words worth of magical realism flash fiction for my creative writing class by wednesday 😭

My teacher hardly gave us any time, two periods of classwork and everything else homework, but I guess this is just a first draft so it doesn't have to be extremely good because it'd be edited later. But still. He gave us more time when we just had to write a 900-1000 word story, which some people didn't even finish.

I'm going to be writing 4 stories with 400-500 words each and so far I have written 250. At least it's an extremely long weekend because of Melbourne Cup day so I'll have plenty of time to write (but I also have art homework, which I won't have to finish until friday) 👍

but I did this to myself, because I could have chosen to do screen writing instead which would have been way quicker 😔

[thelov3lybookworm]

What's the deference between fic, one shot and drabble? I'm sorry I'm new to fanfiction world...

don't worry about it bestie! you can ask me anything you want whenever. Feel free t slide into the inbox 😉❣️

alright, so fic basically means fiction (for example fan-fic - fan-fiction)

it can be two types, a series or one shot

While a fic series has a storyline that spans multiple parts, a one-shot ends the story in only one part. If you have a story idea that can be told in one part without feeling incomplete, then you make it a one-shot

A drabble is just a one shot but very short. Like it is supposed to be done in around 100 words.

I saw a post that explained all the concepts very nicely, but i cant find the post right now. But I can tell you it was from the blog @/writingquestionsanswered. you can check that blog out if you need more information and tips!

though i copied a part of the post for personal reference

Here you go:

Drabble: 100 word story Micro Fiction: 50 to 500 words Flash Fiction: 2000 words or fewer Short Story: 1000 to 10,000 words Novelette: 7,500 to 20,000 words Novella: 20,000 to 50,000 words Novel: 50,000 to 120,000 words Epic Novel: 120,000 words or more

[thehorrortree]

Deadline: January 21st, 2024 Payment: $100 per story Theme: 500-1000 word speculative fiction stories Hello fellow writers and readers, this is Rebecca Halsey, the new publisher for Flash Fiction Online. We are coming into 2024 with a decently sized queue of literary stories and reprints. Therefore, for our January 2024 reading period, we will only be accepting original speculative fiction. We will consider fantasy, science fiction, horror, and all the fabulous cross-sub-genre goodness within that lot. As is our custom, we will be open until the 21st of the month unless the 425 submissions cap is reached. We look forward to reading your stories! SUBMISSION GUIDELINES We are looking for complete 500- to 1000-word stories with crisp prose, well-developed characters, compelling plots, and satisfying resolutions. We want stories that engage our minds and emotions. We publish across many genres, including speculative (science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and horror) and literary fiction. For more information on the type of stories we enjoy, please read a few issues and check out our "What We're Looking For" page. Please note, that for January 2024, we will be accepting speculative fiction stories only. SUBMISSION WINDOW: We will be open to submissions on January 1st, and until January 21st, or until our 425 submission cap is reached, whichever comes first. FORMATTING: Please format your submission in a double-spaced, 12pt Times New Roman or other serif-type font (NO Courier), with standard 1" margins and black font on an unadorned, white background. No PDF submissions.  No Images and no graphics. ANONYMOUS SUBMISSIONS: Do not include your name, address, email, or other identifying information on your manuscript (header, byline, file name, etc). SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: For the January 2024 reading period, we will accept simultaneous submissions. MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS: You may submit only one original story to the January 2024 reading period. AI-GENERATED SUBMISSIONS: We are committed to publishing stories written and edited by humans. We reserve the right to reject any submission that we suspect to be primarily generated or created by language modeling software, Chat GPT, chat bots, or any other AI apps, bots, or software. We reserve the right to ban submissions from accounts, emails, or users who we believe or suspect have submitted AI-generated content. QUERIES: You can check on the status of your submission at any time via your Submittable account. If, after 8 weeks, your submission is still marked as "in-progress," you may email flashfictiononlineeditor@gmail.com with QUERY in the subject line for an update on its status. (Submissions sent to this address will be deleted unread.) COMPENSATION: Our 2024 rate is $100 for each original story. We are unable to provide personal feedback or critiques. We do NOT accept resubmissions of stories previously rejected by Flash Fiction Online, unless requested by the Editor. We will NOT consider stories that promote or affirm hatred, prejudice, or violence toward any group of people based on age, race, nationality, religion, sex, gender, political affiliation, disability, neurodiversity, or other social identity. Love what we publish? Flash Fiction Online is funded entirely through the generosity and support of our readers! Check out our Patreon here. Via: Flash Fiction ONline.

[razieltwelve]

Sigh...

I enjoy several web serials, and I appreciate the format for being what it is. However, there are times when I just get frustrated with it.

A story that I have enjoyed has gone from having 5000 word chapters less frequently to having far more frequent 500-1000 word chapters, and I genuinely think it is killing the story.

You see, a common phenomenon for web serials is having each chapter end on a cliff hanger that encourages you to go to the next chapter. In fact, you’ll often find web serials written in a way that turns each chapter into its own little thing with stakes, conflict, and all of that.

That strategy can work if the chapters are long enough, but once they get below a certain size, it just... it doesn’t work. If you’re having to establish excitement, stakes, and cliffhangers in every chapter and those chapters are only 500-1000 words long, it rapidly becomes a mess. There’s little space or opportunity to build an overarching plot or provide more details or evocative prose. Character development often goes out the window.

Now, I’m not saying it’s impossible to make it work. I’ve seen it done. But the skills needed to write good chapters that are about 5000 words long are very different. You’re basically going from being a specialist in writing short stories to someone who has to write vignettes or flash fiction. The skillsets have some overlap but are not identical by any means.

The more cynical part of me notes that the change to chapter length coincided with a bold claim that everyone who signs up for the Patreon can read ahead by 10 chapters. It is, after all, very much easier to keep 10 chapters ahead when each chapter is so much shorter.

[topaz-eyes]

Ahahaha you know what? I will die on this hill.

A drabble is a specific structural form of fiction: 100 words exactly, excluding titles. The meaning of a drabble lies in the challenge of telling a complete story in exactly 100 words. It means the writer has to shape the story to fit the constraint. It forces the writer to consider what are the most important details of a story, and leave out anything that doesn't serve it. So writing a drabble is like writing a precis in a way. (And we do this for fun!)

The term for a short fic 1-1000 words long is "flash fic" or "ficlet." All drabbles are flash fics. But not all flash fics are drabbles. 500 words is not a drabble. 1000 words is definitely not a drabble. People who tell you otherwise are imho misinformed because they've overlooked the entire challenge part of cramming that fic into exactly 100 words.

Some people may (grudgingly) accept exactly 200 words as a double-drabble, or 50 words as a semidrabble. But the more words you're allowed, the more room you have to work with. Once you're over 200 words you're writing a regular flash fic. There's nothing wrong with that! Just don't call it a drabble if it's not 100 words.

(Sure, some stories can be told in under 100 words, but they're not drabbles either. They're flash fics. Or they're considered their own format, like six-word stories or three sentence fiction.)

Basically, compare writing drabbles to poetry. All sonnets are poems, but not all poems are sonnets. There are sestinas, villanelles, limericks, ghazals, ballads, haiku, and dozens of other poetic forms with specific rhyme, meter and subject/length/stanza requirements. The point of writing these poetry forms is to meet the challenge. Just like a drabble for fiction.

just to cause chaos and mayhem and also because if this breaks containment i'd like to see what the consensus is, without further ado...

i am not responsible for any friendships broken over this, btw, lol

[writer-realm]

Writing Commissions

First time trying commissions!! Send me an ask or message here on Tumblr (not anon) or a message to me on discord (my username there is mysticalanimallover)

Will write: -Flash fiction -Poems -Short Stories

Prices: -100 word drabbles & Poems: $3 -Proof-reading or editing your work: $5 per 500 words (This includes feedback and any possible changes that I might suggest)

I accept payment through both Venmo: @Mysticalanimallover Cashapp: $trinity20001048 Ko-Fi: mysticalanimallover

For 1000 or more words my prices are $10 - 1000 word $15 - 1500 words $20 - 2000 words $30 - 3000 words

What I Won’t Write: -any type of nsfw content -heavy amounts of violence -anything involving real people -anything involving dark themes

I reserve the right to say no if I’m not comfortable with the topics/scenarios I’m being asked to write.

For examples of my writing you can find them here at https://www.tumblr.com/writer-realm/tagged/original%20writing

[aafranmayazine]

If I want to apply for both the regular writer position and the love letter position, how would the app there work? I know that there's the flash fiction, obviously, but the other two submissions have the same parameters in both positions. Would it just be four submissions then (two under 3k, one required complete story, one required complete flash fic) orrrr six in total? Is applying for both even allowed?

Thanks a ton! I'm really excited.

Hi there anon, thank you for your interest and a great question!

So, applying for both is definitely allowed, however, you will only be chosen for one of the two roles.

In terms of applying for both, as long as you hit the unique parameters for each role across all three of your submissions, that is all you will need. (But feel free to put more examples in your portfolio, if you would like.)

To break it down, for both regular and love letter writers there is the parameters of:

all samples must be no more than 3000 words

one of the samples must be a complete story with a beginning, middle and end

one samples must focus on either Maya or Franziska as a character.

And for love letter writers there is the additional parameter:

one of the samples must be a complete story between 500-1000 words.

Here is two different examples of how you might apply for both roles at the same time.

Applicant 1 submits 3 samples:

An original flash fiction story. (Satisfies the flash fiction requirements.)

A complete 3000 word FranMaya ship fic, which functions as its own story. (Satisfies the complete story requirement, as well as the focusing on Franziska/and or Maya requirement.)

A 3000 word excerpt from a long fic they wrote that they feel best exemplifies their writing style, prose choice and character work. (Since all other requirements are met, and they make sure to choose the best 3000 words from their long fic, this sample could be from any fandom, or an original work or Ace Attorney but focusing on another character.)

Applicant 2 submits 3 samples:

A complete flash fiction fanfic about Maya Fey. (Satisfies the flash fiction requirement and character focus requirement.)

A complete 2000 word FranMaya fanfic.

A complete 3000 word NaruMitsu fanfic. (Both 2 and 3 satisfy the complete story requirement, and allows flexibility to show off different aspects of their writing style.)

These are just two examples, there are other combinations that you could use that still satisfy the requirements of both applications.

We hope these examples makes sense.

Alternatively, if it's simpler you can apply for each role separately, just leave a note for the mods that you have done so.

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to ask!

And thank you so much for all the support!

[jamesaver]

21st Century

21st Century Literary Genres

Comic Book

Digi-Fiction

Graphic Novels

Manga (Japanese word for comics)

Doodle Fiction

Text-Talk Novels

Chick Lit or Chick Literature

Flash Fiction

Science Fiction

Blog

Creative Non-Fiction

Hyper Poetry

Comic Book

-A comic book is an illustration-based extract from a longer serialized tale.

-Archie Comics, Marvel Comics, and DC Comics are examples of well-known comic book companies.

Digi-Fiction/Triple Media Literature

-Contains three types of media: a book, a movie/video, and an online website.

-Students must navigate, read, and watch in all three modes in order to understand the complete tale.

Graphic Novels

-Narrative work in which the reader is told the tale through the use of comics.

-All of the main elements of traditional books may be found in graphic novels.

-It features a distinct beginning, middle, and end point, as well as a primary plot, character development, and personal journeys.

Manga (Japanese word for comics)

-Manga is a Japanese term for comic books.

-It is a general phrase in the English-speaking world for all Japanese-published comic books and graphic novels.

-As an artistic and narrative technique.

-Ameri-manga – sometimes used to refer to comics created by American artists in manga style.

Shonen - Boy’s Manga (Naruto, Bleach, One Piece)

• Shojo – Girl’s Manga (Sailor Moon)

• Seinen – Men’s Manga (Akira)

• Josei – Women’s Manga (Loveless, Paradise Kiss)

• Kodomo – Children’s Manga (Doraemon, Hello Kitty)

Doodle Fiction

-Literary presentation in which the author uses doodle writing and drawings, as well as handwritten images, instead of regular typeface.

-Drawings improve the tale by frequently providing hilarious parts that would be absent if the pictures were not present.

Text-Talk Novels

-Blog, email, IM format narratives Stories are told almost completely in dialogue simulating social network exchanges.

Chick Lit or Chick Literature

-Is a subgenre of literature that confronts difficulties of modern women in a funny and cheerful manner.

-Chick it usually has a female heroine whose femininity is extensively thermalized in the storyline.

Flash Fiction

-It is a fictional writing form that tells a whole tale with 500-1000 words.

-There is no universally agreed definition of the category's length. It may be anything from a single word to a thousand.

Six-Word Flash Fiction

-a six-word story allows a reader to consume an entire narrative in just a moment's time.

Science Fiction

-Is a speculative fiction genre that deals with innovative themes such as futuristic science and technology, space travel, time travel, faster-than-light travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life.

-It has been referred to as a "literature of ideas" since it frequently investigates the potential ramifications of scientific and other discoveries.

Blog

-A web log is a website that contains small articles called posts that are updated on a regular basis.

-Some blogs are written by a single individual and include their own thoughts, hobbies, and experiences, whilst others are published by a group of people.

Creative Non-Fiction

-Also referred to as literary nonfiction or narrative nonfiction.

-A type of writing that employs literary methods and styles to generate factually correct tales.

-In contrast to other non-fiction, such as technical writing or journalism, which is likewise based on true facts but is not created largely for the sake of its skill.

Hyper Poetry

-Hyper Poetry is a type of digital poetry that use links and hypertext markup.

-It can either feature fixed words, phrases, lines, and so on that are given in a random order but sit on the page in the same way that traditional poetry does, or it might include sections of the poem that move and/or mutate.

[moonlight-fox]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with flash fiction. If under 1000 words - Hell, if under 500 words - is the right length for a story, let it stay that length rather than padding it out.

I might have to write a complete "Worf refuses to believe Garak was / is a spy" fan fiction now. An idea for it has been had

By "complete," I probably mean under a thousand words, but still. Plus side, I can naturally include and expand upon previously written Worf quotes.

[eleanorawritesfantasy]

Each Friday I’ll be posting flash fiction between 500 and 1000 words. Every piece takes place in the world I have created for my novel-in-progress, a continent known as ‘Olrion’. While none of the stories will relate to the narrative of my book, I am doing this exercise to expand the lore and build the world in which they take place.

This week, I took the cue of a false confession from @flashfictionfridayofficial’s prompt.

CNs for violence and torture

I spat blood at his face. It splattered across his eye, making him blink and jolt his head back, grimacing in disgust. It earned me another thwack around the face. I rolled my head back and laughed. He really thought this is the worst night I’ve ever had?

I grew up in Krügz, a poor little village in Dwarfesbörg. Families shared one room and we ate rats and stale bread for most of our meals. Even the children went to work in the mines, hauling out the ore that Jügular had apparently blessed us with, for the glory of all dwarvenkind. That’s what the priests told us at the weekly prayer sessions, anyway. My aching back from the age of five didn’t feel all that glorious to me.

Another hit brought me back into the room, this time to my gut. I laughed once more and the man roared with anger. It delighted me to see him so pissed off. I only had to hold out a few minutes longer before I spoke. Then it would sound convincing.

I was approaching 29 now, you see—not quite an adult, but I still felt much older than a child. Much, much older than my younger sister, who was 14, beard just beginning to grow in. Rarni deserved a good life, a life better than mine, a life where she didn’t have to live surrounded by the smell of shit, where she didn’t have to toil away so that the Council of Five could make their poxy offerings each year, where she didn’t break her back so that the nobles on the Isles of Wey could have their jewellery. She deserved gems herself, but instead she had to settle for the twinkle in my eye when I looked at her.

My head was yanked back by my hair, forcing me to snap my neck back and stare the man ‘questioning’ me right in the eye. I grinned at him with teeth now missing, blood dripping from too many areas of my face to name. I could feel my right eye swelling shut.

“You gonna talk now?” the man barked.

“Sure you don’t want one more hit for good luck?” By the look on his face, he wasn’t impressed with my jibes. “Fine, fine, you’ve got me. I’ve had enough. Of course it was me who stole the nugget”.

That fucking nugget. No bigger than your thumbnail, it was, although I do have to admit the gleam of the gold was something to behold once you got the chance to properly look at it. I found it under the rags that Rarni slept on, right where her head would lay. I silently took it, turning it round and around in my hands, deciding what to do next.

The marketplace was to be my stopping point. Security was on high alert in the area as usual, but they were more twitchy since the mine reported the theft. I gripped the nugget in my dirt-stained hands and made sure that I was going to time everything right. It was a reverse heist of sorts. It must’ve been a similar feeling for Rarni when she made her little theft.

As I passed the guard, the one who would later come and beat me senseless for my ‘confession’, I made sure to trip, the nugget flying out of my hand so as to land at his feet. He looked down and back up, and then did the same once more. A terrible sneer swept across his face as he stepped on my hand whilst I was still laid out on the floor.

“You’re fucking nicked”, he said.

“Guess the game is up”, I replied.

The confession was brought out to me, already written, although I couldn’t read a word of it anyway. I marked the paper with an X—much bigger than they wanted me to; a final act of resistance—and stared forward with a slight smile on my face.

It was to be 13 years of hard labour, but I figured that I was used to that anyway. I would’ve paid any price, including the headman’s axe, to save her. I just hope my mother doesn’t weep too much over her precious firstborn being hauled off for a show trial before our separation for a baker’s dozen’s worth of years. Perhaps one day Rarni will even forgive me for taking away her little bit of treasure, the only smidgen of beauty that she possessed—bar her own, which she would not recognise—in an otherwise bleak existence.

I had done my duty as a big brother well. And to do that, I would have walked through fire itself. Thank fuck it’s only going to be breaking rocks, though, as nobody wants burned feet.

[write-baby-write]

Fanfiction 101: The Basics

Fanwork is a crazy thing because it can be fun and frustrating at the same time. Obviously, it’s fun because it’s a way to express passion about something. But it’s also a demanding activity. To create something good, it’s crucial to have the skills to do so. Writing fanfiction is no different from any other form of fanwork: it takes time, a lot of effort, some basic knowledge and some specific knowledge. But for now, I’ll stick to the basics.

When it comes to fanfiction, an author has to consider a few topics during the creative process. The most common ones are genre, length, characterization, relationships among characters and how similar the piece is to canon. Let’s talk briefly about each one of them.

Genre

It sets the tone of a scene or an entire piece. Aside from the ones used on literary world, fanfiction also has fluff, smut, humor, angst, hurt/comfort, dark and vent. Yes, there are others, but don’t forget that we’re talking about setting the tone of a story.

One thing some writers do a lot in one of the fandoms I’m part of is to add the genre in the warnings. I could ramble a lot about the misuse of warnings and what I think about revealing the gender of a story, but I would digress too much from the basic notions of fanfiction. This is a subject for another post.

Length

The length of fanfiction is determined by its word count, which is precisely what makes this metadata part an important information in a fanfic. By definition, any form of writing, even if it has just a few words, qualifies as fanfiction. Each story has its own length and it can have as many words as the author see fit.

Dribble: 55 words long

Drabble: though some might say anything under 1000 words is a drabble, its definition specificies that drabbles have exact 100 words.

Double drabble: 200 words long

Trabble/tribble: 300 words long

Pentadrabble: 500 words long

Flash fiction: 500 words or less

Ficlet: any work with word count between 100 and 1000 words (A.K.A. what people usually call drabble 😏)

Short fic/short story: word count between 1000 and 17500 words

Novella: word count between 17500 and 25000 words.

Novelette: word count between 25000 and 40000 words.

Novel: over 40000 words.

Long fic: though the concept may vary, works with more than 10000 words are considered long fics. It usually has a complex plot and multiple parts/chapters.

Characters and Pairings/Relationships

Not every story has one, but on Choices fandom, those are the things that usually draw fans to a certain book. Fanfic authors can either keep the essence of a character (canon compliant) while writing them or give them different traits writing them out of character. Though it’s common to find fics mentioning the presence of OOC characters on the header because some of us don’t appreciate significant changes in characterization, it isn’t mandatory.

Pairings refer to any characters in romantic and/or sexual relationships. Though the original concept implies romantic relationships between two characters (one true pairings), some can extend its meaning to polyamorous relationships (OT3/4, moresomes). When we think about relationships in fanworks, it’s important to mention a few concepts:

Main pairing: a relationship that exists in canon and is popular in the fandom (e.g. Liam Rys x MC, Damon Salvatore x Elena Gilbert, Peter Parker x Mary Jane Watson);

Rarepair: a relationship that may exist in canon, but isn’t popular in the fandom (e.g. Hana Lee x MC, Jeremy Gilbert x Anna Zhu, Steve Rogers x Natasha Romanoff)

Crack ship: a relationship created by fans and it only exists in fanworks. It includes pairing up main characters with non-romanceable characters, relationships between love interests, love interests and non-romanceable characters, relationships between non-romanceable characters (i.e. Drake x Olivia, Klaus Mikaelson x Stefan Salvatore, Steve Rogers x Bucky Barnes)

Fanfiction which doesn’t include any sort of romantic or sexual rellationships are known as gen. They’re not so popular in our fandom, but I love them. I mean, who doesn’t like a good friendship or family fic?

Canon compliant x Canon divergent

This is probably the best part of writing fanfiction in my opinion. So many things can be done if you explore canon complaint stories like writing missing scenes to give further explanations about a event or character’s behavior, fix-it fics to adapt the scene to your liking, flashbacks, future fics and so on. On the order hand, canon divergent stories are the ones because they allow a fanfic author to be creative and imagine those characters in a new setting. The possibilities are endless when you write an alternate universe version of a story.

But much like characterization, some people are only interested in stories based on the original setting. It’s important to give a heads up to your reader if your story is canon compliant or divergent.

That’s it for this week! Did I miss any topics? Do you have any suggestions? Let me know by commenting, reblogging or sending me a message/ask.

Happy writing/reading!

[thehorrortree]

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