Fanfiction: A Beginners Guide

Hi
So I bet after my last post, you're wondering what is fanfiction?
Well last summer at the Youth Employment Solutions (YES) Program, I worked at the Seattle
Public Library. One of the things I did there was write a blog post for their teen blog, "Push To Talk"
I'm posting the guide so you aren't confused anymore!

A General Guide to Fanfiction
This guide is here for the more creative of you to help you with your fanfic writing. This is specifically just for fanfiction writing and all the steps that go into it.
List of Terms:
AU: Alternate universeBeta reader: Someone who is fluent in spelling and grammar as well as the fandom of choice who checks over your story before posting.Fic: Shortform of the word fanfiction.Fandom: Whatever you are a fan of, it always falls into a certain group. For example, Harry Potter is a rather large fandom.Cannon: Any fic that has a plot that follows the original story in some way.Fanon: Any fic that has a plot that is fan-created.Original character (OC): A character (usually a girl) that is written to be paired with a certain person that is already in the story. For example, Harry Potter: Severus/oc
If anyone has questions about abbreviations of a specific fandom, please comment!
Fanfic resources
The main website for fanfiction is Fanfiction.net, or more commonly referred to as ffn. Lots of fandoms have what are called lexicons or fanfic indexes with additional resources. Use a search engine like Google and type in your fandom and the word “lexicon” or “fanfic.”
Fanfic recs
A note about ratings: FFN has weird ratings. Most fanfic sites will have the standard ratings (like the ones on movies), but FFN has the following ratings:
k: kidsk plus: kids plusT: teenM: matureMa: mature adult (no longer used)
For the purpose of this blog, I am just going to post stories that have up to a T rating on ffn.
The only fandoms that I read are Twilight, Harry Potter and Les Miserables.
Harry Potter
Title: The Scribes ResurrectionAuthor: Cherry marsrating: TLanguage: EnglishMain pairing: Sirius Black/ocSummary: And they say the best stories are of a battle between good and evil. Yeah, right. Read between the lines, and you’ll find most interesting and importantstories are of those who were almost never there. Marauder Era to after Voldemort’s death.http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3884114/1/
Why I’d recommend this story: I tend to like longer stories because I like when people update and if the story is only 1 chapter long then it doesn’t give them much of a chance to update. I really like how the original character is portrayed. Salena Rivierra struggles with her handicap and the impending doom of the Dark Lord’s rise to power. A good read for those who like canon fics in the Harry Potter universe.
Author: whydoyouneedtoknowhttp://www.fanfiction.net/u/691439/whydoyouneedtoknowThis author is very good. She has a whole alternate universe to herself. It is rightfully named The Dangerverse after the main original character.
Twilight
There’s not a lot of good fanfics for this fandom out there, but here’s one I really like!Title: The Puppett MasterAuthor: GlitchInTheSystemRating: TLanguage: EnglishSummary: How was Jasper able to be locked up in a hotel room with Bella so long? Where did those four months go in New Moon? What’s eating Paul? What was Laurentdoing just standing in Edward and Bella’s meadow? Cammy knows.http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4153089/1/The_Puppet_Master
For more great stories, check out my profile atHttp://www.fanfiction.net/~nymphylupin92
So, I bet that helps doesn't it?
Thanks for reading!