Regarding the Art of FanFiction

FanFiction is a great test of your knowledge. You have to create a world off of one already created, pull the same magic, keep the characters within their same realm and personality, all while coming up with your own original plot and manipulating it to your advantage. If this process doesn't sound exhausting or something like a challenge, you need a little wake up call. Sure some author's say they don't like FanFiction, or they don't personally endorse it, but I do.

Wanna know a secret? Cassandra Clare, one of the best known author's of today's age has stated she got her start in writing from FanFiction. Everyone has a passion, so let it be known! There are amazing FanFiction's out there, because people put their heart and soul into keeping the magic of a book, movie, TV show, and more alive. It's not a matter of copying someone else's hard work, it's showing their love, willing enough to let complete strangers read their work and judge it.

There are sometimes things out there in the FanFiction universe, which may seem strange or out there, but that's the joy in writing. Have you heard Not Literally's new song "I Ship It!"? It's a cover of a song they love, "I Love It" by Icona Pop and within three minutes they describe a whole universe of people who aspire to be writers and more. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCDgJiPBxfI

FanFiction is not a crime, it's a passion. Besides, anyone who has read and predicted what they think might happen has been writing FanFiction, even if it never made it to paper. Don't ever be afraid to let your feelings or thoughts be known, it just shows you are willing to write, no matter the subject.

The Difficulty of Grammar

Grammar is one of the hardest topics to breach, especially since there are so many people out there who will get in your face if you have one little slip up. Most of the time they are accidents and if you are a Grammar-Nazi you don't need to report every mistake. I catch many mistakes I ignore because I understand people are human and are only trying their best, but at times, I can't hold back. It's those extreme times when I tend to get off on those who are not using their basic grammar skills.

It's time to learn the difference between:

Their, There, and They're

Your and You're

Accept and Except

Affect and Effect

If you looked right there and thought any of these, it's time to learn the difference: There's three different types? There's two types? There's a difference between them? I get those mixed up all the time!

Guess what! The difference between them is really simple and quite easy to fix. We'll start with the first set. Their- It is a possesive term and references towards the owner of the object, animal, etc. An example of a possible sentence: "That is their dog." There- Usually generalizing a place where something is or should be. Ex.: "They live over there and this is their dog." They're- It is the contraction term for "they are", which is catagorizing them as something, most commonly an emotion or saying where they are. Ex.: "They're on vacation, they live over there, and this is their dog."

Your and You're, the difference may seem small, but it is actually quite extreme. Your- a form of possesion over a(n) object, person, animal, place, etc. Ex.: "Is this your beach ball?" You're- the contraction version of "you are", it characterizes an emotion or future action. Ex.: "If you're going on vacation I think you will need your beach ball."

Accept and Except, another difficult one which is disastrous to get wrong. It's quite annoying to see a mistake like this in writing, especially when they are so different from one another. Accept- you are gratefully or grudgingly receiving something from another person, you accept the terms and conditions, you accept the Christmas Present. Except- you are excluding something. "I accept your terms and conditions, except for the part about not earning any money." "I want you to pick up everything on this list except for the mushrooms."

Affect and Effect, the two most commonly confused words in the English Language, as far as my knowledge goes. Affect- to pull something in one way or another, to have influence over. "The rain had an affect on her mood and hair." Effect- Cause and Effect is one of the easiest ways to put it, an action caused a certain result. "The atomic bomb had a horrifying effect on the people of Japan,"

Just be careful when using words like these, if you're not sure which on to use look it up, otherwise the world of Grammar-Nazi may be banging on your door.

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Writing Fact #1: Etc. stands for End of Thinking Capacity, which means you can no longer think of examples but you know they are there, so you leave them up to the reader to think of.