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If you’re an aspiring SouMi fanfiction writer, here are some tips to help you along. I’ve been writing SouMi fanfiction since I was thirteen, which would be three years. As such, I’ve come across some SouMi fanfictions that are both good, and not so good. So I’ve written this tutorial to help other fanfiction writers move along in writing Soujiro/Misao fanfictions.
You can also find some advice from other SouMi authors from Forever and A Day.
***
Beginning
Before you begin writing, you at least have to have a vague idea as to what you’ll be writing about. Some people write brainstorms, lists, or plotlines to help them, but others tend to just think of something and write it down. Both have been proven to be useful, so whatever you feel comfortable with is fine. After you’ve figured out what you want or other such details, you can move on.
For the actual beginning lines, it really depends on the person. Some authors write the scenery, some write dialogue, and some start off with a quote or piece of a song. Just pick whatever you want, but be careful on how you word it. Too many words in a beginning can set some readers off, but too few will do just the same. You have to “hook the reader” into wanting to continue reading. Without that hook, a lot of your could-be reviewers will probably click off the story.
Alright, so now we have the beginnings of a story, no onto the next part.
Body
Firstly, I want to point out two things for the body:
Grammar and spelling are your friend.
A story that is pleasing and easy to read is every reader’s dream fiction. You can write a good story without knowing what is what and where it goes, BUT, you have to have an understanding of the basics. Like, the difference between their, there, and they’re. You have to know how many lines in a paragraph are, and where to put the periods in that paragraph. You can’t have an entire eight-line paragraph without one period or comma. It disrupts everything, and chances are your readers will flat out skip your story. Click the spell check each time you’re finished with a chapter or one-shot, it will make things so much better.
The body is one of the most important parts. Like the beginning, the rest of the story has to hook the reader, and keep them interested. In a SouMi fanfiction, it is no different. You can’t have the same thing happen over and over again in your fanfiction. Soujiro and Misao can’t be doing nothing but fighting, bickering, and disagreeing through the entire story. It will loose the readers interest, and Soujiro isn’t really one to fight and bicker for that long….Misao is. And even she has her limits, I’d think. However, the same thing can be said for not enough things happening. If you write a story with the two just wandering around, talking, wandering and more talking, it may loose some people’s attention.
Some readers like little action, more dialogue and thought, but some like less of the two, and more action. You can’t appease both fans of it, but you can try to put a little of everything in it. Key word, try, you certainly don’t have to. Nonetheless, the buildup of lots of long awaited action can’t just happen with a snap. If you’re building a plot with a huge battle at the end, you can’t have the characters sitting around, and not doing anything, to having them seriously fighting the next chapter. Now, if it’s a minor battle, say, like Misao or Soujiro having to fight off a random group of two-bit bandits, you can have little or no build up.
If your story has a nice mixture of a lot of genres, it will most likely attract readers and keep them attracted. I’ve found this to be true in many cases. You can have drama, romance, action, angst, etc. etc in one story, not just two genres. But it can still contain one main genre, and a sub-genre, and keep many people happy. What a confusing, mixed up world we live in, right?
I think I’ve said enough about genres.
Now onto the presentation of the characters, and general do’s and don’ts of writing SouMi fanfiction.
Your story can have a great beginning, great grammar and spelling, and a good mix of genres. That is wonderful, but what about the characters? Most people I’ve talked to find that if a fanfiction has seriously Out Of Character…characters, but is good in everything else, tend to not like the story. Why? Well, many different reasons. When writing fanfiction, you have to remember that it’s someone else’s character that you’re writing about. Therefore, there are expectations as to how that character behaves and reacts to things.
But I’d like to point out, that no one can portray the characters perfectly. It’s just not possible! You can, however, portray them in a believable way. It takes some practice and reading, but you’ll learn.
Here are some examples of don’ts for writing Misao and Soujiro:
Don’ts for Misao:
1: Don’t have Misao gush, and gush, and brag, and gush some more about her “Aoshi-sama” the entire chapter or story. It is true that she does gush, but when have you seen her do it through all of one RK manga volume or episode? Her mind isn’t fixed on Aoshi alone. Sorry to burst your bubble, but she isn’t as immature as she seems. I’ve read a story where she did nothing but that. Needless to say, it got irritating, and the story itself was more than a little ruined by it. Have her gush a little, not a lot. Besides that, most SouMi fans think she only has a crush on him in the first place.
2: Don’t make her hateful or mean. Oh please, when have you seen her shun Kenshin? A lot of people say that Misao would never be able to befriend Soujiro because he was a “murderer” or “psycho.” This is just not true. The only person I’ve seen her shun or put down are Kenshins’ main rivals, like Shishio. The girl is practically compassion on legs. She insults people, yes, but I’ve never seen her actually shun or hate a character other than the villains. Which is to be expected, in all actuality.
3: Don’t make her a whiney little child. It is true that she complains sometimes, but who doesn’t complain? It is also true that she seems more immature than a lot of characters in RK. But take another look. Instead of laying in bed in denial like Kaoru, Misao actually went off to search for the lost Oniwaban. Instead of stepping down and letting an older person take control, she appointed herself as new leader of the Oniwaban; Although, you don’t want to make her too mature. If you do that, some readers may feel that she’s a different character, so try to balance things out evenly.
4: Don’t make her the constantly happy sunshine girl. She is happy and cheerful, but she has to have more emotions than just happiness and anger. Make her sad at times! Not constantly no, and don’t lay it on too thick, but make her have her little depressed moments. This way, it makes her more rounded out and deep; but as I’ve said before, don’t make her too sad.
Don’ts for Soujiro:
1: He isn’t the happy little kid with a permanent smile. I’m sorry, but it gets really tiring when I read story after story of his character like that. Like Misao, he does seem to be happy-go lucky all the time, but like her, he isn’t just happy. He has emotions, he isn’t devoid of them. He has them blocked subconsciously, which means he does have them. If you’re not sure how to portray him differently, I’d write him during or after his wandering years.
2: Don’t make him too friendly too soon. I’ve seen a few fics wherein Soujiro is this super friendly, really open person who hugs Misao in the first few chapters. In reality, someone in his situation wouldn’t act like that. People that have been physically abused almost always hate to be touched, that touch being friendly or not. It’s imbedded into their minds that physical contact means pain, so he wouldn’t go about hugging Misao very quickly. Not only that, he hasn’t been showed that affection (at least from what I’ve seen) so he therefore wouldn’t know much about it. All in all, if you make him become a little more physical as the story progresses, that’s the way I’d suggest going.
3: He isn’t a playboy. The first person who ever conceived this idea should be slapped, in all honesty. What do you think is more believable? The polite, calm Soujiro or the sly, two-faced playboy out for nothing but you-know what? The first one, clearly. You can make him a little romantic, I think, but not to an extreme where you butcher his character.
4: Soujiro isn’t going to be the Shaskpearean romantic. In an Alternative Universe story perhaps, but not so much in the RK world. I’m sure he would be caring and whatnot, but not the kind of person who gives roses, recites poetry and kisses Misao’s hand. If you do want to make him a little romantic, I would say make it very subtle when it comes to him.
Now that we’ve got the writing characters, I’m going to get to some advice from other SouMi authors from Forever and A Day to conclude.
1: How can you avoid common cliche's in SouMi fanfiction?
Common cliches? That's a pretty hard question, considering that all of
us have different perspectives on what is cliche. I haven't browsed
through the latest SouMi fics on the net recently (erm, chalk that
part out, /for a very long time/), but it tends to get annoying
whenever I come across SouMiAo triangles, simply because there are too
many of them and the plots are too predictable. Originality is an
important factor in writing, although I'm guilty of using overused
plots just for the sake of filling up space in my profile page. :)
2: How can you write the characters without making them too Out of
Character?
What irks me about Characterization is that you can't be too correct
in writing an introspection, considering that all of us are given the
opportunity to put ourselves in the character's shoes. You /can/ make
characters 'OOC' just as long as there is a logical reason WHY you
wrote them that way. It's a pity some people can't see that.
3: Tips for romantic fics involving SouMi.
Fluff is easy to write, but romance isn't. There's a thin line between
cute-sy fics and romantic fics. Again, you have to give reasons on why
and how it happens. Love just doesn't hit you on the head most of the
time. I agree with Katy Pool on what she said: "Romance needs to be
gradual, most of the time, and it needs to make sense." Writing a
SouMi romance would be like writing a cause and effect paragraph.
Light, fluffy fics are crowding the Soumi fan universe, so it would be
a nice change if there was a stark contrasting fic that would simply
stand out.
4: The common Sou/Mi/Ao circle--how to appease both fans?
You can't appease both fans if they don't want to understand you. It's
like dealing with flamers- there are people who give constructive
criticism and people who just flame for the hell of it. It's not your
fault if they don't like it. It's simply because their love for the
pairing is blinding them to the point that it hurts to even look at a
different perspective, or, in this case, pairing.
5: Good beginings. I guess that depends mainly on your genre. But one thing I do most of the time is to start with a line that could stay stuck in your head for days and I work with that line. Most of the time, I succeed. :3 But it's all up to you, anyway. or you could listen to a song or read a poem and just let your hands do the typing. 6: Good endings. I love endings which blow me away because of its simplicity and complexity at the same time. You don't have to end with a huge surprise or anything. One line can dictate the outcome of your story, and that's what people will remember your fic for. In the end, it's usually the last line that 'embodies' (for lack of a better term) your story. Think on that. :)