Chapter Text
9: Important Information
For this chapter, let’s talk about the parameters of information you can share in your work.
Flashback to Chapter 8: Provide Warnings , the importance of putting warnings was discussed, which includes trigger warnings, content warnings, and some additional warnings like fandom genres and ships.
Moving on, I want to tackle the details you can add within the story.
First and foremost, the readers should be able to see the plot in the story and not just in the story description and summary. They should be able to tell when the introduction ends and when the actual story begins, especially for stories with specific plots, where there is a clear mission, not like AUs that are simply canon parallels.
(For reference, Boku no Hero Academia¹ has a lot of fanfics with a non-specific plot, particularly canon re-writes with some minor alterations like: Quirkless Midoriya Izuku, Support Course Midoriya Izuku, Vigilante Midoriya Izuku, and more.)
But keep in mind that the story should still only cover what is within the parameters set by the description in accordance to Chapter 5: Don’t Overdo It .
Then, we have the important details that will allow the audience to keep track of the story’s progress, such as information that shows how close the mission is to being fulfilled, whether the story is picking up or just getting started, and other cues that will let them know how much longer they need to wait for the end.
While staying within the reader’s expectations is nice, however, sometimes authors want to add plot-twists and surprise readers.
Sure, readers should be warned from every little thing, so how can we stay informative while avoiding spoilers at the same time?
This is where foreshadowing comes in.
My favorite part in reading is seeing these details that may seem to matter little at first, but would later on be a crucial part of the story, especially when it’s said in passing and not in an ominous kind of way that it’s so obvious it’s important data.
If asked, I’d even say that good foreshadowing is a sign that your story is top-tier!
You can’t just add a sudden plot-twist out of nowhere. That only shows that your story has no direction, that it’s not planned carefully, and you’re just flailing around trying to think of what will happen next.
Sure, you mentioned a sister in the previous chapters, so we know she exists, but she can’t just suddenly show up and suddenly become relevant in solving the murder case with the main character.
At the very least, before she shows up, as you write the main character’s progress as he investigates the mystery, the sister’s future involvement should be hinted. Things like, she’s working on another case that will eventually be correlated to the murder mystery, or some details about her case that will be of use to what the protagonist is investigating, and other things that will involve her in the plot even if she hasn’t physically appeared yet or properly introduced.
Do not just suddenly spring up important details without warnings. That’s poor planning.
Readers should be able to look back in realization and think, ‘oh, so that’s what it meant!’
In other words: make it make sense!