So I just watched a Retrospective on Sailor Moon. The reviewer just cover the first season and made side remark to something. It gave me an idea for a fanfiction. Any tips for SM fanfics? I have never written one before. I would like to know things to avoid.

I think a lot of it really  has to do with keeping them in character and avoiding Mary Sue issues, just like any writing really.

Yeah, what Addelyn said. Basically, keep the characters in character, make sure their actions make sense in the story instead of throwing stuff in there, if you're planning on making OCs, make sure they're not overpowered idealized Mary Sues who are perfect at everything and loved by everyone.

I dont really think I have any tips that are specific to Sailor Moon.

I'm not doing any OCs. Any tips for Mamoru? I'm a bit scared of writing with him. I'm kind of planning to mix anime and manga personalities.

I'm not quite sure, but I will say this: don't make him into a straight up jerk butt like he was in the break-up arc of Sailor Moon R.

I think re-watching or re-reading SM is helpful for getting personalities right...

Yes, I am planning to rewatch the episodes I need for my fic.

In order to better understand a character, I like to write a short story or two with the character as the central focus. It gives me a chance to not only understand the character, but how my writing style will shape the character. If you can't think of a short story, there are plenty of writing challenges and theme suggestions on the Internet.

I also like reading character studies, which usually prove more enlightening to me when I pair it with some time spent with the canon series.

Those are good tips! Thanks!

Hallo, sorry to ressurect an older post, but I really like what Vbabe said regarding writing to understand your character. I used a similar approach in writing and found that starting with a character study helps when writing because it gives you something to reference that is uniquely well suited to your own interpretation of the character while you are writing your story.

For my 2 cents into this conversation, I wanted to discuss how a good story should have a good conflict, whether one that is internal to the character, or an external threat like a villain. Having a good grasp on what the conflict is before actual writing begins helps keep everything on track from beginning, middle to end.

I agree with you! (XD yay for thread resurrections!) I also think that conflict drives the story, and my favorite type is when you can get an external threat (like a villain) to challenge and create inner conflict to create character development in the background even when facing a physical enemy, and having in mind what your conflict is an how to work it into the story before you start can be used as a driving factor throughout.