5 TIPS FOR WRITING BATIM FANFICTION

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE FEATURE!

Hello BATIM Amino! devildarling here to bring you some advice for when you write your BATIM fanfictions (or any fanfiction really, these tips and tricks can apply to those too).

But enough of my rambling, here's five tips that I hope you find useful, my fellow writers!

1. As most of you all may know, BATIM is far from being a game for children (even though there are kids on this community). However, this shouldn't mean you should have to sugarcoat anything if you are intending to write for a more mature audience just because there are youngsters on here: for example, my fanfiction that is in the works, The Summer of '66, will be rated 15+ because of violence, strong language and other themes children may not understand or possibly find upsetting. While the story will not include any explicit sexual themes or anything similar to it (at worst there will be mild innuendos), it is always good to include age ratings when writing your stories. This way, audiences will know what is and what isn't appropriate for them. If you don't include age ratings, there is a chance you could expose minors to content they shouldn't be seeing.

(I'm NOT encouraging anyone to write or post anything NSFW. That is strictly prohibited by Amino. If you are intending to write for an older audience then feel free to do so, it's your right and you should be allowed to write your story in your vision without anyone bashing you for it. Just please, please, PLEASE keep to the guidelines).

Note: If you really want to write NSFW into your story then consider posting to other websites such as FFN, AO3 or Wattpad. These platforms allow these stories, though as all websites do they have rules, so make sure to follow and abide by them.

The way you present your age ratings is up to you, though I suggest making it big and bold so that it's visible to the eye, such as:

This.

Or, if you're anything like me and like to laugh and joke from time to time, consider trying something like these to both warn your readers and at the same time make them chuckle from seeing some good ol' g i f s:

2. This one should be pretty simple and basic, but before you write ANYTHING:

Always,

And I mean ALWAYS, have an idea/plan of what you are going to write. Don't just jump right in and find yourself at the deep end of the writing pool, because that won't help you in the long run and you could end up developing writer's block- which trust me from personal experience, isn't fun.

A good way to plan ahead is by creating a table on apps such as Microsoft Word. By doing this, you will have something to refer back to and you can always make changes along the way if you find yourself wanting to include something different or remove/alter a scene.

An example of a table:

This table is currently what I am doing for my own fanfiction. You can add different colours to the columns, change font styles and colours- anything you wish to make your table easier for you to read, whatever makes you comfortable :)  Planning can take quite a long time, I should know, I have been planning T.S.O.'66 since December of 2017, but that's okay! Your story will take as long as it takes to become what you want it to be, there's no shame in spending a long time on it to make sure it's right. If you guys are currently planning your own stories like me, I wish you all the best of luck!

3. RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH!

I CANNOT stress enough how important this is! If you want to make things realistic for your story's setting or a character, it's vital that you research so you can do so. Don't create a story that's set in an older time period and everyone has smartphones (unless you are setting your story at some point during the time smart technology was created)- SMARTPHONES WEREN'T INVENTED BEFORE THE 2000s! For the love of Bendy, research as much as you can before writing a story, it will really pay off and give your readers a better experience while they read.

Tip: If you really want to immerse your readers, listen to and/or create a playlist of music that was released during the time period you are writing in. If you are setting your story in a specific month or year, make sure to find out the dates, months or years the songs were released. This will add to the realism.

(The events of BATIM more than likely take place at some point during the early or mid 1960s. Please take this into when you are writing, it's impossible for the game to take place in 2018 for all you people who say it does. If the game did take place during that time, Henry would likely not be the main protagonist of the series (it'd more than likely be a grandchild/great-grandchild of his or a completely different character entirely if this were the case, and the aesthetic of the game would look much different). So yeah, just be sure to do the mathematics and you should be fine.

4. Breaks

Always take regular breaks when writing chapters for your stories. You can't exactly write a chapter in one sitting if it's going to be a long one, so be sure to take at least ten-fifteen minute breaks. Staring at computers for too long can strain your eyes, so always take a breather or two. Also, be sure to to eat plenty of food as well as drink lots. You need to keep yourself healthy. And make sure to get plenty of sleep, don't sit up all night just to finish a chapter of your story- that isn't good for you physically or mentally. When you feel tired, take a step back and either take a break by doing something soothing such as taking a nice warm bath or shower or sleep if you feel strained, don't strain yourself.

5. This isn't really a tip but, it's something I encourage for everyone. Have fun! Writing fanfiction should be a fun hobby for you to do, something to express your thoughts and emotions as well as entertain! If you don't find writing your story fun, it'll show and you will lose readers very, very quickly, so always be sure to refer back to tip number four and always take a step back when you need to if you find yourself needing inspiration. Listen to relaxing music or read other stories, whatever you wish!

If you'd like more tips or think I've missed something out, comment it! I'll do my best to make another one of these if people like this! Bye for now!

For more useful tips, be sure to check out Inkarnated's post! I'm so glad I was able to motivate you to write some more tips and tricks!