The first thing that needs to be addressed is your number of subscribers. When you first begin writing you will get maybe one or two subscribers per chapter. This is because readers are testing you, seeing if you’ll update soon enough so they don’t have to subscribe and know you update often. They also don’t subscribe in the beginning because many readers want to read longer fics, so unless the fic seems like one to not update often or has an intensely intriguing plot, they won’t subscribe. Five chapters are not long enough, and three weeks is not enough time to draw readers in. Just update often and leave keyboard smashing cliffhangers.
Secondly, you don’t actually want your fic to be featured. It is a known opinionated fact among the more experienced writers here that the featured stories are not worthy of really being read. Getting featured does mean a lot more comments, readers, and compliments, but it also means that you will be in the limelight for criticism from can write better and will want you to know they aren’t happy you got featured instead.
Getting featured isn’t even a realistic goal. Unless you write every minute, are one of the original 1000 users, or write really bad smutty fics, you won’t get featured.
The Switch
You’re giving away way too much of the plot in the summary. Cut down on everything but the necessities. An anti-fan causes JYJ to switch bodies and they end up living each other’s lives.
The chapter looks very pretty, but it is unnecessary and might actually scare some readers away. Don’t highlight all the words and keep them black, colored font can be difficult to read. A lot of readers prefer the default font, Helvetica, over Comic Sans MS or one of the others. This is one of the tricks readers take to see the effort put into a chapter. Making the chapter look pretty tells readers you care more about what it looks like than how it is actually written. A large font also makes readers feel like they have been cheated out of a long chapter. Readers love to read longer chapters (unless they are way too long) especially if they like the fic. A large font makes a short chapter seem longer, but it is not and they get a little disappointed.
In the first paragraph of chapter one, the sentence “You could feel the cool summer breeze against your skin” can be confusing for readers who might think this is a “you” fic. This sentence would be okay anywhere other than the first chapter. The first few chapters are essentially for readers to get to know the author and their writing style. Readers can usually tolerate or love cheesy fics, but some writing styles are torment, so the first chapters are another test for them.
Script writing is an absolute no-no. It tells a reader that you don’t read often, even if you may, and you don’t know how to write dialogue.
Instead of saying Jaejoong: “Yoochun, Junsu, lunch is ready.” Jaejoong yelled, preparing the table. Yoochun and Junsu came into the dining room and sat down at the table this speaking part should be seen as:
“Yoochun, Junsu, lunch is ready!” Jaejoong yelled, preparing the table. Yoochun and Junsu came into the dining room and sat down.
For more on writing dialogue, refer to my blogs, Part 4 is for dialogue.
You do still need to work on your grammar, but it isn’t so bad that you need to give such a large warning in your forewords. For my first fic I left a short note explaining I couldn’t spell to save my life, but then I realized it didn’t matter because my readers honestly couldn’t spell any better than I could. Your grammar will only ever be an issue if it disrupts the flow. It does occasionally, but not so badly. Putting a large warning will scare away readers.
Make sure to stick to the flow of the story. One minute they are eating lunch, and then all of a sudden Yoochun is asking Jaejoong about his crush. It is too abrupt; some leading actions need to be put in. You can’t connect the dots without drawing a line between them.
Refrain from using a lot of references to Japanese culture. A lot of people don’t know Crystal Kay or Peach girl, though I happen to know of both.
Describe the actions of the characters better. It is almost exactly like you are writing a script.
Jaejoong: Jaejoong stops eating. “Her name is Jung Hye Roddy.” Jaejoong continues eating again.
The two yellow highlighted sentences are very basic and obvious sentences. Unless Jaejoong were to talk while spraying soup everywhere, he’d have to stop eating! Writing about Jaejoong in this way takes away from the fact that Junsu and Yoochun are right next to him, even if the others are in the next paragraphs. It almost seems like Jaejoong is facing a wall and talking to himself. Always show the interactions between the three, not all the time necessarily, but often enough to show they are still there.
I am one of the readers that do not tolerate certain things in a fic. 1) Is POV changes, or point of view changes. You’re okay there. 2) Flashbacks. Flashbacks are allowed, but not in a way where Flashback is stated then the following paragraphs are the flashback then flashback end is stated last. With this I think you are okay as well. 3) Naming the location of the new scene. Here we have a problem.
When changing scenes you can not just name the location. Describe it, make it a real place. Write about the setting, the people there, what they are doing, what might happen, what’s the purpose, why are they there. That is the equivalent of saying I am writing this in my room.
5 minutes later: In the kitchen
There is better wi-fi here!
That won’t cut it. These are the three key points to a reader to show if the writer is experienced enough.
JYJ need to act more mature. In this fic they are 24-25? Yes? They need to act their age. JYJ are idols, therefore they need to be aware of their idol status. Jaejoong asking out a teacher after a two year, three month long crush seems a little farfetched. All in all, keep track of all the details you add to the fic and make sure they are believable.
Fanfictions usually portray out idols speaking Korean, only it’s English to us, therefore, this use of Korean in your fic is unnecessary. It is nice to know that you know these basic Korean words, but some people don’t and it does interrupt your fic. There are a lot of mistakes that anyone could correct. One for instance is when Jaejoong is doing his photo-shoot, the camera doesn’t click every five seconds, it clicks practically every second. If you are ever unsure about something, don’t be afraid to ask someone or look it up. Readers connect to a fic that is more realistic.
I know this is a comedy, but they would not pay much attention to Soo Young unless she stopped them and asked for an autograph. The interaction between Soo Young and JYJ should have stopped after they ended up in the hospital. Readers think she is a bitch, they don’t want to see her for several chapters. For now, JYJ’s reaction to their body switch is the most important.
Do not ever use shortened forms of text like LOL, WTH, IKR, or anything else in a fanfic. Readers hate it.
Any mention of JYJ, HoMin, TVXQ split makes me cry. I cried when Jaejoong sang “Hug”. I am that much of a hardcore fangirl. That being said, since the fic is based on an anti being mad at them for leaving TVXQ, you really need to exaggerate on those moments. Jaejoong crying isn’t enough; readers need to know why he is crying. We obviously know why, but having the author describe it to us makes it more meaningful and real. The same thing for the anti-fan. Readers reading the fic probably still like JYJ, so they won’t completely understand how the fan is thinking. These are important to the plot and need to be highlighted specifically.
Don’t leave various notes from yourself in the actual chapter, wait to the end. You did this when you mentioned the price of the gum. Put an asterisk (*) and explain it at the end in an author’s note. This will keep the chapter uncluttered and easier to read.
The Prince of Cassiopeia
You gave too much information in the summary, and the summary needs to stay in the foreword/description area. When you finally got into the actual fic, the summary was reiterated and making the summary itself pointless.
When dealing with sensitive topics like ADOPTION—A-D-O-P-T means to take a child from an adoption house and legally make them your own, Adaption/adapt/adapted means to change to one’s surroundings—you need to keep the fic neutral or when someone is doing something morally wrong, make it more obvious. Boa held up the baby with no eyes and the Queen bluntly said no without any remorse or consideration. Baby has no eyes, she could have said ‘how sad, but we can’t have a king without eyes.’
Try and vary the length of your paragraphs, make them longer and include more descriptions to set the scenes better.
Kim Jaejoong is the prince of Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia is a diverse country filled wish bustling cities. Cassiopeia is a country, where the old traditions meet the new traditions. Cassiopeia is famous for the red ocean, their chocolate pork chop brownies (yum yum), tour attractions, and magical fairies at night, that light up the sky. Jaejoong's parents are the king (Kim Hyun Joong) and queen (Jung So Min) of Cassiopeia. His dad is the greatest kings that ever live and he is considered a legendary warrior who saves people. The king and queen of Cassiopeia is not Jaejoong's biological parents.
This is called an anaphora, when the same sound or word is repeated at the beginning of consecutive sentences. The best example of one would be ‘Tale of Two Cities’ with ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” In this case, it doesn’t sound good, especially because your sentences are very simple. I highlighted the verb “is” because it is this word that takes away from Cassiopeia’s description. For more on this, please read Part 8 of my rants. Also, like I said before, leave out bits that can be taken as a personal note.
The bullies and fangirls are exaggerated greatly, they are not important, they are annoying, they need to be toned down.
Tripping would likely not break his leg. The reader would “what the heck” at this moment and might not continue. That is too absurd.
Jaejoong’s venture away from Cassiopeia sounds like it is his first time ever leaving. It sounds like he has never been militarily trained and has no idea what to do in the forest. If this is the case, he will die.
The fic itself sounds like a fairytale for children. Fanfics are read by people from the age of eleven to thirty plus years. Fairytales will not do. This needs to seem like a real world, not fairytale castle with DBSK’s fanclub plastered on it.
Remember, you already introduced Yunho as one of the bullies outside the castle, now he is wanted dead or alive in Elf village? Make sure everything fits!
Everything else is basically the same issues in The Switch.
~Above all, you need to work on developing everything more. Readers love well developed and thought out fics. The more believable, the better. They don’t need gimmicks like lots of shouting and childish play, the raw emotion and facing the reality of life is what makes readers want more. In a comedy it is better to focus on the idols. Stay away from the girls unless romance is one of the finalities of the ending. Try and focus on your plot as much as possible and try not to add in unnecessary information. Do not write your dialogue in script writing. The plot is very interesting, develop the characters to match.
Your plot is very interesting, I will give you that. The poster for The Prince of Cassiopeia is very good, and I am curious myself on how The Switch will turn out.
