How to Write The 100 Fanfiction ✓

28 | ways to make your story stand out

with a plethora of the 100 fics existing on the internet since the show aired in 2014, it can be fairly difficult to find ways to make yours stand out from the crowd. here, i have compiled a list of a few ideas to separate a story from the rest!

1. don't make your character kane's child. i firmly believe this trope has been exhausted to its fullest extent. give your character a fresh, new backstory that isn't seen very often or hasn't been done before. generally, every fic with kane as the OC's dad merely results in them being like "ugh omg i can't believe my dad wanted to lock me up >:(" followed by angst when he returns but he ultimately shows he still loves them and we all yawn (also, many people ignore the fact that henry ian cusick is peruvian and cast a completely caucasian faceclaim to be his kid).

2. give your character a unique backstory. furthermore, make it the focus of who they are as a character. for example, my OC fallon was taught to steal by her father, and eventually her obsession cost him his life. even so, it couldn't make her stop. this suggests that, to a certain extent, she may be on the spectrum for kleptomania because she loves the rush of stealing, not necessarily the things she chooses to take. keep in mind that the things that happened to your OC in the past still widely affect who they are in the present. what made them this way? bring that to the reader's attention.

3. don't make your OC know about octavia. another overused trope. i've never really understood this because ... why would bellamy have a friend that's 5 years younger than him? according to bob, bellamy stopped going to school after octavia was born. he dedicated his entire life to her; he didn't seem to have many, if any, friends on the ark because the risk of octavia being caught was too high. he wouldn't compromise her identity by being like "lol hey random neighbor girl, wanna know a secret? we've been hiding my younger sister under the floor! wanna see?"

4. surround your OC with underrated/original characters. give harper, monty, jasper, monroe, miller, etc some love! having them talk to the core 3 (octavia, bellamy, and clarke) the whole time gets old very quickly. even creating original characters will add a fun twist! there are a hundred delinquents— you can practically create tons of them.

5. use a unique love interest. again, use👏🏻those👏🏻underrated👏🏻characters👏🏻

6. create an antihero. everyone on the show is morally gray, some more than others. it would be very interesting to see a protagonist who is absolutely ruthless. kind of like murphy, but more like him in season 2 instead of being a villain in season 1. there aren't many fics with an OC like this, so it would pull your readers in.

7. diverge from canon scenes. don't fill your book entirely with scenes that happened in the show. even adding snippets of dialogue between scenes can spice up your chapters. for example, in my book fireheart, there are important conversations between bellamy, my oc, wells, and murphy while they're searching for jasper in 1x02. although the scene is technically in canon, the camera focuses nearly entirely on finn and clarke breaking apart from their group, so i wrote most of the dialogue myself. creating your own scenes makes your story more believable and also presents the opportunity to add some character/plot/relationship development.

8. create subplots. we're all aware of the main conflict: survive on the ground. but what about the other, mini things that happen to each character? the romantic tension between raven, finn, and clarke during seasons 1 & 2. bellamy in mount weather. murphy going to the city of light with jaha. think about it: what does your character want or already have? maybe they're reckless from being cooped up in the ark for so long that they cause destruction in the camp and have people turn on them for it. maybe their parent comes down with the rest of the sky people and they have a strained relationship with your oc. maybe they are captured by mount weather early (like monty). all of these are ways to make your story realistic and to add depth to your character. how would they react to these situations? how do they get out of them? how do the other pre-existing characters react?