How to Write an Aeris Resurrection Fic
History: "How to Write an Aeris Resurrection Fic" was my first FFVII fanfic. The idea was born one day during winter break, after I had skimmed through a few too many poorly-spelled badfics that were nothing more than excuses to resurrect Aeris because the author had wanted the game to have a happy ending. Since I couldn't think of any better ideas for a fanfic, I started writing a half-assed parody of Aeris Resurrection Fics, without any idea of where it was going. A week later, I had an inspiration, and I changed it into a satirical guide to writing ARFs, mainly because I wanted an excuse to use the name "Jycellaemynthia" in a story. (Little known fact: I was this close to spelling it "Jycelliminthia".) It was supposed to be a one-shot, but after I spent an entire chapter ranting about author's notes, I realized that I had far too much to say about bad fanfiction, pretentious authors, and Mary-Sues. So it evolved into a longwinded, rambling, and wordy parody of bad epic fanfics in general.
After a few months, I had posted ten chapters on fanfiction.net. However, "How to Write an Aeris Resurrection Fic" was deleted from the site without warning because it violated the rules on the upload page, which explicitly stated that non-stories were not allowed. As pissed off as I was about it...in all fairness, ten chapters of me whining about adverbs isn't much of a story.
Although I had most of the old chapters saved on my computer, I heavily edit fics in Quick-Edit, so many little details are different from the original version because I can't remember every change I made. On the bright side, I edited some of the earlier chapters--I never realized how much my own writing annoyed me. As well, now I can celebrate my freedom from fanfiction.net by using (gasp) asterisks!
Before You Begin
Steps 1-3: Jycellaemynthia
Steps 4-6: The deus ex machina
Steps 7-8: Jealous Evil Villainess Tifa
Step 9: Fun With Adverbs
Steps 10-11: Tino
Steps 11-12: Call Me Jycei
Step 13: Gomen Nasai
Step 14: The Generic Enemy Builder 1000
Step 15: Pretty Boys
Steps 16-18: So Yesterday
Step 19: SQUEEE!
Steps 20-21: Chekhov's Gun
Step 22: Relationship Counselling--*NEW*
Steps 23-25: Watch for Falling Anvils--*NEW*