Okay, I spend most of my free time writing fanfiction, so here's what I've learned over the years:

Firstly, if you haven't already, read other fanfictions (or even books if you're happy to delve outside of your chosen fandom), especially if you're finding you lack ideas. They may provide inspiration.

So you get an idea. Time to expand on it!

What story are you wanting to tell? Who's is/are the main character(s)? Who's the antagonist (if any)? Who is in the supporting cast?

The genre? Is it an adventure, a romance, a horror, a mystery?

Are you planning to follow canon or would you like the characters to explore an alternate universe?

The good thing about fanfiction is that you've already got the setting and the characters, so you can save a lot of time developing characters as your readers are most likely already familiar with them. But you may have to design and develop OCs if you want them in your story.

Once you have the basic idea and characters sorted, write a skeleton plan - the bare bones of the story. What happens in the beginning? What happens at the end? What are the major events throughout the story? You can then add more details as you go!

If you are writing a long fic, write a chapter plan like Ducky said. Think about the aim of each chapter - what is the main event, which characters are involved, and how does it move the story forward?

And finally... Write! Don't worry too much initially about how it sounds or flows - get the main ideas in there and then you can go back and edit the details and proofread later on.

The most important thing is to have fun with your story. The beauty of fanfiction is that it's a hobby. You don't have to worry about writing some literary masterpiece. Write what you want.

Then you decide if you want to publish or not. There are lots of platforms out there to publish fanfictions such as AO3, fanfiction.net or Wattpad. Some fandoms are more active on different sites. Most fandoms I know are more active on AO3. LBT is an exception, being more active on Fanfiction.net.

So.... yeah. Plan, and have fun! There are some great communities out there dedicated to writing fanfiction where you can brainstorm with people, find beta readers (people who will proof read and give constructive criticism) and just chat it all out.

Good luck! 

I wonder if someone else will ever take 1st place? 

Complete guess as I haven't watched the films for a while, but I think Littlefoot might get knocked off his pedastal in either the 8th or the 12th film. I'm interested to see that Spike has overtaken Petrie a few times, especially considering he has no dialogue like Petrie does.

Littlefoot's grandparents were just utterly confusing throughout the time I studied their scenes.  This is actually the only film in the series where they have the scientifically correct coloring (based on gender), as these were mysteriously swapped out from the second movie onward.  Their numbers were simply based on assumption after I decided to go with my gut.

It's weird that that the grandparents' voices were swapped for this one, especially as, if I recall correctly, the design sheet for the film does show them as they appear in the sequels. That and when they appear just after Littlefoot's birth, and in the ending scene, the one with the good old female-distinguishing eyelashes is who we see as Grandma in the sequels. It's strange. It's kinda funny how even the first movie got them mixed up. 

Good work on this project, Diddy! There have certainly been a few surprises so far!

Yeah, I don't think I'll be able to participate in this one, either. I'm still convinced November was only a week long it went so fast.  I've got a lot of prep to do for my new job and art block has hit me really hard over the last month or so too. Sorry!

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(No need to apologise! Life happens to us all!)

Ooh, looks like we ended up with similar ideas for the redemption prompt (although I didn't finish mine whoops)! Very well done as always!

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Sounds: I love listening to thunder. I love listening to music, too, especially epic orchestral music like film/video game soundtracks, Two Steps From Hell, the sort of thing that just takes me to another world. My cat's happy little chirp as she walks through the door to greet me.

Smells: Weird one but I love the smell of mushrooms cooking. I suppose because one of my favourite dishes to cook is wild mushroom pasta and the smell during the whole process is just amazing. I also love the smell of lavender, new books, flowers in general, freshly mown grass (even if it does set off my hayfever) and fresh laundry.

Taste: Chocolate. Pizza. Burgers. Cake. All the junk food. But also fruit like mango, pineapple, clementines, and blueberries.

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