Just like all the other chapters in this book, this contains my personal opinion! Just because I do not like something doesn't make it necessarily bad. But still, here are some things I consider good or bad to do while writing a fanfic for Shadow and Bone

starrsluvjad3 , here it is! I hope you find it helpful

THE DON'TS

1. Overpowered ocs

I think we've all read at least one fic where the oc was super powerful and could defeat everyone with the flick of their wrists.

These kinds of ocs are not fun to read about, especially if they don't need to work to get to that point. It just kinda gets handed to them. No. Don't. Please. For my sanity.

By all means, make your oc a powerful grisha, but don't make them too overpowered and show that they actually worked towards achieving such a good level of skill with their powers.

This also counts for making grisha powers that don't exist in canon. You have to be very careful with how you make these types of ocs because you don't want to overdue it and you want to make sure it makes sense.

2. Make the oc overthrow the Darkling

I promise you that your oc does not have enough support inside or outside of the little palace to accomplish such a task.

The Darkling has a literal cult like following amongst his grisha. He established his role very well and very thoroughly and all of the grisha admire him. He's their general, the reason why they get to keep the little palace and he's the only one of his kind.

There's a reason why so many grisha sided with him over Alina in the books.

Even if your oc has friends in the little palace, very few of them would be willing to stand against their general. In the books, the few grisha that sided with Alina did so because they had no where else to go and she used a similar tactic to get them to follow her (aka throwing the Cut at the roof and stuff). And even then, most of them died when it came down to a battle, because the Darkling didn't hesitate to kill them. They lasted maybe 20 minutes.

Your oc wouldn't do much better.

3. Insta-love

I doubt I have to explain this one that much but if your oc and their love interest get together in chapter 3, I am dropping your book. Romance this early on is only acceptable if they were in a relationship before the timeline of your books starts. If they aren't, I would recommend to have at least 10 chapters before any full on romance happens.

No kissing before you establish their trust and care for one another.

4. Make Kaz Brekker kiss your oc

This boy has so much trauma that he can barely stand the contact of someone touching him THROUGH CLOTHES let alone skin to skin. He will not kiss your oc.

He couldn't even kiss Inej. He was head over heels in love with that girl in his way and he could barely say that he wanted her to stay in Ketterdam with her.

Your ocs relationship with Kaz should be the slowest burn in the history of slow burns. Do not disregard his trauma for the sake of you wanting him to smack lips with your oc.

5. Erase LGBTQ+ characters from existence

I've never seen this be an issue in the shadow and bone fandom but I've seen it in others so I'm putting it down just in case.

If you want to write a fanfic for an lgbtq+ character, make sure you're writing for their actual sexuality. Like if you're writing a fic for Wylan for example, the oc should be man, because Wylan is gay.

Jesper and Nina are bi, your oc can be either gender as long as you don't erase that part of them.

Tamar is a lesbian.

Tolya is aroace, if I see you writing a fic for him that isn't simply platonic I will come for you.

6. Make your oc jump from one plot line to another

This one is especially for show!fic writers. Your oc should fall into only one plot, either Shadow and Bone or Six of Crows. There are very few circumstance under which your oc changing plot lines would work.

The only time I see the happening is when the two plot lines meet and merge into one (the fold scene at the end of season 1 or the hunt for the magical sword thing in season 2).

DO'S

1. Do your research!!!!

If you've only seen the show, this one is also especially for you. The books offer a lot more lore and detail than the show does, and often times I see people who've only seen the show mix up some things when it comes to Grisha power or geography or politics of the world

There are wiki pages for the fandom that you can go and look into. If you're unsure of what your grisha oc is capable of, hop on Google and search it up! You might be pleasantly surprised with what you can work with.

There are even wiki pages for the countries and their languages. I used the Ravkan language and Fjerdan language wiki pages a lot when writing my fic and it's honestly such a helpful thing!

2. Make more ocs to be side characters

Your main oc should have friends outside of the canon main characters. They should also interact with the side characters of the show and books as well! Don't leave them out!

Most of the fics I've read, the oc interacts with what I like to call the ✨core five✨ of shadow and bone:

1. Alina
2. Kirigan
3. Nikolai
4. Gents
5. Mal

And maybe on a stretch

6. Tolya/Tamar
7. Zoya

Or

8. Ivan (if he's escorting them or something)

Don't be afraid to add your own ocs in there!
Or if you don't want to make ocs, here are a few side characters that you can have you characters interact with:

Nadia, Marie, Adrik, David (he gets like no love for some reason??), Fedyor (he's grown more popular with the show)

If you're writing for the show: Fruzi, Vatra and Vladim

If you're writing for the books: Sergei, Maxim, Pavel, Harshaw (aka the loml), Stigg, Irina, Paja

3. Allow your oc to fail

A story is so much more compelling if your oc doesn't succeed at everything. The moment your oc fails at their goal, he stakes are suddenly set higher.

It can draw the readers attention properly to your book and it just makes for a very interesting thing to read.

I want to read about someone who has to fight for something, not someone who gets handed everything on a silver platter

4. Write the Darkling as he is

Don't be afraid to add in his toxic traits. Also don't be afraid to show that he truly did care for the grisha.

The Darkling is very manipulative and uses other people to gain what he wants, but he also worked centuries to make a safe haven for the grisha

He uses his pretty face and his ability to manipulate to make people loyal to him. There's a reason it took so long for there to be a civil war. People trusted him. Even genya, who suffered a lot of abuse to continue playing his spy. It took a while for her to realize what the Darkling was.

If you're writing a fic with him as the love interest, don't be afraid to write a toxic relationship! It doesn't have to be full on abuse or anything, but the Darkling is toxic and that would carry over into his romantic life.

4. Make a compelling backstory for your character

A good backstory can really make a character! Take your time and play around with it while making it up. Take into account how your oc is in the present timeline and what in their past might've made them be that way. What happened to cause them to think or act in such a way? What did they see that made them wary of someone or, the opposite, that made trust someone more?

If your oc suffered something traumatic at the hands of someone as a child and then trust a person in their adulthood who has the same traits as the person who caused the trauma, it's not very realistic.

Your characters background will also forge the way they think, it doesn't just have to be backstory.

For example

Raised in the little palace —> probably will trust the Darkling

Raised in Ketterdam —> what part of the city? —> the barrel? —> will be wary of everyone, because the barrel is filled with criminals

That's all I can think of for now, but don't worry! More chapters are sure to come. I'm probably going to do whole topics on the Grisha, the Grand Palace, the countries of the world ect. Hopefully that will help those who need it!