the vampire diaries fanfic writing tips

as you all know, the one thing i say is if you want a fanfic true to the story, you cannot let your feelings get in the way. here are some things i see often that are so inaccurate to the show. i tried to choose some for different characters. these are just common things i see. i might do a chapter like this for each character.

if you have any more, feel free to comment.

1. elena is not a bully. she does not go around insulting people for no reason and making their lives difficult on purpose.

2. caroline isn't nearly as supportive in the show as she's portrayed in fanfics. in the show, she could be judgmental of other people and tried to interfere with other people's lives. as a human, she was jealous, insecure, and competitive, which the fandom seems to acknowledge but for some reason in fanfics i've noticed that even as a human, she's written as she is as a vampire.

3. this one might be something you can argue with if you have a good reason but klaus also doesn't go around tormenting people for no reason just because they're dating his siblings. i see it in so many kol fanfics where klaus will mess with the oc for no reason. if he has a reason (even a small one) it's possible. but he has better things to do than to follow around his brother's love interest for centuries. especially in the originals. he's too busy and if you're oc didn't wrong him in some way he probably doesn't care about them. likewise kol isn't going to be doing that to klaus' love interest either. he literally did not care about them. rebekah is a different story, but even then he just killed them, he didn't follow them around and torment them.

4. bonnie isn't the strongest witch in the tvdu. she's definitely strong, definitely up there, don't get me wrong. but other witches have much more power, practice, and knowledge due to things like being in a coven with other witches that have lasted for a centuries and they can learn from. i don't remember who the writers named as the strongest, i think it was hope.

5. katherine is pretty selfish and good luck writing her realistically as someone who can put someone else first. she was selfish until the very end. that's not sarcastic. i really do wish you luck.

6. elijah enabled a lot of klaus' behaviour.

7. klaus wasn't a perfect father to hope. even if circumstances were different, he probably still wouldn't be (second half is more my opinion).

8. elena is trained to fight. she isn't physically weak and has been shown to be able to hold her own in a fight, especially as a vampire. i'm not sure why i see her being written as physically weak in fanfics. she was waking up at like 5am to train (couldn't be me).

9. unless your oc was incredibly strong as a human, if they're just a regular vampire they aren't all of a sudden going to be able to take on vampires who are centuries old, even if they're that strong.

10. most of the characters have done horrible and awful things. even your favs.