Ok. So since there is a fan fiction contest coming, I figured it'd be a good idea to start a thread where people can post tips on improving they're writing. Apparently I'm good at this stuff, so I'll start and other people can add on.
Ok, let's start with characters and conflict:
First and foremost, let's look at conflicts. Every story must have a conflict. Here is what I notice: every conflict is somehow related to relationships, mostly Avril and Deryck, with Evan probably thrown in. They like each other, they hate each other. They break up, they get back together. Lovey dovey-ness, whoop-dee-freaking-doo. RELATIONSHIPS ARE NOT THE ONLY EXISTANT CONFLICT. Throw in a disease, a child, an internal conflict with a character, hell, give someone three heads and make that someone wish depserately to kill Avril. I don't care. But you need to step back and look around, look at the real world. Every day, hundreds of conflicts unfold. You do not need to zoom in on this once conflict and glorify it. Yes, a relationship problem could be part of it. But you NEED to add something else in. It provides a sense of realism, and it gives your story an edge over the other edge. Give your characters internal conflicts, make there be family problems, throw in a crime, I don't really care. I just don't like reading stories about the same thing. It bores me.
Secondly, you can't strictly talk about what they're doing 99% of the time. You have to add some realism to it. Our days do not consist of purely actions and no silly mistakes or quirky habits. People are quirky. We do silly things, say silly things, and overrall can be very amusing. You have to include that. Talk about the funny way Avril ties her shoes, Deryck's obsession with keeping his guitar clean, etc. etc. It makes them human, and when you're able to make them human and relatable, you're able to make your reader much more interested because it brings realism. Even if it's small, it adds a sense of humanity. Also, you need to show your character's emotions. If Avril just found out Deryck cheated on her, she's going to be pretty damn upset. You can talk about her screaming and crying all you want, but that's worthless unless you're able to PORTRAY it. Describe it. Describe how she feels. Be comparitive. "Avril felt like...". Writing like that is more interesting. Some people don't need a lot of this. Some people are able to portray an emotion really well without flat-out saying it, but instead showing it in the way the update is written. You have to at least give it a feel. It could be how you describe it, and the scene they're in, but I'll get into that later. Just do more than flat-out saying what they're DOING. It develops your characters, and by combing this with what you're doing to make them human, you're making the reader form an attachment.
Thirdly, speaking of character and character development, you shouldn't be staying with the five same characters all the time. Whoop-dee-doo, every story has Avril, Evan, Deryck, Stevo, and Cone. This is quite edgy.
More should be happening to include other people! They don't have to be main characters, but you should at least be bringing other people into it. If there is a real problem, it's not going to JUST involve the same five people, other people are going to get brought into it. Give them a kid, a marraige counselor, or at LEAST just a friend. Again, that adds realism, and realism is very, very important. And when you add other characters, you should be able to picture them! How do they stand, is their hair combed, how do they talk to Avril and Deryck, what are they wearing and how are they built? You obviously don't need to describe ALL of that, but you SHOULD be able to picture it. You can then use that picture to decide how they approach Avril, Deryck, and the other people involved. And you shouldn't JUST reserve this for new character. At the end of the day, we don't know Avril's odd habits, how she interacts with people when the cameras are off, and how she would handle the situation you've put her in. It's up to YOU to decide this and develop her. I mean, you don't need to go crazy, but you need to do this to somet extent.
And yeah. I'll stop babbling. More tips later, probably on description and all that fun stuff.