A production system for long-form fan fiction that stays true to its source — for hundreds of thousands of words.
Guide edition v3.0 · Law revision v5.4 · rebuilt 2026-10-13. The two version axes are explained in
VERSION_OF_RECORD.md— where they disagree with any heading, that file wins.
This is not a vibe guide. It is the working system behind a workshop of gated serials — every chapter machine-checked against its own laws before it ships. As of the 2026-10-13 measurement, the account holds 24 registered books · 377 chapters · 1,624,963 words, of which the public library shelf carries 18 serials · 312 chapters · 1,351,161 words. The method is proven across 16 Soul Land (斗罗大陆) serials plus Supergirl and two MCU serials, and it is written to be fandom-neutral — the Soul Land and MCU work is the worked example, not the requirement.
Treat fan fiction like software. Give it a source of truth, tests, and state panels — and a story can grow forever without rotting.
Read it as a site: gm5206663-bit.github.io/how-to-write-fanfiction — the guide, browsable. Elsewhere: the doctrine this guide's §15 documents, adaptation-talent; the account's control room and register, the-authors-desk.
Most long fan fiction dies one of five deaths. This method makes each death structurally impossible by attaching a law to it and a check that enforces the law.
| # | The death | The law | The check that enforces it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canon drift — the fic contradicts or forgets the source | Canon-First Creation · Ledger-Canon: receipts, not memory | canon spine + canon ledger + gate scan + verbatim-plagiarism sweep (n-gram runs vs canon receipts) |
| 2 | OC takeover — the world bends around your original character | Multi-Panel Law: canon always shown, never skipped; the OC added, never centered | panel audit per chapter + panel ledger IN SYNC + drift guard that fails the build on a frozen meter |
| 3 | Power inflation — the OC becomes a god by chapter 20 | Unfixed Law: power is a baseline, never a ceiling; traits are dated states | status panel as single source of truth + banned-value scan |
| 4 | Voice drift — canon characters stop sounding like themselves | Style-match + personality-first | style gate with a prose band, average sentence length, and hard caps |
| 5 | State rot — the fic's own numbers no longer match its own text | Ship Law: update everything the same turn, or refuse to ship | generated status files + selftest + independent drift scan |
Each of those five deaths has a chapter of its own here — §1 in docs/01_the_laws.md, the checks in docs/03_gates_and_audits.md, and the serials that paid for them in docs/04_case_studies.md.
- A source of truth per serial — one status panel stating everything current; if a number isn't in it, the number doesn't exist yet.
- Receipts, not memory — nothing enters a chapter unverified. Canon is fetched, quoted, and filed before it is written.
- A law only counts with a check — every rule that matters is enforced by a script that can fail. A gate that has never been seen to fail is a gate nobody has tested.
- Update everything the same turn — a chapter is not shipped until every state file agrees with it. "Later" is how state rots.
- One copy of one thing — a document kept in two places will be wrong in one of them.
| Doc | Read it when |
|---|---|
01 · The Laws |
You want the constitution — all 31 entries of record, what each one says, the check that enforces it, and which serial paid for it |
02 · The Workflow |
You are starting a serial — foundation docset, ore mining, and the six-step chapter loop |
03 · Gates and Audits |
You want the machine room — the gate layers, what each one catches, and the selftest culture |
04 · Case Studies |
You want the proof — thirteen serials, what each taught, with numbers — and the original system that runs through them (§15) |
05 · Glossary |
A term is unfamiliar (band, locks, ore, butterfly, drift guard…) |
06 · Automation |
You want your rules enforced by code, not memory |
07 · Share Kit |
You want the templates and a release checklist |
08 · Advanced Edition |
You want the technique-evolution and fusion laws in full |
09 · MCU Adaptation |
Your fandom is film/TV — camera law, film order, plural panels |
10 · StoryOS and Control Centre |
You want to publish: readers, state sites, and an agent console |
templates/ |
You are ready to build the docset — nine copy-paste starting files |
examples/minigate.py |
You want a working gate in one file — stdlib only, selftest included |
examples/github-actions-gate.yml |
You want every push of your repo gated — the minimal CI shape (live here as .github/workflows/verify.yml) |
# 1. Prove the demo gate catches defects (and passes clean prose):
python3 examples/minigate.py --selftest
# 2. Copy the contract into your serial:
cp -r templates/ my_serial/foundation/
# 3. Fill the rulings first — foundation stage is a stage, not a failure to start.
# Drafting opens when the rulings are answered (see docs/02, Stage 1).
# 4. Chapter loop, forever: ORE → DRAFT → SELF-AUDIT → GATE → SYNC → SHIP| Serial | Chapters | Words | Gates | What it taught |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Adaptive Prodigy | 116 | 523,356 | ten-layer, ALL GREEN | built the system; the two-copies law |
| Fire Phoenix | 52 | 270,659 | per-chapter validation | the five-copies disaster; pacing law (compress the routine, expand the butterfly) |
| The Unraveled Tide | 24 | 80,127 | run_all battery | the multi-panel law's home |
| Devouring Dragon | 24 | 65,081 | 8-tool battery, sentinel 26 PASS | plain-language law; panel re-bind; the canon-voice rollout |
| The Grey Wolf | 10 | 25,792 | run_all 4 steps, panel 10 IN SYNC | the perfect-rebuild standard: clean-and-clear prose, F0–F26 locks |
| Lan Shen (V2) | 7 | 32,211 | nine layers, ALL GREEN | dual-track canon-parallel; date arithmetic as the highest-yield check |
| One in a Thousand | 7 | 63,691 | gate PASS | the OC as the actor; canon complete but told tight |
| Stark Heir | 5 | 27,673 | mcu_verify 8 gates | MCU film order; camera law; plural panels |
| Fire Dragon Lizard | 5 | 18,605 | chapter gate | a complete small book |
| The Golden Lion | 8 | 22,487 | sl2-goldenv 8 PASS | agent-driven near-daily shipping; possession carding |
| Blue Silver (parked) | 15 | 34,711 | seven-gate maturity | small and gated can coexist; rebuild protocol |
| Supergirl — Adrian Vale | 17 | 61,986 | CI gates on every push | the 70-sentence ruling: a serial's compressed voice is the author's call |
| MCU Eternal — Varun | 3 | 9,212 | mcu_verify 8 gates | talent embodied, never named |
| Dragon Prince Yuan | 1 | 3,706 | gate PASS | a false FAIL is worth ten false PASSes |
Combined: 377 chapters across 24 registered books, 1,624,963 words — every shipped chapter gate-checked. The library shelf publishes 18 serials · 312 chapters · 1,351,161 words as one reading site.
31 entries of record: F0–F26 (the soul-beast constitution, gaps at F1/F21/F24/F25 reserved forever) + P12 (camera law, for film/TV fandoms) + 7 structural laws (StoryOS · Control Centre · Soul Library · Dual-Track · Foundation-Stage · Ship Law · Clean-and-clear). The full list, each with its check and its receipts, is docs/01_the_laws.md; VERSION_OF_RECORD.md carries the measured inventory and the history of how it was counted.
Every law was paid for by a mistake. The numbers are receipts — F26 exists because of one specific complaint, and it says so. That is why gaps stay gaps and laws are never renumbered.
Add-only spirit (corrections supersede; they don't rewrite history) · claims carry receipts · a law without a check is a wish · be kind — fan fiction is love made public. Contributions welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md.
MIT for everything here (LICENSE). This guide is fandom-neutral: your fandom's own rules for fan work outrank anything in it. Soul Land (斗罗大陆 / Douluo Dalu) and all related characters belong to Tang Jia San Shao and the original rights holders; everything in the workshop is non-commercial derivative fan work (NOTICE.md).