➳ The Marauder Manual

What Era?

Although this is a guide to marauder fanfiction, I thought it would be a good idea to include this so that before you get set on writing marauder fanfiction, you know if it's right for you or not. If you have already started writing a marauder fanfiction, you could skip to the next chapter if you want.

If you are looking to start writing a Harry Potter fanfiction, a great place to start is working out what era you want to write in. Your era of choice is a good starting point because it could give you lots of potential information about your OC (or canon character the fanfiction is based around) such as who they're at school with and what was going on at Hogwarts at that time. The things going on around your character may affect the way they are. A good example of this is that if your OC was at Hogwarts during the time of The Battle of Hogwarts, it may make them particularly nervous, uneasy or pressurised.

Alternatively, if you have already started your fanfiction and decided on your era, it may be worth reading about the era you're writing in any way to check up on some facts, refresh your mind or encourage you to start writing again. Enjoy!

Golden Trio Era: Arguably the easiest era to write in. All of the things that happened around Hogwarts at that time are set out for you, so you always know what to write about and what sort of story you have to stick to. All I'd say is: be careful writing as it is set in the 1990's. Things were most definitely not the same as today fashion, music and technology wise. I'd highly advise doing some research before writing to get it right, but don't go over the top!

Next Generation: This is a very hard era to write in, however, there are some simpler parts to it as well. In Golden Trio, Marauder and Tom Riddle era, there is lots of research to be done about the British and Wizarding World culture. In the Next Generation era, it's set right now in 2017 making it easier to write the parts in the muggle world, and if they're a muggle-born, their back story. The thing that makes it exceptionally difficult to write Next Generation fanfiction is that there are no given stories to write about apart from the cursed child plot, which is only the plot of a couple of characters. To make your story unique, you'd have to make up the whole plot yourself which, believe me, is hard.

Tom Riddle-era: Set in the 1920's. The only plot you have to go on is the fact that the chamber of secrets opened for the first time around then. At this time, there was a huge scandal about it. Hagrid was at Hogwarts and was accused of opening the Chamber of Secrets by Riddle himself, making him get expelled. There are so many opportunities and routes to take when making a Tom Riddle, but once again, keep in mind that this is the 1920's.

Marauder era: Finally, we have the marauder era. I'd say on the scale of difficulty to write, it would probably match Next Generation, but in different ways. Like Golden Trio and Tom Riddle era, you will need to do lots of research on the cultures of that time, so be careful there. Similar to the Next Generation era, you will need to make up a plot on your own in order for your fanfiction to be original. The vast majority of the things we have been told about the marauders should be used as mini plots alongside something else so it doesn't get boring and predictable.

I hope this first chapter has helped you decide whether this era is right for you or not. This book will be full of help and advice on marauder fanfiction ONLY from now as it is my strong point the the world of Harry Potter. Hope you all enjoy!!