I'm sure everyone has their own tips and tricks for when writing fanfiction. I've a few basic ones I try to employ myself in my own writing. I hope it helps others a little too. Here we go

Writing Descriptively
- Try to give just enough detail without going over board. Each additional 'piece' of detail should modify or add too the first thing you're describing. You should learn more about whatever it is the further along you read. Plus, 'Show' your reader what's happening, don't 'Tell' them. Let them imagine, reader's are pretty perceptive.

Example:
Kagome petted the pink blanket. It was fluffy, soft, and velvety beneath her fingertips. She smiled happily, remembering her fifth birthday. Her mother had given the coverlet as a present. She had loved it immediately.

Here:
We know Kagome has a blanket, its pink, soft and cuddly, was a gift on her fifth birthday, and given by her mother. Nice and simple.

Dialouge
- Try to keep this short, simple to the point, and flowing naturally. It can be quite difficult to read an entire speech that takes up half a page. Try not to 'waffle'. If for example two characters are in the middle of an argument, chances are that the conversation would be short, sharp, and fast. Try to include emotion, happiness, sadness, rage, and use words to describe the action taking place too, but minimize the overuse of 'he said' or 'she said'. Instead use words like 'argued', 'chided', 'praised' or others, depending on what the characters are saying to one another.

Example:
"No! I'm not going with you!" shouted Kagome. She slapped his hand, whirled and tried to stalk away. Taloned fingers clamped round her wrist. She was nearly dragged off her feet. "Let go!" she demanded, struggling to free herself. His grip was iron-strong, and unbreakable.

"You will come Miko" declared Sesshoumaru, unimpressed by her show of temper. She was moody and temperamental, but now was not the time to argue. She was endangered. It was best to transport her to a place of safety as soon as possible. "We go to the Western Fortress. You will abide there for as long as this Sesshoumaru desires to ensure your safety".

Here:
We learn that Kagome is somehow in trouble, in need of sanctuary, angry at Sesshoumaru, and determined to have her own way. Sesshy's determined to keep her safe though despite her protests. Short and sweet.

Spacing & Paragraphing
Spacing: Rule of thumb is that there should be at least two spaces after a full stop and the beginning of another sentence. Like this: End of sentence. Start of new sentence. and not 'End of sentence. Start of new sentence'. It makes the sentence a little tidier to look at too. But remember that this rule varies between countries too, as does spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Paragraphing: Ideally a paragraph should be between four to five sentences long, of compact text, but there are variations. Some writers go for six, to seven sentences, but it's a good idea not to go longer than say about seven at most. It's really difficult to read a whole page full of solid text, try to break it up into smaller pieces.

Spelling - Country Differences
All countries use different forms of written english. For example in the south pacific some words are spelt differently to those in America. Just because a word might look odd, doesn't neccessarily mean that it's a spelling mistake.

Example:
Favourite and Favorite are the 'same' word. The first spelling is British english, and the second American. There are other words like these two such as 'Labour' and 'Labor' in just the same way, and 'Colour' and 'Color' both are correct. I use the first kind of spelling, it's more familiar, but both are right.

Spellchecking, Proofreading and Beta-ing
Spellchecking: If you have a word-processing program try to use the internal spellcheck function like 'ABC' in Word, or others like Open Office. It won't pick up all the spelling mistakes, but it will go through the most obvious ones. Your readers will most definitely pick up on these too, and they usually won't hesitate to tell you too.

Proofreading: Important but not always possible for incredibly long stories or chapters. It is a good habit to get into though, even if you only do it for little bits of your work. It's easy to tell a proofread story from a non-proofread. There are fewer spelling, grammatical, and punctuation mistakes. Non-proofread fics tends to have a whole lot more.

Beta-ing: A fabulous resource, especially if it's someone kind enough to read through your fiction before you post it. Beta-ing does take time, but these wonderful people can help you pick out plot-holes, dialouge troubles, spelling mistakes, and other things you might have missed. Their advice can really help to improve your writing, as they can look at it from the outside, and judge the quality as a whole. A perspective you wouldn't get otherwise.

But before you do send work to a Beta, it's courteous to spell-check and proofread your work first. They shouldn't have to check every single thing for you, so it's a good idea to be considerate as they are taking their own time to help you out.

This might help others a little, but that's my two cents. Happy writing everyone.

~ Pyre

I don't have a beta, so I find it especially helpful to read my own work out loud to myself before I post it. Usually. When I don't, I often find myself wishing that I had.

This is a nice little guide, very useful.

When I start compiling author resources for this year's Dokuga Holiday Exchange, would you mind if I put in a link to this post?

Really? Wowzers O.O! I actually posted something useful! Sure! XD No probs. I've a few more tips too. Here we go.

Dictionary & Thesaurus
Dictionary:
Dictionaries are wonderful things, especially if you want to increase your 'English' vocabulary, your knowledge of words. Don't be afraid of using one, especially if you want to find out the meanings of words. Try to get familiar with a paperback or hardcover edition. It's alphabetized from A to Z so it's easy to find the word you're looking for. It can be daunting though at times, dictionaries are often gigantic books, a really good one can have up to 1000 pages. It happens. I've found the Oxford English editions, and the Collins dictionaries the most useful, but there are online dictionaries too like: Merriam Webster, a site complete with an online dictionary, and thesaurus search functions. Great stuff.

Thesaurus:
Excellent resource, and most word-processing programs have a Thesaurus in-built too. Nifty. Microsoft Word does, which I use very often to find different words with the same or similar meanings. A thesaurus can come as an online resource like on Merriam Webster, or as part of a standard dictionary or as a whole separate book. It won't usually tell you the meaning of words, but it'll give you things like Synonyms, Antonyms, and Homonyms. More on those next

Synonyms:
A synonym is a word that has the same or a similar meaning to another word.

Example:
Rebuke and Chastise mean to scold sternly or to basically tell a person off. Different words but with the same or a similar meaning.

Other words like 'Said', 'Speak', 'Say' and so on literally mean the same thing too, that someone has or is talking. Be careful though, you can get tripped up by present-tense, and past-tense words too. If a person is 'saying' something, it's present tense as they're doing it right now. If a person has 'said' something it's past-tense as in they have done it already.

Antonyms
An antonym is a word that is the opposite of another.

Example:
Appear and Disappear mean two opposite things. Appear is when something can be seen. Disappear is when it can't be seen. Simple.

Others like 'Alive' and 'Dead' are antonyms, or 'Injured' and 'Uninjured', or 'Soft' and 'Hard', and 'Gentle' and 'Rough', and so on like 'Hot' and 'Cold'.

Antonyms can usually come in pairs. So it can be easy to spot them.

Homonyms
A homonym is a word that's spelt or prononced in the same way as another, but has a different meaning. Tricky.

Example:
There and They're are pronounced the 'same' but have different meanings.

'There' means as in 'over there' a direction or place where someone or something like an 'object' is located.

They're is a contraction of two separate words, 'They' and 'are'.

Words like 'Wood' and 'Would' are also homonyms. 'Wood' is what a tree is made out of, a substance, and 'Would' is where a person takes an action like 'Sesshoumaru would attend kendo practice every Thursday afternoon'.

There are loads of other homonyms too, but the contractions of two words are probably the most difficult. Your and You're can be fairly tricky.

'Your' is a possessive pronoun like 'This cup is yours', the 'cup' belongs to someone else, and not to yourself (that would be 'my' or 'mine').

'You're' is another contraction of two words similar to They're only this time its a contraction of the words You, and are.

Probably the most common homonym mistaken is Its and It's.

'Its' is a possessive pronoun like 'Your' as in, something (an object) belongs to someone. Like 'The dog slept in its kennel'. The kennel here belongs to the dog.

'It's' is a contraction of the two words It and Is. So 'It's' can often be used to describe something like 'It's raining outside', shortened for 'It is raining outside'.


Don't be afraid to experiment with words. I find it tricky myself too. Happy Writing everyone.

~ Pyre

This is most useful, Pyre! It will be a good resource for experienced writers and new writers alike! It's always nice to have a reference sheet ^.^

Thanks MomoDesu. Well I thought to add something to the forum with specific tips, as quite a few of our Dokugans are often asking the same or similar questions. It's nice to have it all in one place, so I thought to help out a little. Okay, here's a few more tips. Note I won't try to go into the specifics of some of them, as I think everyone already has a good grounding in this stuff anyhow. Here we go

Punctuation
This one is particularly important in written English. Since most websites on the net involve some kind of text-based environment that requires 'reading'. It's especially good to have a grasp of how written language should look. Note that this changes with non-English languages, as indigenous languages when written often have their own rules for punctuation.

English - Punctuation:
Punctuation literally is the way in which those confusing things like fullstops(.), colons ':', semi-colons';', commas(,), exclamation marks (!), apostrophes ('), ellipsis(...), speech-marks("") and so on are used in written language. Don't be frightened of these dots and squiggles, they won't eat you. They're just there to break up a sentence into smaller bits, and make it more understandable when read. Like this:

Example:
Here's a nice and simple one -

"Sesshoumaru, you're really cute!" said Kagome.

Here:
Kagome is talking so we use the 'speech-marks' (") and (") to tell our reader that she's saying something. There's also a comma (,) in there set after Sesshy's name, this is a standard rule. Names are usually followed by a comma (but not always). There's an apostrophe (') as well in you're showing the contraction of the words You and Are. The exclamation mark (!) is used to give 'emphasis' to the sentence, as in that Kagome thinks Sesshoumaru is very cute. Finally, the fullstop (.) tells the reader that the sentence is finished.

There are other punctuation rules too, that revolve around how semi-colons, and other 'punctuation' symbols should be used too. Beware though while some guides can give you great tips, the way in which written English is 'punctuated' as in, how fullstops, commas, and colons and so on are used varies in the different styles of writing.

You'll hear words like 'Formal', and 'Informal'.

Formal Writing - In my experience this entails things like reports, or scientific journals etc style of writing, which are very specific. Punctuation rules are more stringent here, as is the discouragement in use of slang, and personal pronouns like 'Me', 'My', 'You' and 'Yours'.

Informal Writing - Again for me this incorporates Creative Writing. It usually means hand written letters, short stories, novels, and fanfiction. Yeah!

Grammar and Syntax
Grammar is how the words are ordered, or arranged in a phrase or sentence. And it includes how words like Adjectives, Verbs, Adverbs, Nouns, Pronouns (and so on) are put or placed in a sentence.

Note that like punctuation Grammar and Syntax varies between languages. English grammar will be very different from say Japanese, or French. Indigenous languages generally have their own Grammar and Syntax rules.

Noun
A noun is a 'naming' word like 'Sesshoumaru' or 'Kagome' or 'Rock', 'Tree', 'Stone' and so on, it 'names' a place, person or thing.

Pronoun
A pronoun is a 'possessive' word like 'My', 'Mine', 'You', 'Your', 'I', 'Them' and so on. It shows that something belongs to someone.

Example:
"This is my blanket". The blanket belongs to me, and not to you. Simple.

Verb
A verb is an 'action' word like 'running', 'walking', 'sitting', 'standing', 'dancing', and so on. It means that a person, or an object is usually 'moving' or making something happen or doing something.

Be careful of 'tense' here too, as things like 'writing' are happening now, and 'written' have happened already.

Example:
Kagome had written a letter for Sesshoumaru.

Here:
We learn that Kagome has composed a letter for Sesshy, as in past-tense she has already done it. If is were present tense the sentence would be 'Kagome is writing a letter for Sesshoumaru' as in she's doing it 'now'.

Adverb
An adverb is a word that 'modifies' a verb, or an adjective or it 'adds more meaning' to a verb or adjective.

Adverbs often have an ly on the end, and include words like 'blindly, warily, reluctantly, soundly, irritably, lazily, patiently' and so on. But some adverbs can also be 'very, far, and soon, or less' as well. Trickier!

Example:
Sesshoumaru waited patiently for Kagome.

Here:
The verb is 'waited' and the adverb is 'patiently'. You could use 'waiting' as well and the sentence would be -

'Sesshoumaru was waiting patiently for Kagome in the park.'

Here:
We've got Sesshy waiting right now (present-tense) for Kagome, in the park.

Adjective
An adjective is a word that describes something. Adjectives are usually used to modify or to add more meaning to nouns, and pronouns.

Adjectives can be 'colours' like 'pink, red, green, blue' as these describe what something looks like, or 'feelings' like 'angry, happy, sad', or 'appearance' like 'cloudy, misty, muddy, dirty' and so on.

Example:
Sesshoumaru warily handed Kagome a pink sakura blossom .

Here:
Sessy has reluctantly given Kagome a pink sakura blossom. Let's break the sentence down.

The nouns here are: Sesshoumaru, Kagome, and Sakura blossom as these are people, and a thing or an object.

The verb is: handed as when you give someone something it's an action.

The adverb is: warily as we're told that Sesshy doesn't really want to give Kagome the sakura or cherry blossom.

The adjective is: pink as we're told the colour of the sakura blossom.

These rules can vary though, especially when you start getting into the real nitty/gritty of written English. It's a great advantage to have a good basic grounding in this stuff, as it will help to improve your writing, and make you less nervous about posting your fanfiction online.

So don't be hard on yourself if you're a little confused. We all have troubles with the basics. You're not the only one. It's taken me years to understand alot of it, and then again, I don't get a whole bunch of it either. There's too many lines, dots, and squiggles!

Hope this helps a little more.

Happy Writing.

~ Pyre

Okay, I've some more quick tips. A little less than my last post. Here we go:

Tense
Right, in written English there are such things as present-tense, and past-tense which basically means that things happen in a certain time. There's future-tense too just to make things trickier.

Past-Tense
Past tense is usually implied in sentences when we used words like had and did, as in an action has already taken place, or already been done.

Example:
Sesshoumaru had kissed Kagome.

Here:
By using had the sentence tells us that Sesshy has already smooched Kagome. He's done it in the past. He isn't doing it right now.

If we were to use did in a sentence. It might look like this:

Example:
"You sure?" asked Sango. Miroku nodded. "He did kiss Kagome".

Here:
Sango and Miroku are having a conversation about Sesshy smooching Kagome, and Miroku is confirming to Sango that Sesshy has already in the past kissed Kagome.

There are other ways of inferring past-tense too, more on those later.

Present-Tense
This can be especially tricky. It literally means an action, or that something is happening right now in the present.

To imply present-tense we might use a word like is.

Example:
Kagome is eating an apple

Here:
The sentence tells us that Kagome is right now eating an apple. It's happening in the present. When we use 'is' and combine with an action word (remember that's a verb) that has an ing on the end, it usually will imply present-tense. But there are variations to this rule. This is a very simple example.

Other examples could be:
Kagome is sitting down or Sesshoumaru is teaching Shippo how to play shogi.

Future-Tense
Future-tense usually implies something that hasn't happened yet, or something that will happen but in the future. This can be especially tricky.

Here we could use words like when, will, and soon to imply future-tense.

Example:
"When will you go?" asked Kagome.

"Soon" said Sesshoumaru.

Here:
Kagome has asked Sesshy when he will leave. The use of when, and will and Kagome's question implies that Sesshy will leave in the future. The use of soon in Sesshy's reply also confirms that he is going to leave, but that he hasn't left yet.

The trick here is the use of When, since this word we all know implies some kind of time, in this case it's future tense.

Verb-Tense
This one is especially tricky. A change in the action word or the verb can change the tense in a sentence.

Words like 'writing' are present-tense.

But if we use 'written' the tense changes to past-tense. This is also true for the variation, wrote, just to make things a more complicated!

This is also true for words like 'sit' or 'sitting' or 'sat'.

Example:
Past-Tense: Kagome sat down.
Present-Tense: Kagome is sitting down.
Future-Tense: Kagome will sit down in a moment.

Be careful, as the change in verb-tense can get real complicated very quickly.

These examples are very simple, and the rules for Tense and the sense of time in a sentence can change very quickly.

Hope this helps a little more.

Happy Writing.

~ Pyre

Here's a few more tips, this time on structuring a story. Yups!. Here we go

Story Structure
It's a good idea to look at a piece of fanfiction a little like an essay. Yups just like those dreaded things from high-school. A piece of fanfiction like an essay should ideally have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Beginning
This part is very important. It introduces your fiction. Some authors begin with a first chapter, an opening paragraph, a statement, or simply what we call a Summary.

Summaries
These are a biggy. When you first post a ficlet on Dokuga or FFNet, the first tiny little thing that will entice a reader is the summary. Keep this short, simple, and to the point. Give just enough detail to hook the reader in. You want them to click that hyperlink and go read your ficlet. It's like good Advertising. 'Bargain Sales' or 'Half-Price Off'. You want to get them in the door, so try to make it short, yet interesting, and especially a faithful introduction to what your story is about.

Example:
Sesshoumaru and Kagome decide to get married, but Inuyasha isn't happy about it at all. Still very much in love with the Shikon Miko, he's determined to win her back.

Nice and simple.

Prologue
A prologue simply is a chapter of varying length that will introduce your story. It usually contains scant details about what the story is about without giving too much away. If you have a look at some professional novels, some authors use prologues. Note that a prologue isn't the first chapter. It usually just contains some background information.

Minimize Errors
Try to make the beginning of your fanfiction interesting, catchy, and a good read. Try to minimize spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors. Nothing turns a reader off more than poor punctuation and so on. You want the reader to want to 'read' your ficlet right away. It's the same principle as 'Advertising'. If the person sees a mess, they'll turn around and go away. Try to keep your writing tidy.

Author Notes
Try to minimize the use of Author's Notes too, especially at the start of your story. If you want Author's Notes in your fic, chuck them in a separate short chapter at the start and call it an 'Author Note'. Try to keep everything in one place. It'll will keep your writing tidier. Try to avoid putting in especially long notes at the beginning of every new chapter. It's not too bad to put it at the very end. Remember though, reader's won't necessarily read your Author's Notes. They want to get to the story quickly instead.

Also avoid tossing in random short Author's Notes through-out your story such as '(AN: I thought he was really cute so I put that in too XD) '. Notes like this are messy, and will break up your story into bits, and pieces.

Disclaimers
These are a good idea if your wanting to opening disclaim the ownership of characters, and or copyright for your fanfiction from the original legal owners like (Rumiko Takahashi etc for Inuyasha). It's a good idea to keep these short, and sweet, and to chuck them at the very beginning of your story. You can repeat them every chapter if you want to as well.

I don't disclaim my fics myself, as it's time-consuming to put it in each individual chapter or drabble, so on FFNet I've stuck the disclaimer on my profile page. Easier for me, but everyone is different.

Story Structure - Middle
Right, the Middle of your story should expand on everything in the beginning. This is usually the biggest chunk of your story. It should just like an essay, draw the reader in deeper into the details, and satisfy their appetite for action, angst, romance and everything else too that you've introduced in the Beginning.

Be generous with detail, but don't go overboard. The middle of your story will be the biggest chunk. It should also help to set up the Ending too.

Ending
The end of the story like an essay is the conclusion. This part should ideally wrap up any loose ends, and satisfy the reader's desires for the story to have a satisfactory end point. Try not to introduce any new information, everything here should effectively summarize the 'final' installment of the ficlet.

Epilogue
Many authors might use an Epilogue. This comes usually after the final chapter, or concluding paragraph. The idea here is that it might tell the reader what has happened to the characters a certain time after the main story, it could be days, hours, weeks, or months, or even years after. It could also introduce information in relation to a sequel too.

Usually though Epilogues will be a one-off if the author doesn't want to continue to a sequel, and might tell the reader if the characters have lived 'Happily Ever After', and so on.

Sequels
These are pretty much a next installment, or a continuation of the Main story, the characters, and their experiences, but in a whole new adventure. Great stuff, but remember, following up a great main story can be difficult in a sequel.

Reader's have a certain level of expectation after reading your main ficlet. They will expect the sequel to be of equal quality, or even better quality. So it's a good idea to set the bar a little higher with the sequel, as you want the reader to stay interested and to follow your work.

Readers will be very disappointed if the sequel isn't up to scratch, especially if the original main ficlet was awesome.

Glossary
I have seen quite a few authors for other fandoms use a Glossary pasted in after the entire ficlet. A glossary usually contains important words, or phrases and their meanings that were used throughout the story. You don't really need to add one of these in unless you really want too.

Some authors stick the equivalent of a Glossary in the Author's Notes at the end of the chapter, or ficlet. This is especially useful for the reader to chop and change too, for explanations about things they didn't understand the first time reading through.

It's a good idea to avoid putting in the 'meaning' of words into little 'bubbles' inside your fic like this:

Example:
"Sesshoumaru-sama (AN: 'Sama' is a japanese honorific)...").

This is very messy, and again breaks up your ficlet into bits and pieces, it will also likely distract your reader from reading. If you want to give a detailed explanation, try to put it at the end of the fic entirely, say at the end of the chapter, or, to place it in a Glossary. It's much tidier.

That's my two cents. Happy Writing Everyone.

~ Pyre

Thanks for these tips Pyre! It's great for new writers to get a little heads up about how they should format their stories for easier reading, as well as a reference for seasoned writers to come back and check themselves.

No problem Lady Kirara. I like to write fanfiction, and plenty of our Dokugans share that passion too. I'm just glad to be able to contribute something useful that can help our other members.

I've some more tips, this time on different types of stories. Here we go:

Types of Stories
Yups this part is where it starts to get interesting. The types of stories I'm going to refer to briefly here are ones that Dokuga already has in spades. Yups you guessed it. Drabbles, Oneshots, and Chapter Ficlets. Let's explore why each type is different from the others, and what make's them interesting.

Drabbles
I adore drabbles! These are little ficlets that are usually more than 100 words but also less than 900 words in length.

Drabbles are easy to write very quickly. You don't need a great deal of detail, or explanation for things. These ficlets are short, concise, and easy to read. They're usually very simply written, and wrapped up nicely too.

Drabbles are a good way to explore plot-bunnies, or ideas you might want to write about quickly. You can look at drabble as a 'brainstorming session'.

Pick an idea or even better a Dokuga Fanfiction Challenge and just let your imagination go. Run wild with it. It's a nice way to explore an idea before committing yourself to a longer fic like a one-shot, or a chaptered fic. More on those next.

Drabbles are also a great way to do quick ficlets, and to group them as a collection. Each drabble doesn't necessarily need to be related to the next one, and on Dokuga we can post them as Drabble or Oneshot Collections if we write more than one of them. This is a great way to keep a Drabble Series in one place. Great stuff!

One-Shots
Now these little puppies are usually longer than 1000 words, and the largest I've ever seen anywhere has been around 30,000 words (around 15 to 16 pages of work).

There are plenty on Dokuga in the Fanfiction section. The idea here is that One-shots give an author space to write more about something than they might in a Drabble.

One-shots are literally a One-Off story dedicated to a specific subject, or topic. Oneshots have greater detail than a drabble, can be written just as quickly, and be a lot of fun too.

One-shots are a great way to expand on an idea you might have had for a drabble. You can look at a oneshot as a test-drive to spin a story idea different ways creatively before you commit to a longer Chapter Ficlet.

Chapter Stories
These 'Great Danes' are the literal Novels of fanfiction. A Chapter Fic can be thought of as a series of oneshots related to one another that act as 'Chapters'. Each Chapter can be of varying length and can bounce from 1000 words, to a whopping 15,000 and more depending on the author.

The longest single chapter I've read had close to 50,000 words in it, and that was a Fanfiction ficlet.

Chapter Fics can be very small or very large dependent on the author. They can also generally take a fairly long time to write, from weeks to years. The trick with these long ficlets is to keep your readers interested, and eager to wait for each new chapter. So it's a good idea to try to keep them guessing at every turn.

Rule of Thumb with Chapters
Each individual chapter should be able to stand on its own as a whole. Yup it's part of your Chapter Ficlet, but should like an essay ideally have the Beginning, Middle, and End structure.

Each Chapter should also ideally relate to the chapter before it, and the one after, and so on. It's like trying to weave a thread between them.

Continuity
This is a biggy for Chapter Fics. By relating one chapter to the next and stringing them together, as an author you should be able to weave a continuity. A type of timeline of events that your readers can follow as they read through the ficlet.

If you break up this continuity, your readers will spot it in a heartbeat.

For example, if I had written about Inuyasha for eight chapters, and then dropped him off the face of the earth in the ninth. Chances are that my readers would wonder where he'd disappeared too. Perhaps a plot-bunny ate him. It can be very easy to lose track of one character. This where we can get the dreaded plot hole.

Plot Holes
These can crop up like sink-holes in chapter ficlets. A plot hole can be thought of as quick sand. Characters fall right into it, and disappear. Continuity gets broken into little bits and pieces, and the reader will be left wondering 'Where's Inuyasha? What's happened to him? Did he get eaten by a Plot Bunny!'.

If the reader can pick out a character suddenly acting very strangely, or disappearing entirely, they'll usually tell you. Try to keep track of what you're writing, and where you place characters. If Inuyasha does disappear, than tell the reader in your story that he's gone on a vacation to Hawaii, and that he's kicking back drinking martinis and enjoying the peace, surf, and sun.

Try not to leave your readers wondering. They're very likely to lose interest quick, and stop reading. The goal is to keep them interested, and wanting to continue reading your next chapter.

Hope that helps a little more. Happy Writing.

~ Pyre