Whimfu1 here. This is a one shot dubbed 'Alt Start'. This was the original idea for Age Gap that I tossed away. This entire thing isn't it, only a portion. The rest of this update is Q&A, a self critique, and finally writing advice for aspiring authors. The final portion is also the biggest issue with all my stories and may explain some of my choices throughout.

This is the final update of this story.

Thank you to all the readers and reviewers who have stuck it out with me.

The layout of this update is as follows:

Stats

Q&A

Alt Start (This is the story)

Critique of Alt Start

My Self Critique of Age Gap

My Time as a 'Larger Author'

General Tips

The Main Cast

Other Characters

Loudcest

Age Gap's Biggest Problem

Stats

We'll start with the final stats and then the Q&A, look for the centered title for the actual start.

As of 6/18/2019 this is where Age Gap stood on the Loud House Fanfiction Category. (5.1k stories in category at the time.)

Follows: Rank 18 with 306 follows

Favorites: Rank 16 with 312 favorites

Reviews: 333 reviews

Views: 95, 876

Now I will break it down to views per chapter.

Ch 1. 21,296

Ch 2. 7,014

Ch 3. 5,539

Ch 4. 5,131

Ch 5. 4,341

Ch 6. 4,751

Ch 7. 3,778

Ch 8. 3,097

Ch 9. 3,470

Ch 10. 3,875

Ch 11. 3,566

Ch 12. 2,351

Ch 13. 3,248

Ch 14. 2,110

Ch 15. 2,948

Ch 16. 3,474

Ch 17. 1,786

Ch 18. 3,319

Ch 19. 2,339

Ch 20. 2,505

Ch 21. 1,995

Ch 22. 1,419

Ch 23. 1,454

Ch 24. 1,070

Some of the fluctuation is due to how I released chapters two at a time, leaving some as the last chapter for awhile, and general quality.

Q&A

Dread55 - Is there is something I want change or another road I wanted to go down? - I did change one thing that makes Lincoln's stupid gum scene a bit more realistic. As for another road, I may have just avoided the whole basket ball ace thing all together as it was so minor to me and more major to the readers. The whole Vice Principal thing was a bit forced so I'd probably done it differently. Just have trouble between Quinlan and Winter rather than anyone else. Also, I'm glad you like QT enough to not wish her death for the sake of a harem set up. It's nice to see my character had that impact.

LoudRisque - What about my spin-offs especially 'Dumb, Stupid Revenge' and 'A Carlota Story'? - I might save them for small oneshots but nothing a really big. I have oneshot ideas for Becky, Carol, and Dana that are separate from Age Gap but not strong enough to be full fleshed out stories. A Carlota Story is much more likely but shorter than Age Gap. I think maybe a six chapter story and such. It would be more like my story 'changing hearts' in length and structure. No sequel is planned for Age Gap.

avethroeslittleton - What is Quinlan's and Lincoln's daughter's name? - As you did notice Quill is their 6 year old son, this was going with the vibe in how families follow the same letter. All the good 'L' names are taken so I decided to go with 'Q', which are few and far between. In this way there are only ten or so female names, luckily hers works well. I imagine their 2 year old daughter to be named 'Queenie'. This was she can be a queen bee as well.

The Reality Shredder - Can people write stories of certain aspects I left out? - I already answered this in a private message but I'll reiterate the gist for anyone who reads this afterwards. Take any aspect you want just please stick to the feel good tone of the source. Add in a inspired by Whimfu1's story and I'll be happy with that.

Now I don't intend to address all the reviews, as this has already grown quite long but I felt one was necessary as it was a reasonable critique.

Zack000 - I can see where you're coming from with a Mary Sue/Gary Stu but I think your definition is a bit wrong. In terms of tropes, Lincoln would be close to a manic pixie dream boy or the many versions there of. He doesn't have much faults but he's not the main focus, Quinlan is. Her being a Mary Sue would be a bit closer but it wouldn't be spot on. She appears out the blue is strong attractive and her glaring flaw is minor to aspect she can't sing. But she isn't a mary sue because she isn't liked by everyone, Lori has immediate problem with her and her issue did carry weight to it. Though, that's not your first critique, Licnoln does do stuff out of character and I'd chalk that up the biggest issue of the story I saved till the end of this update. Still, I do see what you mean by he can do no wrong but he's actively trying to avoid trouble. The thing would be maybe acting his own age but that ranges as he is above the usual 11 year old in the show and I need a competent main character. He's probably more logical but he doesn't do everything by himself. He doesn't set up the Loud Prom, each of the sisters contribute. Which is something evident in the show where they can make elaborate devices for his plans just because.

Your second critique of how Quinlan should have done more of Lincoln stuff is true. It would have been nice to see it. I do have elements of it where when she first enters the room she's lifting up his cosplay and later on takes pictures of him in the cosplay at the sleep over. But the main issue why I didn't include her doing Wii sports with him or being drawn like one of his anime girls was simply time. There was so much to say and I didn't want to go 100 chapters. That's just not the story I wanted.

Third, uhh… refer to the biggest issue. I did the masseur thing because it was more full circle in regards to the story as a whole. There was nothing really to suggest it. Lynn Jr. is the more likely candidate if we go by the show for it. It was more for the story's sake rather than show Lincoln's sake.

Thanks for the feedback on what I considered a weird epilogue. Thanks to all the readers.

Enjoy the Alt Start

Alt Start

"Bobby, you're doing great at the bodega! Your Grandpa couldn't be prouder of you!"

Lori was having one of her many cell phone conversations with her out of state boyfriend. While seeing one another could only happen every so often, their phones always kept them connected. Lori had dropped everything to chat with her Bobby-boo-boo-bear, well everything except grabbing a glass of juice from the kitchen.

Making her way down the stairs, Lori had to dodge the twins chasing one another. Unlike her sister, Leni, she could easily multitask and didn't miss a step. Sliding up the wall she continued down.

"I know. I know. Wait! I literally didn't know that!" Lori was about to enter the kitchen when the sight of her brother caught her attention.

The little twerp was right in front of the fridge getting a snack. As he fumbled with some tupperware that contained some leftover mac n' cheese, his phone was secure wedged between his ear and shoulder. Lori stopped to listen to his conversation out of pure curiosity.

"Yeah, I got the entire weekend free so we could have our date!" Lincoln managed to open the lid to his left overs, "I can't wait to see you all too."

Wait a second, did the twerp say he had a date?

Our little Linky?

"OM-Gosh!" Lori shouted into her receiver. "I gotta go boo-boo-bear! Lincoln just literally revealed some juicy gossip! Bye-bye!" The blonde teen ended the call just in time for her brother to finish zapping his leftovers.

The white haired boy was blissfully unaware of his sneaky sister as he left with his hot plate. He hummed as he walked which acted as the perfect distraction for the teen. After finishing his own call, Lincoln had inserted his phone into his back pants pocket. It hung loose and open for the quick handed girl. With a bit of sleight of hand, Lori had 'borrowed' her little brother's phone. Lincoln was none the wiser as he took his food upstairs.

"Let's see…" Lori quickly inputted the boy's code. For being the second most tech savvy kid in the family he sure did like leaving sticky notes with passwords around. The last call was to a QT, she chuckled. "Geez, Linc, you really got to work on those pet names." Her fingers quickly tapped.

Lincoln: Hey, QT, you free tonight?

After a brief moment, a response shook the phone.

QT: Meeting with the girls actually, sweetie. Why?

Aww, she called Lincoln sweetie. This girl is so cute. But if she's busy.

Lincoln: Too bad, I wanted to introduce you to my family.

A very long pause occurred as QT typing appeared on screen.

QT: WAIT REALLY?! Are you really going to introduce us?! No more hiding, finally out in the open? Three months of secrecy over like that?

Whoa, three months? Lincoln must have been super serious about this girl. Lori considered her words carefully.

Lincoln: Yes, babe. We can be together at last. I know my family will love you just as much as I do. 3

Oh crap, that heart was probably too much.

QT: 3 3 3

Never mind.

QT: I'll tell the girls and be over in a jiffy.

Jiffy?

QT: Do they have anything they like? I really, really, really want to make a good impression!

Lincoln: Chocolate.

Her response had been a bit too fast on that one, luckily Lincoln's girlfriend didn't notice.

QT: Will do! Love you, sweetie! 3 XOXOXO!

Lincoln: XOXOXO

Whoo, and there we go. Lori confidently harrumphed in the middle of the dining room. Oh, they'd need an extra chair tonight. She laughed to herself.

"Hey, Lori," Her snow haired little brother came back down. "Have you seen my phone?"

"Sure have!" Her subtlety was that of a steel toed tip toer. "Can't wait to meet your little QT." The phone was tossed his direction and he scrambled to catch it.

"Wait, what?!"

"I invited her over for a meet and greet!"

"No, you didn't!"

"I literally just did!" Lori went passed the boy. "Hey girls, Lincoln has a girlfriend and she's coming over to play~!"

A cacophony of scandalous noises echoed from the second floor. The sound would have made the boy blush out embarrassment but his eyes were open wide in complete terror. He could hear his sisters rushing down but maybe there was enough time to tell her not to. He looked at the string of texts… she was so happy… he couldn't just tear it away. Two more equally happy texts hit his phone.

Lincoln knew trouble was coming but he had to let it happen.

Some time later...

"Ooo~ I bet she's a blonde!" Leni shouted out to her fellow sisters. All the Loud girls had gathered like a pack of lioness in the front room just waiting to pounce the innocent gazelle. "Lincy totes loved my golden locks when he was younger."

"No way," the mighty athlete of the family stood up. "It's got to be a brunette! He knows whose number one!"

"I always seen him going with pepper to match his salt! Hahaha! Get it?" Luan vote went to a girl with black hair, her family simply wished she'd done it normally. Lucy nodded in her dark corner.

"Nah, dudes, it's probably that red head from the arcades." Luna suggested. "He's got a taste for the fire woman now."

"Ronnie Anne's going to be so disappointed." Lori shook her head. A large clank could be heard as the white haired lover boy brought a chair from the attic. "Lincoln, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" The sole son let out a heavy breath as he made it to the first floor.

"Bringing down another chair."

"Ding ding!" Lincoln whirled an exacerbated bell. "Lana wins!"

"Aw, yeah!"

"Don't be stupid, Lincoln!" The more bratty of the twins shouted. "We obviously mean, why are you bringing down another one?!" It was true, this was not the first chair the young lad had lugged down as they lazed around. To be exact, this was the second.

"For my girlfriend…" he looked away from them. His embarrassment over taking him.

"Aww, one chair wasn't up to snuff huh." Lori cooed. "Just had to make it literally perfect!"

"Or maybe it's because she's fat!" Lynn shouted out, not holding back.

"Lynn!" Leni covered her mouth in shock. "The term is thicc now!"

"Like Lincoln could land a thicc QT!" A large kerfuffle left the athlete. Lincoln ignored her, he knew she'd be eating her words. Depositing the second chair, he once again began his going up to the attic.

"Lincoln come sit with us while we wait for your girlfriend." Lori tried to wave him down.

"Can't, I need to get another chair." Lincoln was already far away upstairs to care. Leaving the grumpy whatzit alone, the girls continued their gossip.

A black 73' Impala rolled to a stop outside the Loud abode. As the driver engaged the parking brake, a girl jumped out of the backseat. A well manicured finger rapidly pressed the doorbell multiple times. Inside the home, the girls in the front room squealed with excitement.

"I got it!" Lori ran to the door, as the one who arranged everything, she would be the first the see the girl. Without even looking through the peephole, the teen opened the door. "Welcome, Linc-"

"Hey, Lori," A slender redhead about her height walked right passed her. A single chocolate candy bar was thrown into her hands. "Alright, what we doing?" The party teen rubbed her hands expectantly.

"Becky!" Leni Loud jumped to her feet to greet her classmate. Grabbing her friend's hands she jumped around happily. "Like what are you doing here?!"

"What are you talking about?" Becky rolled her eyes with a cheeky smile. "I was invited."

"Oh shoots," Lori walked up and joined her sister. "Did we forget a study group night?"

"Excuse me," another blonde teen with a purple headband peeked through the front door. Several eyes went to her. "May I enter?"

"Carol?" The oldest Loud daughter asked bewildered. Sure they were on better terms but had she invited her to study? "Uhh, sure come in."

"Great," the Pingrey came with a warm smile and a large box of chocolates. "It isn't much I hope your family enjoys."A passing of gourmet chocolates occurred.

"Way to show me up, Care." Leaving Leni's side she walked over to the purple cardiganed teen. Her arms were up and hands clamped behind her head in a chill fashion. A smug grin laughed at how serious Carol's glare back was.

"We are trying to make a good impression, Becky." The Pingrey girl sternly told her. "But if you're talking about showing up..."

A pleather boot suddenly kicked the front door open. The Loud girls all jumped from the impact. In from the porch was an enormous, gaudy arrangement of chocolate hearts and deadly, sugary sweets. All their mouths watered at the sight of the delectables. It almost seemed to have walked in by itself but a pair of muscular thighs showed there was a very curvy girl just behind it. With confidence, the candy bouquet strode towards Lori and shoved the chocolate into her arms.

Free from the sugary burden everyone was treated to a brown eyed girls the likes they had never seen. Her brunette hair was curly and hung shoulder length. She wore a yellow tube dress that revealed her ample cleavage framed by a leather jacket. Whoever this person was, she was a ten out of ten babe.

"Uhh…" Lori's head poked through the arrangement. "Who are you?" Another large clang came from the second floor as Lincoln began dragging down a third chair. All three teens looked at the descending boy.

"Oh, hey girls." Lincoln greeted them as he got to first floor. "See you had no problem finding the house."

"Yup," While Lincoln knowing Carol was coming over confused Lori enough, her ex rival's next words worsened train of thought. "We're just excited to finally introduce ourselves to your parents."

"Carol, what do y-" Lori was cut off by her friend, Becky.

"I don't know," the redhead had a grin. "Having a secret relationship was kind of hot."

"Becky!" Carol scolded. "You'll give them the wrong idea."

"Nah, QT'll do that when she forces White Russian to motorboat her." The redhead countered.

"QT?!" Lori shouted out before turning to the hourglass brunette with more cleavage than a lingerie catalogue. "You're Lincoln's QT?!"

The bombshell nodded.

"Hey, hey," Becky looped around and gave the sole son a hug. "I'm Linc's cutie."

The busty brunette apparently found issue with this and took the white haired lad from the redhead's grip. She immediately shoved his face into her ample bosom and pulled his body into a protective hug. The QT held a stern glare on the chuckling girl.

"Told you she'd motorboat."

"Quinlan!" Carol tried to pull Lincoln out of QT's hands. "I expected better of you!" The newly named girl did not give so easily. A tug of war battle for the middle Loud began.

Lori watches in shock at her two friends and the thicc newcomer. She looked and saw how unamused her brother's face was, revealing how mundane this occurrence was to him. Her eyes darted to the mountain of chocolate that was in her hands. A thousand thoughts collated into a single one.

A sudden slip up caused Lincoln to launch from QT's grasp. He flew forward into Carol causing both of them to crash to the ground. When the dust settled, Lincoln happened to be crotch to crotch with the blonde teen whose heels were to the heavens.

"For not wanting to leave a bad impression..." Carol could see her two partners in crime hovering over her, Quinlan was not pleased while Becky was obviously about to make matters worse. "Reenacting our Valentine's day was not your best plan."

"Oh. My. God!" Lori shouted out.

Lincoln sighed, "here we go…"

CRITIQUE OF ALT START

There is no story here. Plain and simple this is just a funny situation. It would be worth a single oneshot but nothing beyond it. It's goofy for sure but where does the story go? Age Gap has an actual conflict immediately, Lincoln is on Lori's bad side so Quinlan appears and their relationship is jeopardized. This has no conflict due to how I made everyone either accepting or shocked enough to not speak against it (In the original plan). It's funny but not really a story. I could delve into how each girl came to accept their attraction and maybe set up a story each but then that's all backstory and three B stories. Carol was going to be mature but secretive about the relationship to the point she was lying to her parents, Becky was going to ignore responsibility to the point she was childish, and Quinlan was going to have a similar thing to the actual story of Age Gap. One obviously stood out much more than the rest and that's why I went with Age Gap with Quinlan only. Carol overlapped a bit too much and Becky's message was a bit weird. Quinlan's was never going to talk and her only dialogue was going to be in texts, but as I mentioned in other A/N she took on some of Carol's big sisterness and Becky's playfulness. Combined they made a single greater character and superb side characters. Of note, Dana was not in this as I didn't consider her a candidate at the time.

MY SELF CRITIQUE OF AGE GAP

Firstly, Age Gap was my baby. My first story and my most popular story. But kill babies. Seriously, kill babies. Not in the morbid way but actually be willing to say goodbye to those projects you're most passionate about. Reach those satisfying conclusions. Close those character arcs. Be willing to make those changes that bugged you. But at the end, leave it alone. Leave it as a testament of your commitment and progress. Move on. That's what I'm doing. Only a handful of front page favorite stories ever finish, I'm proud to be one of them.

But that does not mean I'm without fault. Let's critique Age Gap.

Age Gap as a story is fine for fanfiction, probably not beyond that. It has a ship, a romance, comedy, wacky pairing, and a bit of drama. Are they pulled off well? Not always. What really helped Age Gap reach its height was a gap of stories about non-Loudcest stories and lack of feel good stories. Let's face it, Age Gap plays it really safe. No long dragged out plot lines mostly quick happy solutions that leave only nameless people to the wayside.

This may be due to my feelings on how an Age Gap relationship might be approached by an average person. If this was gender reversed, it would not happen. The stereotype of the horny male would just conflict. This story works because Quinlan is at the older position and seen as less threatening. It's a double standard and I barely address it. There's also a part where only one person is so heavily against it, that being Lori. She's the only one who sees the real issue and is then set up to be the main conflict. It works pretty well for the first ten chapters. She's the antagonist who changes her ways and is redeemed by convincing QT's mother. A nice bow. Other side plots are rather irrelevant and set to progress Quinlan's personality becoming more conflict in the second half of the story really is actually just a side point that could not be included for the same results. It was just all set up for Loud Prom.

I addressed it earlier but Lincoln is a bit of a Manic Pixie Dream Boy, who doesn't follow his in show childishness really. Uhh… there's a reason for that and it's in the biggest issue final part. This happens as Quinlan is the main character of the story by far. Lincoln doesn't change much. He has conflicting feelings on the perception of being a man but he never had to as everyone already considered him one. I never have a big thing where he realizes he needs to man up or something, he is just 'himself'. For fanfiction this is fine as the audience knows his character already. I'm letting the show do the legwork and framing a bit of it for my story. While it lets me get straight into the action it does make so I focused on his good parts but not his flaws. This is also due to the fact I didn't want to bloat the story. I wanted to get Quinlan's story out there and, to a point, Cristina's arc took precedent over Lincoln's.

Okay this is a big one… So Lincoln and Quinlan have been dating three months. They have a 5 year age gap and I have QT mention that it's not as large as it seems. This was going to be she's the youngest in her class and Lincoln is the oldest in his class… But. When they first meet Quinlan is already driving. Which makes her 16, that's fine. She wouldn't be able to drive other people for another year after that… so she's 17… well crap. That was something I realized later but yeah, she's either a really confident illegal driver or seventeen. It's a bit nit picky but her car is actually an aspect I use for her. She drives an older cool car because she likes old fashion stuff.

Why did Lincoln swallow a condom. Because I saw it in a foreign ad where a boyfriend hid the fact he was about to eff someone's daughter by pretending it was gum. In hindsight I did change it to be not so stupid how he does it. Instead of 'gee williquors, it must be lozenge', he just accidentally chokes.

The main issue though is how cliche Age Gap is. It's a feel good story with not a lot of bumps. Just a nice read to distract from all the depressing ships. There could have been more conflicts and realistic consequences but that's just not how I pictured it going. I think a family would be pretty lax about this. It's in a legal grey area where the average person wouldn't fully know the logistics. Morally weird, legally uhh okayish… That's where dilemma is derived.

I'll save my writing style for something else, but it's very straight forward. I could use more descriptions.

MY TIME AS A 'LARGER AUTHOR'

If you get to the point your stories gain some notice, either by shear volume or being well written, let me tell you… some weird people are going to try and talk to you. I keep to myself usually but if someone messages me about writing advice, I'll write them back. Other stuff, it really depends. I tended to respond to PMs only when I had finished another chapter. Still this is the one thing to watch out for. People will ask you to write stories for them. If they are nice they'll leave after you tell them you are either uninterested or busy. Others will guise their approach as asking you to review an idea and then imply you would do a better job at it. If you ask for advice I will earnestly respond back with how the story could be handled. I did review a lot of other authors stuff but only if they asked me to. I wish those writers the best of luck and hope they achieve what they hoped for. I will be honest in my reviews and always offer a correction. I never leave it as 'that's fine'. Other than that, nothing is different from a big author and a small author, you might get even more messages if you're really searching for it.

GENERAL TIPS

This is going to be just some general overall tips on how to make your stories more likely to be noticed.

Title: Make it recognizable, easy to recall. This goes for your username too but if readers can match your work without hitting the author tab then that's good. Go for memorability.

Summary: Write one. Seriously, don't just say you aren't good or it's in the first page author note. This is your hook, really write what will happen even if you have to spoil a surprise. Thicc QT was a huge draw and I did have to plainly reveal it. You'll lose the 'who's being shipped' tension but gain a 'grand entrance' tension. Also, make it long. Reach the character limit. The site has 25 stories per page while searching. Small summaries can become hidden if they are squeezed by two larger ones. Don't let your story get missed by skimmers. Use all the visual opportunity you can.

Label Appropriately: This applies to several aspects but the big ones are genres and characters. People do sort by them so really label correctly. If you label a horror as a comedy you severally damage your tone and put people off. Have the audience know what they are getting into, you'll be attracting readers who are actually interested in your style of writing. Users sort by characters, use it. Label your most prominent characters and do the pairing function if it's necessary. Rating is less important and it shifts from person to person. With Age Gap, everyone expected sex solely because the M rating which is typically what that category means for Loud House stories. In other categories it may not be as such. Up to T is visible to everyone but don't do it unless it's right for your story.

Length Matters: Let's talk about preferences… I don't consider under 1000 words a story. It's the reason I released 'Loud Bot' as 8 chapters from the very beginning. I considered all 8 chapters worthwhile but not the single chapters. I made it a rule for myself to aim for at least 3000 words per chapter. It reads well on mobile and offers enough substance for a reasonable update. It personally just isn't worth my time to read short things with no real material beyond set up or premise. But by sheer appearance a longer story is more likely to be read. Multiple chapters are better than oneshots. It's just more appealing to see a story that might come to fruition rather than abandoned ideas. Just don't become bloated as it will push new, late readers away.

Posting Times: You want to maximize your time on the 'most recent' front page for whatever category you write for. That being said, there are better times to do this than others. Unless you have a well established story, never post at night. People are asleep and a lot of authors wake up to immediately post. Your story will be swept off the top spots without getting much of a chance. Most work or school days go from 9-3 which means the best opportunity for a new story to get noticed is after 3 pm (MST). And for me, my most successful days were Monday and Friday. Saturdays were dead in the water personally and Sunday was iffy. Along with this, you can keep yourself on the front page by posting several chapters in a row but it won't work if you don't do the following. Fanfiction will push a new chapter to the top of the most recent but only if it is already off the front page. It's not quick on the updates and if you publish when your story is on the front page it won't go back to the top spot. Instead watch as your story goes down the page, when it gets to page two you can post a new chapter to get back to the front page. This will max your visibility, but of course your story still matters.

First Chapter: Make your first chapter decent length and also here's a tip they used for television shows. For awhile production companies would commission a show for two episodes, the first one would be an origin story the next would be the actual action. Without telling the directors of the show, the production would just flip the first two episodes so the audience would get hooked than do the whole backstory once they were invested. This isn't always necessary but I'd also recommend this. Deliver on at least a bit of any promises you had in your summary. Nothing annoys me more than seeing a great summary and not seeing any aspect of it for the first three chapters.

I hope those help authors struggling to get an audience especially if it's solely due to how you post.

THE MAIN CAST

If you are planning on writing for the Loud House then great. You have a large cast of main characters across several personalities. The show actually has more potential for fanfiction than most. For this section I will be covering the Loud kids of the show: general personality, what their potential is, and how I use them in my stories. I'll also go over some good tropes to use and some issues you may have writing them. My personal preferences go to the oldest Louds or at least the ones I find the most mature. Let's start from youngest to oldest, as the younger cast is a lot less complicated.

Lily: As the baby of the family there is a lot of leeway you can take the character. The show tends to sell her as a baby who is also intelligent enough to pick up on social cues. That being said, she's a good character to use to accent moods or other characters. She can act as a typical baby, and no one will be bothered, but you can give her a minor personality. She's intelligent but is still a baby. Keep her actions meaningful but small as a baby could only do. For me, I've used her in one scene really: when Lori comes back in Age Gap to grab her cellphone. Lisa asks her permission to fight so she asks Lily if she can put her down, which Lily does. It's my favorite part of that scene.

Lisa: Lisa is probably the most misused character of the sisters. Without a doubt she is the smartest out of them all, when it comes to knowledge. But this does not mean she knows everything. She is constantly learning and readjusting her views based on her experiences. She's a genius who just doesn't fully understand how to put everything into practice. Use her methodically and as a mature voice within the crowd. I personally like using her to be the only logical person and use her to step by step explain things in an understandable fashion. Not every character should be expected to do that, but she can. Make her a bit ignorant of other people's feelings and you got a deadpan goldmine. One tip though, don't write in her lisp. It undermines how you read her. If you have to already interpret her meaning, adding on just what she's saying is just distracting. Most of the time she's fully understandable in the show. Her family understands her pattern and responds correctly. Her lisp is just a minor trait. Don't have her be the end all be all solver of problems because you'll lose tension in your story.

Lola: One of my personal favorites, this princess is your typical brat. She's self entitled, focused on her image, has a large emotional range, and to a large part she is petty. She's an amazing character. Not all of the cast has as much potential as Lola. Many are one note and fit more as side characters, Lola is strong enough to be both. She's the most typical little girl with the added personality of a high school mean girl. She can take punches and deal them out. There isn't much you can't use her for except the traits that belong to Lana, she should be a heavy opposite. Speaking of her twin, they have a good relationship with a lot of teasing. The blondes in the family are the most traditional of stereotypes for sisters. Use Lola as a brat but don't forget she's witty enough to seem mature. Have her not be afraid to speak her mind especially with those she's comfortable with.

Lana: The older of the twins, Lana is the opposition to Lola's prim and proper. She's gross, rude, dirty, brash, and lovable. Let's be honest she seems like the hardest worker of everyone and does it for intrinsic reasons. In my opinion, her hobbies do have a hierarchy: plumbing, animal expert, and an auto mechanic. I say this because her personality is that of a stereotypical plumber with the fact she likes all things gross, which the others don't have as high of. But this is probably my least favorite character traits of hers. The show uses her for gross out comedy, and if you aren't into potty humor, she'll rub you the wrong way. She shines best when that side of her is down played. When she takes care of animals or works on Vanzilla is where she really shines. Scales of Justice is my favorite Lana episode because of this. I use her as a tomboy handyman and, for the minor role she has, it works. She has less potential for main character than her twin but she can still be good. She's confident with her dirt but the contrast with social norms is a good story line to use.

Lucy: Sigh, is a legitimate way to start most conversations with her. Don't be afraid to use it. It's a great way to show how exacerbated she feels. Lucy is the dark, goth of the family who love all things spooky. And in this sense, she is incredibly one note. I got to say she has a great design, visually, and is basically a caricature for her appearance. She's angsty stereotype all rolled up in an artsy exterior. With that being said, I use her mainly as a monotone character who is aware of emotions. She understands people empathetically and does small things to make them feel better. Her emotionless caringness is really endearing to me but it is hard to nail. Get ready to write poetry or at least speak in prose. Lucy should be cold and calculated. I won't use her as a lead but she can be used as one.

Lincoln: Strongest lead of the family due to relatability. He's the newer version of the average day kid. He's the outsider to his sisters and acts as a medium for the audience in the Loud House. He's just the newest version of leave it to beaver. He's the golly gee wholesome kid that you root for because he's the lead. His traits are meant to be friendly or at least understandable. Nothing is atrociously bad about him and that's fine. It's okay to be generic. The issue is, if you do use him as your lead, is forcing a personality on him. He has his show tropes and use those to give him the basic familiarity. If you do make him something he isn't then get ready for it to be jarring. He is the most likely for this to happen and it can really read badly. Leave reminisce of his original personality and actually show why his change occurs. He's a good medium to change other characters but also don't make him the only way for character progression to happen.

Lynn Jr.: Eff if I know… but seriously, Lynn Jr. and Luan are my least used characters. I can explain Luan but I can't really do the same with Lynn. Lynn is the 'jock of the family' stereotype turned up to eleven. She is sporty, a bit of a bully, and really competitive. I just don't write it beyond that. I always set out with the mindset of 'okay, this time I'm going to use her for an important part of this story' and then a few chapters later I find someone better for the role. This happened in my other story Zap. I start off with her and then I progress in the story and her moment seems unimportant. My stories just don't fit her well. I'll use her as an aggressive pusher but other than that, I don't use her. When she's the main focus of a story she fairs a lot better than a side character. In that respect I've never do. Sports, self improvement, an inside antagonist are usually stories or roles that fit her.

Luan: You're either really good at writing for her or you're not. Luan is a comedian but really she's more of a clown or prankster. Her main tools are puns and gag toys. So in this respect she has a very specific type of comedy. There is nothing worse than bad comedy. A bad love story can be funny for being shlock, a bad comedy is just a horrible trudge through a mire of pitifulness. This makes her the hardest sister to land. If her puns don't come out naturally, they seem forced. If they don't make sense then it will lose its timing. She loves puns, and even then, they come out quick with a trademark infectious laugh. If you switch to other forms like anecdotes they feel out of character. Sure it's comedy but then it's your form of comedy, not hers. She'll seem more 'real' if you stick to hers. With that said, I've talked about comedy pretty much exclusively and that's because that's all I see for her. She's another caricature that doesn't have enough stand out traits for me to write as a main character. She's always a minor character for me. I use her as quick one liners in between none serious scenes. Serious scenes, she's not even there.

Luna: Everyone's favorite rocker. She's basically the most laxidasical sister. She's the level headed, cool girl of the group, except when she's fanatical for music. Easy going and understandable, she's pretty easy to write for. She also good for puns using song names and use dude, luv, and other slang appropriately. Luna is a decent lead and side character. She's a good mentor and friend. It may even appear jarring if you make her none approachable. But even when it comes to rocking out, the show is incredibly wholesome. Her style of rock is not the drug fulled sex ride of tabloids, it's more rocking out and having fun. She's everyone's favorite cool sibling.

Note - I had a long speel about the Bisexual aspect of her but honestly it felt a bit show does a good job of showing LGBT as normal and not having people really question it. This is a good way to do it and should help future generations perception of the lifestyle. From a storytelling perspective, many authors either ignore it or just make it normal. Which is fine. If you're going to write a story where it's an issue, it should probably be the main issue.

Leni: Lovable airhead with a heart of gold. A little one note, Leni is the most friendly character in the show. Even when she's mean, her tone of voice down plays it. Her lines are meant to be ridiclously stupid. She's ditzy and adorable. Fashions her shtick and goes well with her overall happy attitude. Make her ignorant to the point that most basic situations go over her head but make her kind hearted and caring. Leni is an angel. Use 'totes' and 'like' for that valley girl tone even in writing. She's one of the girls who have those vocal notes that are recognizable to the ridiculous degree. You can use her quotablity to not always write down who is saying what in a scene if you find yourself writing 'Leni asked' or 'the ditzy blonde teen told them' a lot.

Lori: My favorite character to use, Lori is the one stop shop for any character. Like Leni she has quotability with 'literally'. She's mature enough to be rational but also childish enough to have pitfalls. She can be a protective big sister and typical angry teen. Always on her phone in the show, but no one notices if you don't mention it. She has dreams, is a hopeless romantic, and fears all ready for a writer. She acts as main impact character in more than half of my stories and is a good choice to use for all roles. Lori is your typical teen stereotype and makes her really easy to use in all roles. Her versatility is the highest in the sisters, so use it. It may not fit into your story, but her boyfriend, Bobby, is also a decent character that is well established. Strictly speaking, if you don't feel like having as part of your story...don't mention it. Seriously, not a single review I received for Zap ever worried about if Lori had a relationship with him simply because I just never talked about it. He can be used as an accessory or even a plot point, but it all depends on you. Just know if you want to get out of Royal Woods she's the main driver of the show.

OTHER CHARACTERS

With such a large cast with just the Loud siblings, you really don't need much more. Still there are some that could be good to use. I'm not going to go over 100% of them but I'll mention some common ones in very little detail.

Rita and Lynn Sr. Loud (Loud Parents): I've had success with using them as typical detached parents. In a sense, I don't follow the show. I use Rita as a strong caring mother and Lynn as a reasonable father. The difference being, Lynn Sr. is a coward and a push over. I actually write him as a more traditional father type, none of his actions in Age Gap would happen in the show really. It's okay to ignore them though as they usually use Lori to watch over everyone.

Clyde: Uhh, just use him as a best friend. I'd never use him as the main character for anything as he's too pathetic. He's fine as a supportive best friend but nothing about him is supposed to stand out. The show does make him a main character quite often which is honestly disappointing. When you have such a large cast of characters why spend so much time on a goofy friend instead of the family.

Ronnie Anne: She's a fine love interest. An alright main character but nothing really stands out. She's a tough girl who was obviously set up to be the love interest of Lincoln but as time progressed she had minor changes. Seriously her design pairs well with the freckles and protruding front teeth. Her personality is strong, I just feel the show misused her. Her family dynamic was great as the opposite to the Louds but they want the joke of having a big family so she has a big family! It's in a different way but the characters also have to get propped up. The Casa Grandes all have a small quirky personality, like the Louds, but when you try to look at her as a whole it's best to contrast her. Good side character not main in most stories.

Bobby: Good side character and a fine boyfriend. Works a lot which is cool. There is nothing really wrong with him except when he has to randomly break up with Lori for the plot to happen. Fine brother, really chill, solid minor character. He can be upgraded to a main but again the cast is large. Have him paired up or else you risk of having an odd personality that contrast his established lover boy and airheaded one.

Background: I should be an expert at this right… well my advice is don't. Honestly, only a few side characters are worth using and background even less. Thicc QT is the most recognizable and reasonable one to actually use. You'll be working from the ground up and if you don't have a good personality it just won't work. But I do recommend this far more than making an OC. Good background characters would probably be limited to Loud friends and the named QTs (Thicc, Shy, Sweater, ect.).

OCs: Good luck with that! Seriously if you want to have a successful OC they should be relegated to support in my opinion. In my personal opinion, OCs are really cringy. Arguably, Quinlan is an OC but less intrusive than the typical stereotype. This is what I can recommend, have an OC with purpose. An actual purpose, not just 'to be in the show' or 'have a relationship with a character'. If you do want to write a love story maybe instead of having the OC as the main character have one of the show's main cast do it. Have it from the casts' perspective and set up an OC to be friendly so a relationship comes naturally rather than forced. Make them a side character with purpose other than I'm here to wow for self fulfillment. If you are doing it for self fulfillment, then you're free to do what you want. Intrinsic writing can be the relaxing for yourself.

Notice I don't talk about the sinkids… check the next section.

LOUDCEST

Before I get to it, let's look at the show. The show has a female dominated cast with a single male lead. They are all part of a single family and share very close spaces. The sole boy of the family has good relationships with all his sisters regardless of age or differences. That in itself is not too wrong but why would people ship them? This is what I think, the Loud House is actually incredibly old school. It really hearkens back to the good old america suburbia where kids hung out with family for fun and not just stick in their rooms playing on their phones. Now the show does have cell phones and today's digital devices but they have game nights, family dinner, moments together. Commercials now of days depict family as something you have to cut the wifi to bring together. The Loud kids share a bond that is oddly close now of days especially for a large, probably nuclear family. They are constantly doing things together or just hanging. Personally, I feel like this is an unusual depiction now of days. It's a lovely depiction that a lot of people would love to have. The feeling may even be odd.

That being said, why do people like the image of these Loudcest ships? I have a couple reasons. One, they are the most developed characters in the show and why would you want some nobody to suddenly be shipped with your favorite character? (Cough cough, except when it's the male lead so there are double standards.) Two, due to the vast array of personality types they don't always come across as siblings. Okay, so seriously, half of fanficion is basically shipping but people don't usually do it with unestablished characters. When unestablished characters are used they are usually a bit of 'oddity' attractions rather than real stories. I think Age Gap does fit into this category a bit. So if we look at the show, the main cast are the only characters fully fleshed out and are likeable. It seems inevitable that they would be paired regardless of relations. With how different they are there's also an endless fodder of possible stories that could come of it. I don't see anything too bad, I mean I just see them as characters that you like the personalities of. We identify people we like with friendly personalities and think of ways they could get along. Ever been set up for a date by a friend with one of their friends? It's not too hard to believe but the show makes them not always seem like siblings and share a very close bond. I can see how people would do it.

The controversy then becomes, should I write about incest… for me, who cares. It's fanfiction, really who cares? We aren't writing the next Don Quixote. If you write an enjoyable story, who cares! Well, a lot of people apparently. I've never really have had problems with those really against it, in my other stories. I mean the one person who did have an issue read the entire thing to leave a review on both the first and last chapters addressing one of my author notes. But I have seen other people who have. The only thing is, there are hardly any good non-loudcest stories out there. I started writing Age Gap as a slight alternative even. If you don't want as many loudcest stories, write more stories about less fleshed out characters. Take it from me, it's effing hard.

Lastly, let's look at the Sin Kids. Critiques will probably have problems due to their accepted origins regardless if you write your own story where the incest aspect wasn't included. Names are hard, depictions even more so. Why not use established OCs people can recognize with minimal effort. Fanfiction has the benefit of having established characters, relationship, mythology baked in by the source material. This makes it easier in terms of being able to skip large amounts of backstory. 'Those Kids' would have been twice as long if I had to describe every child in stupidly long detail. I don't think the Sinkids are good characters but go ahead and use them. Again, with any OC, have an actual purpose for them beyond just being. The only one I care about is Lupa… and it's solely for the design. None of the other kids are that interesting. They tend to be exaggerated aspects of their mother or just fodder for smut. Either is a bit lazy.

AGE GAP'S BIGGEST PROBLEM

Alright, let's look at the actual final stats of this story again before I get to the biggest issue.

As of 6/18/2019 this is where Age Gap stood on the Loud House Fanfiction Category. (5.1k stories in category at the time.)

Follows: Rank 18 with 306 follows

Favorites: Rank 16 with 312 favorites

Reviews: 333 reviews

Views: 95, 876

This is more than I expected and most authors dream of getting. This is that big hit a lot of authors hope their stories will be… but my story has one glaring issue that flew by most people's radar.

Now, before I explain it, realize that I wrote this story earnestly and mean no offense to anybody. That being said, the issue is bizarre considering how well this story has done compared to others.

The biggest issue of this story is.

...

I've never seen an episode of the Loud House.

…

Is an accurate statement I could have stated through most of this story, I think until about chapter 11. Since then I would say I've seen less than ten full episodes though.

I think I've seen these half episodes:

Selfie Improvement (Perhaps why I like Lori so much.)

Study Muffin (Because I needed to research Mrs. DiMartino for Zap)

Dance Dance Resolution (Because I wanted to see if Tabby would be a cool character to use.)

Left in the Dark (I just liked that one)

L is for Love (Cause Sam, another case of a character getting really popular for a weird reason)

Read Aloud (Lola hates reading, and it's great.)

Scales of Justice (Lana at her best)

Crimes of Fashion (I thought about using Fiona)

Everybody Loves Leni (Cause Leni's friends)

Driving Ambition (Cause Lori)

Those half episodes end up being about 5 full episodes

I've also seen the full episodes:

The Loudest Mission: Relative Chaos (Cause Carlota in a possible story)

Really Loud Music (Cause I found it)

The Loudest Thanksgiving (Ehh… it was on demand when I was visiting family)

So total about 8 episodes out of 78 episodes currently out (as of season 3). Hehe, that's just about 10%, of which doesn't include 'Raw Deal' the episode Thicc QT actually appears in. This also doesn't include the episode with Cristina or when Lincoln meets Becky.

So somehow… I managed to write a top story for a show I hadn't really seen… hehe.

Alright, before I get too far, let's talk about why I even bothered doing it for a show I've never seen at the time.

Let me start by saying the art style in this show is amazing. It has an old aesthetic from classic America. So one day, when I ran low on data from reading manga on my way home from college, I realized a wall of text uses a lot less data than images. I read fanfiction in the past but wanted to read some cheesy romance stuff randomly. I didn't know that the Loud House house beyond Lucy, I honestly don't remember where I started but I mainly looked for random shipping fics with her and Lincoln. After enjoying the top stories I realized something, I think I could do this. So I wrote Loud Bot… but it was kind of ehh. So I wrote Age Gap over a 6 hour period and immediately submitted it. I wrote the first 3 chapters over two train trips. I didn't edit till later and immediately started writing 3 more chapters. I published them shortly after, incidentally stumbling upon Fanfiction's update system.

I originally thought [Lincoln x Thicc QT] would either make people pass it over or catch a small crowd. I was aiming for 10 favorites, 10 follows, 10 reviews. I hit it immediately. So I continued the story regardless and expanded into different genres when I needed a break. To put this into some context I've been a member of this site for about six months and have published almost 60 different chapters over all my published stories.

And over most of them, I have not seen most of the episodes I reference.

Now I don't write this to gloat or be a dick, because I really enjoy my time writing these stories but it does explain some issues.

The reason this is an issue is obvious, but it slipped by. I try not to hinge the stories I write on any specific episode but I do try and call back to plot lines I know. Sometimes I'd get lucky and find one on Youtube or just clips randomly.

Some issues you may see, if I haven't changed them by now, are usually in respect to facts about the family or the home.

Age Gap: Lincoln's room isn't soundproof, the reason they do karaoke in his room. I saw another story did it and also there's a gag in a short where he opens it to reveal the chaos of the hall, previously unheard until the door is open. But in the show you can hear pretty much everything beyond that gag. Also, Froot tangle uses dice not a spinner like usual twister.

Little Intruder: Um… so I may have assumed the lay out upstairs. The best way is to just try and illustrate it. So imagine your walking up the stairs to the second floor of the Loud house the rooms in layers would be:

Top: Luna & Luan, Lynn & Lucy, Lana & Lola

Middle: Bathroom, Attic Door in the center next Lucy's door, Lincoln's closet

Bottom: Lori & Leni, Stairs, Lisa & Lily

Now with that in mind, this is what I've thought it was until I looked up to write this:

Top: Bathroom, Lynn & Lucy, Lana & Lola, Lisa & Lily

Middle: Lori & Leni, Attic Door in front of Lana's door, Lincoln's closet

Bottom: Luna & Luan, Stairs, nothing else

Basically I imagined that Lori and Leni were in the bathroom, opposite of the stairs were too many rooms, and let's not talk about the bottom floor in which I forgot they had parents.

So when I imagined 'Little Intruder' all the hallway scenes were horribly wrong but not evident...but…

Those Kids: Loan steps out of Lana & Lola's door and stubs her toe on the attic ladder… which isn't possible with the real layout.

Another issue that didn't come to light in Alt Start was the fact I, for the longest time, thought Becky's name was Dana. I thought Dana was the redhead and Becky was the brunette in my head. I figured it out before writing but that's a mistake I avoided. This also occurred with a few of the ages of the Loud kids: I thought Luna was 14, Luan was older Luna, Lisa was older than the twins, and Lucy was just a year younger than Lincoln. Also of note, I know next to nothing about Lincoln's dream to become a detective.

Those are the only ones that come to mind but there might be more.

Now I don't write this to discredit myself, instead see it like this: all the advice I wrote is from a successful author who doesn't know the source that well. I'm telling you all the stuff I did to get my story up there. My lack of knowledge was not a hindrance so somehow the narrative itself was reason. If any of the advice rang true to you, that's because you realize it could actually help improve your writing. My lack ability to find certain episodes doesn't interfere with my ability to write a story. Look at the setups and payoffs I use. How I came to satisfying endings. How I used cliches to my benefit where it fails others. Look at the structure, scenes, everything and see how you can improve not as a fan but as a writer. The story was mainly feel good nothingness, but it somehow worked out.

Sometimes, people just want a romcom.

Whimfu1 here, a guy who barely watched a show he wrote a fanfiction for, saying thank you all for reading it. I really hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed reading your comments and responding to your messages.

I wish all the authors who stuck this out, good luck.

I hope to read many more amazing Loud House stories in the future.

-Whimfu1

Update

As of 7/11/2019 this is where Age Gap stood on the Loud House Fanfiction Category. (5.2k stories in category at the time.)

Follows: Rank 19 with 318 follows

Favorites: Rank 15 with 330 favorites

Reviews: 344 reviews

Views: 106,052

With Alt Start receiving at this point 1,273 views