Fanfiction

[The Pezman]

This came up in another thread so I figured I'd spin out my own thread here.

Why is there a general stigma about the mere concept of fanfiction around here? The reason this surprises me most is because this is a site dedicated to a parallel endeavor, and I figured a site which is devoted to people reinterpreting video game music would be one of the last to sneer at reinterpreting video game plots and characters.

Now I imagine most people just go LOL FF.NET and leave it at that. Fair enough... a lot of crap goes in there. But a lot of good stuff does too. I spent a lot of time there when I was younger, and it's definitely a crap shot as to what kind of a story you'll get when you click on something. But with a little work it's not hard to find the gems, or at least the authors who are making a serious effort (which is all anyone can ask for, really).

Icybrian (http://icybrian.com/) used to be the OCR of fanfiction, with a prominent figurehead who ran the site, along with a panel who evaluated every submitted story. But Brian essentially lost interest and now the only active part of the site is the forums. Those forums were my previous e-community before I left and came here. I didn't leave because I outgrew fanfiction, though. I left because they were assholes.

This is exactly the kind of attitude I warned against (http://www.rpgamer.com/editor/2008/q2/052708tp.html) and I don't think it helps anyone to maintain it.

[Bleck]

it's not the concept, it can actually be done quite well

it's just the fact that most of the people who write fanfics write fanfics that are bad bad bad

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Yeah if it weren't for the fact that most fanfiction out there offends all five senses, then we probably wouldn't have a problem.

[Fenrir]

I started a few fanfics a few years back, mostly as writing exercises to keep my craft sharp.

It's just that so much of the form is terrible. It's rife with inconsistent characterizations, Mary Sue original characters, and plagued with easily avoidable writing errors.

Good fanfics do exist, I've seen a couple, but they are truly few and far between.

[Zephyr]

Pezman just spoke my very thoughts from a few days ago, I've never been into fanfiction really, but I was surprised to see that there was none going on around here. I think I would enjoy having one around, just for something to read when I'm bored. Granted, most are terrible, but some are really good, I found a metroid one once where everyone chipped into the story in turns, they had their own characters and acted them out in response to other characters actions. Even though most are terrible, we have some decent writers here, (we even have a writing competition) if someone decided to start one up, I'd be interested in it.

[Triad Orion]

A lot of it comes from the utter laughable content that comes from fanfiction. Most of the people who write it don't write well (to say the least), and many times it ends up being self-indulgent fantasy rather than actually remaining faithful to the source material. Worse yet, some of these writers will get utterly defensive about their literary dreck and respond to constructive criticism with a jet of searing hatred.

There's certainly nothing wrong with the idea of fanfiction, it's just that the well written stuff is so utterly rare and difficult to find to say the least. I think the reason why people sneer at it here is for the reason I listed above: a lot of it is self-indulgent crap rather than a work dedicated to doing justice to the source. There's not really a good comparison in musical terms, but I'm going to try to go with this:

Your average fanfiction is a lot like a MIDI rip. It may have taken some random amount of work, but it doesn't sound good most of the time. As well, it's not really doing much of anything worthy with the original concept, either merely duplicating it in a lower quality or just going completely off track due to bad instrumentation. Moreover, these MIDI rips are purely derivative; not unlike dealing with the ludicrously common tropes and cliches common in amateur writing. On the other hand, a truly good fanfiction, is a lot more like an OC ReMix. It's gone through a lot of work and polish to remain faithful to the source material while conveying a high level of creativity and imaginative interpretation.

Dunno if that's really the best way to put it, but it makes sense enough to me. Anyway, I'm sure the artists here wouldn't be a opposed to a well thought out, well written interpretation of video game material, but the examples would have to be specific, rather than just trying to deal with it on the whole.

[sephfire]

When it's good, it's good. When it's bad, it's terrifying.

[NNY]

When it's good, it's good. When it's bad, it's terrifying.
When it's bad it's hilarious.

OHxyZaZlaOs

[kitty]

The negative stigma against fanfiction has come about just like any stereotype, it's more often than not, true. I will say that most fanfiction is bad because that's my opinion of the sample of fanfiction I did read. The others I read were not bad, but hardly works of art. And anything else I wanted to say was already said by Triad.

[JJT]

Why is there a general stigma about the mere concept of fanfiction around here?

If you suck at fanfiction and write a 10 page story called "Cloud and Tifa's first date ^_^" then we, your audience, know that you cope with your loneliness and sexual frustration by projecting your fantasies onto video game characters.

If you submit a shitty, FL techno schlock fest here, all we know about you is that you aren't adept at making music.

Writing tends to give people more insight into who you are as a person, ergo you are more vulnerable, ergo you are at a higher risk of not being perceived as cool, ergo you will probably be made fun of.

[TheSnowStorm]

[quote=NNY;431377]When it's bad it's hilarious.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3260240/1/Samus_is_Praegnent_The_Unrated_Edition


"Somewhere in the town a phone was ringing. It was ridley's cellphone. Ridley picked it up. "Hello?" Ridley answered. He was confused because on the other end of the phone there was silence. Then he heard Samus say four words that would change her life.

"Ridley... I'm pragenent." "

I'm not a fan of fanfiction. Most of it are un-canon and are badly written. I only read, what maybe one good fanfic.

[Tensei]

This reminds me of that time when I wrote a short piece of erotic SkrypnykxAnSo fanfiction in #ocrwip. Ah, good times.

[Fenrir]

Horseboy wrote a furry fanfic about me and Bummerdude once.


I came.

[Sindra]

I wrote fanfiction...back when I was 16.

It wasn't horrible...considering.




I am, however, in the works of planning a fan-manga, which is basically fanfiction with illustrations. Thankfully, I am having a friend who's a writer help me out with plot and characters so as to venture as far away from the typical fanfiction storyline as humanly possible.

[Bleck]

Thankfully, I am having a friend who's a writer help me out with plot and characters so as to venture as far away from the typical fanfiction storyline as humanly possible.

which unfortunately isn't really that far

[Schwaltzvald]

Hmm.... deep from the bowels of an old email account, light shining upon a dusty letter. Within it had been an address to a particular tale. Like so many interpretations of the First Testatement, it led to a reinterpretation of a beginnings not wholly unknown by those who lived through it and cherish the memories as time marches on.


:<


This is the beginning of Rockman...

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/366295/1/Rockman_the_Robot_War

Probably the only thing I would ever consider worth a read from that site, if only for nostalgia and thoughts on how it formed within my childish mind back then... Mind you I didn't write it myself...

[Bleck]

Actually, this guy (http://www.fanfiction.net/u/152431/Magus523) and sometimes this guy (http://www.fanfiction.net/u/55667/Erico) are both pretty good. Especially if you're a Mega Man fan.

[JH Sounds]

I'm still not sure why I'm inching toward making a sequel to my crapulent Banjo-Kazooie fic (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1932062/1/Banjo_Threeie_The_Final_Chuckle). Maybe it's nostalgia for all the fun I had writing it, or the adulation from fellow B-K fans in the reviews.

[Schwaltzvald]

Thats the thing I almost never look and only went by others who ventured forth into the dense jungle that is fanfiction.net. I'll take your words Bleck and take a look.

[SwordBreaker]

Ah, fanfiction. It's what actually got me into writing in the first place back in the mid '90s, back when fanfiction.net was not full of junk. I actually submitted my first piece to Hyrule.com.ar, which was one of the coolest fansites around. After it shut down, I moved around until I finally stabilized in ff.net. Man, it's been years since I've written something new. Most of the recent stuff that are in my page now (the '06 ones) are actually stuff I revised, edited, reuploaded, or that have been sitting on my hard drive doing nothing.

http://www.fanfiction.net/~maniacswordbreaker

The pieces I'm most proud of are definitely "Somewhere I Belong" and "Feelings and Memories", the latter of which was my first piece revised and edited. Unfortunately, due to the rules of not including any songfics in ff.net, "Somewhere I Belong" was deleted so I had to reupload it without the Linkin Park and Richard Marx lyrics. The original can still be read here:

http://www.legendofzeldaseries.com/main.php?page=somewhereibelong.html

Still needs some tweaks here and there.

Fanfiction can be done right. If you check out some of my favorites over at my ff.net page, I'm sure there's something that you'll enjoy. "One Last Smash" was a fanfic that especially caught my interest. It's the best one I've ever read.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2742870/1/One_Last_Smash

Check it out.

[Schwaltzvald]

Ya know Bleck I can't help but think this guy (http://www.fanfiction.net/u/152431/Magus523) and the guy who did this (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/366295/1/Rockman_the_Robot_War) are one and the same. If only because after a check I've noticed a plot device that was used in the first iteration and then the third iteration...

Their style seems similar...

[Master_Yoshi]

I used to do a lot of fanfiction but quit when I realized that everything I ever put out was "the most amazing thing ever" and that I wasn't getting any better with writing. Of course, I didn't post in any major fan-fic communities because from what I saw they were mostly along the lines of "Ridley X Samus" or "Cloud X Tifa."

No, thanks.

[OverCoat]

in before http://soundtempest.net/soc/imgswf/Soniclove1_2.swf

[nsfw btw]

[H. Guderian]

That was accurate, yet paralyzing...

I think I damaged a lung from laughter of pain

[OverCoat]

Soniclove1_2.swf is canon

[Dhsu]

I was never much into fanfics (despite being a burgeoning "creative writer" myself), but of what I did read, the stuff that wasn't straight-up awful usually ended up being way too pretentious and SERIOUS BUSINESS.

[KP9000]

I first was really introduced to the concept of fanfiction way back in 2000, where I joined a ROM-Hacking board that had a facfiction forum in it. I enjoyed it, even though a lot of it was crap. I liked to point out all the little mistakes and nitpick about them. Thoug, I do have to say, it opened up a lot of doors for me, especially after I stumbled upon this place. First, it was stories, then music. I eventually came upon the "I, Mario" thing this community had going for a while. A script came out to go along with it that absolutely stunned me. I was then inspired to write about a realistic dark interpretation of the Mario universe. I came up with my fanfiction that I have now, called Obscure Kingdom.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3322696/1/Obscure_Kingdom

I think I did well at the time of writing. However, after writing it and letting it sit for a while, there are some flaws that has presented itself to me by means of the readers. It's still a good read though, and I'm still happy with it. I need to continue on, but every time I get an idea or am inspired, something comes up and I never get to it. Hopefully I can find the time to continue, as I know that it can be one of those "diamonds in the rough" that FF.net hides.

[Jam Stunna]

I actually read a really, really good DBZ fanfic a few years ago, where the premise was that Goku and the Saiyans had actually conquered Earth. I can't find it online anymore, but it was so good that I actually saved the whole thing to my computer.

[SlightlyOddGuy]

Ya know Bleck I can't help but think this guy (http://www.fanfiction.net/u/152431/Magus523) and the guy who did this (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/366295/1/Rockman_the_Robot_War) are one and the same. If only because after a check I've noticed a plot device that was used in the first iteration and then the third iteration...

Their style seems similar...

Magus bases his take on the Mega Man universe off of Maelgrim's version, but there are a lot of differences in the details and the quality of Magus's writing isn't as good until his later fics.

Regardless, their works (and Erico's) come highly recommended.

[mattoco]

I wrote a fan fiction novella (though in terms of word count it's on the high end of the novella spectrum) 4 or 5 years ago based on the Earth and Beyond universe. It was admittedly bad and had many poor tie-ins (i.e. a Lord of the Rings style plot device...*facepalm*), but at least the people reading it at the time didn't think it was garbage. Here's a small sample of one of the better parts, I think.

Three men—two shorter ones and a taller, stronger looking one with a large mustache—led Grisham down the halls, finally to a door. Mustache said, “Miguel will now see you, follow us.” He opened the door and walked in, Grisham followed shortly behind into the room. Once in he noticed that the room was rather bland for the supposed leader of the Chavez, not like the room he had seen Tzu in on the La’Mong. Why is this room so horribly decorated? Grisham examined the room a little more, noticing a stain on the floor. Is that…blood? Grisham turned around in time to just see one of the two short men close the door behind him, and he heard locks click into place. Uh oh, not good. Grisham turned to face Mustache again, who was now wielding some sort of metallic bar. Grisham looked around for anything to defend himself with, but there was nothing of use.

I can never figure out how I had the time for this kind of stuff back then...I certainly don't have much of that free time now. I also wrote a fan fiction piece for Worms (the original, because it was that awesome)...but that was well over 10 years ago, and strains the boundaries of credulity, to say the least.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

I was actually considering writing a Star Fox fanfic, minus the damned furries and lack of gritty plot. I'm also a fan of the kind of ending that has no real resolution other than this story is over.

No, I was not going to include Peppy saying "Do a barrel roll!"

[DarkeSword]

No, I was not going to include Peppy saying "Do a barrel roll!"

Then it's not really Star Fox, is it? :\

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

I was actually hoping to make it pretty dark, and with a much more gritty feel to it than the actual game series. It would be a revision of Star Fox 64 to be precise, although it would include characters from later SF games tossed in here and there. Somewhat of a cross between Battlestar Galactica/Star Wars, but with the grit and feel of Cowboy Bebop, Firefly, and Macross Plus.

I have no idea how I'm going to pull this one off.

[Fenrir]

Hopefully I can find the time to continue, as I know that it can be one of those "diamonds in the rough" that FF.net hides.

You don't get much more pretentious than this.

[atmuh]

hahaha come on guys im serious he wrote some good ones im not necessarily talking about THOSE

[The wingless]

Time for Wingless to shine, bitches!

http://www.thewingless.com/sanctum/screencap3.jpg

So for quite some time during and a little bit after grad school I gave myself a project to basically draw all the creatures in the NES metroid. That project expanded slightly to include a nice little mockup of a document where all these designs would go. A document implies writing, so I wrote. And it kind of expanded beyond that.

So it started with these...

http://www.thewingless.com/sanctum/contents.jpg

http://www.thewingless.com/sanctum/pagerio.jpg

http://www.thewingless.com/sanctum/pageripper.jpg


Which then expanded into a broader and more fleshed out documentation here:

http://www.thewingless.com/sanctum/sss1.jpg

http://www.thewingless.com/sanctum/sss2.jpg


Which at a certain point, expanded to a flash project which you saw up above. Mad elaborate, but it looked and animated bad-ass. One of these days I need to return to it.

But yeah, I'm guilty of making fan fic. Granted it's professionally designed with tantalizing production values... but fanfic all the same.

[KP9000]

You don't get much more pretentious than this.Sorry, Didn't mean to be pretentious about it. I'm only saying that it's not shit.

[sephfire]

Time for Wingless to shine, bitches!

You should not be allowed to be this good at this many things. :-x

[Darklink42]

I wrote two fan fictions. Most of the time my writing is centered on non-derivative works, but I enjoyed the fun of using someone else's universe to explore concepts and character ideas. One was a Legend of Zelda fanfic (of course) split into two parts. The other was a Kingdom Hearts one, kind of a play on the broader concepts explored throughout the series. It didn't really get anywhere though.

Like I said in the other thread, it's not about the action of writing a fanfic. There are a lot of good ones out there. But with all the shitty "and Link was like 'take that you' and kissed Zelda, and they had 2 kids and the kids were heroes too" crap out there, it's hard not to discriminate against the practice.

Also, I agree with Sephfire, you should not be that good at everything Wingless. It's just crazy.

[Dhsu]

Now if only his spelling were up to par with his other talents!

[The wingless]

I swear to fucking god, as soon as I get an Editor, I'm going to poo right. On. Your. Face.


...I'm batman

[JH Sounds]

I've got half a mind to finish my novelization of The Matrix Revolutions. :tomatoface:

The elevator doors swung open, with Trinity, Morpheus, and Seraph stepping out into the Oracle's floor. Just moments earlier, the guardian informed the two that their friend had been found, but wasn't to divulge any further information.

Of course, Morpheus wasn't exactly surprised. The Oracle had told him that the savior would one day have his mind separated from his body. But until now, he had no idea what she meant, and to what extent. It was just like the Oracle to understate things.

Trinity hid her worried eyes behind dark glasses. She was a warrior, and she wasn't one to get emotional if she needed to get things done. But she and the others were walking over to the Oracle, with the hope of bringing Neo back -- from where?

They entered the apartment, quickly striding over to the living room where a strange elderly woman sat, greeting them.

"Morpheus, Trinity. Thank you for coming," she began. A stream of cigarette smoke escaped her lips. "One thing I've learned in all my years is that nothing turns out just the way you want it to."

"Who are you," asked Trinity, confused.

"I'm the Oracle," she said, as if it were obvious.

Morpheus and Trinity exchanged glances.

She continued, "I wish there was an easier way to get through this, but there ain't. I'm sorry this had to happen; I'm sorry I couldn't be sitting here like you remember me. But it wasn't meant to be."

This was impossible. "What happened?" asked Trinity.

The woman claiming to be the Oracle was ready for this question. "I made a choice, and that choice cost me more than I wanted it to."

"What choice?" asked Morpheus.

"To help you," she said. "To guide Neo. Now, since the real test for any choice is having to make the same choice again, knowing full well what it might cost," she took a drag from her cigarette, "I guess I feel pretty good about that choice, 'cause here I am, at it again."

Trinity wanted to get to the point. "Do you know what happened to Neo?"

"Yes." She put out the spent bundle of tobacco. "He is trapped between this world and the machine world. The link is controlled by a program called the Trainman. He uses it to smuggle programs in and out of the Matrix." She spread her palms outwardly along the couch. "If he finds out where Neo is before you get to him, then I'm afraid our choices are going to become more difficult."

"Why?" asked Trinity.

"Because of who the Trainman works for."

Morpheus knew. "The Merovingian."

She nodded. "He has placed a bounty on your lives; you must be careful at all times." The woman looked to her protector, who was waiting quietly. "Seraph knows how to find the Trainman -- he will go with you. For years he has protected me. I hope he can do the same for you."

His circular frames glinted briefly as his head turned toward the two of them. "Please, follow me."

They began to walk away, but Morpheus wasn't quite finished. "Oracle..."

"I know," she said, delicately lifting a cup and saucer off a table. "I can see you're filled with doubt, clouded by uncertainty."

"After everything that's happened," he asked, "how do you expect me to believe you?"

She took a sip. "I don't. I expect what I've always expected -- for you to make up your own damn mind. Believe me, or don't. All I can tell you is that your friend is in trouble and he needs your help." She held the cup closely to her lips, letting the warmth rise to her face.

Trinity was shaken. Neo -- the One himself -- was trapped. What possible chance could they have of even saving him?

"He needs all our help," restated the Oracle, and drank.

[Fenrir]

Sorry, Didn't mean to be pretentious about it. I'm only saying that it's not shit.

Fair enough, but as a fellow writer, I'd caution against praising your own work very much (if at all). Letting other people acclaim (should we be so lucky) or criticize us gives us a much more realistic idea of the quality of our writing.

[The wingless]

Fair enough, but as a fellow writer, I'd caution against praising your own work very much (if at all). Letting other people acclaim (should we be so lucky) or criticize us gives us a much more realistic idea of the quality of our writing.

Having said that, the praise for Planetfall has been nothing short of astronomical. I'm literally, LITERALLY bigger than Jesus.

.
.
.
In terms of Flash-made Epistolic novellas

[Dhsu]

I've got half a mind to finish my novelization of The Matrix Revolutions. :tomatoface:
Yeah, fan novelizations don't do much for me...usually the only thing separating them from straight transcripts is just some interstitial writing to keep it coherent. And in that case, why not just watch the movie or play the game? :P

[JH Sounds]

Yeah, fan novelizations don't do much for me...usually the only thing separating them from straight transcripts is just some interstitial writing to keep it coherent. And in that case, why not just watch the movie or play the game? :P

That's probably why I stopped in first place. :< Actually, I think fan novelizations can be a unique experience, since they can potentially go into the thoughts and feelings of the characters in a way that the source films don't. Then again, official novelizations can do that just fine. :-P

[DragonAvenger]

Chiming in late on this, but Pezman's mention of Icybrian brought back so many memories. I think I might have read nearly all the finished fanfics that were on that site at one time...

That being said, I will agree with most everyone else here. Finding GOOD fanfics is decidedly difficult, and the time it takes to finally get one makes it almost not worth it. I can say that I've found some that were good enough to be novels, including one that someone actually plans to change characters and publish as a novel. However, that fanfic was one of those 'alternate universe' stories that actually had nothing to do with the series but used characters and their personalities to a T.

As a budding fangirl, I do remember writing my own horrid Pokemon fanfic (I think I wrote about 35 pages...handwrote), but that's either in the garbage or somewhere where it will never see the light of day again. I knew it was awful, even then.

Also, I do have an idea for a fanfic that I have wanted to write based on FF8, but I'm nearly certain that I never will write it (I'm bad enough not writing the fantasy book that I want to one day publish).

[The Pezman]

Actually, I think fan novelizations can be a unique experience, since they can potentially go into the thoughts and feelings of the characters in a way that the source films don't.
Ding ding ding! That's the main appeal of the Chrono Trigger Novel Project. Not only that, but many details are changed in order to make the plot make a little more sense (when you start to think about it, a number of things don't add up in the original game).

[sephfire]

Man, I remember when I was on Wayne's little editing staff. I should check in on the guy again sometime.

[The Pezman]

God knows why you left, but we're getting ready to send it in. So hopefully soon enough we'll know either way.

[Binjovi]

Yes, most are crap, but I actually quite enjoyed this one (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2391151/1/See_You_Next_Mission).