The Pezman Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 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 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 and I don't think it helps anyone to maintain it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleck Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malaki-LEGEND.sys Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenrir Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triad Orion Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sephfire Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 When it's good, it's good. When it's bad, it's terrifying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NNY Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 When it's good, it's good. When it's bad, it's terrifying. When it's bad it's hilarious. OHxyZaZlaOs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitty Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJT Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSnowStorm Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tensei Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 This reminds me of that time when I wrote a short piece of erotic SkrypnykxAnSo fanfiction in #ocrwip. Ah, good times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenrir Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Horseboy wrote a furry fanfic about me and Bummerdude once. I came. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sindra Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleck Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwaltzvald Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 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... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleck Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Actually, this guy and sometimes this guy are both pretty good. Especially if you're a Mega Man fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JH Sounds Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 I'm still not sure why I'm inching toward making a sequel to my crapulent Banjo-Kazooie fic. Maybe it's nostalgia for all the fun I had writing it, or the adulation from fellow B-K fans in the reviews. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwaltzvald Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwordBreaker Posted July 23, 2008 Share Posted July 23, 2008 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwaltzvald Posted July 23, 2008 Share Posted July 23, 2008 Ya know Bleck I can't help but think this guy and the guy who did this 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... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master_Yoshi Posted July 23, 2008 Share Posted July 23, 2008 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OverCoat Posted July 23, 2008 Share Posted July 23, 2008 in before http://soundtempest.net/soc/imgswf/Soniclove1_2.swf [nsfw btw] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H. Guderian Posted July 23, 2008 Share Posted July 23, 2008 That was accurate, yet paralyzing... I think I damaged a lung from laughter of pain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OverCoat Posted July 23, 2008 Share Posted July 23, 2008 Soniclove1_2.swf is canon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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