I’m trying to build a similar archive called 'Fics That Don’t Suck (Dragon) Balls for DB, DBZ, and DBGT fanfic, but it’s hard to sort through a monster category that’s about 99.9% crap.
I’ve also written some of my own stories (see sig). I started out as a pretty mediocre newbie, and I churned out some bits that deeply embarrass me to even mention that I wrote them, but I think I’ve improved quite a bit.
For me, fanfiction is a fun romp in someone else’s back yard, and I mostly write it down so my brain isn’t locked up thinking about all the ideas I come up with. (Maybe, just maybe, someday I’ll be good enough to publish my own works, but until then, I’m happy with what I’m doing.)
Heck, if you or anyone finds any more—not counting the ones that fit best on the site “Lawndale After Dark,” which I can’t link to here, for reasons all too clear—let me know.
I’ve seen that argument before, and frankly, I don’t buy it. Sure, there’s nothing new under the sun and there are only like five really different stories. But bodily lifting characters and worlds that someone else has created for what’s frequently nothing more than wank-schrift is just sad.
Archergal: [del]After having watched Gundam Wing, I was left with the desire to see how the characters would react in different situations. I found quite a bit of well written fiction concerning just that. It made quite a lot of sense to me,[/del]
Only Steve Ditko/Joe Simon/Stan Lee knows how Spiderman would react in a given scenario. All the other authors writing authorized stories of Spiderman know nothing about how the character would really react. It is quite sad to see people mangle Ditko’s character.
Do you agree, or disagree with the above statement?
I dunno. Fanfiction is a great way for beginning writers to hone their skills using a predetermined frame work. One of my favorite SGA writers has just gotten a novel published professionally and she credits having an outlet (the fanfiction communities) where she could receive constructive critism as being tremendously helpful.
And I like to revisit favorite characters and see how new authors interpret them. As someone pointed out, the fantasy world Robin Hobbs writes about is just her interpretation of a fantasy framework already established by the likes of Tolkein, etc.
As for recs, the livejournal community crack_van is a multifandom community with generally good recs. If you go to “memories”, there’s a listing of all past recs by fandom and, to the left, there are links to articles that explain the fandom and the popular characters. Most of the recs are slash but there is some het and gen too. It’s a fun site, I’m currently working through the Harry/Draco fics.
It’s a tad more intellectually honest than boldly lifting characters and worlds that someone else has created, filing off the serial numbers, and then passing it off as your own. How many fantasy creations were simply derivatives of Tolkien?
Yeah, the wank-schrift is sad, but that happens inside and outside of “derived works.” If fanfic makes it easier for budding wanna-be writers to explore their creative talents, then more power to it.
Hell, I know at least one fanfic writer who was a published author before he turned to fanfic. He’s written fanfic that’s better than some novels I’ve seen.
Yeah, that’s what I was talking about with my examples. Have you ever read Tennyson’s “Ulysses”? All the characters and settings are lifted directly from Homer’s Odyssey: Penelope, Telemachus, Ithaca, Achilles, etc. Isabel Allende’s new novel is about Zorro. Sondheim’s Into the Woods and A Little Night Music are takeoffs/rewrites on existing stories. Not even in the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” sense of inspiration/lifting, but DIRECT correlations, exactly the same characters and settings, and so on.
I can’t remember board policy on copy/pasting, but here’s a link to Tennyson’s Ulysses. Do you think his “bodily lifting characters and worlds” is “just sad”?
Very familiar with Ulysses, thanks. Also with Idylls of the King, etc. I’ll cede the point that these works may be similar to fan fiction in some ways if you’ll grant me that various kinds of fan fiction (especially slash) doesn’t quite stand in the category as Alfred Lord Tennyson or Shakespeare.
Sure, I’d be curious to know how characters I like would react in different situations. But in most cases I like the way the original author created and developed those characters. Most imitations are just that – imitations, and not the quality I require. Most of the fan fiction I’ve read just leaves me unsatisfied and disappointed. So I’ve kinda come around to Robin Hobb’s viewpoint.
Of course, mine is just one opinion. If you get enough satisfaction from reading the stuff, more power to you.
To me, fanfiction is part of a literary tradition that’s been going on for thousands of years – to hear it knocked as “just derivative” or somehow of less worth than “original” work really raises my hackles. Some fanfiction is drek, and some is beautiful; some writing is drek, and some is beautiful. I don’t think fanfiction on the whole is any more or any less valuable than any other kind of writing.
Hmmm, despite my stance as a fanfic defender, I wouldn’t be surprised is a greater percentage of fanfic is dreck compared to other fiction. But that would only be because 1) fanfic is a lot of writer’s first attempt at writing and 2) fanfic is very visible. There may be a lot of very bad original prose out there that never see the light of day, wither being hidden away in a drawer or stuck in the author’s “original fiction” page which probably sees one tenth of the traffic a fanfic page does.
Which is another advantage to writing fanfic: a built-in audience so you know your stuff is getting read. People enjoy reading about existing characters and will seek out storeis about them. How often do people just search out random “original” fic? Prior to fanfic and the internet, young writers had few outlets for their fiction: either friends or teachers and eventually (if they’re very lucky) publication.
The Shoebox Project is very . . . interesting. It’s the illustrated story of Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter at Hogwarts, starting about third or fourth year. I think the storyline might actually put them past Hogwarts now, but I’ve been not reading because the authors have been having technical difficulties and the illustrations are wonderful fun. Slightly slashy (but not explicitly so) and pre-Halfblood Prince, btw.
For slightly squishier, fluffier HP fanfiction, I recommend Outcasts by Buttercup. It’s Remus/OFC and has gasp S-E-X. Humorous, though.
As for myself, I attempt to write Sherlock Holmes fanfiction. It’s execrable, honestly.
“The Isengard Swim Team” by Grav is a short (1,304 words) and very funny account from the POV of one of Saruman’s Uruk-Hai. Even if you wouldn’t normally touch LOTR fanfic with a ten-foot battle lance, check this out. Just FYI, it’s archived on fanfiction.net, which is riddled with popups.
It took me a while to get into fanfiction. I think I read my first story about 5 or 6 years ago, but they weren’t very good and I lost interest quickly. Then I read a few parodies, and somehow I found myself reading other kinds of fanfic. Here’s a few of my favorites:
Nine Men and a Little Lady by Kielle: Parody of the Mary Sues that all-to-frequently worm their way into Lord of the Rings fanfics.
Evidence by Camwyn: Discworld/the Silmarillion crossover. Yes, really! Sam Vimes is transported to Middle Earth at the end of the First Age, charged with a very important task.
Also by Camwyn is Hellblazer: Hogwarts . John Constantine (comics John, not the movie version) finds himself in an alternate Britain where magic is performed by waving sticks around and muttering ridiculous Latin. I don’t think this story has been abandoned but it hasn’t been updated in months. Still, what’s up there is really good.
Going Home by Daegaer. (Good Omens). Aziraphale is recalled by Heaven. Crowley tries to find a way to get him back while dealing with his replacement. More of her Good Omens stories can be found in her livejournal memories.