All of this was code, and he broke code."
-The Vienna Game, by paraTactician
"ring rign the phone went as davee got ot of bed. he pickiced it up and it wuz his fav pokemon professor OAK! 'hey oak howz it going" dave asked. very god dave" oka replied. it is time for u to come get a pokermon now dave so get 2 my lab quickl!"
-DAVE STDIDER POKEMON TRANER, XxXCascadaerXxX
THE FANFIC READER'S MANIFESTO
I recognize that 97% of fan fiction is trash.
I recognize that 2% of fan fiction will make you lose faith in humanity.
I make no apology for my actions.
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Fanfiction has significant stigma attached to it: this is for good reason. Most people describe their fanfction experiences as horrible, if not traumatizing, and have stopped after reading a single piece. My fanfiction experience can described as an exercise in bone-headed determination.
The truth is that I got into reading fan fiction when I was pretty young, and my standards were pretty low. This is probably the only reason I was able to continue; the quality of most fanfic is indeed what you might expect it to be. Really, really, bad. Not ironically bad, as Fernadium Birmingwatt might intend, but just unreadably awful.
Finding fan fiction isn't like finding original fiction. There are no aggregate reviews to help you make your decision. There are no established authorities on fanfic that rank, collect, and recommend fan fiction, such as Goodreads or even Amazon does for fiction.
Finding fanfcition is a high-risk, high-reward process, and a more intimately personal one. Recommendations are always spread word of mouth online, via individuals. There is no Kirkus Book Review or New York Times bestseller's list to look to. Instead, there are three main sites for fan fiction: Archive of Our Own, generally known for a higher quality of work, Fanfiction.net, the original fanfcition site with he greatest quantity , and Wattpad.
(Short rant: Wattpad is trash. There is nothing worth reading on Wattpad, or if there is, it is very, very well hidden. Sturgeon's Law (most of everything is trash, but some stuff is good) simply does not apply. I am sorry. I usually do not present such strong opinions, but no self-respecting fanfic writer is writing on Wattpad, a cesspool of One Direction and various TV fanfic. Take the notorious fanfic, After, a One Direction fanfic. Horrifyingly, it was tapped to become a movie by the Hollywood Talent Association. It's bad. Really, really bad.)
But once in while, you discover a gem of fan fiction. A true sparkling piece worthy of canon, with spot-on characterization and impeccable style. The thrill of finding one is the only reason I trawl through walls of atrocious prose. I know very few such stories; I can count them with one hand.
Considering good fanfic's rarity, is reading fanfic worth it, after all? The answer is yes. The question, unfortunately, is continuously ambiguous. Which retina will you sacrifice? What unspeakable acts will Hedwig engage in? What apostrophes will be slain? What characters, ruined? What dialogue, mangled? What endings, left unfinished?
(If you're interested in Uni's relationship with fanfiction, here's an old Online Gargoyle article on the subject.
http://www.uni.illinois.edu/og/features/2014/05/its-truth-fanfictions-presence-gr)
I love the manifesto. Is it the 1% that keeps you reading?
ReplyDeleteWell, not as much keeps me reading. These days, I'm mostly stopped looking for new fanfiction, so it's the unfinished 1% that keeps me checking back for updates.
DeleteI'm not much of a fanfiction person, but I can understand the appeal of finding something that perpetuates the stories of beloved characters and fictional worlds. I know that I feel a little bit sad after finishing an excellent book, film, or television show that has no spin-off or sequel (or as is sometimes the case, an awful spin-off or sequel). I admire your persistence, and wish you luck in your quest for quality fanfiction.
ReplyDeleteI don't really read fanfiction, but maybe just because I get more absorbed in the actual fiction books, and usually if I love a book I wouldn't want to see it spoiled. I think it can sometimes be a tough choice--accept the book's ending as it is or try to find different spin-offs of the story as it continues its life in fanfic. True, looking for the 1% of good fanfic seems quite a challenge! Have you ever tried writing fanfiction yourself?
ReplyDeleteI used to read fanfiction during the summer, but now I don't have time for it. One of my biggest peeves with this, as you showed in your post, is how apparently 95% of writers on all of these websites don't take the time to edit what they write. It annoys me when I read a chapter and find that it contains mostly misspelling and grammatical errors. I spend most of my time mentally correcting everything they've written, and after a while I just give up trying to read their story. But in the rare instance when I do find a good fanfiction, I stick with it faithfully. Do you have any fanfic that you'd recommend?
ReplyDeleteFanfiction, how I despise it but love it so dearly. Fanfiction is an excuse to let your brain take characters where you want them to go and to be in control. However this being said, means that it should stay with you. We're all entitled to how the story ends, how we want the rest to play out is subjective and it should stay that way. I get exasperated with "writers" who get so involved in their imagination that they don't care if anyone else is capable of understanding what they're thinking. And this is why I must give fiction authors credit. For a long time I found many modern authors plain, boring, unoriginal. The writing is coarse and unsophisticated and not something I particularly enjoy (from a writing standpoint) but I can overlook this if a story is enticing. In the case of Fanfiction it is hard to overlook. I enjoy what I can, and I write some for myself, but for the most part my stance is as follows: keep it to yourself, everyone's better off.
ReplyDeleteCrack fanfiction is a subclass that aims to highlight the absurdity of the genre. My friend and I once tried to play the "is-there-fanfiction-for-that" game, but we stopped after our first find: a mentally scarring, racy story about the teletubbies. After that dark time, I've chosen to steer clear of fanfiction. Fanfics turned novels (aka Fifty Shades of Gray) don't help with the genre's trashy image, either.
ReplyDeleteI think the appeal of fanfiction stems from the audiences' desire to obtain more of the show/band/series that it's based on, and if that's your thing, I can respect that. The 1% of fanfic that's well-written is a testament to the creativity of some fans. However, social media tends to portray all fans in a negative light based on the works of a few members, and that bothers me.
Fanfiction is beautiful and hideous. It makes me cringe at the stupidity of the world, but occasionally I stumble upon a treasure and I think, Hey, maybe the world is gonna be ok after all. Fanfiction has taught my patience and perseverance. Oh Fanfiction, the wisest yet most frustrating teacher of all. Even the bad ones are a learning experience. You learn exactly what should never be written. You learn to read critically. Maybe English classes should involve Fanfiction...? Or not.
ReplyDeleteFanfiction is my guilty pleasure and I love that you wrote about it. I don't usually tell people because they think it's only kinky or gory. I'm fortunate that there are so many Harry Potter fanfictions to choose from, however most of them are still surprisingly bad. I hate finding a story where the summary seems fairly interesting, but then the writing turns out to be awful. Fanfiction is probably the closest to gambling that I'll get.
ReplyDelete