Fanfiction General

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howyadoin

howyadoin

Here’s the tea
kiwifarms.net
Joined
Sep 4, 2018
Fanfiction can be quite interesting. Writing fanfiction is a generally tame hobby when it isn't horrifying (if so it'd be included in Fanfiction Horrors). It can be a good way to start learning how to write because there's already a set of established characters and setting, so the writer can focus more on how the actions and conversations flow. It can also be used as a commentary of the original media.

Fanfiction here can be either good or bad. Horrifying fanfiction can be discussed, but the reason this thread is made is so that "normal" fanfiction can be discussed as well, so give them the opportunity.

One example would be salty-sapphire's Connie and The Crystal Gems, a rewrite of Steven Universe. It has a website, and the archives are here and here. The basic premise is that Connie replaces Steven, other changes include but not limited to:

howyadoin said:
I've read through some things and here's what I've got far:
  • Steven doesn't exist
  • Connie is the main protagonist
  • Sugalite looks tame compared to the original. She and Pearl had a talk instead of fighting.
  • Rose disappeared but it's unknown why
  • Sour Cream is genderfluid
  • There's more focus on fusions
  • There are new characters like Nadine, whom Connie would share an uwu lesbian relationship with
  • Lapis's costume is yellow instead of blue, because disregard how the colors clash and doesn't go according to how gems would usually look like.
Click to expand...

I don't want to bother reading the whole series, so I decided to read one of the episodes: Episode 15 - Jealousy. It intrigued me because of the removal of fighting. The original episode had Pearl fighting Sugalite because the latter went out of control and she wanted to show Steven that she was strong. This version just makes them talk everything out. The change did, by no surprise, make the episode less interesting.

There are other things to be criticized, like less showing and more telling. The only way we could tell that Pearl was jealous was description and dialogue. There's nothing in Pearl's actions that would indicate that she was jealous of Sugalite. If anything, it gave the impression of her being overprotective over Connie. The words also don't flow well either. This is more something that would be learned by reading actual books.

The positives? I'm not sure. Maybe involving Connie's parents were good because they give more dimension to Connie's life. That's all I have to say.
 
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I don't mind fanfiction. Free reading material, and as long as it's written by someone who passed high school English, the quality can rival actual novels. Plus the spectacularly bad ones are great to laugh at.
 
I'm kinda jaded when it comes to fanfiction right now. Sure the bad ones can be amazing to read and there are a few good ones here and there, but there is a real sense of elitism that's popped up over the past five or six years or so - especially in fandoms like pokemon where certain authors decree that if you're not writing stuff like them, then you're not a good author and their followers enforce this to a disturbing degree as I found out with Farla and her group (as well as the spergs who hate her).
 
I like fanfiction. But lately it seems I cannot get away from mpreg. No matter what the fandom I am slapped upside the head with mpreg over and over. I don't get it at all. Your Yaoi OTP can adopt or use a surrogate like normal gay couples do. No one needs to get mpregged up in order to have a family.

Like how does the baby even get out?:cringe:

There was some awful Pokemon fic I found somewhere. Maybe it was posted here from ff.net. I can't remember. But Ash was pregnant by his evil twin. And everyone was so happy about it. Even his mom. A little boy is pregnant and you all can't wait for the birth? What the hell is wrong with you?
 
I'm glad you did this, OP. There's far too many people out there who could use some actually valid criticism if they're actually gonna learn how to draw, let alone write. This is definitely one of those times. I might..... MIGHT contribute some examples, as seeing good writing flourish is something very dear to me.
 
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IMO Fanfiction should always be seen as a stepping stone towards writing your own original stories, in much the same way bands playing covers should be a stepping stone to writing their own material.
 
Fanfiction is definitely a great way to get into writing. It allows you to make up you own story without the worry of creating characters, setting, etc. All of the hard work is already done for you.

The thing though is that many fanfic writers become a bit too obssessive over their works and dont listen to criticism or only want to be praise for their "epic stories".

Throw in shipping wars into the mix and you can see why fanfiction tend to have a bad name.

Im also sort of impress at those who can write a fanfic rivaling the word count of some of the longest books ever written. Even if the story is crap, I cant help but be amazed at their determination to keep churning out chapters for their fanfic
 
There are things that are a big no-no for me, like mpregs (...HP fandom i'm looking at you). Like making not-trans character trans (or a white character black). Like this shady alpha/beta/omega dynamic that apparently everyone loves because it's the wet juicy dream of every teenager girl. There's oviposition, bestiality and all that, too.

I'm willing to not puke at authors for writing weird questionable shit though, as long as it's PROPERLY tagged.

Seriously, it's not that hard to tag and, yeah, sadly it takes a second from someones life, but it saves other people a lot of time (sometimes even hours) and brain cells, especially when you're 2/3 in a good fiction and suddenly your fav male gets preggo up his ass without a warning, because author either forgot or just didn't bother to tag that yes, hi, my fic contains anus children - don't like don't read.

There's also the issue of using every single one of the tags that exist, which usually creates a long wall of tags and fandom names and ships and all that, scrolling through that is annoying too, and i guarantee you - nobody ever will read that incoherent mess. Separating that one monster of a fic at a few mini monsters is the sensible thing, trust me. Looks much better, too.

And lastly, having tons of spelling errors makes fanfiction rather hard to read, and while i don't really feel entitled to correct someones spelling since english is not my native language, i know some of the basic-basics, so when i see 'think' where it should be 'thing', or 'your' instead of 'you're' i just don't wanna read the rest. If you can't spell the basic words correctly but want to post your scribbles for people to read, just get a beta. Hell, if you don't have issues with english - get a beta anyway, they're life savers and will help you for free.

but here's a gem, found it months ago when i went on a salt crusade after finally watching civil war and digging through tons of bad things
 
I personally like fanfiction as a concept and I do enjoy reading it, but I admit that 90% of most fanfic is utter crap.

I used to write fanfics back in the day but was too afraid to post them online and recently I have been getting back into the possibility of writing some fanfics, It's fun.
 
Fanfiction is cancer and it will always will be. The only people who write or read it are fat girls with anime husbando body pillows and I would never have passionate sex with them.
In conclusion,
464.jpg
 
Speaking of edgy bad fan fiction, I had an idea for a fan fic that might be worth writing as a joke.

Basically, it's an Ouran High School Host Club AU fic set in the Vietnam War, where the titular Host Club are members of a US Army Long Range Reconnaissance Squad operating in the jungles, with all the ridiculousness and war movie cliches that would entail.

You could even have the guys from Iwatobi Swim Club as US Navy Swift Boat crewmen.
 
I love reading hilariously bad fanfiction. Harry Potter has a ton of this. Everyone always seems to mention “My Immortal” as one of the worst, I think a contender is “HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” or 30H’s for short. It includes groin saws, kicking planets, and a peg-legged Dumbledore.

There’s also another bad Harry Potter fic about this guy named Soulja Spirit Boo Jackson. Keep in mind, this is probably a troll fic. Anyway, the main character Soulja discovers he has magic when he utters the words “fried chicken” and “dragon”. He soon loses his powers and has to go back in time to the time of Jesus to invent fried chicken. Plot is lost after that, with massive tangents about Hufflepuff house being gay. Sadly, I can’t remember the name of this fic.
 
Fandom Trash said:
Im also sort of impress at those who can write a fanfic rivaling the word count of some of the longest books ever written. Even if the story is crap, I cant help but be amazed at their determination to keep churning out chapters for their fanfic
Click to expand...
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of stories on FFnet that have well over a million words. It's mind-boggling. I think the longest one I've come across is this Mass Effect one which is almost 3.5 million.
 
It’s quite ballsy to open up a thread on fanfiction AND use Steven Universe as your leading example. I respect what you’re doing though. I’m curious to see how it plays out.

It’s been several years since I touched fanfiction so I can’t contribute much. I went through a phase of writing shitty stories when I was 12 or so. It was cringey but very important to me at the time.

I’ve also seen adults pull off novels that are worthy of publication. As much as I appreciate their work, it actually makes me a bit sad that the authors don’t use their talent for something more productive.
 
I have a love-hate relationship with fan fiction, but as much as I enjoy laughing at bad fics, I'll always defend the use of it to help strengthen your writing because dedicated writers will and do get better. And if they really enjoy writing, they'll work on their own original works, even if they don't always finish them to get them published. But writing's mainly a hobby for many of the fan fic writers, which is why it's a huge pain in the ass for readers to think they're entitled to a new chapter and consistently pester the author for updates. Hobbyists are on their own schedules, they're rarely paid for doing what they like to do on their own time.

I might've complained about it elsewhere, but I've seen here and there some readers (who are also fic writers themselves) can get pushy when it comes to looking for the character-centric/shipping fics they want. Like I get it, some characters/pairings aren't as popular as others and so that means sometimes a writer/small group of writers seemingly has a monopoly on it, but so what? That doesn't give anyone the right to harass a writer for writing for such-and-such popular character/pairing when they also like another less-popular character/pairing as well. Maybe the reason they haven't written anything for it is because they haven't come up with an idea for them, yet. If you don't like that there's so few works of them, then get off your lazy ass and write it yourself.

Fan fiction is just that: writing for yourself. It's a bonus for other people to come forward to show their appreciation for you breathing a little life into what they enjoy as well, but first-and-foremost that fan fic writers need to remember is their hobby is for themselves on their own time. It's when it gets posted publicly that you're opening yourself to criticism/critique, and if you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

When OP mentioned the SU fanfic had a website (just a Tumblr though), that got me to remember that I haven't checked out Pokémon Rebirth in years. They're still around and are apparently still writing a lot, maybe they've added more entries to their timeline or have managed to finish something, though I remember they have taken the time to go back and edit older chapters before, which slowed down updates. Think I was only really interested in it because the host of the Mewtwo-centric CopyCat (which used to have a sub-page dedicated to a few fics readers sent in, not sure if it's ever coming back) had lent a character to them to use and Mewtwo played a huge role in the plot. I'm honestly impressed by their dedication, and I hope they actually manage to complete it fully if they keep this up.
 
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