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On Writing (and reading) Fanfiction
Fanfiction tends to have a bad rep. Stuff like My Immortal (the worst fanfiction ever, according to a lot of people. I read it. It is a trama I may never recover from,) and mature/just plain bad fanfictions make a lot of people stay away from it. But actually, fanfiction is really fun to write. You get to write about books and shows you like, and it's a really good way to practuce writing. You can even share and get criticism! Also, it's nice to read. There's a ton of fanfiction out there, and if you're left wanting more after a too-short book, you can get more from fanfiction! As well, since fanfiction writers get to skip a lot of the work creating an original world/characters (and are just plain good writers!!) , a lot of fanfiction can be better than the original. (Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality comes to mind, as do a lot of She-Ra fanfictions and fanfictions for the Dragon Prince.)
TL;DR This thread is for talking about fanfiction; writing it, recommendations, and snippets. Do what you want!
submitted by Blue Moon, age 12, Here
(April 11, 2019 - 11:50 pm)
(April 11, 2019 - 11:50 pm)
WARNING: Long block of text. Writer of this rant is anonymous as the fandom they are talking about gets a bad rep for being crazy shippers, and they don't want to be permanently labeled as one of them.
Why, oh why, can I not find any good Aphmau fanfiction?
For those who haven't heard of her (which is probably many here on the CB), she is a youtuber who creates scripted series using modded Minecraft. They started out as just fun little videos, then turned into highly produced series (the amount of art and 3D modelling that goes into them is insane) later on. The series that I am going to be talking about today is the Mystreet universe.
Long story short, as I don't want to bore anyone to death, Mystreet began as a series set in a neighborhood filled with old friends. While it was mostly normal, realistic, regular life, other races existed--such as werewolves, witches, and meif'wa (cat people). Magic and potions were used, but not for everything (the cast even took a regular trip to Ikea at one point).
Back in the early stages, fanfiction was random, and somewhat crazy. The series could be really goofy and didn't always take itself seriously, so the fanfiction was too. Then the focus of the series changed, revealing that a certain character was actually a special type of Werewolf, and werewolves were everywhere. In the series. In fanfiction. But oh, especially in fanfiction.
In almost every piece of fanfiction I can get my hands on, the fanfiction isn't...right. It's not realistic to the series. Most characters are given a sibling OC (especially said special werewolf). Most peoples' main characters are said type of special werewolf, but ignore the universe's rules surrounding said special werewolf--except the type of werewolf's powers, that's cool.
Did the two characters we know are said special type of werewolves go through years of masking themselves and hiding their powers and identity as a werewolf? Did they hide in fear as a 'human' their entire lives? Yep! But why don't you make YOUR special werewolf character not even hide the fact that they're a werewolf, just that they're a special one? That's fun!
And the werewolfishness doesn't stop at just the OCs and the sibling OCs. Oh no. Characters that were previously confirmed to be human are suddenly werewolves, or cat people. Why? Most of the time, it's just because they think a character would be cute as a wolf, or a cat.
And most of the fanfictions I can find don't have a plot! They're either going through the plot of some of the most intense seasons, but with added OCs, or they're just...random writing with OCs. Overpowered OCs. Of course, some fans find it fun to put the characters in situations like Truth or Dare, but... that's honestly just so they can make their favorite pairing kiss.
The only fanfictions that do have a plot are shipping fics, or *Character* x *Reader* fics. And, to be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of just romance... Why must I have this flaw?
Where is the good fanfiction? Why does it evade me? And why is the fandom so werewolf-obsessed?
TL;DR Insane anonymous person rants about how they can never find good fanfiction in a certain community. Rages about the fandom's obsessions.
(April 12, 2019 - 12:51 pm)
(April 12, 2019 - 4:17 pm)
Ooh, you read Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality? I'm reading it right now; it's soooo good! I actually made a thread about it on BaB... which no one has posted on...
Um, so, in response to the anonymous rant about a universe I hadn't heard of before and can't really respond to... why don't you write some fanfiction yourself? If there really is a lack of good fanfiction, as you say, then surely there will be other people who want to read yours. Or, I suppose, just write it for yourself and not share it with everyone else.
I've been thinking about writing fanfiction myself (specifically, Harry Potter fanfic, either with Harry being a girl - Harriet - or with Draco being the Chosen One - as suggested by... someone who I don't remember). But I haven't actually gotten around to it, and I'm working on a different writing project for school anyway. :)
(April 12, 2019 - 10:43 pm)
Methods of Rationality gets sort of questionable for CB-age readers in chapter seven (I read it a while ago but I stopped there).
(April 13, 2019 - 1:14 pm)
Actually, I am working on the concept for a fanfic in that universe. However, I don't really have that large of an opinion on my own work--I can't commit to writing a story solo. I've only (excluding NaNo novels) ever written collabed novels, because there's more pressure for me to perform in them.
I could, of course, write a novel where the characters races stayed consistent with their canon selves, and all of that, but when it comes down to it, I'm not ready for that committment. In fact, props to the authors of all the fanfictions I despise for actually sitting down and writing their stories, and getting some stuff done--it's more than I can do, lol. But please, please, if you're going to make such huge changes to a character's behavior or race, have it be for a good reason?
Probably gonna have to make another, generalized post about that...ooh, sounds fun. And a whole lot less hateful than my Aphmau Fanfics rant.
(April 13, 2019 - 4:23 pm)
Also, fanfiction counted in words really skews our perception of how much we're really reading- most Harry Potter books are 80,000-100,000 words, while fanfics can be doube that or more. And some fanfiction authors have gone to college for writing, or are authors of bestsellers. Fanfiction can also open your mind to other people's perspecives and experiences, which is pretty cool too. And also teach you things about writing, but also random topics, like plant care or an artist or social movements that people have carefully researched/taken classes about.
It's also kind of addicting if you're a serious bookworm, so watch out...
(April 21, 2019 - 9:25 pm)
I write a lot a Star Wars fan fiction and I think that it is a good way for me at least to develop my writing skills while writing about something I enjoy. RN, I'm writing a very loooong fan fic about two friends who fall into the middle of the Star Wars universe between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. They find themselves on opposite sides. Anyway, I think there's nothing wrong with fan fic and some of it can be actually really fun to read!
(April 25, 2019 - 1:52 pm)