C-chan talks about fanfiction.

Rant time!

In most fandoms, I have a favourite pairing. I don't try to hide this fact. I'm pretty open to other pairings too, but I do have my favourites. The ones I generally go for have a tendancy to be somewhat mainstream -- not the ZOMG POPULAR ones, but not so rare that it's impossible to find others that like it, either. Niche markets, if you will.

So, I'm looking up fanfiction for one of these pairings... looking for new stuff that I haven't already read... because the ones that I love I've often read numerous times over.

And most of what I find is crap.

Often it goes against my idea of characterization for the characters which probably is flawed in and of itself, but I enjoy my headcanon as much as the next person, and although some things may not be provable within canon, I try hard not to go against the givens. This, I can't do much about. People interpret characters differently. And if I see characters acting one way in a certain situation, so long as it hasn't been exactly portrayed in canon, it's impossible to tell whether it's true or not. Still, it bothers me sometimes, and sometimes I feel as if it's a violence to the character. Which is stupid as it's not even my character, and for all I know I'm the one that's gotten it wrong and they're the ones who are right. But still... it bothers me. Y'know?

And when this happens, it often falls into category number two as well: little to no plot with the whole point of the thing either being the characters making out, or doing something that again I find OOC.

Don't get me wrong. I've read some great PWP stories... but for it to work, it has to be written well and have a firm grip on characterization. The ones I'm referring to are ones that often seem to me to have neither.

Even when searching for individual characters, (often looking for good introspective fics, of which there are again never enough of) often what I find is a large number of mary sue stories that seem mostly for the purpose of "I want to make out with this fictional character, so here's someone that will represent me so they can do it in my stead!" And I'm just like x_x. And this shows up in basically every fandom, and it gets so repeditive and often does not make for the best stories, IMHO.

I'm guilty of writing stuff that falls under all of these categories. Well, I can't prove the first, but I'm sure my opinions don't agree with everyone's. XD
But trust me, I've got a drawer full of fanfic, most of which are unfinished, a good number of which are total garbage.

And I will never write a negative comment about a fic, unless I feel like I absolutely need to. Which is rare if ever. Because I know what it's like to be there. Just about everyone writes bad fics, especially when starting out. And we improve from there. But I remember the first thing I ever put online being flamed, and that just a total kick in the stomach to me. I was afraid to post anything again for the longest time, and when I did... I actually changed my whole online handle.

If anyone wonders, my first one (AKA what I used before this incident) was "clue". For those of you who've ever wondered where my email addy came from... now you know. XD
And where did that come from? My own name, more or less. No, my name's not clue, and I think you all know that. But that's where it sprung from, more or less.

But anyway... yeah. I can't post negative comments, because these people probably ARE just starting out... and with time they could produce something great. And I don't want them to go through what I did, because I know it DID hurt. Even if I did deserve it. (Trust me, the thing I posted that was flamed WAS crap. XD)

I did grow from it, but it stunted me for a while. Just like the bullying incident in grade 5.



I really want to post more fanfiction of my own at some point. Or fiction in general. But I'm a horrid procrastinator. I need to finish some more things before I do that.
I may not ever be the best writer in the world, but getting stuff out there is good. It's stuff that I like... and so hopefully others can like it too. And hopefully someone else will appreciate it if nothing else.

I know my weaknesses. I know that I procrastinate and don't write enoough. This is a large part of why I often work in drabbles. One of the things I'm working on (or say I am) is made completely of drabbles for that very reason -- if I don't finish, it doesn't matter because each little story can hold up on its own, hopefully.
And maybe I will write a long, chaptered fic one day that people will love. Who knows? It'd be awesome, that's for sure. But we'll see if I'll ever be able to accomplish that.


And every once in a while I do find a fic that I adore. Sometimes they're for my favourite pairing, or my favourite character. And sometimes they're not. But in either case they have great characterization, great writing, and a good plot (or just some awesome scenes). I read them and usually reread them to the point that I have them partially memorized.

I just wish there were more fics like them out there sometimes....