What I Learned from Fanfiction!

[Ghost]

No.

I, myself, have wrote fanfics that are extensions of canon episodes, or issues (i.e. picking off exactly where an episode/issue left off, or in the middle of an episode/issue with one change made). I've also read fanfics that seek to 'fill in the gaps' in certain plots that left a lot of stuff done off-camera.

To me, canon characterization is important here.

With an Elseworld type story, you can go anywhere.

One actual Elseworld I read fused Batman with Superman, and Lex Luthor with the Joker - I think it was called "Speeding Bullet", or something like that.

Ah, but now you're talking about giving the illusion that your fanfic is part of canon, and functions in accordance with it. If you put value in this, that's all well and good.

It's just that, others may not. They may instead put value in the freedom to explore possibilitites, some of which do not at all adher to canon, even contradicting it. That doesn't neccecarily make their work bad.

[Jottma]

I have learned that the authors on Fanfiction.net, that tell stories about the X-Men(since thats all I read), are not above and some times go out of their way to write characters completely out of character to write their misguided fantasies for that universe.

I have learned that the only important characters of the X-Men: Evo verse are Gambit and Rogue, and to hell with you if you don't worship that pairing.

I have learned that the authors at Fanfiction.net must be stuck in some kind of time portal, that won't let them tell stories relating to 'Romy' that happen after the Antartica situation that happened in the comics at least 9 years ago.

I have learned that authors can completely dehumanize Cyclop's character, so that it goes completely against what we have seen in the movies, just so they can make their perfect godlike pairing of Wolverine and Jean Grey seem even that much more destinned to be together, and get over 100 reviews stating that this story is perfect and that pairing is so kewl.

Most importantly I have learned it is not safe to be fan of Scott Summers and go to Fanfiction.net to try and read stories that feature him.

[Knightosis]

First of all, the thread starter is asking what we've learned from fanfiction,
so judgements and criticism regarding fanfictions we've read and the like
does count to what we've learned from it. Just thought I'd point that out.

Now although I'm by no means an expert on the subject, allow me, a wanna
be writer, to offer my critique on some points people have brought up here.


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(#1) Omnipotizing : Making your character god.

Earlier on it's been well established that the one thing we've learned about
fanfiction is that many (Hence my refusal to use the word "most", that's
never the case) writers fanwank/cockstroke/Gary Stu/Mary Sue etc. their
favorite characters to do damn near anything.

Amazingly you'll always find these kinds of fics done on the more popular
characters like Inuyasha, Edward Elric, Ranma, etc.

On one hand, it's one thing to take a character and give them a power-up.
I think it's alright, provided there is a well-written reason for
this power-up.

And straight-up, no one likes an omnipotent. By omnipotent, I mean no
one likes a character who cannot during any point of the story, is suddenly
and even worse, inexplicably becomes completely invulnerable
to any threats. This applies to character interaction as well. Characters
who would NEVER like this character, suddenly the make up (and usually
in a very anti-climactic way). Like I said, omnipotents suck, there's no
drama or dynamic. If we the reader never feel that the characters are in
any sort of peril (regardless of it's kind) we can never truly appreciate
the story.


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(#2) Leonardo DaVinci

As was pointed out earlier on, certain characters (again, the most popular
fan favorites) are written all over the place and quite literally, have become
renaissance men and women. They're either able to control giant robots,
master martial-arts that don't exist, become beings and gain powers that
are completely opposite to their standard ability (and genre for that matter),
and well...

Where's the originality? I'd rather read about Rosette Christopher as a Holy
Politician than a Holy ninja. Why? Cause 1st of all, it's original. 2ndly, damn
near EVERYONE who is popular, has been acting as the other popular
character. Ranma's been a GL. Inuyasha's been a Shinigami. Superman's
been a super saiyan.

But a politician? Granted I'm not big on politics, but I'd read it. Just cause
it really really stands out.

HOWEVER!

This does not mean that despite there probably being 40 stories of Kazuma
The Shellbullet as a ninja from Naruto, does NOT (I repeat, NOT) mean that
every story will be told the same. You may find that one story that takes
the idea of him as a ninja and makes it work!

But for the most part, I'm not interested in that. I like them where they are
originally.

If you're gonna throw them elsewhere MAKE IT WORK. But then, here's the
thing : NOT EVERYONE CAN BE PUT ANYWHERE.

For example, I find it really really hard to imagine someone like say...Guyver
in the World of Warcraft. 2 completely different genres that make no sense
being together.

In a sense, you're doing a crossover. But as it's been shown numerous
times in comics, crossovers from other companies just flat out DON'T WORK.

Sailor Moon and another Sailor-esque anime? That works.

Starcraft & Devil May Cry? That does NOT work.

Of course, this all applies to serious story-telling. If it's just for comedy's
sake, then it doesn't matter who you crossover with.


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(#3) Dawson's Creek + Anime = Bad Formula

As pointed out by Bigboi2 :

If I learned about Gundam Seed from fanfiction. I would think that it was a crappy anime about highschool life.

Which leads me to point 3. The ever so mundane and boring "realizations"
(or in this case, Dawson's Creek transformation) of certani animes
involving teenage characters and throwing them into high school real life
teen dramas.

Personally, I never liked that genre. I find it horribly cliche and unoriginal,
harbors depressing feelings on inequity and emoness between characters
and their love interests, and well...basically, NO ONE IS ACTING THE LEAST
BIT IN CHARACTER.

I dunno about you guys, but I'm sick of seeing Starfire crying to Raven
about her feelings towards Robin, who lost the basketball game to Hiro Yui
and his team, all the while she not realizing that Naruto her best friend, has
a huge crush on her, but he also doesn't realize that Hinata has a crush on
him and blah.......blah...........blah........
.
.
.
Still with me? Yeah, that's why I steer clear of such fanfics, and so should
you.


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(#4)


And neither are ANY of the more American/European/Chinese...you know
what? Anyone who is NOT from Japan (character/story-wise). So stop
making Hal Jordan call Sentry "Bob-sama", or Mei Lin call Xiang-Fei
"Nee-san", etc.

For the record, NEITHER ARE YOU. Like the Desu pic says, "Keep typing
"Desu". Maybe if you type it enough you'll turn Japanese."

Please stop trying to be a poser. :) (Unless you ARE Japanese)


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(#5) So (un)happy to together....

Okay, now comes our most common trait in fanfiction.

Pairings.

You either get 3 kinds. Yaoi/Yuri pairings, X-Over pairings, or pairings from
within the character's universe.

This particular topic is going to garner much differenting opinions. For the
most part, I don't like X-Over pairings. Mostly because I stick to the universe
said characters are already in, so I simply leave them with what they've got.

For example, Inuyasha? I could see him with either Kikyo or Kagome. That's
it. Not with Sango. Not with Kagura. Not with Raven, or Starfire, or May
Hime, or any of the Gunslinger Girls, or Ms. Marvel, etc.

The thing is, pairings are completely subjective. Even characters who are
long made out to be the official couple of a story (Like say, Sailor Moon
and Tuxedo Mask), some people just don't like them together or like the
couple.

Which is fine, you say tomatoe, I say tomahto, etc. (Yes I know that's not
how you spell them, but how else are you gonna get my point?) :p

HOWEVER!

Sometimes, people go crazy with their pairings. ESPECIALLY here. I think I
once saw Deadpool x Izumi mentioned here.

WOW. Just...........wow. Could you be anymore random?

Oh wait, I remember seeing, I think Grimlock & Starfire?

Again, in that person's mind (which must be cleanesd with an unholy fire
and discarded back into the fires of Mephisto's Realm) they're good for
each other.

They're not......................"wrong"................. >_> <_<

Anyway, moving on.


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(#6) Pairings of Mass Destruction

Ok, this is seemingly where we seem to be hot and bothered about. The
yaoi fangirls and their pairings.

1st of all, I detest pairings of all kinds between characters who are NOT of
their sexual orientation.

*Now before you say it, for the record no, I am not a homophobe nor do I
think it's blasphemy, blah blah Pro-gay rant aside.*

Simply put, I find them to be another form of making characters out of
character.

Ranma ain't gay. Never has been, never shown to be. Therego, I don't
like to read or see anything with him being gay. It's OOC.

HOWEVER!

I also don't like to see Shuichi Shindou (from Gravitation, who is gay) with
any girls. He's a gay character, and thus, SHOULD be with his already
associated lover. Same for lesbian characters.

Now don't be so surprised. Most girls don't get excited seeing 2 real guys
getting hot and bothered, so if they get off of 2 anime guys getting hot
and bothered, fine!

We men get off of the real chicks going hot and bothered so overall, it
doesn't matter.

If you think the gay pairings can work, again, it's your opinion and you're
welcome to it. Besides some of the yaoi/yuri pairings are plausible, while
others are just W-T-F written all over it.

Remember, no matter how nuts fangirls or boys get over their pairing, the
of the matter is that their pairing isn't official, it's in their imagination.

Getting pissed over them is kinda...silly wouldn't you say?


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(#7) Dramatic conclusion! Knightosis finally shuts the hell up!spoilers:

Desu

end of spoilers

Finally, my main point that we should all realize is that this is FICTION.

-No matter how badly or well it's written,

-No matter how depowered or overpowered,

-No matter how little to how much it may make sense,

-No matter how retarded (aka...retarded) or brilliant they are,

None of them will be CANON.

And remember, if you don't like the story, DON'T READ IT.

Just ask around for what your tastes are in a story and I'm more than sure
someone will know about them and take you to them.

[Grazzt]

Sometimes, people go crazy with their pairings. ESPECIALLY here. I think I once saw Deadpool x Izumi mentioned here.

WOW. Just...........wow. Could you be anymore random?

I think the point of it was to come up with the ultimate sitcom couple.

[Gladiaria_Alata]

That actually had a mature filter? Geez, people count anything as nudity these days. :rolleyes:

I take it you're not a fellow Diviant, then?

Depends on how you define 'deviant'. :p :D


No, I'm not a member of that site.

[Len Ikari145]

I think the point of it was to come up with the ultimate sitcom couple.

Yup. All brought to you from the wonderfully twisted mind of the Dog.:D

It's a shame he doesn't write about them anymore. It saddens me, that it does.:(

Knightosis, Kudos to you, my good man.

And -yoink-

[Ant Crown]

Honestly? Kuno could do better. Anyway, it's pretty obvious he's got a thing for Ranma. :p



Exactly. Absolute canon gets boring quicly.

I'm not saying sticking to the canon is a bad thing. Diviate too far and things get silly very fast. But yaoi is still within what I would call tolerable limits.

Full blow AU's, on the other hand, now those are way out there.



Again, allot of pairings are pure BS. Yet for some reason, everyone gets caught up on yaoi.



Depends on how you look at it. I've read some pretty good fics portraying Kuno as a closet gay.

Oh, and he's also "unquestionably" not interested in Nabiki. That doesn't stop people from writing millions of Kuno/Nabiki fics.



You're kidding, right?

That entire storyline was based on the fact that Tsubasa is straight as an arrow. That was the joke. ;)

Agreed...Despite the best efforts...Rubies and Saphires...Oh boy...the story is beyond not good...Naruto borderlines a freakin' 'Gary Stu'.

Oh yeah forgot...

The reason why we DO write some form of Japanese or throw a few prefixes because one in the defense of ZK Chromedragozoid: His characters come from Japan.

Me...For Faiz on THe Hellmouth...He had a guy from Japan in his head after Halloween. I have two characters from Japan as well.

I only use words I know what they do mean like: Kuso=damn, Henshin=transform and etc.

there fore...I don't pretend to know the language...I'm learning it and throwing a few words in to better understand it.

[Deviant Juvenile]

Damn that Mature Filter!!! *shakes fist*

Register with Deviantart. It's free and you stay logged in, so once you log in you can forget about it.

But...



See? Nothing really mature about it, just... suggestive.

[Gladiaria_Alata]

Register with Deviantart. It's free and you stay logged in, so once you log in you can forget about it.

But...



See? Nothing really mature about it, just... suggestive.

Awesome....

[Darth Joker]

Ah, but now you're talking about giving the illusion that your fanfic is part of canon, and functions in accordance with it. If you put value in this, that's all well and good.

I find that most Star Trek fanfics I've read, function this way, and are usually prefaced as such.

With anime/manga, fanfics tend to be more 'stand alone', and could perhaps be interepreted as an extension of canon, or as alternate universe.

I will admit that I often have a bias towards fanfics that I could see being an extension of established canon - which, incidentally, is why I liked your story dealing with Akane confronting Ryoga about him being P-Chan. ;)

It deals quite nicely with one of the major hanging threads in the Ranma anime/manga.

It's just that, others may not. They may instead put value in the freedom to explore possibilitites, some of which do not at all adher to canon, even contradicting it. That doesn't neccecarily make their work bad.

I would say that execution is always key.

[MaxofSteel]

Register with Deviantart. It's free and you stay logged in, so once you log in you can forget about it.

But...



See? Nothing really mature about it, just... suggestive.

Is the chick supposed to be the Nine-tailed fox in human form?

[Gladiaria_Alata]

Is the chick supposed to be the Nine-tailed fox in human form?

Yupyup......

[Black Atom]

And neither are ANY of the more American/European/Chinese...you know
what? Anyone who is NOT from Japan (character/story-wise). So stop
making Hal Jordan call Sentry "Bob-sama", or Mei Lin call Xiang-Fei
"Nee-san", etc.

If this really happened...Osama was right.

[Deviant Juvenile]

Is the chick supposed to be the Nine-tailed fox in human form?

Yes, it's Bitch!Kyuubi.

Concept by croaky.

[Alan2099]

Things I've learned.

1) All you need to justify caling your story fanfiction is to use a few names. You want Superman to be a psychotic winged elf prince? Go for it, as long as you use the name Superman, you're doing fine. Just ignore things like canon, setting, characterization, themes, plot, etc etc.

2) The best way to "heal" somebody who's been traumaticaly raped is to have sex with them

3) There's no such thing as a language barrier. Everybody speaks the same language, whether it's Japan, The Klingon Empire , or Middle Earth

4) All the Smash Bros characters live within walking distance of each other.

5) A sassy teenage girls is al you need to redeem even the most disturbed psychopaths.

6) There's no such thing as a heterosexula character. Everybody is either gay or bisexual. ESPECIALLY if they're attractive.

7) No matter their normal moral stance, all "bad guys" are rapists.

8) People from Japan speak English and randomly insert Japanese words into their sentences.

9) People in Japanese created fandoms randomly insert Japanese words into their sentences n matter what langauge their supposed to actually be speaking. Even if Japan doesn't exist in their world.

10) I'll continue this list if I get 8 reviews. No flames plz.