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Inspired by the discussion here:
Am I the only person in fandom who uses the phrase “reads like fanfiction” as a compliment? As in “contains all of the same elements I love in really well-done fanfiction?”
When I refer to a novel as “reading like fanfiction,” I usually mean that it devotes a great deal of time to character development and the relationships between the main characters, has more than a touch of melodrama, and provides emotionally satisfying closure at the end—something some modern “literary” novels seem to be afraid to do, as if leaving your readers happy is somehow an unworthy goal. There’s also usually a sense that the author enjoyed the writing and the characters—lingered over certain scenes and descriptions, maybe, or added some gratuitous-but-fun bits of drama, hurt/comfort, over-the-top villains, etc. Barbara Hambly’s Benjamin January series is a prime example (hurt/comfort and tangled relationships all over the place, plus canonical femmeslash), as are C. S. Friedman’s Dark Sun books, and pretty much anything by Mercedes Lackey (though her stuff is somewhat Mary Sue-driven). And, hell, the entire Aubrey/Maturin series and just about everything by Dickens.
For a non-textual example, Starsky and Hutch (the series, not the recent movie) differed from the slash fanfiction written about it only in that the title characters didn’t actually make out on screen (much). That episode where Hutch was kidnapped and forcibly addicted to heroin? Pure fanfiction. Also emotionally wrenching and deeply fun to watch. Not to mention the episode where Starsky is poisoned and they have, like, twenty-four hours to track down the guy who did it, or the episode where Stasky is kidnapped by an evil cult, or… *trails off before she starts detailing the entire series*
Of course, I’ve also accused authors of writing “like bad fanfiction,”—Fiona Patton’s books, for example, have a lot of the pitfalls of overly formulaic slash, such as repeatedly referring to characters by their hair/eye color, or with phrases like, “the taller man,” “the shorter man,” “the younger man,” etc.
Of course, I’m an atypical example in that I see essentially zero difference between well-written fanfiction and published fiction. I expect both to be entertaining and to give me well-written prose, good character development, and a plot relatively free from holes, and don’t see one as being any more worthy or literary than the other. The only real difference is that one of them is making the author (or some corporate entity) money, and one isn’t. Someone writing their own sequel to Half Blood Prince is no different when you get right down to it than Virgil writing his own sequel to The Iliad. Unless the fact that he did it two thousand years ago magically makes it not count.
Come on, people. We are fans. Presumably, we all enjoy fanfiction. Why denegrate it?
Am I the only person in fandom who uses the phrase “reads like fanfiction” as a compliment? As in “contains all of the same elements I love in really well-done fanfiction?”
When I refer to a novel as “reading like fanfiction,” I usually mean that it devotes a great deal of time to character development and the relationships between the main characters, has more than a touch of melodrama, and provides emotionally satisfying closure at the end—something some modern “literary” novels seem to be afraid to do, as if leaving your readers happy is somehow an unworthy goal. There’s also usually a sense that the author enjoyed the writing and the characters—lingered over certain scenes and descriptions, maybe, or added some gratuitous-but-fun bits of drama, hurt/comfort, over-the-top villains, etc. Barbara Hambly’s Benjamin January series is a prime example (hurt/comfort and tangled relationships all over the place, plus canonical femmeslash), as are C. S. Friedman’s Dark Sun books, and pretty much anything by Mercedes Lackey (though her stuff is somewhat Mary Sue-driven). And, hell, the entire Aubrey/Maturin series and just about everything by Dickens.
For a non-textual example, Starsky and Hutch (the series, not the recent movie) differed from the slash fanfiction written about it only in that the title characters didn’t actually make out on screen (much). That episode where Hutch was kidnapped and forcibly addicted to heroin? Pure fanfiction. Also emotionally wrenching and deeply fun to watch. Not to mention the episode where Starsky is poisoned and they have, like, twenty-four hours to track down the guy who did it, or the episode where Stasky is kidnapped by an evil cult, or… *trails off before she starts detailing the entire series*
Of course, I’ve also accused authors of writing “like bad fanfiction,”—Fiona Patton’s books, for example, have a lot of the pitfalls of overly formulaic slash, such as repeatedly referring to characters by their hair/eye color, or with phrases like, “the taller man,” “the shorter man,” “the younger man,” etc.
Of course, I’m an atypical example in that I see essentially zero difference between well-written fanfiction and published fiction. I expect both to be entertaining and to give me well-written prose, good character development, and a plot relatively free from holes, and don’t see one as being any more worthy or literary than the other. The only real difference is that one of them is making the author (or some corporate entity) money, and one isn’t. Someone writing their own sequel to Half Blood Prince is no different when you get right down to it than Virgil writing his own sequel to The Iliad. Unless the fact that he did it two thousand years ago magically makes it not count.
Come on, people. We are fans. Presumably, we all enjoy fanfiction. Why denegrate it?
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I chime in simply because the most recent episode of my current fandom? All fanfic. :) Same conventions, same pacing, everything. And I am amused because, in the DC universe, pretty much anything the official creators and producers do is fanfic, as they are writing about characters and situations created seventy years ago, and oh, the current producers are such fanboys. :D
Three cheers for well-done fanfic-as-canon!
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Fanfic Helper
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Re: Fanfic Helper
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Re: Fanfic Helper
Esp those classic fanfic themes: forced intimacy (Mel gets a wife he doesn't remember marrying, etc.), ensemble cast, banter all round, character's past catches up with them, Unresolved Sexual Tension, etc.
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Re: Fanfic Helper
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Re: Fanfic Helper
Do you have a list of fanfic conventions like this? I've been dying to see one.
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Re: Fanfic Helper
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