Thread: What do you find is the biggest single problem with fanfics?

Originally Posted by Dark Blueberry

It makes the fic more harder to read.

I really hope you did that on purpose. :P

Originally Posted by Prof. Lugion

Originally Posted by Dark Blueberry

It makes the fic more harder to read.

I really hope you did that on purpose. :P

Dark Blueberry just slapped in his very own face.

Originally Posted by Caitlin

Some of our greatest works are technically fanfiction. Eragon (ok, it's not like, a blockbuster, but you get my point) and Game of Thrones started out as Lord of the Rings fanfiction before going their separate ways towards established works of fiction.

I knew that "R. R." in George Martin's name wasn't a coincidence!

Originally Posted by NacCrystal

Originally Posted by Prof. Lugion

Originally Posted by Dark Blueberry

It makes the fic more harder to read.

I really hope you did that on purpose. :P

Dark Blueberry just slapped in his very own face.

In English, the term is "facepalm". (I had to figure this out too.)

But really, you cannot say lack of originality is a flaw in fan-fiction, or that it is the "reason" that causes fanfic's poor quality. Even with many so-called original fictions (I mean the "primary" works where itself is not extension of any existing fandom), its quality is not 100% guaranteed to be high neither. At the end, it all depends on the level of the author.

And yeah, when I was talking about "the biggest single problem", by "problem" I meant something that made them badly written, not anything else.

Japanese fans had created a new word that is called 1.5次創作 ("1.5-ary fiction" if I translate it), which is the kind of fiction placed between canon (primary) and fanfic that faithfully follow canon (secondary). It is the kind of fanfic that merely follow the background setting of the world, but no canon character is involved; or completely original alternative universe of the canon with original character, the kind of connection with the canon work will merely be under the same fandom. In Japan, 1.5-ary fictions are consider as "original" fanfic.

It would seem that I only write (and have only ever written) 1.5次創作, then. I personally can't stand works that are completely 二次創作, because I prefer reading and writing "original" works. (These words exist in Chinese too, you know :P)

My personal term for the overarching category of "1.5-ary works" and the people who make them is "creative fandom".

Yes, Japanese will categorize their work as "original" based on the levels of relevance and connectivity with the canon. Fanfic with low connectivity can be categorized as "original".

My terminology for "creative fandom" does that in a slightly more roundabout way. A work can be "very far" or "ver near" into the creative fandom. The further it is, the more "primary" the work is. But it's not commonly accepted terminology, as the other label, which is "consumer fandom", is a rather stigmatizing label, implying ravenous consumerism and a slavish adherence to the actual work.

In Pixiv, their exist an original Digimon fiction series that called "Digimon Infinity" that basically has no connection with any canon work of the same fandom. I'm sorry I could not thought of any Pokemon ones, but if certain "canon" work to be view as like fanfic, then Pokemon ReBURST can also be one original fanfic.

Pokémon RéBURST would probably be 1.1 or 1.2 thereabouts, if we're rating it on a scale from 1 to 2.

Originally Posted by matt0044

Originally Posted by Silverwynde

Now, that said: One of my problems is cracked pairings. Seriously people, I sincerely doubt that Megatron and Optimus love each other in that way and want to do perverted things to each other. Prime might have cared for Megs at one point but not so much now. And I highly doubt that even when Optimus gave a crap for Megatron, he didn't want to drag him to the nearest bedroom! >.<

Unless it's played for laugh as in not meant to be serious.

Or maybe even played as "that's the way they'll ultimately fight each other!" I can just imagine it now...

As Megatron cooled down from the heat he had felt, he realized that he'd lost. He'd given it all up to Optimus. And what's worse, he liked it.

"You win," said Megatron. "I shall tell my troops to stand down and surrender. You have bested me, and I acknowledge defeat."

Optimus simply smiled as he raised his mechanical legs off the bed and into a pair of slippers. Megatron couldn't help but crack a little smile too. Maybe they'd have to do it again sometime.

Originally Posted by Zekurom

As Megatron cooled down from the heat he had felt, he realized that he'd lost. He'd given it all up to Optimus. And what's worse, he liked it.

"You win," said Megatron. "I shall tell my troops to stand down and surrender. You have bested me, and I acknowledge defeat."

Optimus simply smiled as he raised his mechanical legs off the bed and into a pair of slippers. Megatron couldn't help but crack a little smile too. Maybe they'd have to do it again sometime.

Oh god WHY? D:

Originally Posted by matt0044

Originally Posted by Zekurom

As Megatron cooled down from the heat he had felt, he realized that he'd lost. He'd given it all up to Optimus. And what's worse, he liked it.

"You win," said Megatron. "I shall tell my troops to stand down and surrender. You have bested me, and I acknowledge defeat."

Optimus simply smiled as he raised his mechanical legs off the bed and into a pair of slippers. Megatron couldn't help but crack a little smile too. Maybe they'd have to do it again sometime.

Oh god WHY? D:

I giggled.

Originally Posted by matt0044

Originally Posted by Zekurom

As Megatron cooled down from the heat he had felt, he realized that he'd lost. He'd given it all up to Optimus. And what's worse, he liked it.

"You win," said Megatron. "I shall tell my troops to stand down and surrender. You have bested me, and I acknowledge defeat."

Optimus simply smiled as he raised his mechanical legs off the bed and into a pair of slippers. Megatron couldn't help but crack a little smile too. Maybe they'd have to do it again sometime.

Oh god WHY? D:

BECAUSE. :D

A lack of ambition. Too many writers are afraid or too timid to really experiment and have fun with fiction, and all because they're scared of labels like mary sue and other bull. Writing is supposed to be freedom, it is one of the truest forms of expression, so let yourself go and have fun. Creativity and fun is often stifled because of these ridiculous fears of others finding something to label what you write. When you accept it will happen no matter wha, then perhaps you'll allow your real passions and strengths to shine through.

So, my biggest problem is when the author is afraid, and you can see it in the writing. And to that I say; clear your mind of sues and critics, if your story is good, it'll find its audience. Have patience.

Originally Posted by Zekurom

In English, the term is "facepalm". (I had to figure this out too.)

No, I do meant my sentence literally as such. "Slap in the face" is an idiom. Besides, "facepalm" was originally an internet word, which is quite new and not yet recorded in many analog dictionaries.

Pokémon RéBURST would probably be 1.1 or 1.2 thereabouts, if we're rating it on a scale from 1 to 2.

I understand what you mean, but unfortunately, there is not such rating in Japan. It is either canon work (primary), faithful fanfic (secondary), or original fanfic (1.5-ary).

Originally Posted by NacCrystal

No, I do meant my sentence literally as such. "Slap in the face" is an idiom. Besides, "facepalm" was originally an internet word, which is quite new and not yet recorded in many analog dictionaries.

I dunno. Usually slapping one's own face is a facepalm. But okay.

Pokémon RéBURST would probably be 1.1 or 1.2 thereabouts, if we're rating it on a scale from 1 to 2.

I understand what you mean, but unfortunately, there is not such rating in Japan. It is either canon work (primary), faithful fanfic (secondary), or original fanfic (1.5-ary).

Well, basically anything between 1 and 2 would be "1.5", if you wanted to keep to using just those three words.

Originally Posted by matt0044

Originally Posted by Zekurom

As Megatron cooled down from the heat he had felt, he realized that he'd lost. He'd given it all up to Optimus. And what's worse, he liked it.

"You win," said Megatron. "I shall tell my troops to stand down and surrender. You have bested me, and I acknowledge defeat."

Optimus simply smiled as he raised his mechanical legs off the bed and into a pair of slippers. Megatron couldn't help but crack a little smile too. Maybe they'd have to do it again sometime.

Oh god WHY? D:

I'm with you. I mean, can robots/mechanoids even have...? I think I broke my brain. >.<

Originally Posted by Silverwynde

I'm with you. I mean, can robots/mechanoids even have...? I think I broke my brain. >.<

Oh come on, it was a joke! D:

Originally Posted by Silverwynde

Originally Posted by matt0044

Originally Posted by Zekurom

As Megatron cooled down from the heat he had felt, he realized that he'd lost. He'd given it all up to Optimus. And what's worse, he liked it.

"You win," said Megatron. "I shall tell my troops to stand down and surrender. You have bested me, and I acknowledge defeat."

Optimus simply smiled as he raised his mechanical legs off the bed and into a pair of slippers. Megatron couldn't help but crack a little smile too. Maybe they'd have to do it again sometime.

Oh god WHY? D:

I'm with you. I mean, can robots/mechanoids even have...? I think I broke my brain. >.<

Yes.

I LIKE yaoi, and even I was a bit disturbed by that.

I don't have a problem with "crack pairings" (for one, the term can be ambiguous - I've heard people use "crack pairing" for any pairing that isn't canon, which, no. It's one that's utterly implausible).

It's not even just about whether it's done as a joke or not, but I think that good writing can make even the unlikeliest of pairings seem plausible. Even if you have to take them out of character, as long as the writer is aware that they are doing that or the writing makes the change believable, I'm fine. The problem is that 90% of fanfic writers do not understand how to write romance - and that's a problem even with fic that deals with canon pairings. Unless you have them as an acknowledged couple from the start, you can't have two characters who don't already have a lot of sexual tension between them and a lack of fear of rejection just lunge at each other's mouths. There needs to be some building up to that point. Way too many fics don't have that, and it really has nothing to do with how "crack" or not the pairing is.

The main rule of writing romance is that it's all in the "will they or won't they." If you fuck that up, it doesn't work, no matter how good the sex scenes are (and let's face it, there are even less fanfic writers capable of writing that. There's a reason even original fiction has a "Worst Sex Scene" award).

Originally Posted by Quirky Circuit

A lack of ambition. Too many writers are afraid or too timid to really experiment and have fun with fiction, and all because they're scared of labels like mary sue and other bull. Writing is supposed to be freedom, it is one of the truest forms of expression, so let yourself go and have fun. Creativity and fun is often stifled because of these ridiculous fears of others finding something to label what you write. When you accept it will happen no matter wha, then perhaps you'll allow your real passions and strengths to shine through.

So, my biggest problem is when the author is afraid, and you can see it in the writing. And to that I say; clear your mind of sues and critics, if your story is good, it'll find its audience. Have patience.

I'm not afraid of the Mary Sue label. I think it's better to not be afraid of the label. God knows what fanfics the Mary Sue police writes. But a lot of them don't even go for Pokemon fanfics - they usually go for fanfics based on fantasy books/movies (such as LOTR or Harry Potter).

In my eyes, I usually found game fics to be much better than anime fics, which is one of the reasons why I wrote mostly game fics. It's also because I don't care for the anime or the manga. But with the rise of FerrisWheelShipping fanfiction, I think it's going down the same route.

For a while, I actually felt like bashing anime-based or manga-based Pokemon fics, since I liked the games so much. But I think we should respect the other canons. For example, I don't like that in Pokemon Special, Sabrina is evil and Pryce is only 3 feet tall, but that's how it is in the manga. I'd rather work with a sensible Sabrina and a tall, healthy Pryce, but I don't care if people use the manga versions in fanfics.