Bad fic or bad opinion?

[sensuelles]

Alright, so fandomsecrets  touched on something I've been thinking about recently: secret #101.

We've all been down that road. It's late at night, you're scrolling through list upon list of ffnet fics looking for something appealing to read, searching for that rare gem which will satisfy your fandom craving, and instead, you click on a link, read a few lines,

Comments

[kalliel]

Admittedly, I don't feel particularly bad when I bitch about or lol over bad!fic in private. Not for the fact that it's private, 'what they know won't hurt them' kind of thing, but putting it in a more public venue (i.e. fic sporking communities) makes it feel as though the person doing the bitching is just as bad as the person doing the ficcing, in that they're looking for quick compliments, and exercising their "acerbic wits" for that purpose, other than some other purpose where acerbic wit could be put to better use.

I think there's a definite difference between fics that aren't good, and bad!fic, and a lot of it has to do with the presentation. There are fics that really aren't the best, but the author is earnest, tries hard, wants to improve. Those? You (er, rather, I) don't bitch about. That's just hurting someone, and discouraging them from a hobby they would otherwise find enjoyable. Then there are the fics that are bad out of the author's laziness, or their desire to be 'sensational' (and this applies to all writing, not just fan fic), author's desire for quick praise, etc.

Part of it's the premise, part of it's the writing, part of it's the 'holy shit, what did they just do to [insert character A]?!?!?!?!?!O_o;;DDDD:' factor. Most of it's the fact that the author is totally under the impression that s/he's hot shit. And that anyone who offers criticism, or doesn't like the fic, or whatever, is completely delusional. (Or jealous, lol.)

Because wtf premises have been done beautifully by fic authors. Okay-writing can still convey the deepest emotions, portray the best characterizations, comma splices and poor word choice and strange sentence structure and all. (A fairly large portion of the Naruto fandom, in particular, writes in English as their second language. Some of them make grammar errors. Hell, people whose FIRST language is English make grammar errors. But a lot of their stuff? The very best the fandom has to offer.)

Writer being an ass...that kind of invites bad!fic label. Even IF the writing itself is good and whatnot. There's this aura of pretension that surrounds it even then, and I don't find it particularly appealing, I don't care how pretty the prose is. Something about those kinds of fics screams "Look how cool and witty I can be!" every line.

[sensuelles]

Yeah I see what you are saying about certain writer egos. I absolutely HATE writers who withhold chapters from their readers in order to garner more reviews. Like...WTF!?!? Or people who say they like "constructive criticism" but the minute someone does provide them a bit of negative, but true feedback they are like "That is FLAME!"

Oh well...I try to repeat to myself that these people are 12 yr olds who don't know better. Although perhaps that might be an insult to 12 yr olds...