Update on MA thesis on HP fan fiction
Hi!
With this message, I would like to thank all of you who answered my questionnaire at http://fanfiction.frontexperts.com (see the original message below) and have given me helpful feedback. Many of you who sent me emails with comments let me know that my questionnaire did not fully embrace your experience with fan fiction. Because a survey is a ( Read more... )
With this message, I would like to thank all of you who answered my questionnaire at http://fanfiction.frontexperts.com (see the original message below) and have given me helpful feedback. Many of you who sent me emails with comments let me know that my questionnaire did not fully embrace your experience with fan fiction. Because a survey is a ( Read more... )
1. The first fanfiction I ever encountered was a novelization of Final Fantasy 8. I forgot about it for a year or two, and then I got into Evangelion fanfiction and back before FFN split, the original sci-fi and fantasy sections.
I began to write fanfiction because I like writing in general, and it seemed far easier to get feedback from fanfiction when I started. I probably based this on the lack of interest in FFN's original works section.
2. Good fanfiction requires the same things as good original work, in my opinion. Consistent characterization, an interesting plot, and the writing itself must be readable and if not unique, at least intriguing.
2a. Mary Sues show up in original fiction as well. I have no particular dislike for them in original fiction, as there they do not cause many of the problems they do in fanfiction: Inconsistent characterization, plot destruction, and such.
2b. Choosing stories to read happens through the main characters tags and the favorites of authors whose works I've enjoyed. Of that, I'll only read from fandoms I'm familiar with, and if the hook (what FFN labels the summary, at least) is interesting. That can be done in several ways, but the most effective is for it to be unique.
For example, one of my favorites has the hook: Just your basic Ranma & Fiancee fanfic, focusing on Akane and Shampoo. But hey, at least it's finished, right? [Complete]
And another: In a world built on lies where nothing is what it seems, dominant lesbian goth Akane Tendo finds herself falling deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole accompanied by an aquatranssexual nomad biker, a half Irish guerilla and a private club of crazies...
3. It is not particularly important to get feedback for me. This is probably a good thing, because most of what I get is from people who just don't like the way I write.
4. Romance alone isn't particularly interesting to me. That's not to say I haven't read heavy romance stories, but even the ones I have always had a larger plot. I generally don't read romance fic because it almost always strongly features problems caused by lack of communication between the characters, and that gets old fast.
5. I have written one slash fic. I have only read slash fic where I was blindsided by it, except in Hikaru no Go where I admit, even I saw the homoerotic undertones in the canon. Considering how often I miss romantic undertones at all, that was a surprise.
Femslash on the other hand, I've read and enjoyed. This is largely due to the Bubblegum Crisis fandom, in which there are relatively few men, one of whom is canonically gay.
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