Every so often...

[velvet_mace]

I get opinionated. Yeah, yeah, I know people are saying, "every so often, you mean like every day?" To which I say, sheepishly, yeah, but... okay, I'll shut up now... except I won't.

Because the subject is getting rid of badfic.

Comments

[rubyfire]

Badfic is a necessary evil and all, but I think a lot of people just want less of it or at least more variance of it, instead of getting the same 4 stories over and over again. A lot of terrible fan fiction can be made a little less terrible with the help of spell checker and a sue meter. But you are right; badfic is undefinable, very subjective.

And holy fuck, it's very satisfying to churn out something terribly mediocre and post it right away on the internet. Plus we all need something to laugh at.

While I get my kicks at GAFF, it's amazing that there are people who are seriously devoted to doing anything, good or bad, with fan fiction. Fan works are the last thing in the world that should be taken so seriously; they are for fun.

[velvet_mace]

It's been a while since I hopped over to GAFF (I tend to be big into it for a month or two, then ignore the forum for most of a year before rediscovering it again).

My shameful secret is that I actually sometimes use GAFF to scout out fic I like. There are a bunch of lily-white vanilla people who hang there who post up these really raunchy twisted rule 34 kinkfic from time to time. Oh, noes, is it tentacle porn? Who-ever would want to read that I wonder. LOL!

[rubyfire]

Oh don't worry, your secret is safe with me because I do the exact same thing. Shh!

I'm debating abut posting my Mononoke porn to GAFF just to see if anyone freaks out about it. (It's not even kinky. It's just about ritualistic sex and gender boundaries.)

[lunarennui]

well, i'm going to toss my *checks pocket* okay, fine, my penny in, and i know nothing i'm saying will come across as coherent and most everyone that reads it will disagree, but pleh.

badfic is. there's no getting rid of it. it's a bitch and a half to navigate around, but much like roadkill on a long stretch of highway, it's just Going To Be There.

we can hate it, we can wince when we pass by it, and, well, that's pretty much all we can do. aside from bitch about it.

badfic is a fact of ficlife. i've been in and out of fandoms for nearly ten years now and i was reading bad writing LONG before that, and THAT crap was actually published. i've WRITTEN badfic. it happens!

i just try to remind myself that sometimes, SOMETIMES, people who write badfic move on to learning how to write well. all we can do is hope

[velvet_mace]

i just try to remind myself that sometimes, SOMETIMES, people who write badfic move on to learning how to write well. all we can do is hope.

It's just like everything: You will get a few people who excell, and the vast majority who dabble for a while before getting bored and moving on to some other hobby more suited to their talents. But really, it would be silly to say someone can't roller-skate in public until they can do it without falling and looking awkward. You just gotta be indulgent with people who just want to give the whole thing a spin.

The only way to be proactive against badfic is to offer your services as a beta, and then you need to be respectful of the writers feelings and choices. I'm hoping this chick just means she's creating a meta-community for discussing the art of writing, rather than some kind of vigilante community to clean out fandom. It's hard to tell -- she doesn't state her objectives in her community info very well.

[anat_astarte]

Everyone starts at the bottom of the heap. No one writes goodfic right off the bat, and fandom gives far better feedback than family or friends, helping to create the next wave of good writers. People emotionally need to know that they can post badfic without being tossed out, so they feel confident enough to post any fic. Without that assurance, participating in fandom becomes too risky. I totally agree with your whole post, especially this part <3. Besides, half of fun of being in fandom is the freedom to play around with ideas and have fun, right?

Well said overall :D

[velvet_mace]

Totally, a lot of the most creative, exciting ideas in fandom come from a willingness to break the "rules." Otherwise you get these boxy "in between the scenes" fics which, while great for what they are, barely scratch on what people can do with the fandom.

Fandom is supposed to be fun. We damn well aren't being paid enough to have it be a chore.

[mikkeneko]

And here's the corollary to your last belief: People have the right to read bad fanfic if they enjoy it. If that Mary Sue, genderswap, hurt/comfort High School AU fic is getting 552 reviews per chapter, what does that mean? It means that PEOPLE ARE ENJOYING IT. Who has the right to cut off their enjoyment just because they aren't reading and liking the "right" stuff?

When I first entered fandom, in GW fandom way back when, I probably read several million words of bad, OOC, poorly plotted, and cliched fanfic. And I loved it. I enjoyed myself immensely and it helped define who I am as a fan now.

Time has gone by, and I've grown up, and I can't read and enjoy that poor quality of stuff any more... but I'll never forget how much I enjoyed it then.

[velvet_mace]

And me too. I find every time I go into a new fandom, I'll read all the fandom cliches and enjoy them to peices. One of my favorite original fics that I'm following is poorly paragraphed, barely described mpreg of all things. There's just something about it that is really appealing. And yes, by everyones measure (even my own) it's badfic, but I still love it.

I happen to have a thing for people writing protagonists as being evil. There is no way I can support this, but I enjoy it, and I'm glad that there are people out in fandom who write it, even if it puts some other people's panties in a wad.

[orion117]

I think your last paragraph sums it up well. I have seen writers improve as they continue writing. Granted, they're outnumbered by the ones who don't, but who am I to deny them the opportunity? And the badfics do usually have their coterie of fans, so who am I to get in their way? Also, I am sometimes entertained by them, although probably not in the way their creators intended.

I feel I have every right to judge their writing and decide I don't like it, but I don't have the right to tell them they shouldn't be writing at all.

What I don't feel comfortable doing is commenting on something I don't like, especially when I feel the author got the characterizations all wrong. Even in my head, I can't think of a tactful and constructive way to say it.

[velvet_mace]

Yeah, I was saying to lunarennui that in every hobby there will be a lot of people who dabble a bit, then get bored and move on to something else once the novelty's worn off. Fanfic is a hobby. It's supposed to be fun, and like every hobby you gotta expect that most of the people you encounter in it won't be any good -- will never be any good. But there's no way to select those who aren't good now, but have the drive to improve from those who aren't good now, and will give up before getting any better.

[arkanefyre]

Ditto. I remember reading this fic in GW where the 5 pilots fell in love and fought over a Mary Sue. I don't think I'd go near that fic again, but when I did read it, I enjoyed every last word. Bad fics are often times entertaining.

Plus, if we get rid of all the badfics, how will we know what is good?