What's Up with Highlander Fanfic

[dm24]

I found Pat_t's recent discussion of highlander fanfic to be one of the most interesting discussions on Highlander fiction that I have read. Because I’m doing recs for the CrackVan, I’ve recently spent a great deal of time looking at the previous recs, re-reading stories that I remember fondly, and searching through new fiction. I also just

Comments

[gryphonrhi]

::blink:: One, glad you liked it. Two, interesting discussion! I've been up to my ears in Yuletide fic this month, but I'm bookmarking this to come back to after I've had time to read an HL fic and thinki about your questions.

Mostly, though, I was wandering over to ask (not pestering, I hope you understand!) if you're going to have more Crack_Van recs? ::g:: I'm always looking for new HL fic to read/old favorite HL fic to reread that I might've lost.

Hope your holiday is going well!

[unovis]

Well, of course I don't entirely agree, since I'm the one who said the Crack Van recs have been uneven. I'll stand by that, for my own taste. Some stories, for me, at least, have been unreadable or of limited appeal. But the whole point of the exercise is to attract new readers, and readers are out there looking for all kinds of different things.

I can't say either that I'd apply your limited criteria to all writing in the fandom -- again, arguing for a range of tastes and discrimination. I'm wild about the depth and breadth and quality of writing in Highlander. I'm partial to mood pieces; I prefer short and experimental writing to long; my appreciation of writing is rarely based on plot, and the main structure of a story doesn't have to be rooted in plot; and I'm fascinated by the evolution of the PWP [plot, what plot?] over the span of HL writing history.

Will be back with more later; I'm posting from the family computer and am being hounded off.

[dm24]

I ended up putting most of this post over in Pat_t's livejournal (not many readers here) and had an interesting discussion with calime33 along the same lines. I'm not trying to say that the only good story is one that is plot driven. However, if you ever want to go professional (and you have the talent) you should realize the vast majority of books sold are plot driven. Whatever type of fiction you write, if an actions doesn't follow from the character, it jolts the reader out of the piece. The desire to avoid trite endings is good but only works if the different ending is believable from the characters as known/developed.

Glad that you are writing Highlander fiction.

[unovis]

I'm not in on those discussions; I agree with Pat on almost nothing when it comes to HL fiction