Comments | velvet_mace: Maybe it's because I live and die by rules but...

velvet_mace

Maybe it's because I live and die by rules but...

Jul 05, 2010 17:02

When people continuously question why the world doesn't conform to their expectations and come to the conclusion that the world is wrong, it makes me feel a wee bit uncomfortable.

( And I go on to talk about crack fic vs serious fic )

meta, writing

Comments 26

(The comment has been removed)

velvet_mace July 6 2010, 00:52:03 UTC

Yeah, and I don't think the crappy sugar-high crack fic gets any more comments than the duller serious fics, unless you count flames as comments.

eve_n_furter July 6 2010, 01:01:18 UTC

Happy birthday! I've made you a little birthday present: http://eve-n-furter.livejournal.com/18247.html

velvet_mace July 6 2010, 04:07:05 UTC

Awwww thank you!!! I've been recced! For original fic -- that's damn rare.

irrivexed July 6 2010, 01:13:14 UTC

What a weird thing to say - that good writing can only be found in serious fics. Some of the best fics I've ever read have been crack fics. Good writing is what makes a story (crack, serious, hurt/comfort, etc.) compelling and interesting, not the other way around. Personally, I like crack fic because I enjoy humour and also the fresh and new interpretations and premises they have. There's normally a lot of originality there. Your Tetris fic comes to mind here!

velvet_mace July 6 2010, 04:11:45 UTC

This was apropos of this secret. But this isn't the first time I've come across the idea that crack fic is inherently not as good as serious fic. And it bugs me, in part because it holds up this kind of academic ideal as being the real measure of fic.

irrivexed July 6 2010, 04:52:46 UTC

You know, if the person said that they put a lot more attention and time into their serious fic (than their crack fic) then this attitude might be more understandable. But basing it on the story type and getting pissed off is ridiculous. It's putting the responsibility for less reviews on the story preferences of the readers and the story type, instead of on themselves. In that situation, I would assume that my "serious" story isn't working in some way and try to figure out where the problems lay. And I would assume that crack fic is perhaps a strength of mine and appreciate the feedback. Then again, my attitude is that good writing is what makes a great fic - not the genre, type, pairing, etc. "Academic ideals" are entirely subjective and, to me, push conformity into a place where it doesn't belong ie. creative writing.

velvet_mace July 6 2010, 05:04:34 UTC

And that's sort of what Herongale just said. "Crack Fic" is code for "fic I just threw out off the top of my head". Which is a whole other rant, but whatever.

Thread 8

eveofnigh July 6 2010, 01:23:43 UTC

Personally, I think crack fic takes just as much (if not more) effort to write than serious fic - in part because it's easy to find common denominators in what types of situations make your readers sad or angry, but SO much more difficult to write something that makes people laugh. My favorite fics actually happen to be blends of serious and crack fic - if you can make me cry when just only a page ago I was laughing, then I'll worship you forever.

velvet_mace July 6 2010, 04:25:54 UTC

Good crack fic takes real effort to write. But it also takes something more: Creative spark and inspiration. Jokes get old insanely fast. You can't do something that someone else has done. To be good at crack you genuinely have to add something new to the fandom discussion. People get it wrong because they don't realize that there needs to be work put in it. They just see someone doing something zany and think anything goes. The weird part of that is that people's idea of "anything goes" often is a carbon copy of someone elses "anything goes".

But serious fic done well takes effort too. The thing is I'm not convinced people understand the genre of serious fic any more than they do crack fic. If you are writing about boring people doing boring things, you are going to be boring no matter how well you write it.

herongale July 6 2010, 01:58:48 UTC

I think people who say that crack fic shouldn't be more appealing than serious fic are probably using the term differently from you. You seem to be equating it with humor, in which case I totally agree, but I think a lot of the people who say that crack fic has less worth are saying so because they think that crack fic is defined by a carelessness of craft: literally, is "badfic" to use an Amberism.

When someone thinks that "crack fic" is synonymous with bad writing, what they are really saying when they say "my crack fics always get a ton more reviews than my serious writing," I think they mean "the stuff I just toss off super quickly is not nearly as well liked as the stuff I put serious effort into." I can see where people find that frustrating. Just like I can imagine how frustrating it is for artists whose 15 minute sketchwork art is sometimes more beloved than the stuff they spend a few days completing. Sometimes people aren't looking for the craft, but the content.

velvet_mace July 6 2010, 05:08:12 UTC

Yeah, that's annoying. Maybe she meant "Fic I wrote off the top of my head" as opposed to "fic I slaved over."

But honestly, then I'd start to wonder if the fic she wrote off the top of her head got more reviews because it was fresh and inspired and written with excitment and joy, and the "good fic" was slaved over and refined to the point where it looked like the writer was trying too hard.

I mean, this happens in art, too. Idea is important, but you can also fuss something to death. Sometimes less is more.