Fan fiction/art/...

[Girlysprite]

I wondered if anyone made, or has made fan stuff? And do you read/watch it? And what were your impressions of it?

I have seen quite some fanstuff in many forms. The first fanstuff I've seen were Fanfictions of DragonballZ...I think I even wrote one when i was 15. One thing that I wondered about a bit was that many of the fanfictions seemed to be written by girls. That was also the place where I learned that girls also like man-on-man romantic stories...with *ahem* lots of details. First I thought that a homosexual couple of the opposite sex was mainly attractive for guys, but gals can be into it too, but in different forms.

I once stumbled on a star trek fanfiction site and I...left disgusted after stepping into a story of Data getting his emotion chip and exploring his sexuality with consent of other people (wow, that was a chique sentence)

Then there are webcomics- Ive read some wow webcomics, and they were of good quality (try lookingforgroup) and luckily, such comics don't mangle the worlds setting too much. (trust me, some fanfiction does)

And I know there's a lot of machina around nowadays, but I haven't watched any of that, except 'the internet is for porn', a wow machina- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7WSdHxhrJo

so do tell me, what are your experiences with fanfiction?

..and what the hell is up with girls and Yaoi?

 

[mshcherbatskaya]

Oh hell, yes, I read me some fanfiction. Not a lot, but some of it is hilarious and some of it is really good. It's also an interesting social phenomenon, because different communities and boards will set up contests and challenges, people will write fic as presents for one another, or to rebut one another's stories, and then there's the whole social aspect of people discussing whose work they like and whose they don't, and why they would never pair up X and Y, and who has a really good grasp on a character, and who brought out an aspect of a character that they never considered before, etc. On a previous thread, I mentioned that fangirls are as sociable as meerkats and this is exactly what I was talking about.

I have a couple friends whose work I really enjoy (one of whom was my writing partner in a non-fanfic fiction project), and I have written them "presents" in their fandom of choice (one LoTR, the other Doctor Who), though I could count the number of fanfics I have written in, oh, 10 years? of hanging out on the fringes of the scene, on one hand. It's a fun game, though, trying to mesh your own imagination with an existing story - even more so if you are trying to mesh your own imagination with a story and someone else's story/character tastes, in the case of "present" pieces.

One of my favorite fanfics is still one I read forever ago, it was written for a "challenge" in the Star Trek universe. The challenge was to come up with the most unlikely sex toy. The winner was written in the Star Trek DS9 fandom and featured Odo trying to figure out what a blender was for.

It's funny you should bring this up, because after not having written fiction, fan or otherwise, for years, I just started writing some fanfic to see if I still could. In the KoTOR fandom, believe it or not. I posted it to a board and got requests to write more, which was very gratifying. So, now I'm writing more. I'm sure I'll lose interest soon--there's a reason I'm not a hardcore fanfic reader/writer, mainly, it's not as interesting as non-fan fiction--but it's a lot of fun while it lasts.

EDIT: If you are really interested in an answer to your girls and yaoi question, a quick googling turned up this relatively scholoarly article:

Why are Japanese Girls? Comics full of Boys Bonking? [http://blogs.arts.unimelb.edu.au/refractory/2006/12/04/why-are-japanese-girls%E2%80%99-comics-full-of-boys-bonking1-mark-mclelland/].

 

[Dectilon]

".and what the hell is up with girls and Yaoi? "

I'd say the same thing that's up with guys and lesbians : P

I wrote a fan work before I had even heard of /, and so I was all innocent and decided to read something someone else had done on... can't remember. Soul Calibur I think it was ~~ Needless to say I had to take a garden hose to my computer to make it clean again.

The thing I wrote was for Tsukihime, which sounds like a strange choice considering it wasn't erotic in any way, but most of Tsukihime wasn't. Perhaps 3 of 400 pages or something ~~ Anyways, I was pretty satisfied with it myself until I realized that I had turned all the characters into Mary-Sues, and now I hate it. : P

I've started to write a bunch of other things, but after a while I get writer's cramp and decide it's not worth trying to force through : P

 

[stompy]

Well, I think that fanfic, like everything else, conforms to Sturgeon's Law [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law], at the minimum, or has a more crap, becuase, most of the time, it's made by some bored kid(s).

That being said, I have had some, well, pleasant (for lack of better wording) experiences with fanfic. Notably, when I was younger, I found some good fanfic on fanfiction.net. Some were very well written stories, a bit angsty, but well written nevertheless. Most, however, were either really bad, or pornographic (or both). Now, I find there are some well done machinima (RVB is pretty good, but then, their focus is simple humour), and some really well done, albeit very hard to find, machinima floating around.

Basically, what I trying to say here is, there are some well done fanfic out there, but most of it really sucks.

 

[000Ronald]

My sister's really into the whole fanfiction thing; she reads and writes anything with the words "Inuyasha" and "Sex" in it. Personally I find it mildly repulsive, but hey, I try not to be too judgemental of people. While I do have some ideas, I keep them locked up in my head because they are all so awesome that no one exept Chuck Norris and possibly Bill Gates are awesome enough to read them. (insert smiley face here, and not a sideways one, those bug me)

On another note entirely, I really like Youtube, and one of the things a few peole do is these "Abriged Series" things, which was started by a guy named littlekuribouh. Most of them suck enoumous monkey balls repeatedly in class, but a few are pretty good. Or mabe I suck at life and nobody loves me. Oh well.

I apologise to anyone who thinks that Youtube is the scum of the earth, and point out that I have a channel there, so it must be true.

 

[Drugar]

I had a girlfriend whose hobby it was to find the most disgusting, unnatural, shocking and horrific fanfics available. Davy Jones/Jack Sparrow/Will Turner/The Crew of the Dutchman combo's usually won. Snape/Dumbledore a close second.
She did dig up a fairly funny one from FF7, where Sephiroth and Aeris tried getting it on, but Seph didn't have any protection with him (the spell wasn't enough) so he had to head into town and get some. Hilarity ensued.

 

[LittleCalico]

..and what the hell is up with girls and Yaoi?

...and what the hell is up with guys who likes girls doing girls?

 

[Girlysprite]

Thanks a lot for the article mshcherbatskaya, it was very interesting indeed.

 

[AngryMan]

..and what the hell is up with girls and Yaoi?

...and what the hell is up with guys who likes girls doing girls?

Here is why men like lesbians:


1+1 = 2

 

[blackadvent]

Well, I think that fanfic, like everything else, conforms to Sturgeon's Law [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law], at the minimum, or has a more crap, becuase, most of the time, it's made by some bored kid(s).

That being said, I have had some, well, pleasant (for lack of better wording) experiences with fanfic. Notably, when I was younger, I found some good fanfic on fanfiction.net. Some were very well written stories, a bit angsty, but well written nevertheless. Most, however, were either really bad, or pornographic (or both). Now, I find there are some well done machinima (RVB is pretty good, but then, their focus is simple humour), and some really well done, albeit very hard to find, machinima floating around.

Basically, what I trying to say here is, there are some well done fanfic out there, but most of it really sucks.

Quote for emphasis.

I actually write some fanfiction and I still do to this day (but usually I have to it make logical sense within the source's context). I've seen the Mary-Sues, the impossible relationships et all. Never go into the Harry Potter fanfics, you're just ASKING for trouble.

There are 'regular' couples in fanfics and 'lesbian' couples as well, it's just that there's an inexorbinate amount of 'gay' couples (you can thank Harry Potter, Naruto, and DBZ). Guess what most of the stuff covered by Sturgeon's Law is...

 

[Anton P. Nym]

I've read the odd fanfic, even perpetrated the odd one as well, but yes you are taking your chances when reading them. That's why we have editors in the professional venues, to cull out the "Surgeon fraction" and to improve (or arm-twist the authour to improve) what does make it into print.

Oh, and to those who're interested, if I see two characters boinking in fan-fiction who showed no interest in each other in the main series, I stop reading right there. Get the characters right, dammit. (The same goes for the instant a Mary-Sue becomes detectable.)

-- Steve

 

[Melaisis]

I tend to find most fanfiction about as deep as a puddle in summer. Which makes me a blaring hypocrite, as I'm currently writing a novella based on my time playing on WoW. I don't like to think of it as 'fanfiction', though, as there's no pointless sex, no dead-end storylines and actual character development.

 

[General Ma Chao]

I used to read it. Hell, I wrote some Chrono Trigger fan-fiction back in my misguided youth. It's currently sitting on some long forgotten Yahoo Bulletin Board server. That is also where it should stay as it was terrible. That being said, let people have their Mary Sues and impossible relationships if they want them. Is it wish fulfillment? Sure. But haven't we all wanted to indulge in that at some point in our lives? As for the bizarre sex angles, well if it isn't fan-fiction, it will be Playboys and trashy romance novels. Teenage sexual frustration is simply inevitable.

 

[broadband]

well i dont know what to say about fanfic i havent readed much, i remember a... sad one about a scout a medic (not gay) and the med gun of team fortress 2, short but good.

but ive seen some really wreid fanart out there almost for ask yourself how the F those ideas come to the minds of the fans

oh and other thing, where that thing of Mary sue come from? i mean i know what means but why is called like that?

 

[mshcherbatskaya]

well i dont know what to say about fanfic i havent readed much, i remember a... sad one about a scout a medic (not gay) and the med gun of team fortress 2, short but good.

but ive seen some really wreid fanart out there almost for ask yourself how the F those ideas come to the minds of the fans

oh and other thing, where that thing of Mary sue come from? i mean i know what means but why is called like that?

From Wikipedia:
"The term "Mary Sue" is taken from a character created by Paula Smith in 1973 for her parody story "A Trekkie's Tale,"[2] published in her fanzine Menagerie #2.[3] The character in question was Lieutenant Mary Sue ("the youngest Lieutenant in the fleet ? only fifteen and a half years old"). Smith's story poked fun at what she considered to be the unrealistic and adolescent wish-fantasy characters appearing in Star Trek fan fiction of the period."

 

[mshcherbatskaya]

See, now that so may of you have confessed to writing it, I must say, my curiosity is piqued - I kinda want to see it.

 

[mshcherbatskaya]

I actually write some fanfiction and I still do to this day (but usually I have to it make logical sense within the source's context). I've seen the Mary-Sues, the impossible relationships et all. Never go into the Harry Potter fanfics, you're just ASKING for trouble.

There are 'regular' couples in fanfics and 'lesbian' couples as well, it's just that there's an inexorbinate amount of 'gay' couples (you can thank Harry Potter, Naruto, and DBZ). Guess what most of the stuff covered by Sturgeon's Law is...

I'm trying to disagree with you on that, but yeah, I think slash (male/male) does edge out the het stuff when it comes to "my eyes! my eyes!" badness. In addition to the endemic Mary Sues, shit characterization, crappy romance novel dialog, schmooptastic "love" stories, you've got rampant physiologically-impossible sex, and the horror that is mpreg. Seriously, that is the stuff that I'm embarrassed to be associated with, especially since everything I've written in that arena has been resolutely PG and character-driven.

If you are looking for something that is, I don't know, 89% crap or maybe even 88%, go to moderated archives and boards. As is demonstrated daily right here at the Escapist, the quality of any board is determined by the quality of the mods. FanFiction.net is completely unmoderated and therefore a vast sea of biohazardous fic. Can you imagine what this place would be like unmoderated? *shivers*

Also, the Harry Potter fandom? Seriously, it's "we don't go to Ravenholm anymore." It's totally overrun with fangirls staggering around with their heads engulfed in living, sucking batshit. If you decide to check it out, wear your suit and take your crowbar.

 

[ayoama]

In addition to the endemic Mary Sues, shit characterization, crappy romance novel dialog, schmooptastic "love" stories, you've got rampant physiologically-impossible sex, and the horror that is mpreg.

AAAGHFNGH MPREG. It's only good for extreme crackfics, really.

 

[portuga-man]

I wondered if anyone made, or has made fan stuff? And do you read/watch

Then there are webcomics- Ive read some wow webcomics, and they were of good quality (try lookingforgroup)

so do tell me, what are your experiences with fanfiction?

i left lfg after the elf dude became all emo. Yes, there's richard(+), but there's also the elf dude(-)

also, if you want to see any good machinima, go to youtube and search for "half-life full life consequences". it's a gmod machinima based in the fanfic of a nine year-old who uses fanfics to learn english. Perfect combo.

As for fanfiction itself, i've decided to not even enter any fanfiction.net website. The site is infamous for the amount of crap it produces, and not even a Pulitzer-worthy fanfic would make up for all the crap i had to browse through to get to it.

As for the yaoi/yuri, chicks dig gay sex as much as we dig lesbian sex. They just don't admit it.

 

[Kayevcee]

I've had a couple of fan-stories printed off and sold along with others at conventions in surprisingly good-looking compilation magazines put together by a mate. The first one I did followed the plot of the Marvel Transformers comic, and was about the owner of the last free pub on Cybertron trying to get his license renewed. Every time he wrote to the government he got a reply from a different administration/despot/faction. I was unemployed at the time and possibly channeling something.

With fan-fiction, as with any fictional genre, you have to pick your reading material veeery carefully. Usually if a writer is just trying to tell a decent story with characters he or she is familiar with it can work out fine. Usually the ones who insist on reinventing the wheel are the ones to be wary of.

-Nick