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The concept of fanfiction


shadowofchaos
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I only like the really bad stuff like My Immortal or Full Life Consequences. Otherwise, I think fanfiction can rarely be done well... there's always the odd fangirl who drives home the strangest of pairings. Plus, they never seem to fit the tone of the series they're based on... make up your own characters!

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Lemme take five random FE characters of the same gender. . .uh, Lugh, Erk, Ewan, Soren, Merric. Let's have them read together.

"I can't believe that you're only a little older than me!" Lugh exclaimed.

"Keep it down," snapped Erk.

"Why is Tellius' magic sorted by element?" Merric mused aloud.

"Because my world didn't have some catastrophe involving dragons?" Soren said sourly.

"But Magvel wasn't like that!" protested Ewan.

"Oh, what happened to the rest of this book?" grumbled Erk. Soren looked over his shoulder.

"It appears that the rest of the chapter was ripped out," came the sarcastic reply.

"I can see that just fine." He handed the book to him. "Doesn't this look a bit too clean to be ripped?"

"Isn't that a crease?" Lugh asked, as he looked at the book in his hands. The others had dropped what they were doing to gather around it.

"I see burn marks," commented Merric.

"That looks like spilled water on the opposite corner," added Ewan.

"Did all of you have to crowd around me like that?" Soren complained. He yelped as someone stepped on his foot.

"I'm sorry!" Lugh exclaimed.

"This is a library," came the reply through gritted teeth. He looked around, but they hadn't attracted the other patrons' attention.

"Can we take this outside so we can stop whispering?" Merric asked.

"We'd probably be blamed for this damage," Ewan pointed out.

"Given the burn marks, water damage, and crease, I suspect the previous owner was somewhat careless, so he ripped out the damaged portions before donating it to the library," Soren mused.

"Great. Now I'll never know what happened when the wolf reached the third little piggy's house," he grumbled.

QUESTION: Who said the last line?

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I've done enough Skype badfic readings with friends to know that fanfiction produces a physically uncomfortable amount of really weird porn.

There are some good ones, though (stories, not porn, I should clarify). Those Lacking Spines was a good read and Sephiroth vs. Winnie the Pooh (or whatever the proper name is) was pretty amusing.

Edited by Samven
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Lemme take five random FE characters of the same gender. . .uh, Lugh, Erk, Ewan, Soren, Merric. Let's have them read together.

"I can't believe that you're only a little older than me!" Lugh exclaimed.

"Keep it down," snapped Erk.

"Why is Tellius' magic sorted by element?" Merric mused aloud.

"Because my world didn't have some catastrophe involving dragons?" Soren said sourly.

"But Magvel wasn't like that!" protested Ewan.

"Oh, what happened to the rest of this book?" grumbled Erk. Soren looked over his shoulder.

"It appears that the rest of the chapter was ripped out," came the sarcastic reply.

"I can see that just fine." He handed the book to him. "Doesn't this look a bit too clean to be ripped?"

"Isn't that a crease?" Lugh asked, as he looked at the book in his hands. The others had dropped what they were doing to gather around it.

"I see burn marks," commented Merric.

"That looks like spilled water on the opposite corner," added Ewan.

"Did all of you have to crowd around me like that?" Soren complained. He yelped as someone stepped on his foot.

"I'm sorry!" Lugh exclaimed.

"This is a library," came the reply through gritted teeth. He looked around, but they hadn't attracted the other patrons' attention.

"Can we take this outside so we can stop whispering?" Merric asked.

"We'd probably be blamed for this damage," Ewan pointed out.

"Given the burn marks, water damage, and crease, I suspect the previous owner was somewhat careless, so he ripped out the damaged portions before donating it to the library," Soren mused.

"Great. Now I'll never know what happened when the wolf reached the third little piggy's house," he grumbled.

QUESTION: Who said the last line?

In context, it should be Soren.

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I hate how fanfiction always uses fruity pronouns. It's never "he" or "she". It's always "the redhead" or "the swordsman" or "the mercenary".

Written fiction also do that. As far as I know, the A Song of Ice and Fire series do.

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In context, it should be Soren.

It's the guy who was reading the book originally - in that case, Erk. This is why fruity pronouns are used, because things can get quite confusing.

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Written fiction also do that. As far as I know, the A Song of Ice and Fire series do.

Anything by Jeffrey Eugenides also does that IIRC.

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  • 1 month later...

To me, fanfiction is about analyzing the source material and see what you can do with it to create something else while still paying the original work their due credits where possible, including keeping the characters in character. Just going by the simple "Ooh, I want myself inside there" "Wow I like this pairing" simply doesn't cut it, and is the cause of many a tale of horrid fanfictions we've seen thorough and thorough, not just in the FE fandom. I was guilty of this at one time, but took it upon myself to erase every single trace of that and reform.

Regarding "original characters" and "self-inserts," I do believe there are ways you can use them to help with the development of the story - as long as you don't make them too prominent (one of the symptoms of a Gary Stu/Mary Sue). A simple example is that you can write in first person, simply becoming a nameless observer and write about the characters and what they do, but in the mean time you don't say much about yourself. Canon characters may or may not notice you, but you make it a priority not to make yourself the focus of your own story, instead opting to tell your rendition of what you see in the characters and their interactions and actions with the world.

Written fiction also do that. As far as I know, the A Song of Ice and Fire series do.

For all I know, we're writing fiction, not a scientific article or a university journal. Imagine if written fiction was done the other way round. I think we might be lost in trying to differentiate who the writer is referring to.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Anything by Jeffrey Eugenides also does that IIRC.

What I meant was, it isn't a terrible narration device only used by amateurs.

Also, I typo'd "written fiction" when I actually meant "professional fiction", like A Song of Ice and Fire. Oh well. >>>:

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What I meant was, it isn't a terrible narration device only used by amateurs.

Also, I typo'd "written fiction" when I actually meant "professional fiction", like A Song of Ice and Fire. Oh well. >>>:

Uh... Jeffrey Eugenides is a Pulitzer winning author. So I'm agreeing with you...?

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