I'm sorry guys, but I have to disagree. "Legolas" by Laura is quite possibly one of the finest pieces of [REDACTED] I have ever read. Check this link here if you've never experienced this greatest homage to Tolkien ever penned.
[DATA EXPUNGED]
I've seen a lot of good fanfiction. You just have to know where to look. :)
It really depends on where you look.
For instance, a certain fandom I'm not going to name (despite being in it, just because I know it would hijack the discussion) has a very good sort of hub site for fan activity. It regularly features fanfics, and the stories are regularly good.
I've read some good stuff. Nobody Dies for example, very funny and entertaining rewrite of Neon Genesis Evangelion that discards the worst parts of the original and adds the best parts of other Gainax stuff (Gurren Lagann we're looking at you).
But yeah, as Jeff said. Sturgeon's Law. "90% of everything is trash." (Slightly paraphrased/edited.)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Fan fiction has caused me to laugh harder than anything else in existence.
|
Is it the heretical Sin of the lesser talented writer plundering the Character creations of genius or is it a social criticism of the lack of continuity on the part of the original creators?
PRELUDE
In the Year twenty-one-ten the United States of America is a failing Empire and bloody murdered Res Publica no longer able to hold its own against a Chinese State that has become the Super Power of Space, Buck Rogers is part of a NASA team sent into space to test the first Deep Range Space craft since the failed Mars One Mission of twenty-twenty. But the Technology like the dream is a lie. Ranger-Three is not a Ship, it is a mission plan. The terrible truth is in the sealed briefing to be opened once clear of Earth’s view. Their purpose is to conduct a raid on a Chinese Deep Space Observatory situated on the far side of the Moon which has spotted something unusual in the Asteroid belt. The plan is to secure that Intel, take out the Chinese explorer team preparing for departure, and continue on to the Belt with their deep space vessel to secure the prize.
Things have not ‘gone as planned’ in a long time for the U.S.A. while China has reaped the economic rewards of Lunar Colonization on the Earth facing side.; Consequently this U.S. incursion into Chinese Lunar Territory costs them half their team as Intel about the ‘unarmed’ Astronomy Station proves to be fatally wrong.
Buck Rogers pilots the remaining team of specialists on their silent run to the Asteroid belt on a trip that takes a month. They encounter a radiation spilling from the Alien Artefact that seems to break down their Atmosphere into a mix of Cryogenic Gases placing the crew in a form of cryogenic suspension.
The Earth he left behind now lost to the distant past; Buck Rogers awakens to the year twenty-four ninety-one and an uncertain future.
- A SUMMARY OF THE PSYCHONEURAL INTERROGATION OF CAPT. BUCK ROGERS AS CONDUCTED BY DOCTOR THEOPOLIS AND LOGICIAN HUER.
CHAPTER ONE: KANE
The events aboard the Martian Matriarchy Flagship Draco are, I am afraid, limited at best. Buck Rogers was during this period subjected to a near lethal dosage of Psychotropic Drugs and his perceptions of reality were likely distorted to the advantage of the Martian Matriarchy.
– LOGICIAN HUER
Buck’s oddly erotic dream harem of women soon gave way to something far more disagreeable. Grey aliens seemed to hover about him in the light. One of them injected something into his arm and it drew his attention.
“I’ve never been abducted and probed by aliens before. Oh…God, There goes my flight status…All right! Take me to your leader!”
The clean shaven man staring at him seemed surrounded by light.
“So be it Captain Rogers.” The stranger looked up at someone else in the room. “Bring him.”
Buck was instantly manhandled by two near identical fellows in Samurai Armour.
Buck fell back onto Silk sheets and pillows. At least that was the sensation.
I must concur with Logician Huer in this matter. Based on what we now know of Kane’s true agenda during the incident, we must assume that his purpose was to lure Ardala into a false sense of security in her manipulation of Buck Rogers.
– DOCTOR THEOPOLIS
He could smell her perfumes; feel her warm flesh against him, and pleasant, seeking touch. It ended and he was back in the machine.
“You are proving rather disagreeable Captain Rogers. What is your mission here?” The male voice proved an undesired distinction from his unknown lover. The grey aliens were all around him.
“We come in Peace! Your Alien artefact was located…” Buck drifted out of it again. The sensation of being carried washed over him.
Silk Sheets and perfume drowned him. “Buck?” Was that a woman’s voice?
“Jennifer…? Is that you?” Rogers was instantly dropped back into the Machine.
“Back so soon Captain Rogers? Let us continue. Who is Jennifer?” His question was all invasive. Buck felt the need to answer.
“My wife…” Buck drifted again but this time there were no silk sheets and no perfumes. Still, the memory of the scent was overpowering.
“Where did you encounter the ‘Alien’ Artefact?” His voice again. “Asteroid belt. It was leaking Radiation.” Buck felt resistance at discussing the matter further.
“Your wife? Do you love her?” His voice became hers. Buck focused on the beautiful voice. “Yes…”
“Do you see her?” Buck gazed blankly at the picture of a woman’s face that seemed to perpetually alter shape until it settled on one his mind was satisfied with.
It was Jennifer. Buck smiled at the sight of her and she smiled back.
“Hi Jennifer.” She seemed to reach out and stroke his face. “Oh Buck, Where have you been?”
“The mission out to the Asteroid belt took a while longer than I thought.” The words seemed to pour from Buck Rogers.
“Did you find what you were looking for?” There was something, still it was Jennifer. He was home.
“I think so. Don’t remember much. Something went wrong. Temperature drop in the shuttle.” Buck suddenly felt cold. Buck could no longer see Jennifer.
“Rogers! Snap out of it.” It was Commander Curtis. “That artefact is leaking some sort of Radiation. We are getting a temperature drop.” Bucks attention was drawn to the object ahead of him. It seemed to shift in shape until his mind was happy with it.
“Buck?” Jennifer was back and the Ship, Commander Curtis, and the Alien Artefact were gone.
“Jennifer?” Jennifer was gone.
CHAPTER TWO: INTRUDER ONE-EIGHT-SEVEN
Captain William ‘Buck’ Rogers has no further memories of his time aboard the Draco. At this point he begins to recover while on earth approach. The Ranger three flight log and associated files covering this event remain classified.
– LOGICIAN HUER
Buck was alone in the ship. His crew was gone and he was on earth approach.
“Still a little woozy.” Hangover? Buck could only hope that he wasn’t caught drunk while in the flight simulator.
“Intruder One Eight Seven. Identify!”
“Captain Buck Rogers. Ranger three re-entry approach. How’s the weather down there?”
“Cut the chatter Intruder One Eight Seven. You are invading our Airspace.” Had he invaded Canada?
“You will follow landing instructions precisely.” S++$.
The Interceptors picked him up pretty quickly. They were unlike anything he had ever seen.
Four of the craft shadowed him from the edge of space all the way down. Where the hell was he? Badlands this far north? Was this some landing site in North Western China?
“Great!” Buck Rogers shook his head at the prospect of being forced to put down in the country he had stolen his shuttle from. Where ever it was – he no longer had control over the decision. His shuttle simply followed the interceptors over the badlands and straight into the facility landing bay.
This time when the grey aliens appeared around him, hovering above him in the white light that odd moment of clarity that came from being injected in the neck with something revealed a woman in white.
“Hello pretty lady.” Buck reached out and awkwardly brushed her breast with the back of his hand drawing an instant and hostile response.
“How long before this primitive animal is fully coherent?” She was defiantly angry at him.
“Twenty four hours.” A male voice, almost electronic and synthesised addressed Buck’s ‘Situation’.
“Very good Doctor Theopolis; Please keep me apprised.” She was going. She was going and he didn’t even know her name.
My interrogation of Captain Buck Rogers over the next twenty four hours validates his story that he is indeed a man displaced in time from a terrible past best forgotten. We are however unable at this point to penetrate the mist that poisoned his memories of the events on the Martian Matriarchy Flagship Draco.
– DOCTOR THEOPOLIS
CHAPTER 3: CELLBLOCK ONE-ONE-EIGHT
The title of this chapter refers to a prison block registry occurring in a totalitarian science fiction two-dee film popularized before Captain Roger’s time. It is a criticism of the sparse nature of his apartment by Captain Rogers, although I have always found them to be meditative and peaceful.
-LOGICIAN HUER
Buck drifted out of the dream in an overly clean apartment. The Room wasn’t his and it didn’t look like the ones back at Edwards.
“Where the hell am I?” Buck struggled against the black fog that paralysed his mind and body.
“Rest, Captain Rogers. There will be time enough for explanations.” Buck couldn’t particularly focus on the man speaking to him. “Who?” Buck Rogers collapsed into the bed.
“I am Logician Huer, Captain Rogers. Now rest. Formal greetings when you are fully recovered.”
Buck looked at the blur. The one next to him seemed to remind him of the nameless lady who was angry with him. She didn’t speak. She simply left with her companion. Who did he say he was? Logician Huer?
It was now that Buck noticed the metal doll with an oversized electronic clock hanging around its neck. It walked into focus. What f%!~ed up version of Alice in Wonderland was this?
“Thank you Twikki. Now if you would be so kind as to use the neural key on Captain Rogers.” In reply to the voice coming from the electronic bling around its neck, the metal doll held up one of those million dollar alien screw drivers the guys at skunk works were always talking about. It made a noise in Buck’s head that he couldn’t quite hear.
“What the hell?” Buck passed out.
Metal Doll indeed! My Ambi-quad - Twikki - was most offended by the suggestion that he was little more than a metal doll. Even I find Captain Roger’s thought that I was an Electronic Clock to be derogatory. He and his time were truly primitive. Anyway, the neural recorder was working perfectly.
-DOCTOR THEOPOLIS
CHAPTER 4: NEW CHICAGO
New Chicago has always been for me a refuge from barbarity. I can’t think of a day when it wasn’t beautiful; when it wasn’t the model of perfection. Still, Captain Roger’s suggestion that it looked like a new toy in plastic-wrap implying that it must eventually be exposed to destruction through excessive use at the hands of its children disturbs me.
-DEERING, W.
The sprawling gigaplex occupied the entire lake-bed as it sheltered beneath the shield dome that somehow protected it from radiation, both solar and residual.
Buck stared out the window of his Apartment...no, that’s not what it was...his Cage. It may have looked like an apartment, but it was really a cage. The Guard on the other side of the door proved it – even if the door was unlocked.
What city was this? The maglev mass transit system carrying people – he couldn’t see them from this distance – it moved in a glass tube – Travelling at the speed of sound in a vacuum?
It seemed a little excessive and unrealistic for some sort of Chinese interrogation suite...
Anyway, there you have the beginnings of a Buck Rogers fan fiction. If you do find something to work on...stick with it. Eventually you will develop something worth reading.
PRELUDE
The boy woke on a cold metal bed. On the opposite side of what could only be a Quantum Interference generator sat his twin. Looking around he spotted the large sphere that glowed with Energy. It was a String Mass. The Probes had been retracted temporarily.
He barely noticed as the Elderly Technician lower his twin down onto the bed to encourage interface with the system.
"I made a mistake." The child was suddenly aware of the elderly man talking to him. His swept white hair and old clothes identified him immediatly. He was staring at his first incarnation. The first and the last...and by the look of his unexpected Twin, Something had gone wrong. They were outside the Universe.
"I should have let them perish."
"No." The Four Laws came to mind.
"The Universe is Debris of change in Possibility. Time is continuous change in possibility. Singularity is moment of change in Possibility. Only Life can create change in Possibility..." The last Doctor spoke the words that had more meaning than any single Universe.
"...and only from outside the Universe." ended the first Doctor.
The Child who had been the Doctor lay back down on the bed and closed his eyes.
"Randomize Quantum Interference Generator...Now!"
CHAPTER ONE – WANT SOME CANDY?
LONDON 1895 + 5 DAYS LOCAL TIME SINCE LAST VISIT
The TARDIS materialized in the narrow alley off Baker Street. "Here we are." The Doctor's new assistant stared at him with surprise.
"I thought we were going to some alien world to watch the setting of five suns...or something."
The Doctor shook his head. "Jelly Babies!" The red haired girl stared at him. "Jelly Babies?"
Doctor nodded with an insane smile. "Jelly Babies...I found the most amazing shop during a visit to Baker Street in eighteen ninety five."
"We are...Jelly Babies!" She was almost ashamed to be on what was apparently now a trip to the shops. The Doctor looked back at her from the exit.
“The Shops...?” Karen wondered to herself if he frequents Pompeii just for the pickled eggs.
"Not just any Shop...A wonderful little confectioner who makes Jelly babies from Turkish delight and in assorted flavours and colours." The Doctor stepped from the Door of the TARDIS into the city of London.
“What year is it?” Karen was just realizing that her silver radiation suit would be a little inappropriate.
“Eighteen ninety five plus five days local time since my last visit.” The Doctor took a moment to breathe in the Sunlight.
“So...you’re a regular customer?”
The two pronged fork penetrated both hearts as it pushed though his chest killing him instantly. Karen screamed his name.
The young assailant walked over to the body and put a boot on the Doctor's Chest, pulling the impaling Fork free. The Doctor was dead. Karen collapsed over his body and fell back again with blood on her hands.
"That's my name. Don’t wear it out...although I'm thinking of changing it to The Master." The young murderer smiled to himself.
"Yes...I think the Master will do nicely." The young Master grabbed Karen by the face and pushed her back into the TARDIS dragging her from the entrance. Her scream was cut off as the door pulled shut and the engine roared to life.
A crowd of people gathered where an alley met Baker Street, about the body of a young man who had apparently been stabbed in the chest by an unknown assailant. Somewhere nearby, a police whistle blew.
LONDON 2010 + 85 DAYS LOCAL TIME SINCE LAST VISIT
Rose halted and stared at it. The TARDIS sat open in the dark alleyway - Inviting. She smiled at the proposal.
He's offering me...what? Rose Tyler walked toward the Blue Police Box. "All right you...Doctor?"
Rose vanished through the Door of the TARDIS with a scream of horror. Blood sprayed against the Door of the Police Box and it snapped closed.
The Light flickered with the wretched cyclic noise of a Gallifreyan Time and Space Displacement Engine greased and oiled with human tallow.
Beyond the now Gothic horror that was the console, the naked, preserved Skins of Sarah Jane Smith, Jo Grant, and many other assistants were displayed for the viewing pleasure of a God of Time gone mad with eternity.
The Sonic Screwdriver pulverized the Bone of the skull allowing the brain of Rose Tyler to be lifted easily from the cavity, eyes dangling as it was lowered into a jar and connected with probes linking it to the temporal targeting array.
A voice: "I love you Rose..."
CHAPTER TWO – DOCTORS PLURAL
“He shouldn’t be alive. Your surgery saved him from certain death.” Someone grunted in agreement.
“The Doctor has always had the ability to defy the odds. It was a close call though, the way you had to take two damaged hearts and make them into one.” Both hearts damaged? Heart Surgery? In Eighteen ninety five? The Doctor, the original you might say, struggled to open his eyes out of sheer terror at the prospect.
“What have you done to me?” His eyes were slow to focus. That can’t be good. He hadn’t regenerated.
“No Doctor…you didn’t regenerate. Whatever you murderer has done to you has disrupted your ability to recover in the Galifreyan manor.” The Doctor relaxed back.
“You seem to have me at a disadvantage.” The voice laughed at his awkwardness.
"That will be a new experience for you then."
OLD EARTH, ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY SEVEN YEARS AGO
Wash rode the Gantry up to the hatch on the side of the X-287 test vessel. His cumbersome Space Suit and portable Life Support weighted heavily on him.
“Just so you know, I left a note in my locker blaming you when this all goes wrong...”
The Technician Smiled before whispering back.
“Understood; But you lost the bet fair and square.” Wash turned at that and stared at his twin.
“You corporate tool.” Wash smiled as the Technician slapped the hatch release next to the Blue Sun Logo.
Wash stepped inside.
“Right back at ya my fellow spanner.” The hatch sealed between them. “Oh, and another thing...” Wash moved toward the Pilot’s Seat as he said the words into his mike.
“What?” The Blue Sun Technician had a suspicious mind. Wash slipped the Portable LS into its bay and sat back. The billion dollar seat moved to secure.
“You got the Director’s Daughter drunk last night...” The Gantry drove clear and the engines of the X-287 roared to life and the craft pushed out to the Launch area.
“X-287 departing for full range engine test.”
“Lauch Corridor is clear ‘needle’”, Came Tower’s Reply.
“’Needle’ Launching.” The Wingless needle turned its exhaust to vertical and the craft jumped skyward. Wash took the Gee force with a happy scream.
The Cruiser began reeling in Serenity. They would have to be real polite to the purple bellies that would burn their way through the hatch if they were even slightly slow with getting it open.
"Hands of Blue!" River collapsed on the floor against the hatch to the flight deck and drew Jayne Cobb's attention with a nasty memory.
"Oh hell!" If it was who River thought it was they would be lucky to live long enough to welcome them aboard.
"Dont worry Mal! Me and River’ll come and rescue you later."
Jayne Cobb scooped River up and hurried toward the airlock. They needed off the ship now.
Cobb forced the twitching girl into a suit. "Hey, focus!" Jayne Slapped River on the cheek and drew her full attention instantly.
"Suit up!" There was nothing they could do for the Doc and Kaelee, and Mal and Zoe would be on their own when it went ugly.
Vera. Jayne strapped the weapon to his suited form and watched River pull her favoured ‘Reaver Cleavers’ from their place of concealment in the Airlock. Jayne cycled the Airlock and they were in Space. The Hatch cycled again and they were locked outside.
Outside the Cruiser hard-anchored with Serenity. Jayne and River moved along the hull of Serenity to best point and jumped to the Cruiser. They needed to be over the flight deck for this and well out of sight of Serenity.
The Blue Gloved collectors scoured the vessel. She wasn’t there. She wasn’t inside nor outside on the Hull. They would get her location from the others eventually. Perhaps they had left her at a safe haven, and by the looks of it in the care of the one named Cobb.
"All right! You can be angry with me later for leaving your brother behind, but I figure that you and I are their best options for escape if we are on the outside." River Tam nodded at her annoying brute of a companion. He was right.
Pain. Mal screamed and bled until his heart could not take it. Niska was nothing compared to these bastards. He coughed on blood and laughed.
"This is what we are going to do. You are going to Ride their ship to where they take the others. Once they go in, they will take a shuttle down on account of these big buggers don’t land. You will ride that shuttle down and Signal me. I will go back for the Serenity when they ditch it to space and come for a Landing. Sound good?"
River smiled. It was a good Plan.
Torment. Zoe screamed as Mal watched. Her anger fuelled her. It would only take one mistake and all these blue gloved bastards would be dead.
Cobb drilled in above the latrine he knew was there from the last visit and fitted an Air Hose. River stared out across the mammoth vessel at the stars. "Beautiful."
"Now, this is going to give you air for your journey. Once they move to launch the Transport Shuttle, you will need to move quick."
"Tam? You OK?" River nodded.
"I'm OK."
River could feel them torturing her brother. She really wasn’t OK about it. "She's on WHITEFALL, with Jayne Cobb. Just stop hurting them." Kaelee couldn’t let them torture him or the others.
This one had spent a lot of time with River Tam.
They made Kaelee Scream.
"I'll be waiting for your call." Jayne Cobb retreated toward Serenity leaving the small woman attached to the Alliance Cruiser.
EARTH ORBIT, ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY SEVEN YEARS AGO MINUS THIRTY MINUTES
‘Neddle’ broke atmo and Wash found himself staring at the stars.
“Beautiful”. Wash wanted to go...desperatly...and not come back.
He was a Day from Mars – if this worked.
Wash entered in the course on the navicom.
“Course set, Tower – deploying NAVSAT.” A small spherical object ejected and transmitted.
With a pulse of its experimental engine the X- 287 vanished into the Black of Space.
Jayne Cobb stared at the distant facility with the rifle scope for a while before turning to address his companion. It sat across a mile of open desert. They would be exposed to the sensors the instant they left cover of the rock that now sheltered them.
"And you are certain they have the Doc and the others in there?" River Tam nodded. "All right Girl; when can we move?"
"First window in eighty seconds...mark." River Tam turned the trophied axes taken from her encounter with the Reavers in her hands until she had the balance.
"Are you sure you don’t want one of my guns?" Cobb was feeling concerned that she still carried those blades. "I know you are fond of them and all."
"I'm fine." River smiled. Their relationship was coming along fine. At least he respected her as his better in the killing arts.
"Once at the first waypoint we have to stand there for eighty three minutes before we run for the next." Jayne hated the idea of having to stand that long in the open sun without water.
They fell quiet for a long while before River broke the silence.
"Five." River tensed her grip.
"Four." She felt Cobb ready himself.
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
Zero. They surged forward at the same moment and ran forward toward the first scanning null.
MARS ORBIT, ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY SEVEN YEARS AGO MINUS TWENTY SIX HOURS
Mars loomed before Wash. There was little he could do about the problem of the Systems failure.
“Mars Tower? This is ‘Needle’. Do you read me?” Something shorted. The X-287 continued unpowered toward Mars.
Wash was a little concerned. Mars was coming up pretty quick. He could see the Plumes of Carbon dioxide given off by the individual atmosphere processing plants. A bit of the meal bar and he clamped the helmet back down over his head. This was gonna get ugly.
The X-287 caught the edge of the thin Atmosphere and dragged into a turn. Wash grabbed at the Manual Air braking.
“I am a leaf on the wind...” The test craft responded poorly as it descended through the thin atmosphere unpowered.
Jayne Cobb stood at the threshold of his prize and waited.
It was a stupid gorram plan anyway. Serenity was his. All he would have to do is turn and walk back up to the flight deck and leave Mal and the others to die at the hands of those Alliance bastards. He thought about it. He promised her he’d be here. What the Hell, she wouldn’t be the first woman angry at him. Cobb turned and walked toward the upper gantry stairs.
Jayne noticed the Reaver-Cleaver spin past the corner of his left his eye a few seconds after his foot touched to first step up to the flight deck gantry. He paused as it cut through a wire strut and embedded itself in the metal framework of the steps.
She was alive. She was angry, she was in a killing mood, and she was here.
Jayne turned toward her.
“You find them?” She looked like s%$@. Suit must have caught fire during atmospheric entry.
“…you O.K.?” River ignored Jayne and walked slowly toward him with her remaining Cleaver bouncing in her left hand.
“Whoa there darling, I’m here aren’t I?” He put a hand up in protest and backed up against a metal railing. Her booted shin snapped into his groin like a hammer. Jane dropped heavily on his knees.
“Damn it woman…what the hell are you doing?” A kick to the head and he was on his back with River Tam straddling his chest like a saddle and her cleaver blade jammed up beneath his right armpit. River Tam closed for her prise and bit him on the lip hard before pulling away.
“Missed you.” River’s voice was seductively playful.
Jayne Cobb looked at the strange turn of events straddling his living corpse with concern; Looked past her at the cleaver embedded in metal and back at the one jammed up under his armpit.
“So I noticed. I’m hoping that was intentional.”
River smiled and shook her head. That was discouraging. That one meant fifty-fifty in crazy girl language. Jayne Cobb closed his eyes and felt the load on his chest lighten.
“So…did you track them?” Was she still there? His eyes snapped open and he looked about. The Cleaver under his armpit was gone. She was working on the one embedded in the Steps.
“They’re not far off.”
Zoe was dying. She could feel it. Her naked body was on the verge of going into shock. Pretty soon her heart would just stop.
The tight crate they were keeping her in between interrogation cycles opened. Wash’s ghost stood over her – the light was blinding. Zoe raised a hand toward the apparition, weeping at the end of her life.
“Hey there beautiful,” her hand struggled to caress the sight of his face, his voice a comfort.
“Can I keep you?” With laughter she coughed up blood in agreement.
Wash lifted Zoe into the light of this unexpected afterlife and they were gone.
Moriarty raised his arm from beneath the concealing cloak. It was neither some hatbox nor a drum of kerosene - it was a cylindrical sleeve of barrels that encompased his lower arm - his right hand on the firing-grip and his finger on the trigger - which he now squeezed.
Watson hurled himself against Holmes pushing his friend aside as the compressed air driven drum rotated at high speed through all the permutations unleashing a hail of lead pellets. This was no mere hunting-cane. Moriarty had taken the technology of the air rifle beyond the sniper rifle and turned it into something monstrous. The engine of death, its every round spent into the body of Doctor James Watson, and air-drive winding down, Moriarty turned and departed in a hail of sinister laughter.
Holmes pulled Watson’s revolver and fired at the departing shadow.
One thing was certain: Moriarty had escaped death at the falls.
|
See, I thought that was some of yellowdingo's own stuff.
Anyway, it's not necessarily a less talented writer. I hear the Methods of Rationality is pretty well-done. I'd say that C. S. Lewis was fairly skilled as well.
The big difference is that we don't see the s@~! that people produced a hundred years ago, and that we are on the whole much more literate and much more connected to said s@@%. And that our copyright laws refuse to let stuff into the public domain.
A lot of writers get their start working with fan fiction. Once they get a grasp of characterization, plot, etc., they move on to working with their own creations, but fanfic gives them a starting point they might not have had otherwise.
Also yeah grumbling about copyright abuse but that's a whole 'nother barrel of monkeys.
An interesting video on copyright law and its problems.
Yes, the vast pool of fanfic is awful. However, the possibility remains that others could be inspired to take characters and tales to new heights, in writing and elsewhere. Some things could have been so much better *cough*starwarsepisodes123*cough* with someone else's vision behind them.
I've gotten a lot of practise with fanfiction. Besides which, it's fun, so I still write it. It's also a great way to find people to read and review.
|
|
See, I thought that was some of yellowdingo's own stuff.
Anyway, it's not necessarily a less talented writer. I hear the Methods of Rationality is pretty well-done. I'd say that C. S. Lewis was fairly skilled as well.
The big difference is that we don't see the s$!$ that people produced a hundred years ago, and that we are on the whole much more literate and much more connected to said s*~*. And that our copyright laws refuse to let stuff into the public domain.
Yes - those four hideous fragments of short fiction are mine and despite people begging for me to finish the firefly one - I doubt it will happen.
I tell you what: I now pass these stories forward to you the fans of these settings so you can continue writing them. And when you can no longer write them pass them on to others so they can continue writing them.
|
|
The Firefly one is cool, but it's kind of confusing. Did Zoe just die?
When my son was younger he took a Tai Kwon Do class with the child of a woman I, to my chagrin, discovered wrote fan and slash fic. She'd corner me during their workouts and regale me with the adventures of the TV Highlander guy and how he was in love with other male sci-fi/fantasy characters, like Hercules. Or Spock. Or Worf. Then she'd go on about how she couldn't get anyone to publish her original works and was constantly trying to get me to read them for my opinions. I couldn't bear to even think of doing that.
I just see a difference between fanfic that is good enough and canon enough to be an unused episode and the fanfic that is some horrible masturbation fantasy.
When most people use the word fanfic, we mean the later.
Though I like the latter due to the comedic value.
"Wincest" stories are pure win.
That's fanfic about the two brothers from Supernatural.
The two brothers named "Winchester".
Wincest.
You can figure it out.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
When most people use the word fanfic, we mean the later.
Correction: When people who don't know what fanfic is use the word 'fanfic', they mean the latter. Fanfic is fiction utilizing elements of another's work. It's that simple.
One could say that most people use the word "D&D player" to mean basement shut-in, or "brony" to mean scary clopfic'er, or "furry" to mean deviant, or "artist" to mean someone who cuts off his ears. Doesn't mean it's the right way to use the word, it just means the majority of people who use the word have no idea what it actually means.
I'd call them "unused screenplays".
Or what do you call it when a professional author writes in someone else's world?
Like when RA Salvatore wrote Star Wars EU stuff. What would that be considered?
Or when authors other than Weis and Hickman did Dragonlance stuff.
That's gonna garnish things, since that isn't actually what 'fanfiction' means.
The fanfic writers made the word. You don't get to change what it means just like that, though you can pretend that your definition is what everybody else is using. The origins of the word are 'fan' and 'fiction'. Fiction by fans.
But if we go entirely by root words, then even fan is just a variation which makes fan fiction "fiction by fanatics" which isn't going to exactly get the point across to most people.
Definitions evolve over time.
Fan and Fanatic now have different meanings in our language, despite starting as two versions of the same word.
As such, the word "Fanfic" very rarely translates in the human brain as "fiction written by a fan", it often translates as "terribly written masturbation fantasies."
Which is why I think it is prudent that we create a definition separation between good fanfic, and terrible fanfic.
Since fanfic is already a loaded word, I say let it persist as a negative term and let us figure out a better term for quality fiction written by quality writers who just happen to not be professionals and who happen to write in other people's worlds.
The main issue with picking a different word is that the people currently writing what will remain defined as "fanfic" will just start calling their stuff whatever the new term is, as they don't want their stuff to be associated with the negative term (nevermind how good it is, they of course think it's brilliant work). For many it won't work but eventually I see it just repeating the cycle.
Or maybe I'm just being a cynic as per normal.
It just came to me.
Why give it a special name?
If it's a well written novel, it's a novel.
A well written screenplay? It's a screenplay.
A terribly written masturbation fantasy? Fanfic... and/or porn.
Fanfiction is fanfiction, whether a particular story is good or bad is up to the reader.
It's similar to how I like a certain Star Wars character that my friend doesn't. He'll get pretty worked up about it, but I don't really care because I like that character and that's all that matters.
The only fan fiction I have bothered writing was of Touhou. And even that I've stopped doing ages ago.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Twilight is a novel. Shades of Gray is a novel. Eragon is a novel.
Every book, published or no, good or no, is technically a novel. This includes all the horrid non-fanfiction to be found on the internet--trust me, there's plenty. In fact, any book large enough is technically a novel--edited, original fiction or no.
Should we redefine the word 'novel'? We certainly could. The vast majority of novels are bad. :)
Would that really be any different than cornering someone in that setting and regaling them with your RPG stories? Alright, maybe not quite so creepy without the sex part.
There are people like that in every group. And plenty who aren't.
All the people you've met casually who don't talk about fan fiction seem perfectly normal. You'd never know they write it.
I don't talk about my RPG stories. In fact, I rarely mention that I'm a gamer at all, even to people I see browsing the same gaming book shelf that I am. I know how much it annoys me for someone to do that, so I don't do it to anyone else. Because honestly, I don't care.
Your last two sentences remind of the one and only GenCon I've ever been able to attend. My buddy and I were at a pub not far from the convention center (the place was packed with gamers and the menus had all been changed to "reflect" fantasy fare). This skinny, squirrely guy begins going from table to table trying to force people to look at his artwork, which consisted of nothing but furries with huge breasts, huge phallises,or engaged in some sort of weird furrie orgy. Finally one guy got up and slapped the snot out of the guy. He left.
Twilight is a novel. Shades of Gray is a novel. Eragon is a novel.
Every book, published or no, good or no, is technically a novel.
[besser-wisser mode on] Except for anthologies, non-fiction books, and essay-collections, obviously. And RPG setting books, which, while fictional, certainly aren't novels, short stories, or poetry...[besser-wisser mode off]
I've read fan-fic which is quite better than pro-fic, so I don't suscribe to the myth that all fan-fiction is crap.
That being said, there is a lot of crap to wade through to find the good stuff.
One of my favorites, if you like humor and Lord of the Rings: The Very Secret Diaries.
I used to follow a number of author blogs. I remember a number of posts on how authors were some of the worst fanfic'ers. That is, there are a number of them who do it habitually, telling stories based in a friend's world, etc.
And that these works could never be published.
Just to play devil's advocate, I'll also mention that the stories in Wayfinder magazine are, by definition, fan fiction. They are by and large very good.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Shadowborn has it right. I believe that Pathfinder actually has a community of fanfiction writers, but I can't remember the name of the site.
The simple fact is that if a bad writer doesn't do fanfiction, he'll just do original fiction. Tons of bad writers do. Some of them, as previously pointed out, even get published. So trying to cast fanfiction as by default bad is just silly.
The majority of fanworks aren't crap, the majority of everything is crap.