"Razorclaw X" <spiceoflife@hotmail.com> wrote:

 But what is it that makes a good fanfic? 
 And I'll slap you if you point to 'that other' piece of work by the 
name of 'How to Write Good Fanfiction.'

That title was 'How to Write Really, Really Good Fanfiction!' <Dodges>

 All over the place I see loads of praise for stuff like Hearts of Ice 
or DnR; is the time precedent working here?

To some extent; DnR wouldn't be as popular as it is if it hadn't been
one of the first continuations out there, IMO. OTOH, these works
wouldn't have caught on if they hadn't had something going for them, no
matter how long they've been around.

 Or are long, descriptive passages describing the minute details of a 
Stephen King novel, that grabs people? 

Depends on what kind of story you're trying to do.

 Or does my writing just plain suck? Am I destined for 2/5 when 
reaching for a 3/5? Why is it that people notice me for my bad works and 
not my (IMO) good works? 

Not being familiar with your stuff, I can't comment. I will say that
whether I read and C&C something is not really a matter of it being good
or not. I have a strong preference for certain types of fics, so when I
have time to C&C I look for these. Also, being only human, I favor
authors who tend to give me thoughtful comments on my own stuff.

 Back to point: what makes a fanfic good? 

For me, a fanfic is good if it reaches its goals; this depends on what
kind of story it is. If it's a comedy, it should make me laugh. If it's
character drama, it should have me feeling for the characters; etc.
There aren't any real set ways to achieve these goals; if there were,
this game we play would be a whole lot easier. With someone else's fic,
I can judge by how I feel as I read it. With my own, I rely on readers
to tell me what worked and what didn't, since I'm prejudiced by my
knowledge of what the story's *supposed* to be doing.

Is technical competence important in this regard? Yes and no. Grammar,
spelling, formatting, etc. can't make a fic, but the lack of these
things can break one by making it too much of a pain to read. How much
tolerance one has for this is a matter of personal taste. Me, I can read
Keener's fics without any problem, but I generally don't make it through
Catbert's, for example.


Gary Kleppe
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics