At 02:30 AM 05-05-98 -0700, you wrote:
Back to point: what makes a fanfic good?
And so far I've come up with the following critera:
1. The author feels it's good (the easiest part)
2. Readers tell the author and others it's good
3. More than five people read the story and think it's good
4. Pre-readers catch all the little glitches in the story
5. Long descriptive passages describing minute details of a Stephen King
novel
6. Said fic must exist for an extended period of time
7. Said fic must be recognized by established reviewers as good
8. Said author mustn't be overly desparate for C&C or MSTs
9. Said author must've written about something that makes sense
Criteria might be good for some, but...it isn't always the case with
ev'one. With XXX billion people out there, there may be a heck of a lot
who can go with a criteria, but there's also a heck of a lot who do things
a different way...
"That's my story and I'm sticking to it."--JMS, creator of Babylon 5.
BTW, that guy from 'Saturday Night Live' uses this line too. ^_^
"If you go to Z'ha'dum, you will die."--Kosh, Babylon 5.
"Jump. Jump now!"--Kosh, "Z'ha'dum," Babylon 5, making some sense.
Simply put, the single, first, and usually most important factor
deciding a fanfiction's fate is if the AUTHOR likes it. Ie: likes his
own work, likes the story he wants to tell, etc.
That lesson I learned long ago, and I still feel it is most important.
There is a lot of truth to that statement. At least in my opinion, when
an author writes a story they like, they have this spark of imagination
that drives them. Inspiration. And it will help them to create a work
that not only they, but hopefully others, will like as well. Poetic, I
s'pose...but I bulieve in that.
*snip*
I know I could get that kind of reply if I didn't like my story. WHy
would they if I didn't?
Everything after that is subject to the reader's taste. :}
Unfortunately, these last parts are where I feel a bit apprehensious to
agree. There are a couple of items that would automatically draw readers
attentions. Whether one will admit to it or not, there are some things
that will always take priority or dominance over another. It isn't
prejudice necessarily, or some other biased thing such as that. Sometimes,
it just plain happens. Or in the topic presented here, there are just some
fanfics that just get more response than others. Not to say that this is
the rule, but I'd fight a nice long battle to argue with those who think
that it doesn't happen. (Private e-mail of course)
The first of these attractors I think is the series in which the fanfic is
based. Ranma has a following that most other series can't compete with.
The amount of Ranma fanfics compared to other series fanfics I think
supports this observation. I don't see as much said through reader
response and the like about other series, as I do about Ranma. And from
there, it goes downwards.
The second is name recognition. Whether by specific series (DnR, etc.) or
by Author (John Walter Biles, etc.), people will read those pieces of
works, by names alone. That is, if they are already 'recognized' by others
as being on the first tier of fanfics. If the name is already gold, there
is a good chance people will flock to it.
So...that line of, 'Everything after that is subject to the reader's
taste' is only partially true, IMHO. While liking your works is definately
important, there's a whole lot of other aspects that frankly...could make
you view that your work is bad, when it definately isn't. It isn't your
fault, it isn't anyone elses fault. It just...happens. -_- So to be
honest, the phrase I'd rather substitute for the one above would be just
'Everything is subject to the reader's taste'.
There's a few options that I see would be solutions to this dilemma. The
first is you just quit writing. The cynical approach, but it's an option.
The second is keep writing and posting. It might take a long time, but if
you keep writing, things will prove fruitful. S'what I keep thinking, at
least. The last, something my friend loves to say, is write for yourself.
That in itself is something I'm sure a lot of other authors do already.
But take it to a more heartfelt sense; do you want to write for the people,
or do you want to write for yourself? What are you looking for from your
writing? Ask yourself that, and do what your heart tells you.
Reflecting on my spiel above, let me take a look at myself in this
situation as an example. A struggling writer looking at the monstrosity of
a post up there, and wonder why I don't get that many responses? Why there
isn't a flood of e-mail to my doorstep after I post what I thought to be a
good story? Why I don't get recognised by name alone? Sound familiar to
anyone?
Simple fact is, I'm unknown, and I haven't put out much. So my name isn't
going to be recognized if I post a rant or another fanfic. Oh well,
y'know? That doesn't mean I'm going to stop. As long as I like what I'm
writing, and I want to write, I will. I may want response, I may want to
be known, but...above all that, I want to write the best thing I possibly
can. And then the next time, one-up myself. It may take a cold day in
hell for me to be considered 'up there', but hey...dreams are good. Dreams
push and prod. Dreams make you reach for something that isn't normally in
your reach. And sometimes dreams do come true.
Am I sappy? Yes. I bulieve in the happy endings (Though moreso the
bittersweet happy endings). I think that if you dream and work hard
enough, you'll come out on top. It doesn't always happen; why should it in
writing? To me, there's only one constant in life. That constant is,
you're brought into this universe somehow. The sucess and failures that
happen afterwards aren't always up to you. Nothing is a 'sure thing', but
damned if you can't try to make it that way. In writing, in life.
Lany
*snip*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-You mean we're not living in an anime world?
-Nope. Sorry.
-Darn it, I guess I'll have to cancel my date with Mako-chan then.
-@_@;;
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