Todd Wroteth :

       This is just kind of an odd thing, and not necessarily a *bad*
thing, but...have ALL the comedic fanfic writers read tons of Pratchett? I
see snippets and pieces of his humor EVERYWHERE in comedic fanfiction
nowadays. I know many parts of Stefan Gagne's (albeit wonderful) Magical
Troubleshooting Crossover Tournament Fighter BETA! seemed very familiar
when I read them, considering all the Discworld I've been exposed too. I
know I've used some Pratchett-esque stuff in The O-Files too, so I'm not
blameless. Just wondering and looking for feedback about that, from the
comedic authors. ^_^

I don't usually post to the group beyond fictional items, but I
think I'll rant a little here. I hope it's organized. ^_^;

There are examples of homage -- tribute to the authors who
have influenced you, in the form of borrowed lines or similarities
that are quite deliberate.  I've always been a fan of the Obscure
Cultural Reference, because I feel it ties the reader to the work
if they see something they recognize.  As a related example, have you
ever watched a sitcom and spotted someone drinking a can of 'Cola'
or saying they were going to some movie called 'Killfest'?  Use of
generics to prevent copyright infringement sticks out like a sore
thumb, points out that this is a purely fictional world you are
not a part of.  But in Neal Stephenson's "Zodiac," for instance,
cultural items and consumer goods are liberally draped about the
text; specific makes and models for vehicles, specific brands of
nacho chips, and even using Spiderman in the comics section to
dump a load of chemical waste on for analysis.  Little items and
tokens, things to link the culture you live in to your own work,
often allow the reader to bond with the world of the story and
realize it's the same world they live in.

If you bond them with snippets or in-jokes to other cultural items,
like movies and stories, you can strike a like-minded angle of
recognition in the reader; this is one reason why Mystery Science
Theatre 3000 works, because the jokes they make often refer back
to other experiences the viewer brings to the table, latches them
into the humor as a result.  So, when a line is re-used but in a
blatantly obvious way to any who are familiar with it, they
connect the two written works together; such as having something
'hang in the air exactly in the way that bricks don't' or making
a substance that is 'not quite entirely unlike' something,
to link it to Adams.  Folks who like Adams see this and recognize
the style, and enjoy familiarity and recognition.  For instance;
how many of you noticed this thread out of the daily load of
messages to the ML because the word 'Pratchett' is in the title?
That's recognition in action.

Now, in terms of writing STYLE, rather than just appropriated
tokens... the problem here is that 'Pratchett' style is also similar
to a lot of other styles, such as 'Adams' and other absurdist,
play on words sorts of humor novels.  You can find a lot of similar
work in the compilation "The Wizards of Odd," which includes
Pratchett, Adams and a variety of other fantasy and science fiction
humorists.  A single fanfic isn't usually strictly Pratchettian; a
lot of my work, IE, is a combination of every author I've read and
adored, since writers tend to reflect what they read (you are what
you eat), with influences from those two, plus Dave Barry, William
Gibson and Neal Stephenson... merged with concepts and issues I
like to examine and character archetypes I feel I write best.

Of course, if something's written with a 'Pratchett' bent, it
bonds as in OCR homage. The key distinction between something being
'The author's work' and 'Simply Derivative' comes in not completely
enveloping your work in ONE author's style, to the point where
it's not your own story, but a mimic of the look-and-feel of
another (didn't Bill Gates get sued for this?). Instead, blending
your favorite influences, many in nature, along with your own
theories and ideas of what makes good fiction adds up to a fully
authored work worthy of putting your own name on.

Even if we're all writing fan fiction, there's room to manuver,
to breathe our own life into the work and make it wholly our
own, even with the base homage to the anime it comes from; this
theory isn't just limited to influences, but to the foundations
that anime fanfiction rises from.  Ranma 1/2 might not completely
mesh with your own ideals, but fortunately, it doesn't have to;
there can be modifications or alternate readings, which gives an
author room to make their own work out of the work of Takahashi.
Through realization of your own style and manipulation of existing
characters and codes, truly great work can be done.

-2f