Comments welcome

You asked for it. Fair warning: harsh words may follow, whether they actually exist or not depends on the fingers.

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I don't believe fans should write fanfics. Now, before you come running over
and start going through my medicine cabinet, hear me out.

(sarcasm) What a novel idea. (/sarcasm)

Fans, by their very definition as I understand it, love and adore their
characters. However, there is a fine line that cannot be crossed. That is, we
cannot become so overly attached to them that it interferes with our ability
to tell a story. To see what I mean, check out the following URL:

http://moonromance.hosting4less.com/m/fffnf.txt

This is perhaps the best damn piece of fanfic I've ever read.

That may be so, but it was poorly-written (and to my eyes is unreadable; my primary language is English, thank you very much), so I'm not going to read it through.
It suffers from:

  - Bad grammar (when to start new paragraphs, mainly)
  - Extensive use of Japanese words/phrases
  - Extensive use of footnotes

Even though the Japanese phrases ARE footnoted, that still does not excuse it. If I have to refer to footnotes to understand what's being said then the fic is a failure as a story.
And since I was brought up to read English of course grammar mistakes are going to stick out like a sore thumb.

What's
interesting about it is that the author is not a fan. Nope. Not a bit.

Not a fan OF WHAT? 'Fan' by itself is too broad a term to encompass any one thing.
And it's nothing new; I myself am not a big fan of Pokemon, but that didn't stop me from writing a fic about it.

But she went and wrote this at I believe, her roomate's urging.

Which means she was weak and caved (why am I sounding like Wufei?). That much is apparent with the general attitude her self-insertion gives from the very start (not that I don't agree with some of the stuff said, but still... it has a poor attitude going in and it reflects easily on the reader (ME)). The writing evoked a feeling of anger and frustration.

The result? One helluva fine piece of writing.

See what I mean? Detatchment is key.

And this is new because...?
There are plenty of fics out there where the author detests the characters... what they do with them is up to them and probably none of my business, but it's already out there.

You must know your material, this is a
given. But you can't get so emotionly involved with the characters that it
interferes with your ability to tell a good story.

But you also can't expect anyone to read it, either.

It may be a mistake on my part, but I also think it gives me an edge since
because of that detatchement, I am willing to do things to the characters
that those more emotionally involved might consider completly insane.

Most good writers 'could' be considered 'insane' to one degree or another.
However, in detachment you lose one sense in writing, and so much as it is apparent to you it is also apparent to the readers (unless you are really, REALLY good at writing). If the author is generally pissed while writing the story, it's a good bet the readers will pick this up. If the author was broken down crying while writing, it's a good bet the readers will pick up on this as well.
Most of all, the writing reflects the author.

Am I wrong? Perhaps.

If there were only a single answer to every question, then we would all be wrong.


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* "Decepticons Forever!" --Ravage, Beast Wars
* "You make [Kodachi] sound appealing." --kayin
* "[Y]ou're lamer than your signature and screen name indicate." --Chris Davies
* "I sold my soul to buy a copy of the dubbed 'Ukyo Can Cook'"

--Razorclaw X (http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/index.html)
Author: "The Wheel of Fire", "The World's Worst Ranma Fanfic!", "The Geometry of Shattered Souls", "The Geometry of Vanished Souls", "The Balance of Power", "The Wraith of Blaze", "Mister Prickly".

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