Absolute Chaos Discussion Boards
Fic Talk => General Discussion => Topic started by: RokofAges75 on April 29, 2011, 04:50:12 PM
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One of my favorite bloggers, Dan Bergstein (of "Blogging Twilight" fame on SparkNotes.com), did a blog about fanfiction... and why he hates it. *sad face*
http://community.sparknotes.com/2011/04/28/the-problems-with-fan-fiction
I do agree with him on some points... and respectfully disagree on others. But it was an interesting read either way. If you read it and have any thoughts, post them here.
(While I'm at it, if you haven't read Blogging Twilight, it is epically hilarious: http://community.sparknotes.com/index.php/2009/07/16/blogging-twilight-index-page/)
(And now he's blogging Harry Potter... just plain epic! http://community.sparknotes.com/tag/blogging-harry-potter)
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I kind of agree with him on a few things. I think everybody that writes fan fiction should branch out at some point and write their own, non-fanfic fictional story. I've done it a few times and it's kind of liberating.
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He has a point but then again all he seems to do is blog, so... lol
What scares me most, is the fact that he thinks the Twilight Books are well written. I have to say I have read fanfics that were more thought out and far more creative than that garbage! I mean maybe he doesn't feel that way? I hope lol
I do agree about the whole original fiction thing and the whole get your own ideas thing.
Thanks for posting that, Julie :)
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Where are you getting that he thinks Twilight is well-written? LOL That's what makes his blogs so awesome, the fact that he utterly destroys the quality of writing and logic (or lack thereof) of Twilight.
As for the fanfic stuff, I agree that it is kind of misguided creativity, even though we all enjoy squandering our talents and reading others' wasted efforts too. I would LOVE to be struck with an idea for an original story that I could feel as inspired and passionate about as I do my fanfic ideas. Hopefully one day it will happen, but until then, I'm happy writing about the people who do inspire me. The fact that I am incredibly self-conscious about my writing in real life, yet enjoy having a built-in audience online helps LOL.
I also loved his description of the "five stages" of reading slash LOL.
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Because he made it seem like he can make fun of stories like Twilight and Harry Potter because they are well written. Fanfics are too easy to make fun of because they aren't. He seems to be a fan of Harry Potter so I just kind of assumed maybe he's a fan of Twilight as well.
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I enjoyed his description of slash and the random dolphin mention lol
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The dolphin thing was funny LMAO
I've tried to read both Twilight and Harry Potter and couldn't get through a few pages of each. I just couldn't get into either of them. But I have the Sookie Stackhouse Series, which I love, but I'm stuck on book 5.
I think people like to bash fanfic a lot, but I don't think until they actually write it and get involved in it, they don't understand it. To me it's more than just a hobby because if it weren't for Backstreet Boys or starting "Back At One" like 12 years ago, I would have never went back to college for English after dropping out and would have never ended up on the student paper which lead me to my career today. People like to make fun of fanfic, but it literally turned my life around because if I had not realized my love of writing, who knows where the hell I would be.
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Because he made it seem like he can make fun of stories like Twilight and Harry Potter because they are well written. Fanfics are too easy to make fun of because they aren't. He seems to be a fan of Harry Potter so I just kind of assumed maybe he's a fan of Twilight as well.
Ahh, I see. Yeah, he starts out the Twilight blogs with an open mind, but it quickly turns into making fun of the whole thing. They're hilarious; like, I'm sure my neighbors were aware of when he updated because they could probably hear me cackling through the walls. He IS a Harry Potter fan, though, which is why the HP ones, although still entertaining, are not nearly as funny so far. HP is just too good.
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I think people like to bash fanfic a lot, but I don't think until they actually write it and get involved in it, they don't understand it. To me it's more than just a hobby because if it weren't for Backstreet Boys or starting "Back At One" like 12 years ago, I would have never went back to college for English after dropping out and would have never ended up on the student paper which lead me to my career today. People like to make fun of fanfic, but it literally turned my life around because if I had not realized my love of writing, who knows where the hell I would be.
I think that's very true. Even when I first got into reading BSB fanfic, I still thought it was silly enough that I couldn't imagine actually writing one myself. It only took a few months for that to change, but I still feel that way about most other fandoms. I'm a hardcore Harry Potter fan, but I've never been able to get into HP fanfics. And I look at some fandoms and think, "... Really?? People write fanfics about this??" But I'm sure those people think the same thing of fanfics about the Backstreet Boys! LOL
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I think that's very true. Even when I first got into reading BSB fanfic, I still thought it was silly enough that I couldn't imagine actually writing one myself. It only took a few months for that to change, but I still feel that way about most other fandoms. I'm a hardcore Harry Potter fan, but I've never been able to get into HP fanfics. And I look at some fandoms and think, "... Really?? People write fanfics about this??" But I'm sure those people think the same thing of fanfics about the Backstreet Boys! LOL
I'm the same way... I tried to get into "Friends" fan fiction during one point and I couldn't. The only other genre I've been involved is was NASCAR. I've added other celebrities in supporting roles in stories (such as Tim McGraw and Faith Hill in "Beautiful Disaster" and 'N Sync in "Six Degrees"), but nothing beats writing about BSB for some reason.
You should really try to write original fiction if you get the chance though, or get an idea. My first non-fanfic story was based on a screenplay I wrote when I was in high school and I wrote it like six or seven years later finally. It's kind of fun to build totally new characters lol
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The dolphin thing was funny LMAO
I've tried to read both Twilight and Harry Potter and couldn't get through a few pages of each. I just couldn't get into either of them. But I have the Sookie Stackhouse Series, which I love, but I'm stuck on book 5.
I think people like to bash fanfic a lot, but I don't think until they actually write it and get involved in it, they don't understand it. To me it's more than just a hobby because if it weren't for Backstreet Boys or starting "Back At One" like 12 years ago, I would have never went back to college for English after dropping out and would have never ended up on the student paper which lead me to my career today. People like to make fun of fanfic, but it literally turned my life around because if I had not realized my love of writing, who knows where the hell I would be.
I completely agree with you on this. I think it's easy to judge someone who writes fanfic but when you actually talk to these people, most (not all) are so passionate about writing that they usually say one of their goals is to get something published one day. I know it's easy to make fun of some of the stuff out there. A lot of it is a hot mess but also there are so many kids out there trying their hand at writing fanfic who might have otherwise just not even tried. To me it's no different then those same kids never picking up a book until the HP series came out.
I did read all the HP books. I think they were awesome. My cat could have written Twilight and done a better job lol
Holy typos...
while I am fixing those lol I really do think you should try your shot at OF too Julie. You'd be great at it. I admit it's much harder for me coming up with ideas for OF and i'm also a hell of a lot slower writing it then I am writing BSB. I've never been interested in any other fanfic fandom. Even Supernatural, unless it's a crossover with BSB to me it's different. I'd much prefer to read real people fanfic.
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Aw, thanks! I do have a couple of OF ideas saved in file, but they are both way too big to tackle anytime soon. They're the kind of ideas I get when I've been reading too much Harry Potter and think, "I wish I could do that." I'm waiting for a nice, simple, manageable idea to strike, but that's the problem with me - I don't do simple, even with my fanfics. They're all long and complicated. I don't like short stories and would rather write a novel, but a shorter novel LOL. Oh well, maybe someday...
I was definitely that kid who never wrote outside of school until I got an idea for a fanfic and decided to try my hand at writing it. I can't imagine my life without that hobby now, but I don't know that I would have ever started writing for fun if not for Bsb fanfic.
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I completely agree with you on this. I think it's easy to judge someone who writes fanfic but when you actually talk to these people, most (not all) are so passionate about writing that they usually say one of their goals is to get something published one day. I know it's easy to make fun of some of the stuff out there. A lot of it is a hot mess but also there are so many kids out there trying their hand at writing fanfic who might have otherwise just not even tried. To me it's no different then those same kids never picking up a book until the HP series came out.
I did read all the HP books. I think they were awesome. My cat could have written Twilight and done a better job lol
Holy typos...
while I am fixing those lol I really do think you should try your shot at OF too Julie. You'd be great at it. I admit it's much harder for me coming up with ideas for OF and i'm also a hell of a lot slower writing it then I am writing BSB. I've never been interested in any other fanfic fandom. Even Supernatural, unless it's a crossover with BSB to me it's different. I'd much prefer to read real people fanfic.
That's why I love talking with other BSB fan fiction writers because they understand it. Even when I was involved in NASCAR fan fiction, the writers are so different. I know us BSB writers can be catty at time and not get a long, but hell, that's nothing compared to how some of the writers are in that other genre.
I think I'm more interested in real people fanfic too. I guess that's why I could never get into the whole "Friends" fanfic genre or anything else.
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I think for me, the TV/Movie/books genre of fanfics are things that have already been written by someone else. Real people it's different. If I am in a Supernatural mood all I have to do is watch an episode. Why would I want to read someone else's take on it? That's my take on it anyway lol
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I'm kind of late to the party but I just read that article. I do sort of agree with the fact that it's misguided creativity, however I probably wouldn't have started writing if not for fanfic. I think he's right in that some stories need to be left alone (like HP) because they wrapped up nicely and more stories about those characters just aren't needed. I'll admit to writing in a TV show fandom, but it's not the same situation as HP where it was wrapped up neatly - it's fun to explore what might have happened after the canon series ended. In any case I think that real person fiction is a little different just because there's no canon story to go against and possibly disrupt the flow of.
His shipping rant was a little weird. It's just a way of saying which characters you'd like to see together, I don't get why he's getting bothered by this internet slang. There are so many other annoying things about shipping he could have touched on instead of the grammar of the phrase lol
Obviously I don't think fanfic is a waste of time or anything. I do find it fun for now and if I ever did seriously try writing original fiction, I think that writing fanfic for so long is definitely good practice for those skills.
Plus it's fun, so really who is he to judge? lol
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I'm glad you mentioned the ship thing. I had no clue what he was even talking about lol
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Haha yeah the shipping thing doesn't really exist in BSB fandom. Unless you count slash but I've very rarely heard anyone actually say "I ship Nick/Brian." At least not as much as in TV show fandoms.
Shipping wars are kind of terrifying and it makes the BSB fandom look like it is made of love and cake.
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I think for me, the TV/Movie/books genre of fanfics are things that have already been written by someone else. Real people it's different. If I am in a Supernatural mood all I have to do is watch an episode. Why would I want to read someone else's take on it? That's my take on it anyway lol
I agree; I think that's the reason I've never gotten into those fandoms. No matter how good the writer is, it will never compare to the real thing for me... whereas with the Backstreet Boys, it's not like we have some set, official book/movie/series of episodes about them. Since they're real people, their lives are constantly moving ahead and changing, and it's fun to take them in a different direction or write our own take on their history. It's also probably kind of weird, since they're real people, and I know that's why a lot of the fandom writers frown on real person fanfic, but oh well. It's hard to explain the appeal of it to someone who just doesn't get it.
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Haha yeah the shipping thing doesn't really exist in BSB fandom. Unless you count slash but I've very rarely heard anyone actually say "I ship Nick/Brian." At least not as much as in TV show fandoms.
Shipping wars are kind of terrifying and it makes the BSB fandom look like it is made of love and cake.
LOL it helps to not have female "canon characters" in our fandom, unless you count the wives/girlfriends.
I think I first encountered the shipping thing with Harry Potter fanfic, back when I was a new fan of that and was checking out the fanfics on ff.net. The big war there seems to be between Ron/Hermione and Harry/Hermione shippers, but it's interesting how many weird pairings people like to write about. Harry/Snape?? Ew. The vast majority of HP fanfic summaries I've read have just made me shake my head and go, "This is so wrong." Kinda like the five stages of slash reaction LOL.
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I just read it and agree that some fanfics are awful, but there are a lot out there which are amazing too. I don't think it's a waste of people's efforts either, there are far worse hobbies out there! I bet there are loads of writers out there who started with fanfics. Before I discovered fanfics, I hadn't written anything since I was a kid, and it's something I enjoy in my free time, it's not harming anyone.
I have no idea what shipping is.
I've not read/written in many other fandoms as I don't have the passion for it like I do with BSB. I've done a BSB/Supernatural crossover, a Twilight one shot and a few Take That stories. But I have read a few Twilight ones which were far better than Stephenie Meyer's stories. I do love Twilight, but parts of it I wanted to shake Bella.