What I enjoy reading in fanfic is not generally what I also enjoy reading in something original -- e.g. overwhelmingly, I read pairings in fanfic but prefer gen in origific, and when I read original stories that contain all of the tropes I usually love in fic, they rarely have the same impact.
Exactly! That had me wondering (and when I wonder about stuff, I start writing, and then I get into trouble about 10K words later...) because I've read fanfic that has absolutely nothing of value against plenty of ofic -- it's flat, it's predictable, it's cliche-ridden, it's angst-festy, and yet I loved every minute of it. Then I read ofic that barely casts a glance in the direction of angst and I'm all, stop it, boring me, geeez! It's an irritant rather than a tension-builder, and that's part of why I started wondering whether fanfic can teach a writer anything, if so much of what it values detracts, not adds, to original fiction. I think my current tentative conclusion is that fanfic has story-telling styles that are relevant to ofic writing, but that it's a how, not a what, and most fanfic writers are bringing over the what instead.
Erm, which is very badly worded, but my brain is a bit preoccupied right now. Though I probably came up with a better way to put that in one of the follow-ups to this post -- I didn't have them linked at the end, but I edited post to add them, so if you scroll up, you'll see the links to further contemplations.
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Date: 18 Dec 2009 10:46 pm (UTC)Exactly! That had me wondering (and when I wonder about stuff, I start writing, and then I get into trouble about 10K words later...) because I've read fanfic that has absolutely nothing of value against plenty of ofic -- it's flat, it's predictable, it's cliche-ridden, it's angst-festy, and yet I loved every minute of it. Then I read ofic that barely casts a glance in the direction of angst and I'm all, stop it, boring me, geeez! It's an irritant rather than a tension-builder, and that's part of why I started wondering whether fanfic can teach a writer anything, if so much of what it values detracts, not adds, to original fiction. I think my current tentative conclusion is that fanfic has story-telling styles that are relevant to ofic writing, but that it's a how, not a what, and most fanfic writers are bringing over the what instead.
Erm, which is very badly worded, but my brain is a bit preoccupied right now. Though I probably came up with a better way to put that in one of the follow-ups to this post -- I didn't have them linked at the end, but I edited post to add them, so if you scroll up, you'll see the links to further contemplations.
Because, cake!