Many of the comments here seem to be from folks who aren't interested in fanfic. I don't claim to be an expert source, myself, but I have had some reccs to very good writing in fanfic, so I don't bother reading the vast masses of mediocre. The reason that I do read what I have is that I learn things about writing from these folks. The really good writers pull off some extremely interesting effects in that medium. It's a slightly different form than regular novels, as one does not step on the toes of fellow fans by going on in boring detail about things that everybody already knows--hair curl, eye color, tone of voice, that sort of thing. For someone used to commercial fiction, the less effective fics are too bare bones on odd things. They frequently skip so many details that unless you've seen the series or the movie, you have no idea what any of the characters actually look like. Ahh, but in a really good writer's hands, frankly, it doesn't matter anyway. To be good at it, one has to hit the common items with a side light, a new insight, that turn of phrase that really captures something so well it just vibrates in your mind like a violin string. Also, most of these don't use written source material. There isn't much fic from written sources. Holmes is the only one I can think of with any substantial body of fanfic work at all, and much of that is self-confessedly because of the Mystery TV series and Jeremy Brett's Sherlock. There's occasional cross-overs to print sources, but not many. Nearly all of it is visual, mass media-driven. I can think of a few pieces I've seen which were very funny (an slashy)take-offs of Pratchett/Gaiman's Good Omens. Unfortunately, I'm not finding the source I wanted for that, tonight. They got the Pratchett/Gaiman tone right, too, IMHO, which is not easy to do.
The good ones also do the historical research, too--many of the stories are not in the current era at all. (Tons of Highlander fic, for instance, is an excuse for a historical romance, even if it is slash.) Besides the context of the time, to be considered good at fanfic, you really have to preserve the character's tone of voice and turns of phrase, and the structure of the original stories. It means having a very good ear for the subtleties between different eras of Brit spy/suspense series, for instance.
As an example, this link is one of the more unusual examples I've run across. West Wing stories are not that common, and silly ones even harder to find. http://home.nc.rr.com/tallulah/index.html (more links in part 2, sorry to go on so long!) to part 2
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branchandroot
from a reader of some fics, part 1
Date: 2004-10-19 11:33 pm (UTC)I don't claim to be an expert source, myself, but I have had some reccs to very good writing in fanfic, so I don't bother reading the vast masses of mediocre. The reason that I do read what I have is that I learn things about writing from these folks.
The really good writers pull off some extremely interesting effects in that medium.
It's a slightly different form than regular novels, as one does not step on the toes of fellow fans by going on in boring detail about things that everybody already knows--hair curl, eye color, tone of voice, that sort of thing. For someone used to commercial fiction, the less effective fics are too bare bones on odd things. They frequently skip so many details that unless you've seen the series or the movie, you have no idea what any of the characters actually look like.
Ahh, but in a really good writer's hands, frankly, it doesn't matter anyway. To be good at it, one has to hit the common items with a side light, a new insight, that turn of phrase that really captures something so well it just vibrates in your mind like a violin string.
Also, most of these don't use written source material. There isn't much fic from written sources. Holmes is the only one I can think of with any substantial body of fanfic work at all, and much of that is self-confessedly because of the Mystery TV series and Jeremy Brett's Sherlock. There's occasional cross-overs to print sources, but not many. Nearly all of it is visual, mass media-driven. I can think of a few pieces I've seen which were very funny (an slashy)take-offs of Pratchett/Gaiman's Good Omens.
Unfortunately, I'm not finding the source I wanted for that, tonight. They got the Pratchett/Gaiman tone right, too, IMHO, which is not easy to do.
The good ones also do the historical research, too--many of the stories are not in the current era at all. (Tons of Highlander fic, for instance, is an excuse for a historical romance, even if it is slash.)
Besides the context of the time, to be considered good at fanfic, you really have to preserve the character's tone of voice and turns of phrase, and the structure of the original stories.
It means having a very good ear for the subtleties between different eras of Brit spy/suspense series, for instance.
As an example, this link is one of the more unusual examples I've run across. West Wing stories are not that common, and silly ones even harder to find.
http://home.nc.rr.com/tallulah/index.html
(more links in part 2, sorry to go on so long!)
to part 2