odd fanfic musing

[janne_d]

I've been reading fanfic for, oooh, a decade? (Wow, that seems a long time.) During that I've read fairly seriously in 6 fandoms or so (though not all at once), with several more as tangents every so often, and because of that I have observed a strange phenomenon.

Every so often, in one of the fandoms I read now I'll spot a name I recognise from previous adventures, usually a few years back, and think "hey, I remember them, they did all these stories in fandom Y that I liked". And then I'll read what they've written in my current fandom Z and be really dismayed because it will be trite and cliched, or OOC, and just not very good.

It makes me wonder - could I just not tell back then that their writing wasn't the greatest? Has reading more and more over the years taught me where to find the quality better?

Or did they just have one fandom that really fitted them and they're never going to be as good at writing other characters and worlds?

Comments

[kensieg.livejournal.com]

It happens the other way too. I read somebody a few years ago & I thought "Badfic." Last year I found some of her fanfic quite readable.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

But that way around kind of makes sense - if their early stuff is bad and the later isn't then they've obviously got more experience and improved. It makes less sense for me for authors to have earlier fic that is readable and later stuff that isn't.

[nymphaea1.livejournal.com]

This has happened to me too, especially after joining SGA fandom.

I really think it has to do with how audience specific fanfic is. 95+% of it is built on a presumption of shared subtext and character interpretation. And readers do a lot of the work in fanfic. People already have an idea of who say "Rodney McKay" is in their heads, and so long as the common fandom take doesn't conflict with that, you can see that guy reasonably well in a lot of fic. A story that is based on the same assumptions that you, the reader, are building your personal characterization on is possibly going to seem deeper. Not because the author necessarily developed this great, multifaceted approach to the show, but because the reader is able to bring their own dimensions to the work. In a story where the the assumptions aren't the same, the story's going to have to stand more on its own, and I think ends up seeming flatter for it.

There was an author whose stuff I just loved. Really, pre-SGA I'd have listed her as best in fandom. But then in SGA I was so confused because I found her stuff just bare bones competent with terribly generic, fanon infested characterizations. After going back to read some of her old stuff, I realized she'd always followed the exact same pattern with her two male leads, it's just in the past I agreed with her character biases more, so I didn't see it.

And then there's the fact that some shows just lend themselves to some people's approach to characterization better than others. With the author I mentioned above, I still think her work in her last fandom among the best there is, because her standard approach really worked for those characters. In SGA, I find it very much doesn't, so I have to give her a pass there.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

In a story where the the assumptions aren't the same, the story's going to have to stand more on its own, and I think ends up seeming flatter for it.

That's a good point. Some writers are good enough to get away with playing a different assumption for characters, but I think that there are a lot who aren't. It has to be something a bit special to make a reader see someone a different way than they are used to.

After going back to read some of her old stuff, I realized she'd always followed the exact same pattern with her two male leads, it's just in the past I agreed with her character biases more

I can think of a writer where that rings very true! And you are right, there are some shows that just suit people better. It is interesting to see it though - and it makes me wonder if there is a show like that for me and if I'd realise if I started writing in one that didn't fit me that well.