Essay on Fan Fiction
By Fox-Trot-9
There are two aspects of fanfiction that determine whether a fanfic gets reads or not. One is reader preference, and the other is the availability of those stories that fit a reader's preference for a certain fandom.
What I mean about reader preference is just what it says: fanfic readers are fandom-centric, meaning that they read fandoms that interest them. It doesn't matter if it's 1D, Dr. Who, Sherlock Holmes, Justin Bieber, DragonBall Z, or (freaking, I don't know) Bible Black for Christ's sake! If they're into any of those fandoms, they'll read it; conversely, if they're not into the fandom, the WON'T read it. Simple as that. Also, fanfic readers read what they know. You can't expect them to read a fanfic if they don't know the fandom. On occasion, some readers that have read a fanfic they haven't read before actually become fans of that fandom, because it interests them, but this is EXTREMELY rare.
Now, the availability of the fandom determines how often a fanfic gets read and reviewed. There are two ways of thinking about this. At one end of the spectrum, the rarer the fandom is (like Ghost Hunt, or Lupin III), the more unique the fanfic of that fandom becomes, and the more it will stand out; at the other end, the more numerous the fandom is (like 1D), the less unique the fanfic of that fandom becomes, and the less it will stand out. But the inverse of this is that on one end of the spectrum, the rarer the fandom is, the smaller the fanbase that'll read it; on the other side, the more numerous the fandom is, the bigger the fanbase that'll read it.
So there's a trade off. Bigger fandoms tend to dilute originality, because the story lines get reused over and over, but you've got more readers who enjoy reading them nonetheless. Smaller fandoms tend to have more originality, because the story lines aren't used as often, but this comes at the price of having fewer readers. So for fanfic writers who want popularity over originality, go for the bigger fandoms; for fanfic writers who want originality over popularity, go for the smaller fandoms.
That's my two cents, so take this assessment anyway you want. Good, bad, sensible, brilliant, absolute libel against your fandom, what are your opinions on this?
End of argument.
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I tried to illuminate this discussion on page 3 of this forum, but apparently, I chose the wrong time to do it. Hopefully, now's a much better time to enlighten this discussion past the bickering. Sooooo, without further adieu, here it is.
Okay, I have another observation to make in this forum, and it centers on how people portray their favorite characters (or in many 1D fans' cases, band members) in their fanfics. Now to make this fair, I will make general observations in other fandoms in addition to 1D, such as Naruto, Cardcaptor Sakura and Ghost Hunt (my favorite anime fandom). As for my qualifications on these four fandoms, I'm just a casual observer when it comes to 1D, I'm generally okay with Naruto, I'm better with Cardcaptor Sakura, and I'm a HUGE fan of Ghost Hunt. But the observations I make are generally true for all fandoms, not just these four. So with that in mind, here are my observations:
1. The bigger the fandom gets, the more diluted the originality gets, because the same story lines get reused over and over. I've already explained this in my previous posts.
2. So the more often the same story lines get used in a particular fandom, the more 'innovative' the fanfic writer has to be in order to keep the reader's interest. I quote, 'innovative' for a reason.
What I mean by 'innovative' is just what it says: you change something about the setting, time or place, or change something about the characters in the fandom to make it more interesting. I'll point out examples of this in my next post. This is called fanservice. If you don't know what fanservice is, then Google 'tv tropes fanservice', and you'll see what I mean.
Fanservice is just what it says: as the fanfic writer, you service your fans by indulging the fantasies of your readers. So conversely, selfservice is the fanfic writer indulging in his or her fantasies about the characters (or in the 1D fan's case, the band members). But this is true for ALL fandoms, not just 1D.
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Now I'm on thin ice in these posts. I hope I won't hurt people's feelings when I make these observations, because messing with people's fantasies is like messing with people's private parts. Anyway...
For example, in the Naruto fandom, you see many variations of fanservice and self-service in the form of crack pairings. Most prevalent and pervasive is the Naruto and Sasuke pairing. I swear, this is giving me nightmares. As a former resident of FanFiction(dot)Net, I was thinking WTF are they THINKING? I mean, I know that in one of the early episodes of the series, Naruto accidentally gets bumped into Sasuke, which turns out to be an inadvertent kiss, for which both Ino and Sakura beat the snot out of the poor dude. It was one of the funny moments of the anime that managed to bowl me over. Literally. But as the series went on, Naruto's attachment to Sasuke became much stronger to the point where Naruto refuses to give up on Sasuke after he left the village. It shows that Naruto truly values his friendships, which I admire him for.
But then I see other fanfic writers indulging in their boy/boy fantasies by portraying them as flaming homosexuals doing all sorts of God-awful things to each other from kissing to fucking! And that's just ONE pairing out of the gazillion pairing possibilities of the fandom. There are even more crack pairings, such as Hinata and Oorochimaru, Konahamaru and Tsunade, Jiraya and Naruko (Naruto's Sexy Jutsu form)... etc. Then there's Sakura Haruno. I feel so sorry for her, because she seems to get paired with EVERY other character in the series, boys AND girls.
Also, and this is particularly true for the Naruto fandom, you see a LOT of character bashing, especially on Sakura Haruno. Seriously, not only does she get portrayed as a total slut bag, but she gets portrayed as a self-centered bitch. That's not to say that Sakura's the only one to get bashed, but she gets the brunt of it, trust me.
In Cardcaptor Sakura, you see few variations of fanservice and self-service in the form of crack parings, because there are ostensibly fewer characters to ship. In fact, the most prevalent pairing in this fandom is Sakura Kinomoto and Syaoran Li, which is a canon pairing. What I mean by 'canon pairing' is that it's generally accepted as in-character, basically what you'd expect from two characters.
My chief concern about this fandom isn't crack pairings, though; there are relatively few crack pairings in this fandom, except maybe Sakura Kinomoto and Tomoyo Daidouji and Sakura Kinomoto and Toya Kinomoto, but more on those two later. My chief concern in this fandom is OOCness (out-of-character characterizations). Even though Sakura Kinomoto and Syaoran Li is a canon pairing, I've seen fanfic writers indulge readers in highly inappropriate situations for this couple, including but not limited to anal, bondage, S&M, and all other manner of whoring. Like the Sakura of the Naruto fandom, the Sakura of THIS fandom could be a slutty teenager, but that's not all. Sakura Kinomoto can be a cold heartless bitch, a fussy nagging bitch, and oh, yes, an 'asshole' to be fucked! Note on 'asshole', if you know what I mean. Not only that, but Syaoran Li could be a dominating bastard, a cold heartless bastard, or even an all-out man-whore to be tamed by the 'innocent' yet seductive Sakura Kinomoto. Note on 'innocent', if you know what I mean.
Then there's Sakura Kinomoto and Tomoyo Daidouji, and Sakura Kinomoto and Toya Kinomoto. First of all, and I'm not kidding, both Tomoyo and Toya are related to Sakura, Toya as her older brother and Tomoyo as her 2nd cousin. I've seen fanfic writers indulge in their sick incestuous fantasies by shipping Sakura and Toya into highly suggestive situations, where Toya is a perverted older brother who wants to keep Sakura away from Syaoran and have her for himself. I don't need to go any farther than that.
As for poor Tomoyo, I absolutely love her. In the anime, she is mature, even elegant for her age, and has an implied attraction to Sakura bordering on obsession, but her motives are selfless and genuinely platonic. Despite the fact that Syaoran wins over Sakura in the anime, Tomoyo is willing to help Syaoran and Sakura realize their true feelings for each other, even going so far as to play matchmaker with the help of Meiling Li. But I've seen fanfic writers indulge in their girl/girl fantasies by making Tomoyo seem like an obsessed voyeur and stalker, dressing up Sakura in bondage outfits, even going so far as to share full-on lesbian antics with Sakura, whose innocence prevents her from realizing Tomoyo's so-called perverted designs on her! Ugh! I swear, I'll kill any fanfictioner who dares to assail Tomoyo's character in this way! ( >_< )
On a last note, the portrayal of Meiling Li, Syaoran's cousin, as a possessive, jealous bitch with incestuous motives for Syaoran really gets on my NERVES!!! ( >_< )
Then there's Ghost Hunt. Since I am a HUGE Ghost Hunt fan, my views on this fandom are undoubtedly skewed. But I will try to make my arguments as honest as possible. In Ghost Hunt, the main paring for this fandom is Mai Taniyama and Oliver Davis. My issue in this fandom aren't crack pairings; it's OOCness and self-inserts. OOCness does get annoying, but self-inserts REALLY get on my nerves in this fandom! Anyway, I've seen fanfic writers portray Mai Taniyama as clumsy and dumb, and a virtual trouble-magnet for ghosts and other evil spirits to attack, while the tall and handsome Oliver Davis comes to her rescue. Over and over again. This is completely at odds to the Mai I saw in the anime and read in the manga. She's strong-willed when she has to be, gentle when she needs to be, intuitive, smart and brave in dangerous situations. She has her foibles, one of which is Oliver Davis, but she's not weak, she's not clumsy, and she's NOT dumb! In fact, in the manga, she even successfully solved a case almost by herself, for Christ's sake!
Then there's Oliver Davis and his assistant, Koujo Lin. I've heard from a LOT of Ghost Hunt fanfic writers from FanFiction(dot)Net say that those two characters are two of the hardest characters to portray in-character in any fandom, and rightly so, because they are two VERY complex characters whose pasts are only hinted at in the manga. I know this, because I've written them in a fanfiction story I have on FanFiction(dot)Net (over 100,000 words of it and still counting), and I've come to second-guess myself in how I portrayed them time and time again. But I've seen many fanfic writers take a short cut and portray them OOC, sometimes DRASTICALLY OOC, like having Oliver fall madly in love with Mai and not be a smart aleck like he usually is, or having Lin (the tall silent type) fall for MAI, which makes him a pedophile since Mai is a minor! I mean, seriously, that's disgusting!
Then there's character-bashing, specifically on Masako Hara, the medium of the Ghost Hunt team. Just like Sakura Haruno in Naruto, Masako Hara is one of the most hated characters in Ghost Hunt. Because she's a famous medium with her own TV show, I've seen fanfic writers portray her as a scheming pretentious over-paid and useless bitch trying to steal Oliver's attentions from Mai, and fail at it miserably to poor Masako's detriment. I've seen fanfic writers write her out of the story, because she always faints at the slightest paranormal disturbances, thereby making her bedridden or sent to the hospital, thereby making her useless to the case, so they can indulge in their fantasies with Mai and Oliver. Ugh! Masako's not useless, she's not scheming, and she's not a bitch! ( >_< )
Last, but certainly not least, there are self-inserts. Self-inserts are original characters (usually told in 1st-person POV) that are based off of the fanfic writer's own fantasies about being front and center in the story. Self-inserts piss me off in any story, fanfiction or original fiction, but self-inserts that pretty much hijack the story line from the Ghost Hunt cast is self-centered, pretentious and tasteless. I've seen fanfic writers insert themselves into the story as more beautiful than the rest of the Ghost Hunt cast, someone who is the center of attention in the eyes of the Ghost Hunt cast, and more WORTHY of Oliver Davis's attentions as the perfect match for the male lead in the story... I swear I'll kill any offending fanfictioner who dares think herself (or dear God, help us, HIMSELF) worthy of hijacking the Ghost Hunt story line with their pretentious shit-filled awesomeness! ( >_< )
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As for the 1D fandom, I've noticed many trends on this (Wattpad) site that combine much of what I've said earlier in this argument. To save words, time and quite possibly angry 1D fans, I shall make this post as short and succinct as possible.
1. Many 1D fangirls seem to disregard the true personalities of the 1D band members and instead impose their fantasies on their personalities to suit their deepest most perverted desires. That is disgusting!
2. By extension, many 1D fangirls seem to portray them as gay, either to fulfill their boy/boy fantasies, or to just say, 'IF I CAN'T HAVE THEM, NO ONE ELSE CAN!' I don't know about you, but portraying REAL people as gay or straight to fit your fantasies about them is disgusting!
3. Many 1D fangirls seem to insert themselves via self-inserts into their 1D fanfics to be the center of attention of one or more of the band members. This is pretentious and self-centered!
4. Many 1D fangirls seem to indulge in fanservice and selfservice by portraying them in highly inappropriate sexual acts, including but not limited to sex, bondage, S&M, and all manner of depravity. That's just sick!
5. Many 1D fangirls seem to combine other elements from other genres by portraying one or many or even all the band members as vampires, werewolves or other creatures, so that they can be more sexy than they already are. I'm not even gonna go there. ( O_O )
Thus, you have my assessment of the 1D fanfiction crisis. I hope this explains most of the problems people see in this fandom.
Now I'm not saying ALL 1D fanfiction is crap. I'm sure there are dedicated 1D fans out there who truly work hard in portraying the 1D band members as a hardworking, talented and worthy bunch of guys who have beaten the odds, climbed to the top and plan to stay there. If you're a true 1D fan, you'd respect who they are and what they have done, not degrade them into your play things. 'Nuff said.
Thus endeth my argument. What are your thoughts on this?
(The End...)
A/N: Have a heart and review; I want to know what you guys think. And be freaking honest, please!