in regards to 'bad!fic'

[permetaform]

I must say that even beyond my love certain trashy-slashy-bodice-rippers, even beyond my love of certain pairing fic and certain *rare* pairing fic despite their dubious quality, and even beyond the fact that deep down inside I'm kinda glad that they make my fic look good even in my *worst* days of self-loathing, that I fully, whole-heartedly approve of bad!fic.

I really do; I approve of bad!fic the way people approve of young children and puppy dogs.

There is just such an insane amount of glee and misguided enthusiasm there. They have such utter sputter-inducing seriousness when they try to use 'cum' in an erotic setting. They are unrepentant fantasies. They are neophytic probes of sexuality.

They are badly conjugated vowels.

Very, badly conjugated vowels. (you know, the ones that occur in the throes of orgasmic bliss? yeah, those.)

And I love bad!fic like I do children; which is to say that I sometimes want to strangle them.

Which is also to say that I sometimes want to protect them with all my power.

'Cause you know what? A bad!fic is just a good!fic that hasn't had a good chance to be nudged and prodded and encouraged into something stronger. A bad!fic is a new author's first attempt, or an author's second attempt, or an author's 23rd attempt just before the "Eureka" that will encourage a leap of quality into something better and more lasting and durable. A bad!fic is just something that all authors have written, and if you've never written a bad!fic before?

You're lying.

And this is not to say I wholly disapprove of elitism, because there *are* standards to be upheld. And without due reward, recognition, and publicity towards the cream of the crop, how can one adequately judge any other piece?

Where you'd get into trouble, however, is when bad!fic tries to lump itself in with the good!fic, or in other words, when the writer of one intent (social approval) tries to crossover into the audience of the other intent (literary merit), but methinks that is a post for another day.

Anyhoo, the appearance of bad!fic delights me: it means that the seeds of good fic is already set in place, that people are writing, thinking, being *involved* as fans instead of simply lurking and taking from fandom. It means that eventually all the stars will be in alignment again someday, and that someday we'll have an immense creative burst from many many writers of tons and tons of blindingly hotgoodintrospective and looooooooooooooooooooooooooong fic like what's happened with the Smallville fandom.

Only hopefully without sinking into the dark sucking pit of blackneverendingANGST that a lot of the Smallville fic dips into...'cause I kinda like happy!fic too. So there. ::sticks tongue out::

Comments

[mythdefied.livejournal.com]

(Got here through your post on AJCS.)

I think you have an interesting stance on badfic. Many of us loathe it, many of us can't tell the difference between it and good fic and many more still don't care. But you're take is more that you know the difference, you even care, but you don't loathe it because it's a starting place. It's the author's baby steps into the world of fanfic and like children, they have to learn to walk. Sure, they're going to fall on the way, but with help (beta readers, LOCs etc.), they'll soon be walking on their own (writing good fic).

I applaud your take on this. I tend more towards the bitter, cynical side of loathing it, but that's more of a personal hangup with long-winded reasons I won't get into here. You have a fresh take on this subject and it makes me smile.

Badfic can indeed pave the way to good fic as many of us can attest to. (And so many of us have written some truly horrendous crap. I shudder at the memories.) And I do love it when I get to beta for someone who has all the makings of a wonderful writer; they just need a little help along the path. (Not saying I'm an expert by any means, but others in the past helped me along and I like to do the same.)

I guess the problems for me start when no one encourages a writer to improve. When there are obvious, serious problems with an author's grammar, spelling and other technical issues, and that author just gets tons of mindless feedback without a helpful suggestion in sight. That does nothing to help the author, only tells them that they're doing no wrong, and soon they start to believe it, especially when their friends rally around them and tell them they can do no wrong. That's when it just gets extremely frustrating for me, and sad too. I've seen a couple wonderful writers go downhill because no one ever helped them out and by now they don't want to hear that they're doing something wrong.

That's usually the point when I start into my bitter rants on badfic, and I'll spare you. ;)

Great post! Thoughtful and a pleasantly different take on the issue.

Re:

[mythdefied.livejournal.com]

Heh. Quite obviously that should've been "But your take is more...."

Re:

[permetaform]

that author just gets tons of mindless feedback

heh, that was actually one of the "Eureka!" points for me personally; I've realized exactly how much mindless feedback I was getting and I looked at the fic that was getting more substantial feedback and did a "oh. well crap."

I think if the author really *is* in it for the writing, and partially too, for the feedback, then eventually there's gonna be a lightbulb. This goes especially for when you see rec pages and journals and you go "do'oh!" (which is why I heartily approve of them, not only do they point of great fic to read, but they're an example of good elitism without the gritty cliquishness of it all).

with the writers that go downhill? meh, I've seen that too. but you'd think they're realizing the type of feedback they're getting...::shrugs:: It's a communal process methinks. There are ways around pointing out that a fic could be better, and I this point I don't even fully trust my beta's opinion on a fic because most of my fics are contingent on a certain aspect showing through, but if it *isn't* showing through at all how can my beta's know it? But that's creative angst on a whole 'nother topic...