Day 15: A Fanfic
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 @ 2:38 pm.
I've been looking forward to this one. I've been writing and reading (not so much writing in the past few years) fanfiction for about five years now (here's my juvenilia at
eleven and
thirteen for the sake of proof; caution: they're really, really bad), and I'd probably be able to talk for hours about this sort of thing.
Rather than presenting one fanfic, I'm going to pay tribute to three of them, especially to make up for my meme drought these past few weeks because of exams.
But first, here's some definitions before I go on; things are definitely going to get confusing here for those unfamiliar with the world of fanfiction.
Fanfiction: (this is the definition I gave to Audrey on Plurk; she's a Gleek, which explains the example) A fan-written work written based on a fiction series/universe created by another, usually published, writer. E.g. let's say you're a Glee fan. Then you write a fanfiction about, say, Rachel and Finn, and write about an event that didn't actually happen, or was skimmed over, in the story, or a rewrite of an existing scene. So you can do things like ship your own pairings, improbable things like, I don't know, FinnxKurt, WillxSue (I don't watch Glee, I don't know) (Plural: fanfictions; short form: fanfics, fics)
Canon: Refers to elements of the source universe/franchise/story (e.g. SHINee, Glee, Naruto, American Idol). For example, Rachel and Finn are canon characters of Glee. A canon pairing would be when two characters are actually romantically involved in the plot of the actual story.
Original: Refers to elements original to the fanfiction itself. For example, an original character (OC) is a character created by the fan-author of the fanfiction that did not exist or appear in the actual universe (for example, a relative of a canon character that no one knew about). I'm not sure whether original pairings and plots are actually called "original pairings" or "original plots" but since most fanfictions either have different plots or different pairings from the source, it's pretty much a given.
Alternate Universe: Where the fanfiction takes place in a world/setting that is completely different from the source. For example, Glee in outer space. Naruto in Singapore. Characters being picked up and deposited somewhere else.
What If?: Fanfiction where a few elements of the main storyline are changed and assumptions made to see what happens. For example, what if Rachel damaged her vocal cords and could never sing again? What if Iron Man was a woman? (God forbid)
Pairings: Romantic relationships.
Slash: Refers to pairings between two male characters (I'm not sure about female, but I think it's the same). Common ones are Naruto/Sasuke, Remus/Sirius (I'm not sure about this one), Frodo/Sam, etc. etc. Occasionally names for these pairings become portmanteaus of the names of the parties involved, e.g. Kradam (Kris/Adam), 2min (Taemin/Minho), JongKey (Jonghyun/Key)
Straight: Boy-girl pairings.
Drabble: Very short fanfiction.
...right, I think that's enough terminology. I'm not going to delve into Mary Sues/Gary Stus just yet; you can ask people like Sheralyn or Jelly about that, or look it up on the Internet. Better yet, I'm sure that there are plenty of fanfiction guides out there, which are probably less confusing than what I'm trying to write.
I'm not even considered a fanfiction geek or anything like that.
==
All right, here goes:
1.
THE iPOD SHUFFLE DRABBLE by forwardlove [WARNING: SHINee SLASH]
Anyway, this is a series of ten drabbles (short fanfictions) by my sister. She writes K-pop fanfictions, lately all of SHINee slash.
The concept of an iPod shuffle drabble is to put your iTunes/iPod on shuffle, and then write drabbles based on the music.
하루달 (day moon) - dbsk [jonghyun/key]
Jonghyun sits by the windowsill, chin pillowed dramatically in his arms. His eyes scan the horizon or what's left of it, with buildings bridging the gap between ground and clouds.
He thinks of nothing but Kibum.
Maybe the younger boy is having fun out there in Japan. maybe Key is getting better at the language, eating hitsumabushi or whatever other Japanese food Jonghyun can think of, telling Taemin to stop jumping across the twin beds in the room they're probably sharing.
Maybe it's raining in japan too. Maybe Kibum's looking out the window too, head resting on his palm like Jonghyun knows he likes to.
Maybe Kibum's thinking of Jonghyun too.
Kissしたまま、さよなら - tohoshinki [jonghyun/key]
Blink.
Key looks into his cup of coffee, at the light foam swirling on the top. His vision swims, one tear falls into the dark liquid.
Smell it.
He smells, no, feels the aroma of coffee invade his senses, thinks vaguely about the time Jonghyun had brought him to the cafe on the other side of town and introduced him to the double-shot espresso thing that had turned out to be the best coffee he had ever tasted.
Feel it.
Warmth pervades his fingers, heat made mild by the porcelain between the coffee and his hand. Such a mediocre replacement for the warmth of Jonghyun's chest against his touch, thinks Key as he puts the cup of coffee on the countertop and promptly forgets about it.
Open. Open your eyes.
Looking out the window, it's a cold day mid-spring and a gray rain is washing over the city of Sapporo. Kibum looks out the window and everything reminds him of the boy he's missing.
Just look at me now.
These are the first and second drabbles of that fanfic which I posted in March 2010, just to pimp my sister a little. The italicised parts of the second drabble are the opening (English) lyrics of the (Japanese) song (which is its title) Kissしたまま、さよなら (Kiss Shita Mama Sayonara). Which is an example of how you can apply the write-a-fic-based-on-a-song concept.
Anyway, I think this fiction is one of the best that my sister's ever written, and therefore deserves a spot here.
2.
Team 8 by S'TarKan [WARNING: NARUTO WHAT IF? FANFICTION]
Recommended by an online acquaintance, this is a Naruto AU (alternate-universe)/What If? fanfic about what would have happened if Naruto had been placed under Kurenai as a mentor instead of Kakashi.
Again, I think this guy writes really well, and as an avid follower of Naruto canon (original universe) I am continually amused at the changes made in this fanfiction. For instance, it's always nice to see Naruto kick Sasuke's ass (although this has not happened and will pretty much never happen in Naruto canon if what's been going on keeps going on), but it's even nicer if the situation set up in the fanfiction actually allows for this to happen.
So the writing is exceptionally fluent, especially for something that cropped up on FanFiction.net, and plus the universe developed actually makes sense. Even so, it's kind of galling that the fanfiction plays up so much on the social ostracism Naruto receives in his early days that it extends to even assassination attempts, especially since the actual manga focuses more about him refusing to be beaten down by it and eventually rising to be accepted on his own rather than other people doing the work for him. But it still makes sense, so maybe it's just because I follow the manga too much that I find this annoying.
3.
After the Storm by poppetawoppet [WARNING: AMERICAN IDOL SEASON 8 ALTERNATE UNIVERSE SLASH]
Jelly sent me a bunch of Kradam (Kris-Adam American Idol slash) fics last year (I'm not actually sure why she did so because I don't remember exactly being an out-and-out Kradam shipper, although I'm pretty sure she was). So while slacking after Literature Paper 1 I found myself going through old emails, finding this Kradam-fic email, going off on a Kradam-surfing tangent, and finally landing here.
After the Storm is a superpower AU (alternate universe) where a classified government experiment gone awry creates a superpower-granting storm (not unlike Fantastic Four, but that was in outer space, not in Ohio, and that only affected five people, not a thousand). The American Idol Season 8 Top Ten, on tour in Ohio, is caught in this storm. These affected people are, almost predictably, rounded up into concentration camps and subjected to experimentation, and finally are left alone to await eventual coercion into government subservience. So, of course, the AI Top Ten decide to escape.
I'm going to give After the Storm credit for being one of the slash fanfictions that don't spiral off into descriptive, indulgent erotic scenes and put the plot first. The fanfiction that inspired this fiction, Summer Boys, was one of these; another superpower-AU with an X-Men-like setting, which started out with an amazing premise but in the end just turned into an extended smut scene. Of course, with my self-censoring mind I cannot appreciate this and usually end up scrolling through these parts with a nervous feeling in my gut.
Personal censors aside, I just don't like it when a perfectly good plot and premise is sacrificed for the slash. This wasn't one of them. The slash wasn't even particularly prominent in this one (though there were many exceptions) but it still worked.
However, After the Storm falls into some superpower clichés as well, though these are largely unavoidable. Telepaths, no matter what the universe, always have migraines/tear-hair-out headaches. But seriously, what else can they have that would be fitting, twitchy eyes? green skin? Nosebleeds and fainting after using your powers too much? Glasses to protect against uncontrollable optical powers? Been there, done that. But again, what else is there to do?
As it is, After the Storm does well to deal with these cliches, and follows them up with some really good writing. I like seeing a well-written telepath, though they're generally all written in the same way, and though I've never done one (attempted; failed) before, I've always admired this and wanted to do it. Kris as a telepath is written very well.
Also, the powers allocated for each character (aside for some minor characters and OCs (original characters) where it seems to get a little random) do fit each of their personalities and characters (at least, those that have been generally established in the fanfic/public universe).
It's inevitable that at least one character will come up with more Messianic (omnipotent, incredibly powerful) powers than the rest, and as thus takes the lead in everything and has to do a lot, and it's fitting that this should be given to the American Idol. The way that Kris handles the role also seems entirely appropriate, and the imagery and character fit so well with what little the public knows about celebrities that it works.
I don't read slash fictions for the slash; it's either the writing or the plot that does it for me. Luckily, this had both. I'm actually re-reading it, and fighting the urge to review it a couple of years later to suggest more appropriate X-Men comparisons for one section of dialogue. There's a lot more that I'd like to say about this one, like the exceptional internal monologue and the appropriate tone, but that would be giving the plot away. There are also quite a lot of criticisms too, like the fact that most main canon characters don't really seem to have any flaws, but this is commonplace in fanfiction, as well as a few pace and continuity issues, but I don't want to be nitpicky about it when I don't need to. As fanfictions are amateur works, written for no money with only self-editing, I'd say that this is perfectly respectable.