I recently did a rant on the number of rated stories here on AFF. What day is it? Jaejoong's Birthday? So it was like 9 days ago. I initially just ranted about the fact that rated fics are often viewed purely for the smut and not the actually content of the fic, then I went into the actual content of the rated fics and how the authors play it off. I badly want to criticize authors that write badly.
That brings me to the question of what is a fanfic? (I have to rant about why before I get to the actual point, as always.)
It should be a simple- a fictional story containing a celebrity or fictional character written by a fan.
It should be as simple as that, but I can't accept that easily. When reading fanfics that are written poorly I always, the first thing I think, try to remember that not all authors speak english, are good with grammar, actually care how badly it sounds as long as they get to live out their fantasy.
This is where it becomes complicated to me. I started reading fanfics because I wanted to read about my biases life, and no it was not Jaejoong but Kamenashi. (There aren't that many kame fics so I had to start biasing over Korean boy bands, ugh.) Not once did I ever imagine myself as the girl that my bias loved or could possibly have a relationship with. At first it was an age factor thing, but now that there are people my actual age like Taemin or those guys in Teen Top like... that young one... It is very easy for me to connect myself to their ages. However, I would still never want to read about me having a relationship with them. I'm a reality facer, I know it will never happen no matter how many times Jaejoong says he will marry a fan. A thing that occurred to me is that I really lack the ability to love. I can like to a certain level, but I can't love. No, let me rephrase that, I lack the ability to be in love with someone. I am in love with certain songs because I love the singer and the tempo of the music and the meaning of the lyrics, but I am not in love with the singer and their almighty glory.
It doesn't have to be love, it might be sex, but my "I don't want to read it" is falling in love with a guy. When fics put me in a situation I will never be in, I don't want to read. Do I want to read a fic about them falling in love in high school, no I don't want to fall in love, and I am already a high school student, why would I want to read about more of it. In a few years I'll be complaining about how I have finished all that and never want to relive it. That is just one example of why I won't read a fanfic.
(yes it just changed fonts, I went off topic so there.) First of all, name any high school fic that portrayed realistic life. I can think of a few that would come close, but even my favorite author hasn't done this. Mostly the fics f.cuz on love. Wonderful. Now connect it to me. My student life consists of me waking up, going to school, trying to sleep in class, eating other people's lunches, listening to music in class, taking notes, hating teachers, and interacting with friends. I am un athletic (coughinfrontofpeoplebutIamactuallyreallygoodatmartialartscough) and I don't do sports like most of the girls in the fics. I never study, or do homework like most of the girls in fics.
I lied, I do study, mostly in class, but I study and stress out just slightly before a test starts and I look over my jumbled. I am actually putting off homework because I don't want to do it... I'm doing this rant instead. I know it is something we don't ever want to think about, but homework, projects, studying. Just because I am a little genius and don't work hard doesn't mean that average girls do. An element clearly lacking from high school fics is the whole aspect of high school.
There is usually interaction in the crowded cafeteria and the boy is on the basketball or soccer team and is often at practice. There are occasionally times when the girl will turn down a chance to go to a club because she has homework to do and those few times they have projects- leading to mindless sex in someone's room.
Those are the plot furtherers... it's not a word, whatever. They are there to make the story move on. Oh we have a project, let's go to your house to work on it. Mom's not home, you're seducing me. That is how it works. But there should always be a mention like every couple of chapters or so to remind the readers what the setting in. Saying we are in a classroom is not going to cut it. Forgetting your setting is not going to cut it.
This is forgetting your setting. Going out to parties every night, club regulars, cutting class as easily as 1, 2, 3.
There are so many reasons to this just being absolutely WRONG.
- You can't get into clubs unless you are of age. In Korea it is 19/ 18 everywhere else in the world. In America it is 21. In Japan it is 20. You can't go in at 16 to go to a club. Stop going by what you see in dramas, manhwas, other fics. They are wrong. It is a cliche set up to draw in views. Don't use it, deconstruct it.
- Partying every night, besides the fact that would eventually and most inevitably fail your grade. You'd also be arrested for probable noise pollution, nuisance to the public, staying out after curfew. Yes, there is a curfew, not the ones set by parents, but the one set by the government. If you are out after hours the police will stop you and either take you in, escort you home, or something to do with your situation. CURFEWS.
- Parties are expensive. Even if your character is THE richest man in Korea, at least his parents are, (by the way, that is the most overused cliche out there, try not to use that unless you make it SUPER original. It is too overdone) they can't do that. If they are average people then a party would be once a year, for a birthday or some other special occasion. I mean PARTY, not a small get together where you make instant ramen and drink vending machine beers, a PARTY. Average people can't waste money on parties, especially with college around the corner. That money needs to be saved! If they are rich people they still can't have parties that often. They are most likely in an influential family that has to keep up an image. This would be on par of suddenly... uhh... Yoona started walking around naked everywhere. She can't do that, everyone would know and think bad of her. Mostly likely anyway, the family doesn't want to waste their money on things like parties. The high ups throw sophisticated parties. NOW IF IT IS A PIMP PARTY, GO AHEAD. (On topic with rich stories, in this day of economic crisis, why not put them in a situation where the company is failing. It is often stated, but brushed off because it doesn't really matter to the author when it is really a plot maker. Don't push these settings away. Pisses me off.)
- Cutting class does not make it seem like you are in school. You are in an alternate universe. I see it so often and so easily done. In my school if you cut class twice you get a warning, the third time is a detention, suspension, summer school (which we would have to pay for as it is our duty to go to school) and even expulsion. I don't go to a fancy private school, I'm in a poor public school. I thought asian schools were stricter! Yeah, they let things go, but some sort of discipline should take place!
This is not a high school. This is a fantasy world. Sorry to burst your bubble.
I've gotten so off topic... Anyway, you can make it realistic by simply implying or making it seem like they are students. They don't go out every night. They study, do homework, stress about tests, plan their schedule around school activites like sports or club. That is high school. It doesn't have to be all over the page, but just a simple mention of the high school atmosphere would make a story 10X better.
For any fic. State your setting. That's sets up the fic. Remember your setting and write situations that fit the setting. Has a job, betting be working then. Mention the job at least, make it seem like they work (unless they are hobo or lazy).
An idol... works as an idol. Dance practice, singing practice, recording, photo shoots, talk shows, radio shows, variety, dramas, training, workouts, make them an idol. Isn't it pretty common knowledge that idols don't get good sleep and their schedules with fellow group members are often clashing. Stop giving them random days off and spending hours doing nothing. It's different when SHINee was PAID to waste time with a baby, they have busy schedules.
Let me organize this for a second because I ramble.
- fanfics are written by fans so they don't have to be written well
- I want fanfics that are written well so I am ranting
- I don't like fics that are written about falling in love. (Why can't there just be a good friendship fic?)
- fanfics are often written about high school and are WRONG. Even if the story is supposed to be about something else, include the freaking setting to keep the story balanced.
- setting is important to remember even if they are working or idols
I originally started ranting about rated fics. That was my purpose for this blog, but I am rambling.
This is clearly my opinion of what a fanfic is. Fanfiction is whatever the author wants it to be. They can write whatever plot they desire with whoever they want to satisfy any needs they have.
As a reader of fanfics I wish to dictate what my author is writing because otherwise I won't read it. it is the sad truth, but I AM DROPPING FICS MORE AND MORE. I hate having to settle on a standard beneath me. I'd rather read a children's book.
The sad reality is, we as readers get to win. We tell you no, you shouldn't do it. We as authors should win. Our opinions are what matter, nobody should tell us what to do. This is our fantasy, we create it. (This does not apply to the decency of writing. Write the god damn thing properly with all of the things I have ever mentioned in a rant.)
I am very torn with this issue. I am writing two fics at the same time. One is not getting any comments or views or subscribers because it isn't really meant as a fanfiction but as a fiction in general. I am writing that one for me and I am allowing my readers to look at it. it is my ultimate fantasty fic. I don't care if people read. (I want responses to tell me how I am doing and to know that I am successful, but I don't need it.) I love what I am writing even if no one cares. My other fic is a plot, setting, cliche that I absolutely don't want to write. SHINee and rated. Here's the thing, we're writing it (because it is coauthor) for the sole purpose of getting readers.
staticdream said, "If we marked it as SHINee and rated everyone would read it." That is pretty much true. At first i wanted to willy nilly test that. Make it just pure smut and see what people did. I think we would have gotten a lot of subscribers. (They are the only one that matter. They come back, means you did good.) Instead, we went in the direction of writing it seriously and trying to break the cliche of high school, rated, and SHINee. (SHINee isn't my bias and I hate feeding this wave of shinee loving. It's not like I don't like SHINee. Yeah, Ring Ding Dong, Lucifer. Good Songs. Didn't make sense but good songs. Hello was a little childish, but if they were my bias i would surely love it.) As SHINee is not my bias and I never hope they become so, I hate feeding this popularity. They have enough fics, they don't need anymore. I promised myself that i wouldn't write a high school fic, but here I am. I also said I would never write rated, but it is. This is all to get subscribers and comments. We are also doing it to show that a rated high school shinee fanfic can be written and written well. Not because we want to write a shinee fanfic. (At least I don't). Also, to provide a well written fanfic for the readers. We hate it, you probably do to on some level. Since shinee is the most popular, we will be helping satisfy the most fanfic readers we can.
That is why fanfics are so back and forth.
- fanfics are written by the author and it is THEIR story
- fanfics are read by the reader to satisfy their needs
- being well written won't necessarily make it popular
- if it is poorly written it will lose views
- writing fanfics should be because you want to, not because you are an attention whore
Alright, so my "I don't want to read this" was love. The whole setting thing was me rambling.
The next one is smut.
It has occurred to me during some epiphany that smut is what really starts fanfiction. I find it reasonable to have it in a fanfic. It happens in life, it is a common subject, and it is very desirable. It is completely comprehendable that someone wants to write a rated fanfic. Clearly they want to get laid. Going along, this is what the author wants to write, this is what the reader wants, it works. I will read it because I am part of the new generation of premarital sex, not that I have. It is perfectly acceptable these days for sex to be as common if not more common knowledge than basic algebra.
Nobody looks down on it really. Except a line needs to be drawn to when you are putting these concepts into play. if not just a waver in the girl before sex, then a little rethinking after, I think you have met the requirements to be acceptable as a good character following a plot.
let me explain this with a situation probably to be used in the fic we are writing.
Girl is intelligent, innocent, and shy. She will have sex. it is preplanned and guaranteed. Fitting with her character, she WILL not jump into her man's arms, she will think of all the outcomes. She is going to be a good little religious girl and think about the sin she is probably going to commit. After she has committed the act, she will consider if she has done the right thing because she has gone against a basic moral. Sex is a big deal, how will it affect her future?
there are two types of rated fics, ones written purely to be smut, and ones with smut in it to fit the story.
Pure porn
smut needed for the flow
there can be more slight plots to the porn
there can be more, and intense, smut in the fics
the ratio shouldn't intermix completely
if they do, it needs to be written THE BEST DAMN WAY POSSIBLE.
From my previous rant, I used a statistic from the last 10 featured fics. 60% of them were rated. I read two of the rated ones to analyze. They were pure smut and should not have been featured. I went back and did a correct tally of how many of the fics were rated.
Since August 8, 2009, 40 fics, there have been 11 rated ones. Just over 25% of them.
it is a real turnoff to find a fic featured that is rated. I want to read it because peer pressure says everyone loves it so I should too. I don't want to read it because it will most likely be pure porn. People are starting to confuse what fiction is. It is not masturbation party time, it is a form of expression to write and create.
You can be expressive with smut, but smut is not how you express yourself.
I think I have let off enough steam so I can get back to writing the first chapter of this stupid smut shinee high school retarded why do my friends want to read this oh my gosh some one give me a muffin fanfiction.
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