Short entry about a story I read...

[farla]

Specifically, The Secret of The Cave of Origin by chinesechic.

It's an OT story, involving an 'Isabel' with brown eyes and black hair. By amazing coincidence, chinesechic's profile informs us she has black hair and brown eyes. It also says to call her Isabel. Also by amazing coincidence, her other story, a Code Lyoko fanfic, involves a character named Isabel, who has brown eyes and black hair.

But, as is usual, I don't make these entries just to mention the new sue of the day. There's always something specific I feel like mentioning.

This time, it's that the writing is very good.

Don't get me wrong - the story sucks. I am not and will never be someone who says sues can be written well. Also, the third line of the story is...well, this:
She slid down the stair rail (A/N: That’s fun!) and ran into the kitchen.
Emphasis hers, actually.

The plot...well, it tanks right about when it gets to the point she meets May and Brendan while they're all waiting to get their first pokemon and never recovers. And that's about a tenth of the way in.

But the writing of the story is good. The author makes few grammatical errors and actually manages to describe and write decent dialogue.

Which raises the question: is it better to read poorly written good ideas or well-written bad ideas?

::sighs:: Perhaps she'll improve.

Comments

[jaxmalcolm.livejournal.com]

You know, I got scared the moment I saw the first line. I mean, it's her first fanfic (or so she claims), so I figure it's unlikely she'll be able to tell the difference between a flame, a bit of constructive criticism, and a marshmallow. That and as soon as a person says it's their first fic, I get the feeling that it's probably going to be horrible, and it's definitely going to have mindless reviewers who insist that whatever sludge that follows that line is both original and the best thing to hit the Pokemon category of Fanfiction.net.

...Or perhaps I'm just being too close-minded about it.

As for your question, in my opinion, it's better to have poorly written good ideas. Okay, so the story might be a little hard to read, but at least with a few lessons in grammar and a bit of practice (as of description, at least), that good idea might actually shine. Very little can save a bad idea, especially if it hits all the bad points (unoriginal plot, Mary Sue, everything in between).

[kddreams.livejournal.com]

She slid down the stair rail (A/N: That’s fun!) and ran into the kitchen.

.....

I use to write like that!!!

Well, now we all know why I stopped writing. Yep, yep. ::nods::

[actonthat.livejournal.com]

*sigh* Isn't it a shame that we can't have both at the same tame? Both are brutally painful.

[alicornmoon.livejournal.com]

Well-written bad ideas are better becuase if written well they are not bad ideas anymore. Mary Sues can be written well IMHO it just takes time and effort..

[farla.livejournal.com]

...you've never seen some of the grammatically correct badfic out there? No matter how nice your writing, if your plot is on crack your plot is on crack and if your characters are obnoxiously idealized they're obnoxiously idealized. Good writing can't fix other flaws.

[alicornmoon.livejournal.com]

I have, I've also read books that were written well with bad plots..As for the idealizing, I don't really mind that very much as I read fics to get away from the real world to began with, but that is beside the point. I have faith in those that already have a good handle on grammar, as it shows, I believe, a deeper level of commitment to their stories than the common author has . Sooner or later even the most overused basic plot may grow into something even better with time and hard work in later chapters. Perfection in plot is pretty much a myth in most published books, let alone pokemon fan fiction. Everyone defines a a good plot differently as well so the whole debate is nearly endless in most fandoms. That is only what I think however, to each their own.

[farla.livejournal.com]

Yes, but, there's a difference between, say, a somewhat overused plot and an outright bad one.

Here's an example. I read an OT story where the main character was going to leave at sixteen. He was born in Kanto and then sent at the age of four to live with a professor in a new region. One day when he goes into the lab all the professors of the various regions have assembled and he's given a large quantity of items and a special starting pokemon. He's excited so he runs outside, screams a bit, then returns. He then goes to his room to change into traveling clothing. When he comes back down, he finds that a new team has attacked and is threatening the professors to hand over all their pokemon or else. He challenges them and defeats them by having his pokemon use vine whip to knock their pokeballs back into their faces before the pokeballs open, then throws them away into the sky.

No matter how well that may be written grammatically, it's still pretty stupid.