Fucking enablers
Jun. 8th, 2006 04:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
farla::sigh::
Well, the glorious Devil's Day is past, and as such, problems and annoyances resurface.
I shouldn't be watching them, or even posting here really - it's been how long since I updated? I suck... - but hey, I've been getting about four hours of sleep for the last two weeks and focusing on anything is beyond me.
Anyway, the pokemon category is a pit of unredeemable evil, which is admittedly unsurprising, but still. Something interesting is going on, though.
(Sorry, but...) You know Dragonfree's Life of a Character? I don't much like it. When I read it, I sort of rolled my eyes, which is what I do whenever I see the style of parody where someone writes utter crap that doesn't resemble badfic so much as an author's attempt to write the worst stuff they can and lower the bar so they'll feel better about their real work. What I mean is, the examples shown are always ridiculous. It's the kind of thing that gets positive reviews because no one, no matter how awful they are, will look at it and say 'Huh...this reminds me of my own work' and be upset. It's not helpful, it's just a long ego-boost for the writers and readers, because it gives them a strawman to feel superior to. If it has to be Princess Aliha Sakura Rainbow Giovanni-Ketchum to be a sue, then surely their Hitomi Moonshine isn't one. Worse, the badficers look at it and go 'Oh!!! I agree!!! That makes me one of the good writers because I think this is bad!!!'
You think I'm exaggerating? I'm seeing problems where there aren't any? I'm being overly picky?
You poor naive fools. You guys know of Dr. Thinker?
Anyway, it apparently read Life of a Character. And, god help us all, decided to write something along the same lines. It posted an unbelievably godawful profile on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
oc_analysis, explaining:
Beware, I got this idea from Dragonfire on "Serbii.net". He wrote a story called, "Life of a Character" and it tells of the events of a Mary Sue in a bad fic. But what a good fic or decent fic? That's the story. No harm--if this O.C. becomes a Mary Sue--but any review posted to this character file will end up.
See? Dragonfree's fic made it think it doesn't suck as a writer. Next it'll start thinking it's a person or something and deserves the same respect given to those who can string a coherent thought together.
And in case you had any delusions that the story would be passable, maybe even mediocre, it's been posted on FFN under the title From The Pokemon Trainer From the Sea and it's just an utterly horrible piece of garbage. It's not even a badly done parody, or a badly done marysue in a decently spelled setting. It's just a badfic. It's the raw essence of crap, but it's not quite as bad as Dragonfree's fake-story examples, and because of this, Dr. Thinker is now under the delusion it doesn't utterly suck and should inflict more of its scribblings on the unsuspecting masses.
Well, the glorious Devil's Day is past, and as such, problems and annoyances resurface.
I shouldn't be watching them, or even posting here really - it's been how long since I updated? I suck... - but hey, I've been getting about four hours of sleep for the last two weeks and focusing on anything is beyond me.
Anyway, the pokemon category is a pit of unredeemable evil, which is admittedly unsurprising, but still. Something interesting is going on, though.
(Sorry, but...) You know Dragonfree's Life of a Character? I don't much like it. When I read it, I sort of rolled my eyes, which is what I do whenever I see the style of parody where someone writes utter crap that doesn't resemble badfic so much as an author's attempt to write the worst stuff they can and lower the bar so they'll feel better about their real work. What I mean is, the examples shown are always ridiculous. It's the kind of thing that gets positive reviews because no one, no matter how awful they are, will look at it and say 'Huh...this reminds me of my own work' and be upset. It's not helpful, it's just a long ego-boost for the writers and readers, because it gives them a strawman to feel superior to. If it has to be Princess Aliha Sakura Rainbow Giovanni-Ketchum to be a sue, then surely their Hitomi Moonshine isn't one. Worse, the badficers look at it and go 'Oh!!! I agree!!! That makes me one of the good writers because I think this is bad!!!'
You think I'm exaggerating? I'm seeing problems where there aren't any? I'm being overly picky?
You poor naive fools. You guys know of Dr. Thinker?
Anyway, it apparently read Life of a Character. And, god help us all, decided to write something along the same lines. It posted an unbelievably godawful profile on
oc_analysis, explaining:Beware, I got this idea from Dragonfire on "Serbii.net". He wrote a story called, "Life of a Character" and it tells of the events of a Mary Sue in a bad fic. But what a good fic or decent fic? That's the story. No harm--if this O.C. becomes a Mary Sue--but any review posted to this character file will end up.
See? Dragonfree's fic made it think it doesn't suck as a writer. Next it'll start thinking it's a person or something and deserves the same respect given to those who can string a coherent thought together.
And in case you had any delusions that the story would be passable, maybe even mediocre, it's been posted on FFN under the title From The Pokemon Trainer From the Sea and it's just an utterly horrible piece of garbage. It's not even a badly done parody, or a badly done marysue in a decently spelled setting. It's just a badfic. It's the raw essence of crap, but it's not quite as bad as Dragonfree's fake-story examples, and because of this, Dr. Thinker is now under the delusion it doesn't utterly suck and should inflict more of its scribblings on the unsuspecting masses.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-06-08 09:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-08 10:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-19 11:30 pm (UTC)You have a point about making fake badfic too bad. I've been thinking along the same lines when reading some other parodies, but I do think, hopefully not just out of some sort of ego-denial, that the average parody is a great deal more exaggerated than Life of a Character is. It is too, to an extent - and it would probably be better if it weren't - but it's not just a stew of everything bad I can imagine thrown together into something that's not humanly possible to mistake for a real fic.
Either way, it's a speculation about what the characters would think of the fics they're in, really, more than something in the direction of your Unoriginality that's there to remind people of their own fics and make them change.
I don't quite get what exactly the guy thinks his fic has to do with Life of a Character (is he just desperately trying and failing to write a parody of his own or even more desperately trying and failing to show how to write a good fic?) but at the very least he needs a review or two.
(Bleh, now you gave me my infamous rewriting-urges.)
no subject
Date: 2006-06-20 02:53 am (UTC)Either way, it's a speculation about what the characters would think of the fics they're in
I know, but it's not only that. The problem arises that your character isn't really within the story, but spends much of her time directly complaining about her author's flaws, or talking to others about others' authors' flaws, and it's clear that for much of the time, you're - sometimes quite explicitly - pointing out what you feel is wrong or should be different, or writing in the author as a character herself. If you're just writing the adventures of a character in a rather unusual setting, it's one thing, but you're clearly writing about something meant to be badfic, detailing reviews, talking about the author's failings...The way you've written it, the story and the author are as much a part of the full tale as the main character, but you don't render the former two realistically.
From what I made out from Dr. Thinker's incoherent babble, it's attempting to write the adventures of a mary sue in a well-written story as opposed to a poorly written story. Beat some sense into it, I don't want to touch it if I don't have to.