[ SECRET POST #4354 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4364 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 48 secrets from Secret Submission Post #625.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

07. https://i.imgur.com/75aRbhR.png

[(Anonymous)]

It's way fucking harder to find good published fic than it is good fanfic.

[(Anonymous)]

A lot of published lit is bad but come on, literally, how could that be possible. How. Where are you finding all this great fic? Link me so I can laugh at your bad taste.

[(Anonymous)]

Wrong. Stick to classics, classics are always good, unless you twist your definition of 'good' to 'books I personally enjoy'.

[kaijinscendre]

It is so hard to find them though. Fics have tags. Books have vague summaries.

[(Anonymous)]

Lol, imagine if Goodreads was as usable and searchable as AO3

[(Anonymous)]

I agree. And I think it's mostly because a lot of people read strictly genre lit and classics that they suffere in public education, and in the end never discover everything that's out there.

(pre-emptive statement of yes I know that there's fanfic that is better than a lot of dreck being published I read like half of Twilight okay)

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think they're better, I just think fanfic satisfies different needs.

[(Anonymous)]

The mindset you're describing is just... really, really different from my own personal experience with fic, yeah.

[(Anonymous)]

OP, I agree, but part of the problem is you have to PAY for non-fanfiction. You can't just read two chapters and then put it down.

(Yes, I realize Amazon and such usually have samples/look inside, but I also know that the first couple of chapters in fiction are the most extensively edited. And on top of that, what you pay for a book colors how you see it when you're done - if you paid a lot and it was a mediocre book, you're a lot less satisfied than if you spent nothing/spent less.)

[(Anonymous)]

I think fanfic is better than published fiction for stories about the characters. Yes sure published official books and side stories and extended universes exist, but they're always hit or miss on quality (usually miss) never as good as the quality of good fic because canon lore generally doesn't explore the same areas fic does. I don't mean only ships either, but AUs and whump and h/c and fluff and curtainfic... Etc.

Now if we're talking solely about all fic vs. all published books I don't know why either you OR they are making that comparison because most published books are not derivative stories that tell the tales of other intellectual properties.

[sparklywalls]

Eh there's some absolutely awful published fiction that I wonder why it exists but no doubt there's even *more* terrible fanfic because of the nature of fanfic archives being open to all in a way published work isn't usually. Having said that, Amazon etc is allowing more people to publish original works albeit you won't necessarily get a large audience. I've read some absolute stinkers through stuff like Kindle First as well.

Overall I've found it easier to find good published work under my own steam compared to good fanfic that ticks all the boxes I'm wanting from a fanwork.

But personally I'm ultimately not fussy either way as I read both for different purposes. There's different ways of finding the good stuff in each category. In a fanfic archive you can go by certain search parameters, with published work you're probably relying on reviews or word of mouth. But even fanfic comes with an element of needing recs.

It is, sometimes.

[(Anonymous)]

For some fanfic and for some published works. But, yeah, it is easier to find fanfic to suit your needs than published works and I say that as someone who tends to go to the library two or three times a month.

It tends to be easier to find specific tropes you like and easier to avoid things you don't like with fanfic. Fanfic also features characters people already like.

So, yes, I agree, if people put in more effort, they could probably find published works they would enjoy. But they don't have to if they don't want to, since it is, after all, their time and their effort, for entertainment.

[(Anonymous)]

Before I could access fanfic on the internet—so pre 1995 or so—I was a shy preteen. I didn’t know that fanzines and conventions existed. I read everything I could get my hands on and if I was lucky I maybe got a new (to me) used book a month and a couple new ones for Christmas/my birthday. Otherwise every week my mom took me to our local branch library, and every couple months we’d go to the big one downtown.

Our local library system was pretty good. I tend to get obsessed with something new every year or so and the last big obsession I can remember that pre-dated my having internet access was King Arthur and (especially) Merlin. Because the Arthurian stories aren’t just public domain but folklore, there were a lot of fictional retellings and scholarly books about them in my local library system. And I still ended up running out of stuff to read before I ran out of obsession.

Thanks to fanfic, running out of stuff to read about my obsessions got a lot rarer. And fanfic is often created by writers who think about their respective canons the same way 10-12 year old me did about King Arthur—he was okay, but Merlin the side character was way more interesting.

It’s not so much that fanfic is automatically better plotted, or crafted, or more crammed with symbolism, or whatever denotes quality, than published work. But it’s like going to the library to hunt through books on King Arthur for mentions of Merlin and getting buried alive in an avalanche of books on your favorite character. Some may be shit, some are awesome, some are just plain weird, but it’s all stuff about your favorite part of a story.

I still read new books pretty often, my house is full of books, and I work for the library system I grew up borrowing books from. Fanfic for me is like finding part of the Unseen University library or the library in the Beast’s castle, or in the Dreaming, where not only can you find all the books that exist, but also all the books that ever could exist. Fanfic is probably the closest we’ll ever get unless someone sets actual A.I. to writing the complete works of Shakespeare by brute computing power a la typewriting monkeys.

[(Anonymous)]

What about published fan fiction like Sherlock Holmes pastiches and Pride and Prejudice sequels?

[mudousetsuna]

I have utterly no interest in original fiction most of the time. That's because reading as a medium is not my jam. But when I watch TV and anime and movies, I want more of those things. Fanfic and RP is the next best way to get it. And when it comes to writing in those particular fields/genres, I REALLY enjoy it and am far more invested in the characters because I was already invested to begin with.

My shows are my meals.
Fanfic/RP is dessert.

Don't force a second breakfast on me when I'm full. ~_~

[(Anonymous)]

Personally, I think that fanfic is comfortable for a lot of people--it has characters they already know, worlds they've already explored, easy summaries and easy filters--and that's perfectly fine. Lord knows I re-read my faves all the time because I love them so dearly. It's nice to feel cozy like that.

But the concept of not trying something new because you're not already emotionally invested in it flabbergasts me. Books...have summaries? They even have general content tags on the copyright page.

I totally agree it's just a taste thing, but I just can't fathom preferring derivative storytelling (not an insult in the slightest; just the basic nature of fanfic) over taking every opportunity you get to BECOME invested in something brand new, especially not to the extreme extent a lot of people I know seem to take it (ie the sentiment that fanfic is just better in all ways, or ONLY reading fanfic and never picking up new books).

[meredith44]

I've pretty much given up on fanfic. Either people aren't writing for the fandoms/pairings I want or what there is that I'd be interested in is mediocre at best or awful at worst. I see all of the people in this thread saying that it is so easy to find good fanfic using tags and kudos and that hasn't been my experience at all.

On the other hand, I read a ton of original works. Either through the library or Kindle Unlimited, so they are "free". Sure there are some stinkers, but usually I can figure that out within a reasonable amount of time. (I sometimes get burned by a series starting out okay and getting progressively worse, so I've ended up reading 4-5 books and wish I had that time back, but that's not too common.) And with Kindle, Amazon is good about reccing similar authors and/or books. Plus I can search via keywords. I've read over a hundred books this year, and have enjoyed the vast majority of them.

Honestly, I just love when people read, whether it is fanfic or published fic. But I have seen the attitude about it being easier to find good fanfic, and that just hasn't been the case for a long time for me. So, I agree with you at least somewhat, OP.

[(Anonymous)]

the inability to just run a search on all existing fiction for a set of tropes and character types I like is a massive hindrance to the efforts.

Like sure I could ask people, but that means interaction with human beings. Then going to the library to borrow it, if the library has it, then bringing it back if I don't like it to find something new

Meanwhile, a fanfic, I can run a set of filters on two or three sites without leaving my computer or interrupting my current task, find out if what I want exists, skim it and decide if I want to invest the time in reading it and read it or move on to something new in much less time than it would take for me to get to an actual library.

But like, I know damn well I'm incredibly lazy and riddled with social anxiety. Published fiction is a pain in the ass for a shut in even without the whole finding premises of interest step.

[tabaqui]

I think it's weird how several people in this thread seem to think that if you like fanfic more than published work, then you're just an idiot who doesn't know the first thing about writing.

I don't get that kind of snobby attitude, or understand why anyone would care that much.

[(Anonymous)]

I like fanfic because I'm going to see myself way more in the works instead of Straight White Male Protag or Straight White Female Protag. I'm just tired of how few works feature people like me. So I'm going to find more of that in good quality among fanworks.

[(Anonymous)]

The amount of times I've searched for new books that sound interesting, read reviews to see if other people have enjoyed them, spent money on them...

and then actually felt bad for selling them second-hand because they deserve to be destroyed so that future generations will not experience the same disappointment that I just did is very discouraging. I don't think I'm alone in noticing a drop in quality when it comes to editing over the last decade or so.


It would be super handy if published works had a database that included spoilers and reviews that weren't from people who probably work for the publishing company.

I don't bother with buying new books from authors I don't know now. My friends and I do book swaps because we know what all of us like and we've been pretty successful in picking for each other.

[redseeker]

Same. There is so much out there, and some of it takes a bit of time and digging to find, but I think people are scared to go beyond the bestseller shelf. And I say this as someone who loves fanfic.

[eve_n_furter]

This is such a weird way to put it: published fic vs. fanfic...

I like both and I want more of both and I have read fantastic stuff in both genres. And more fantastic works in one genre stimulate more fantastic works in the other and it's the best circle. So why would you put them up against each other? Give us more of both and let the wildflowers bloom like crazy!

[(Anonymous)]

I agree. My problem with fanfiction these days is that I cannot find those that are well written enough for me. I read about 500 published books a year and I beta actual writers too. I want so much more from my fanfiction that I have to write my own for myself. I'm known to have a complex style and I'm in quite a known fandom too. I'm my biggest fan, since I cannot find fanfiction as good as mine, which is a bummer. I would want more to read.