James Cameron is too much of a pussy to make this sequel

[Cain]

I have just discovered Avatars II: When Qwaritch Takes Revenge

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5673392/1/Avatars_II

It starts off with the immortal line:

One day on Earth, Kernal Miles Qwaritch (HE S NOT DEAD OK! PRETEND NETYRI DIDN T KILL HIM OK!) was sitting in his house in Nevada, watchin lesbian flicks an drinkin Rollin Rok an eatin popcorn when all of a sudden his phone rung

And from there on in, it only gets worse.

[Bruno]

I hate it when phones rang all sudden like. I much prefer a slow gradual rang. 

[Pæs]

Nazis flying on giant birds. This has to be turned into a movie.

[Laughin Jude]

"I thought we killed Jake" said QWaritch silently. "Then I must get my revenge!"

Thanks for this. Holy shit.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Whoever said literature was dead was being overly optimistic

[MMIX]

Whoever said literature was dead was being overly optimistic

Dunno about literature but ParodyFic is obviously alive and kicking needs to be kicked

[Laughin Jude]

Whoever said literature was dead was being overly optimistic

Nah, I'm bringing it back. Gimme a few.

[President Television]

Whoever said literature was dead was being overly optimistic

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Ever heard of My Immortal?

[MMIX]

Why does nobody ever talk about good fanfic; just a thought.

[President Television]

Why does nobody ever talk about good fanfic; just a thought.

Because good fanfic is still fanfic, and fanfic is just a modified rehashing of a story you've already read, and thus inherently dull unless it's bad.
Except for Shinji and Warhammer 40k.
And Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.
And Godzilla vs. Cthulhu.

[Cain]

Why does nobody ever talk about good fanfic; just a thought.

Because good fanfic is still fanfic, and fanfic is just a modified rehashing of a story you've already read, and thus inherently dull unless it's bad.
Except for Shinji and Warhammer 40k.
And Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.
And Godzilla vs. Cthulhu.

Yeah, there is good stuff out there.  It's just much harder to find, and unless the writer is more talented or creative than those who wrote the original, it's not going to be all that great.

Plus most of this stuff goes into the "so bad it's good" category.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Why does nobody ever talk about good fanfic; just a thought.

Because good fanfic is still fanfic, and fanfic is just a modified rehashing of a story you've already read, and thus inherently dull unless it's bad.
Except for Shinji and Warhammer 40k.
And Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.
And Godzilla vs. Cthulhu.

Yeah, there is good stuff out there.  It's just much harder to find, and unless the writer is more talented or creative than those who wrote the original, it's not going to be all that great.

Plus most of this stuff goes into the "so bad it's good" category.

Usually if someone's that good/creative a writer, they come up with their own storylines and characters instead of writing fanfic.

With very few exceptions, fanfic is the domain of unoriginal hacks.

[MMIX]

With very few exceptions, fanfic is the domain of unoriginal hacks.

Yes but then, with very few exceptions, all fiction is the domain of unoriginal hacks. Best article I've seen on the phenomenon of fanfic appeared in Time Magazine this month http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2081784-1,00.html.

MMIX
fanfic widow

[Cain]

Yeah.  Although, with Fanfic, you've already got something of a built-in audience, which makes it slightly different from your own fiction.

Alot of TV Tropers write decent fanfic, as you would expect (when they are not writing purposefully bad fanfic), and I know a couple of people on there are using fanfic as, well, Writer's Exercise, to get them used to thinking about plots, dialogue, characterisation and so on in a semi-structred environment before moving on to write their own fiction (and gain a bit of web-exposure for their skills), which I think is a very good idea.

Admittedly, that still leaves a good 90% which is utter crap, but, then, Sturgeon's Law...

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Yes, most writers are not very good, and that includes writers who are able to get their own original story ideas published by real publishing houses.

It's just that fanfic authors don't even make it into that category.