Drunkard's Walk Forums

Here's a topic I'd like to see explored a bit:
What fanfic authors do you continue to (re)read and enjoy despite massive problems in their work?  By which I mean anything from systematic inability to grasp spelling or grammar to author rants and imploding storylines?
Let me cite a couple of mine.
Skysaber.  Absurd SI antics, effortless defanging of enemies, authorial rants appearing in the mouths of his characters like clockwork, stories that never get finished, and a combination of paranoia and thin skin that results in his abandoning the Net every couple years over some slight.  But when he's on his game, he's pretty damned good and a lot of fun to read.
Fred Herriott, aka "Pyeknu" on FF.net.  Melodrama, melodrama, melodrama.  Long, rambling sentences that fill up entire paragraphs -- with multiple internal digressions -- and (frequent parentheticals), punctuated with EMPHASIZED words.  An obsession with punishing every character he feels has sinned in canon against his protagonist, sometimes with long lectures delivered to them on how bad they were.  An inability to write a story without inserting the Nendo-kata and his other original creations into their plots.  Mary Sue-level powerups to his favorite characters, to the point that no matter how he escalates their opposition, they always triumph in a flash.  But he has great ideas and despite their faults the stories are fun.  (Except when they get a little too into the "punishing" thing.)
So, who do you hate to love?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

I'm with you on skysaber, the same for the other authors on what used to be studio aesir.

I'm not sure if Ozzallos belongs in this pile or not, his writing is technically excellent and fun, and yet there is a certain pattern to it.

I know I read a few where the technical aspect of the writing was not up to snuff, but they still had an intriguing story to tell, but I can't recall any of them.

and of course who can forget Bob Schroeck from such a list. E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Bob Schroeck Stories that I enjoy reading but take too long to update. I first came across him from a something like a 'guide to avoid certain mistakes when writing fanfic'. Several of the links in it were broken, although finding the correct ones lead me to some interesting stuff. Mainly I am sometimes annoyed by certain aspects of his worldbuilding, some of which conflicts with advice in the guide.

Seriously, every word of that is literally true, but putting it here exaggerates it greatly, and it is mainly to tease. I currently haven't the time or energy for stories by writers that bother me enough to really qualify.

Catty,

You ninja'd me. And weren't you the one with the really nice Nanoha/FMP cross that , IIRC, was not finished, and which may have overlooked certain Cold War Grognard pleasing bits?

I'm working on it, but yes I do have one. I will note I began writing that while A's was still airing, which should give you an idea of my speed, or rather lack thereoff. I would like to write more, but there are too many shiney distractions.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Does it count if my own writing drives me nuts with finding minor things and my utter inability to get any meaningful amount of progress on it in the past few years?

The original Undocumented Features fics probably belong on this list, actually, given the level of in-joke references, and the fact that they're less Self Insertion and more inserting favorite characters and plot elements in the putatively real world.

Even more than that... Twisted Path. All of the criteria, basically, but also one of the first long fics I read. The Just Won't Die series is, if anything, worse about them, yet also strangely enjoyable. Between the three of these, the shape of Bubblegum Disaster suddenly becomes much less ... original isn't quite the word, because it does have a different general take on blending stuff with BGC than I've ever seen, but... Well, like Winnie the Pooh once said, a thing that seems quite thingish when you think it is sudenly less so when you try to explain.

I'm going to count CarrotGlace's Ranma/Sailor Moon SI too, though I can't quite recall the name - Gaijin? - it just kind of spiraled into insanity as things happened for no appearent reason beyond that the author thinks they're cool (which is kind of a given if someone wants to write a story, but usually there's a justification given IN THE STORY for why people are suddenly gaining superpowers or whatever...)

Herbert Heinlein did and even more so John Ringo does tend to write ranty stuff. Being processed through professional editing for publication seems to blunt the worst of it, but still, their politics are very clear. (And would probably be opposed enough to take issue with being mentioned in the same sentence in that manner, but meh.) Heinlein also tended to get racy enough to fall into the 'guilty pleasure' category, and several times a book by him will be going strong and going strong and suddenly it's like he realises he's getting close to his max word count, says "Oh crap! I gotta wrap this up!" and tacks on a final chapter, then an epilogue to bundle up the plot threads he didn't have time to properly tie off, which would put the old goat here all on its own.

- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

ClassicDrogn Wrote:I'm going to count CarrotGlace's Ranma/Sailor Moon SI too, though I can't quite recall the name - Gaijin? - it just kind of spiraled into insanity as things happened for no appearent reason beyond that the author thinks they're cool (which is kind of a given if someone wants to write a story, but usually there's a justification given IN THE STORY for why people are suddenly gaining superpowers or whatever...)

That is the fic title, although the author has changed his handle to ContraBardus (www.fanfiction.net/u/17205/). All of his recent fics are similar. They're fun to read, but kind of out there.
Jeconais (http://jeconais.fanficauthors.net/Harry_Potter/) does fun Harry Potter fics where Harry is amazingly super awesome and can apparently do anything he wants while gleefully steamrolling over everyone else. Also fun, but absurd.
druth's mostly abandoned Ranma/RIFTS fic Journey (www.fanfiction.net/s/710368/1/Journey) has similar issues.
How about anything by CrazyDan (www.tthfanfic.org/AuthorStories-4439/CrazyDan.htm), who tends to do Xander-centric Buffy fics, but also did the Potter fic Tivor?
dogbertcarroll (www.fanfiction.net/u/284419/dogbertcarroll)?
Godogma (www.fanfiction.net/u/1384225/Godogma)?
----------------------------------------------------

"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV

Undocumented Features. It's committed almost every possible sin, aside from 'endemic poor grammar' and 'lack of basic language skills'.

The day eyrie-productions goes dark will be a truly horrible one.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

Life's too short to read bad fanfiction.

(Mind you, I'm not one to judge what's bad or good – I think the stuff I write is just barely passable, yet some folks here appear to like it... and I judge everyone else's work in comparison to my own.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Quote:Undocumented Features. It's committed almost every possible sin, aside from 'endemic poor grammar' and 'lack of basic language skills'.

Reread core, they committed those sins aplenty in the early years.

I'm not sure dogbertcarroll belongs in this list, he writes crack, nothing but pure high grade crack-fic. Though I suppose the effect is the same. Compare and contrast if you will Perfect Lionheat and dogbertcarrol, PL's stories while crack and entertaining diverge all over the place with rants in the middle and so on, while dbc's stories tend to be much tighter focused and they tend to have more noticeable plot progression. It's like putting Twilight and Dracula into the same category because they are both about vampires.

I'd also dispute druth's Journey, since it's really Ranma inserted into Rifts, and the entire setting is like that. Plus it has plenty of buildup into the powercurve, and Ranma is more an OCP that while powerful is not in the same league as most of the things he fights.

Overall though I agree and I have read most of these. Then again the ones listed here are all fairly good in their own way.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

I'd argue that the reason that CarrotGlace and druth are 'Bad' is more the update schedual... they do actually update.. though it can be years between updates.. which means you either risk having no clue what is going on or reread the thing and get all into it then... it doesn't update for months if not years.  Its frustating, but leaves you constantly remembering why you loved it in the first place... which makes you locked in a cycle of annoyance, almost forgetting and glee.
Also it has been explained what is going on with things in Gaijin:
On another note... Skysaber claims to be Perfect Lionheart and that no one saw that... ignoring a dozen or so boards with thread calling him on that a year or so in advance. That guy is a marathon of  trainwrecks.

While that explanation for why things are happening in the way that they are in Gaijin does make sense, I can't remember that actually being stated in the story itself. Was it in an author's note somewhere, or is that something you've pieced together from scattered implications, or something else?
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

Thank you for getting the inevitable jokes about my recent writing output out of the way quickly.

Quote:I'm not sure if Ozzallos belongs in this pile or not, his writing is technically excellent and fun, and yet there is a certain pattern to it.

I was debating whether to include him in my initial list. He's certainly got his big pile of writing faults (including the infamous "Stop, magic chicken!" error in "Heir to the Empire"), but I think that his creativity and skill as a storyteller more than outweighs them.  Plus, if "Hell s a Martial Artist" is any indication, he's getting much better at the technical side of writing.

Quote:Twisted Path.

Oh yeah. I would have included Twister on this list except I haven't reread any of his stuff in, oh geeze, it must be almost 10 years. I have "Twisted Path 3" (the Bubblegum Crisis installment) in my "favorites" archive, but it's been a long, long time since I've looked at it.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

if you think schroeck is bad on updating, what about bert van vliet? i mean, his Si bubblegum crisis fic is fun and all, but come on... glaciers move faster than he seems to write
-Z, Post-reader at Medium
----
If architects built buildings the way programmers write programs, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization.

Zojojojo Wrote:if you think schroeck is bad on updating, what about bert van vliet? i mean, his Si bubblegum crisis fic is fun and all, but come on... glaciers move faster than he seems to write

It's ten years since the last update.

And it's still being written. IIRC.

Still, a damn fine fic that went on to inspire a great many others. *blushes*.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

I do have to say that if it wasn't for PerfectLionheart and his ilk, we wouldn't have Chuunin Exam Day, which while in and of itself may have been a bit fruity, inspired both TimeBraid and Reload, which are some of my favorite Naruto fics ever.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

I am obsessed with the Spacebattles.com Battletech Roundrobin, and I don't know why. It's horrible! They don't produce anything except an unending stream of grognard-y arguments about minor Battletech details and masturbatory fantasies about Jack Ryan and whatever they read on the New Scientist website the other day. I actively hate it and most of the people who participate in it.

And yet... I can't stop looking at it. Every damn day I check the BTRR to see if any new story's been posted, or just to check on the arguments. I'm a sick, sick man and I need help.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

M Fnord Wrote:I am obsessed with the Spacebattles.com Battletech Roundrobin, and I don't know why. It's horrible! They don't produce anything except an unending stream of grognard-y arguments about minor Battletech details and masturbatory fantasies about Jack Ryan and whatever they read on the New Scientist website the other day. I actively hate it and most of the people who participate in it.

And yet... I can't stop looking at it. Every damn day I check the BTRR to see if any new story's been posted, or just to check on the arguments. I'm a sick, sick man and I need help.

Oh lord, I extend that to pretty much all Spacebattle/Stardestroyer board fiction. You will never find a more wretched hive of wangst and nerdery. Even the good works have threads constantly bogged down by the most nitpicky anti-fun hoodlums I have ever seen. If you described a fence, shortly after a post on how you are WRONG and DUMB because that color paint is the wrong shade of white for post 1945 rural Australia.

If anywhere needed the Fiery Sword of Mod, it was there.
---
Jon
"And that must have caused my dad's brain to break in half, replaced by a purely mechanical engine of revenge!"

Necratoid Wrote:Also it has been explained what is going on with things in Gaijin:
Spoiler [+]

Basically, Carrot by virtue of being yoinked from another dimension, is undergoing a change that happens to all such people this happens to.. For example this is thought on scerne as what happened to Beryle's boss demon thing, long, long ago.  This looming threat is why she/it wants him dead yesterday.  This drags on for too long and He'll be able to fight her/ir on equal terms... possiblely with magical girl back up with an artifact that owned her/it last time.
This means that Carrot will, if he survives, eventually gain stupid amounts of power... and though not stated outright, the implication I got was that all those planet (and/or the population there of) eating monstrocities started off this way.  More speculation from me is that Carrot just isn't as power hungry as they are... he'd rather screw around then take over the world.  He'd rather lock himself in a bathroom they fight his enemies.  All the weirdness and psedo-crossovers are because his uncontious mind, via this power, is altering things on him.  This is why by channeling Spiderman he doomed himself to things happening this way.

Actually, I believe that the reason Gaijin counts as a 'Favorite Bad Fic' is because, in addition to the author insert who slowly develops Spider-Man style superpowers and retroactively turns out to be  at varoius points during the fic you wind up randomly running into Japanese versions of the Vulture, Daredevil, Venom, the Hulk, Deadpool, the X-Men, the White Queen, Magneto, Justin Hammer, etcetera, with the author insert having secret comic book knowledge of these people.
----------------------------------------------------

"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV

M Fnord Wrote:I am obsessed with the Spacebattles.com Battletech Roundrobin, and I don't know why. It's horrible! They don't produce anything except an unending stream of grognard-y arguments about minor Battletech details and masturbatory fantasies about Jack Ryan and whatever they read on the New Scientist website the other day. I actively hate it and most of the people who participate in it.

And yet... I can't stop looking at it. Every damn day I check the BTRR to see if any new story's been posted, or just to check on the arguments. I'm a sick, sick man and I need help.

I drop in there every now and then myself, but I keep getting into arguments with people who are utter fail at both physics and Battletech, and it just depresses me.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

Shepherd Wrote:

Necratoid Wrote:Also it has been explained what is going on with things in Gaijin:
Spoiler [+]

Basically, Carrot by virtue of being yoinked from another dimension, is undergoing a change that happens to all such people this happens to.. For example this is thought on scerne as what happened to Beryle's boss demon thing, long, long ago.  This looming threat is why she/it wants him dead yesterday.  This drags on for too long and He'll be able to fight her/ir on equal terms... possiblely with magical girl back up with an artifact that owned her/it last time.
This means that Carrot will, if he survives, eventually gain stupid amounts of power... and though not stated outright, the implication I got was that all those planet (and/or the population there of) eating monstrocities started off this way.  More speculation from me is that Carrot just isn't as power hungry as they are... he'd rather screw around then take over the world.  He'd rather lock himself in a bathroom they fight his enemies.  All the weirdness and psedo-crossovers are because his uncontious mind, via this power, is altering things on him.  This is why by channeling Spiderman he doomed himself to things happening this way.

Actually, I believe that the reason Gaijin counts as a 'Favorite Bad Fic' is because, in addition to the author insert who slowly develops Spider-Man style superpowers and retroactively turns out to be Spoiler [+]
Sailor Moon's brother

 at varoius points during the fic you wind up randomly running into Japanese versions of the Vulture, Daredevil, Venom, the Hulk, Deadpool, the X-Men, the White Queen, Magneto, Justin Hammer, etcetera, with the author insert having secret comic book knowledge of these people.

The whole Marvel tangent the story went off on actually came close to killing any interest I have in the fic. As far as I could tell, characters that already had established personalities just had entire new ones grafted on, and a good number of the subplots seemed to just appear out of nowhere, without any relation to what already had happened, for no reason beyond including another Marvel character. There's also that the main plot was basically dropped for a large number of chapters, in favor of those subplots. I'm still trying to figure out why he decided to change his name to Tony Stark, for example. Honestly, I just found the infusion of comic book characters rather tedious, and was quite glad when it started looking like he was moving back to the main plot, instead of dealing with the comic book character of the week.
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

Yeah. That's what I meant about spiraling into insanity and things happening for no apparet reason than because it seemed like a cool idea.

- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

Zojojojo Wrote:if you think schroeck is bad on updating, what about bert van vliet? i mean, his Si bubblegum crisis fic is fun and all, but come on... glaciers move faster than he seems to write

Bert has a very good reason for not having written in the last year. (I'm not at liberty to share; it's his reason, not mine.) Before that, he was working on Three Knights rather than BGZ...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

robkelk Wrote:Bert has a very good reason for not having written in the last year. (I'm not at liberty to share; it's his reason, not mine.) Before that, he was working on Three Knights rather than BGZ...

is that the collaboration with two others where 3 different BGC SIs get dropped into a fourth BGC universe?
-Z, Post-reader at Medium
----
If architects built buildings the way programmers write programs, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization.

Looks that way:

http://www.oocities.org/t...e/3knights/3knights.html

Unfortunately, the actual story pages don't seem to have been archived

- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows