Recent conversations have made me consider my definition of good fanfic. I'll admit it; I'm a snob when it comes to grammar and spelling issues. I find it difficult to read things where there are problems with either. My *sole* purpose in writing Spuffy is to entertain, yet if I get criticized on a technical aspect (which was actually deserved and taken onboard...I hope), I feel as if I've failed. Now, I've read stories which, though technically flawless, leave me cold for any number of reasons. Does that make them bad fics? Or just not my cup of tea?
I *like* popular fiction. I have no qualms about going to the bestseller list and picking out titles that sound interesting. There are authors that, as soon as they produce a new work, I *have* to buy it. I don't shirk from admitting that I adore Diana Gabaldon, or that I own every Jonathan Kellerman novel, or that I think Carl Hiassen is a frickin' brilliant satirist. I'll also be the first to admit that given the choice, they would be representative of the type of writer that I'd like to be.
Does it cheapen what I do by wanting to entertain? Why is it that I feel like less of a proper fanfic author because I don't want to spend my writing time writing deep, meaningful fic? That I'm somehow selling out because in light of my goal, I have a tendency to romanticize the characters in order to tell my story?
Don't construe this as anything negative on my feelings toward my writing; that hasn't changed at all. I know what I do, I know who I'm writing for, I'm fully aware of my own limitations, and I'm 100% OK with that. It just strikes me as curious that, in spite of my security with that, underlying those are these other questions.
Or maybe it's just a leftover from my fever-addled brain from the past couple days. That's entirely possible, too.
