Oh sweet baby Jesus, I'm reading her fanfic now. The SPELLING!!!! And she's twenty, so there's really NO justification for the spelling. Or the punctuation.
Oh, I know. But she means well, bless her.
Say! look at you! You look just like me! We're very pretty.
Buffybot ,'Dirty Girls'
Fan Fiction II: Great story! Where's the sequel?
This thread is for fanfic recs, links, and discussion, but not for actual posting of fanfic.
Atropa - Sep 11, 2009 2:36:59 pm PDT #6240 of 10436
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
Pete, Husband of Jilli - Sep 11, 2009 2:55:05 pm PDT #6241 of 10436
"I've got a gun! I've got a mother-flippin' gun!" - Moss, The IT Crowd
...oh, gosh, she's written Pete in a top hat.
Oh... joy.
Oh whatever, it's not like she knows me. At least I'm not wearing eyeliner.
...
Don't get any ideas.
Fay - Sep 11, 2009 2:57:15 pm PDT #6242 of 10436
"Fuck Western ideologically-motivated gender identification!" Sulu gasped, and came.
laughs and laughs and laughs and laughs.
and laughs
Atropa - Sep 11, 2009 2:57:48 pm PDT #6243 of 10436
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
I can't wait for Fay's story.
giggles delightedly, which turns into a coughing fit
§ ita § - Sep 11, 2009 3:39:22 pm PDT #6244 of 10436
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
she's written Pete in a top hat.
And nothing else, as far as I can gather. (Which seems distinctly improper, if you ask me.)
Oh, you didn't mean that like porn?
(I looked at the Myspace page--it was centre-aligned italics--I'll read the reviews)
I have a completely unrelated question: Can it be a Mary Sue without authorial insertion? Is it possible for a character to look too good to be true without the feeling that the writer's getting personally off on it? If so, what would you call it instead?
Fay - Sep 11, 2009 3:51:23 pm PDT #6245 of 10436
"Fuck Western ideologically-motivated gender identification!" Sulu gasped, and came.
I'd still consider that Mary Sue; I don't know whether that meshes with the general consensus, but I've always tended to think of Mary Sue as a catch-all term for actual authorial insertion characters ::cough::AnitaBlake::cough:: and for too-perfect-to-be-true-or-interesting characters that are more a result of the writer's inability to create rounded and plausible original characters than they are an expression of the writer's wish to jump into the text.
But ymmv.
Atropa - Sep 11, 2009 4:05:46 pm PDT #6246 of 10436
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
and for too-perfect-to-be-true-or-interesting characters that are more a result of the writer's inability to create rounded and plausible original characters than they are an expression of the writer's wish to jump into the text.
Bingo. This is what I mean by Mary Sue.
erikaj - Sep 11, 2009 4:12:24 pm PDT #6247 of 10436
Always Anti-fascist!
I think "Too good to be true," is Mary Sue.
§ ita § - Sep 11, 2009 6:04:39 pm PDT #6248 of 10436
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Which just boils down to how good is too good to be true? Is Temperance Brennan or anyone on her team or even Seeley Booth too good to be true? Charlie Eppes? James Bond? Jason Bourne? That's the line you have to walk with your original characters, I guess, but for conflict you can't have your original characters completely overshadowed by these people, and fans of canon can get really possessive and prickly.
brenda m - Sep 11, 2009 6:11:14 pm PDT #6249 of 10436
If you're going through hell/keep on going/don't slow down/keep your fear from showing/you might be gone/'fore the devil even knows you're there
Which just boils down to how good is too good to be true? Is Temperance Brennan or anyone on her team or even Seeley Booth too good to be true?
Hmm. I think to make it work you have to have two things - a why and a consequence. So Brennan is over the top good but it has something to do with serious childhood issues and it plays out badly in her personal life. Shawn on Psych might be another - he's able to do what he does though yes, innate talent, but also borderline abuse growing up and while he may not recognize it, boy is he fucked up.
Movie Bond doesn't meet this, book Bond possibly, though it's been a while. (I don't know the other examples you cite enough.) Which isn't to say that Brennan and Booth and I'm guessing most of them don't totally push the boundaries of believability. But it's when you get that kind of performance without the other elements that things get past where they can be handwaved.