some try to fit everything so seamlessly into canon that you cannot tell where the story begins and the show ends
This is what I write, more than anything else. I'm usually hit by a look or a moment when the scene changes and we don't really know what happened there, and I fit my idea in those cracks. I think that fits into your requirement of imitation, whether all does or not.
(Not trying to blow my own horn, just using me to illustrate because, if you want to point and laugh, I'd rather it be at something I've said about me than something I've said about someone else) I have two stories that illustrate that attempt to fit things into canon, and you can borrow them, or any of my others, if you like.
The first is the Smallville what if Clark were really crazy? story wherein all the actions are exactly what happens on the screen, but, at the same time, Clark is carrying on an internal dialogue that illustrates the actions differently than what can be extrapolated from the show. In my version, he's a seriously disturbed creature acting "normally" by the show's lights--but not doing it well--to cover up his evil plotting or to get revenge. For this story, it was very important to me to describe what the viewer sees exactly as it's seen, and to use the same kind of language.
The second is the most recent, What if Lilah brought Faith to the meeting where W&H hire her to kill Angel and they get stuck in the elevator? tale. That was written because a friend asked for Lilah/Faith smut for her birthday. It fits pretty seamlessly into canon, despite the fact that canon never gives us a hint of Lilah and Faith sleeping together. I tried to use language they would use (though more swearing because it seemed appropriate for the characters without television guidelines to follow). It connects to things that happen in story future. in particular, Lilah dressing up like Fred when she sleeps with Wes.
I also wrote a Spike and Dru story, where I attempted to recreate their particular characters in New Orleans, but also inserted some real people who'd been living there at the time, and used a sort of self-help book written by one of those people to help me construct his speech. That one might be of use to you as well.
For me, fanfic is:
- a puzzle. How do I make tab A, happening on camera, fit into the slot A2 I've created before the camera starts rolling on Slot B, which is likely directly connected to tab A by the story that's been filmed?
- a learning tool. How do I make distinctly different characters act in ways I haven't seen, that fit within the framework of their characters as I have seen? How do I keep those characters from becoming caricatures? How do I keep them distinctive from the other characters?
- a framework to hang a story on. It provides some of the work already accomplished--a world, a name, a focus, a goal--so that I can focus on one or two particular things that intrigue me.
- an opportunity to practice writing, in particular, sex. Eventually one of my sex scenes will be believable and hot at the same time, I hope (and I think believability increases the hottitude where wondering where that prehensile penis comes from, for example, severely decreases the hottitude).
I don't think I'm an average ficcer. I haven't been doing it long and I haven't seen many stories like mine. I'm in awe of the stuff Plei does, and others like her, who write really brilliant long stories in whole new directions and yet their characters are still the ones I love from the show(s), or like Erika's, introduce me to characters I've never seen before and make me care about them.
I've seen some really bad fic, and most of the bad fic seems to be an excuse to write poorly staged, histrionic sex, so the writer can pretend to be her favorite character and/or pretend she gets to have sex with her favorite character. I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons to write bad fic, and I'm not sure some of mine that's porn with (barely a) plot, couldn't be considered badfic as well.
I'm sorry to go on so long and I hope some of this is helpful to you. I think your idea is a good one--unique and intriguing--which is always helpful when your professor has to read 30 papers about the same basic subject.