I am amused.
'Wrongest Love' is a joke. It always was. It says so very, very clearly in the introduction. One of the sentences I used to describe said fic, in its own introduction, is: 'In other words, this fic is crap.' I mince no words about the crappiness of this fic.
Bah, I digress. My point being: some people cannot see a joke even when labeled clearly.
Or, possibly, I don't know a great fic when I write one.
Your choice.
Replies: add your comment: currently 17 comments
There are people who take jokes SERIOUSLY.....and those who take seriousness as a JOKE...Which one is more "out there" in the mind? You decide. I guess it can vary from situation to situation as well.
I denno....How else can I put this? This is just the way people are. Even when something is (meant to be) funny, there are people who do see that side, but also take it SERIOUSLY at the same time. Oh sure, they'll laugh at it and get shits and giggles, but, perhaps paradoxially, they also take it as serious. They're like "This is funny as hell! But it's also so brilliantly written, in a fahsion that makes me want to give you the Nobel Prize!"
And they don't GIVE the Nobel Prize for stuff like this. But you get what I'm saying?
One thing I really HATED, and still do, is people's infatuation with Austin Powers. Austin Powers is a joke. It's meant to be funny (and I don't deny a lot of it is, but some of it...yeesh...). It's generally a spoof (or parody, if you like). But people take it so SERIOUSLY. I mean, yeah, they LAUGH at it, but it's like....they just act like it's so....grand and epic, I guess, for lack of better terms. I'm really having diffiulty articulating what I mean, so no one may understand what I AM trying to say....But good God, it's just a silly movie, meant to be a JOKE. It IS a joke. And it's a joke that people take it so seriously.
It sounds people could be doing this with your story, Moon. It's a joke, but they take it so dramically, I guess. I really cannot say this is a good thing or a bad thing....Good in that they LOVE your writing (and your writing IS brilliant)! But bad in that this is not the IMPACT and PURPOSE you intended; it's intention is not fully getting accross to these people....
Such is writing.... :/
Posted by Wolf @ 06/16/2002 01:44 AM EST
There are people who actually thought that overstuffed piece of deliberate awfulness was *good*?!? Oh, dear gods, kill me now, please, and spare me the stupidity.
Posted by Nathan @ 06/16/2002 02:42 AM EST
It's common practice among many fanficcers to "bash" their own work as a way of fishing for compliments. They say "Oh, this sucks" expecting people to rush in saying "Oh no it's not!"
So that might be why your "this is a joke" disclaimer was lost on them.
Or maybe they're just not paying attention *at all*.
Posted by StB @ 06/16/2002 03:49 AM EST
...rather, "Oh no it doesn't!" Oh...you know what I meant.
Posted by StB @ 06/16/2002 03:53 AM EST
Never undererestimate the power of human stupidity. And never underestimate fangirlish obsession with Cloud and/or Vincent's contribution to said stupidity =P.
Theoretically, I could write Vincent/Mog slash and it'd get at LEAST one or two glowing reviews just 'cause it had everyone's favorite overrated pseudo-vampire in it.
Posted by Shax @ 06/16/2002 03:37 PM EST
Um, I can definitely say that this fanfic is as awful as Go Wyverns was good. I think some people are just overawed by adjectives and multisyllabic (polysyllabic?)words.
Posted by Sheerlyevil @ 06/16/2002 06:44 PM EST
Gods I was STUPID when I read that thing...I am actually concerned that I might have written one of those 2 glowing reviews. That scares me. I must need a stronger dose of ritalin...
Posted by Nagia @ 06/16/2002 08:42 PM EST
I actually know a person who will announce that she's writing a "joke" fanfic, and post it, only to revel in the fangirl praise that always comes pouring in. So it's quite likely that people like her believe you're doing the same think - writing a story that you love dearly, and calling it a joke so people who would sneer at its fangirlishness will praise it too.
Viva la Volepit!
Posted by Beene @ 06/16/2002 11:07 PM EST
It's common practive for fanfiction.net people. I've read horrible slash before, looked at the reviews, and if it recieves a bad one, someone pops up and posts about how the person who gave the bad review is jealous and/or close minded.
Posted by Shinji @ 06/17/2002 01:23 AM EST
Well...I don't really understand the entry here. Yes, something may be a joke, but that certianly doesn't mean it has to be like the following:
"HEY I ARE JOKY FANFICK FUNNY HUH PLZ REVIEWZ LOL I <3 U~ XDDDDDDDDDD"
I would certainly hope that not all joke-only fanfics are quite like that. I think they were simply praising you for your ability to make something damn hilarious and write it very well in the same instance.
The line about making something serious out of a joke. I'm not sure if I understand your point entirely, but maybe the people think the fanfic/movie/whatever is grand is because it manages to make them laugh so much, and that deserves lots of praise in their minds? I know a lot of people who go through life in misery and would love to have someone put a smile on their face, nevertheless make them practically shit their pants with laughter.
Posted by Safaia @ 06/17/2002 05:17 AM EST
Safaia, trust me- I read those two reviews Moon was speaking of, and they were *not* praising the joke nature of the fic. Yes, that unholy monstrosity of a fic actually *is* a hilarious joke, if somewhat painful to read, it's so bad. Those two were just... gushing. About how sophisticated and descriptive the fic was. It seems like they were just easily overawed by excessively flowery adjectives. Basically, it would seem like they believe any fic they need a thesaurus to read would rate highly with them.
Posted by Nathan @ 06/17/2002 03:22 PM EST
The Pit Of Voles has *no* sense of humor- I posted a story making fun of Fan Fiction.net itself, and was instantly flamed, because they thought I was actually going to hack into the website or assianate Xing or something.*blinks* Never overestimate the stupidity of thirteen year old writers!
Posted by Squee For Me @ 06/17/2002 03:47 PM EST
I think my review may have been considered to be gushing praise, when in fact I was just poking fun at the whole "OOOH MEGA-DESCRIPTIVE YAOI IS SO SEXY ^__^ MULTISYLLABIC PRETTYBOY ANGST SUICIDE MAKE ME SO HOT!" fangirl thing. Plus I thought it was a greatly amusing fic, so I thought I should at least leave a review of some sort.
It looks like I failed utterly at being ironic though, so I apologise.
Posted by Cereal Experiment @ 06/17/2002 07:17 PM EST
Oh, proops, don't apologize. Deadpan irony is really fucking hard to do well in text-only environments, and I admire you for trying; furthermore, it's as much my fault as yours for misconstruing the comment.
I tend to underestimate the voles' intelligence on a regular basis; however, sir/ma'am, I can promise I shall never underestimate yours again.
Cheers, and thank you for clearing that up.
Posted by Mooncalf @ 06/17/2002 10:34 PM EST
I find it amusing that a fic I wrote as flamebait ("Tooth and Nail," the Dias/Bowman smutfest) to get back at the 'eww no more Dias/Ashton' got ten tons of happy reviews. ^_^
Posted by chaobell @ 06/18/2002 12:40 AM EST
I really should've made the comment a lot more obvious, I think. Perhaps a lot more ^_^ and tossing in the odd random Japanese word or phrase would have made it work, like "OMG THIS STORY IS SO KAWAII!! ^_^_^___^ YATTA! KAKOUII!! ^_^;;;;;"
It definitely looks a lot less... understated, that way. It possibly looks like it's trying too hard to be excitedly fangirlish, but anyway...
I do have to agree about the overall lack of sense of humour in the Pit of Voles. I wrote the most obviously sarcastic Evangelion piss-take ever and deliberately marked it down as a serious work of fanfiction, knowing full well the zealousness of the average Eva otaku. Unsurprisingly I soon hard several reviews complaining about how the fic was a "slap to the face of all eva fans" and that I "insult every eva fan with this shit". I did get some reviews by people who had apparently got the joke and found the fic funny, and the flames of the less intelligent denizens of ff.net were just a delightful bonus for me to point and laugh at. They'll be happy to know that chapter two is already finished, chapter three is underway, and as soon as fanfiction.net is willing, they'll be uploaded and causing more righteous fury in the ranks of the Eva otaku. God, how I love them so.
I'll stop babbling now, I've wasted enough of everyone's time. And I think the more I try to explain myself the stupider I manage to make myself look, so I'll shut up now.
Posted by Cereal Experiment @ 06/18/2002 11:22 AM EST
I read that thing about a month ago, and loved it. It's just so... /wrong/. I realized it was parody after about two sentences. It's the perfect example of how /not/ to write a fic-- and yet, it was angsty, romantic, and the adjectives never failed to fit. So, what I'm trying to say is: it's a good fic, because it's so bad, and anyone who thinks it's bad will have to read good fics (preferablt yaoi ^^) as torture, until they realize how good this badly-written fic is.
...right. I'm gonna go take my medication now.
Posted by Anne @ 06/22/2002 09:04 AM EST
