Friday, December 20, 2002

Fanfic blues (and a few tips)
As I mentioned before, I am writing my first Tolkien fanfic. However, the library lost the disk I kept it on, and I have to reconstruct it from memory. (AAAAUUUGH!)
I do read Tolkien fanfic as well, but it has become more difficult to find good work since the first of Mr. Jackson's movies came out. Websites are overloaded with, well, dreck, most of it from folks who seem to think that if they've seen the movie(s) and maybe skimmed LOTR once, they are qualified take these characters which have been loved by millions of readers for almost fifty years and do whatever the heck they want with them. My own biggest fanfic peeves are these:
1. "Slash"- Putting Tolkien's characters into same-sex sexual relationships. This is an obvious example of importing modern 'values' (or rather the lack thereof) where they are not only offensive to my faith and the faith of the author, but completely destructive to the spell of Secondary Reality.
2. Related peeve: making his characters heterosexually unchaste in uncanonical ways. (Writing about, say, Maeglin's lust for Idril, is another matter entirely.)
3. Modern person 'drops into Middle-earth'. Middle-earth is not another planet or dimension. It is ours. The Professor was writing about an imagined period of history, not someplace one could drop into. Time travel would be necessary for that sort of thing.
4. "Movieverse" fic. The book is readily available. Writing "movieverse"stuff is just plain lazy.
5. Not bothering to give original characters fitting names. Giving an Elf a non-Elven name (like Rowan or Star or Joy, etc.) is simply unacceptable.
6. "Crossovers" and importations of things which do not have a place in the Legendarium. The worst are the folks who import the little fluttering flower-fairies Tolkien detested.

In my searches, I have found some gems in the vast mire.
Thundera Tiger - my favorite fanfic author. I'd recommend any of her stories, though I would warn you to pack Kleenex when you read "Beyond This World"...I end up sobbing every time.
A little sample of dialogue.. from "Fear No Darkness", on whether or not Gimli.....snores.....
"I will have you know, oh great prince, that I have never snored before in my long life and…" Gimli trailed off and looked at Aragorn when the man started to splutter. "Is aught wrong?"

"Gimli, I remember very well a certain night along Anduin in which we were attempting to hide from Orcs and your snores kept rattling the boats," Aragorn said between laughs. "Frodo and Merry were paranoid that you would bring the Enemy down upon us, Boromir suggested drowning you, Sam was ready to beat you over the head with one of his pots, Pippin wondered if shaving off your beard might aid your breathing, and the only reason you met with no misfortune that night was because Legolas would walk over and kick you every time one of us rose to strangle you."

"As I recall, my foot was sore by morning," the prince said with a grimace.

"I should have known that you would side with an elf," Gimli growled. "After all, you married one."

I like some of Dwimordene's fics...
Fathers and Sons- Faramir fic, dealing with his life from the age of fifteen up until his meeting with two Halflings...
Brothers At Heart- Young Estel in Rivendell.
A Reason to Celebrate- Before the War of the Ring, Aragorn visits his own folk, the Dúnedain of the North, for a special occassion....
WARNING: THIS ONE IS VIOLENT Roots- As Aragorn delivers Gollum to Mirkwood, he ends up in even more trouble than he bargained for....
Here's a few Silmarillion-based ones....
Long Night - The Fall of the Noldor, through Nerdanel's eyes ( I have a weakness for things Fëanorian...)
WARNING: DISTURBING SITUATION Dark Forge- A look at exactly how Maeglin became a traitor...
And just for fun....
WARNING: MILD ADULT HUMOR: If Women Had Ruled Middle-earth The ending is just too funny !
A Letter from the Principal - Little Fëanor... just imagine trying to be one of his schoolteachers !





















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