[Fandom] ...in some ways this was inevitable.

[jennaria]

I check AO3 semi-regularly for more Yuri On Ice Stories I Am Interested In, which (as usually happens) are getting thinner on the ground. Unfortunately, this means I'm hitting the stage of the fandom life-cycle where I start to get grumpy.

...specifically, dear fanfic authors: why the heck are you writing stories wherein the only trace of this being a Yuri On Ice fanfic, as opposed to Any Other Fandom Ever, is the names? I don't even mean that I don't agree with the characterization. I mean 'fairy tale retelling' wherein the prince is now named Victor, and the brave maiden who rescues him is now a boy named Yuuri, and the helpful fairy is now (depending on which retelling) either Minako or Phichit, and Russian Yuri appears for at most three sentences to yell at everyone before vanishing again.

If you're going to write a fairy tale retelling, couldn't you maybe pick (a) a non-Disney fairy tale, and (b) think about what putting the YOI characters into the roles would mean? I don't feel like that's too much to ask. Grump.

Comments

[fragilespark]

The question of adaptation is one that I'm having to navigate with my Dragon Age 2 version of Sense and Sensibility. I worry about it being a name-replace so much, but I did a lot of work beforehand to find the right cast roles and the parallels that could be brought in from the source material.

I'd love to do a fairytale fic one day (when I don't have so many WIPs) and I think you're right to ask those questions.

[merit]

Well they're probably not great at writing... and some people definitely try and see what is popular - and they put out something similar for the hits/kudos.

[jennaria]

Hey, a true fusion of two sources with strong narrative voice is not easy - fairy tale re-tellings are simple by comparison. A good fusion does find parallels, I think, so hooray that you've managed it!

(And thank you. I'm never sure with my rants how much is just me being grumpy. :wry:)

[jennaria]

Realistically, yes - a non-zero portion of those I'm complaining about are teenagers or other less experienced writers. (Which is why I'm grumbling in my own space, rather than saying anything to them, because I'm not that much of a bitch.) I feel like the 'imitating the popular stuff' is definitely a thing, see also: the huge number of Mafia AUs, the huge number of group chat stories, the huge number of soulmate stories (...those are a guilty pleasure, not gonna lie), the huge number of ABO stories.

Even among those - I'm pretty sure I could point to the specific Mafia AU story and group chat story that spurred the trend, but soulmate stories and ABO stories are a constant across fandoms. Maybe more omnipresent in YOI, but I also haven't been in a Big Fandom for a while, so my data might be flawed. I suspect half my grumpiness about the fairytales in particular is because I like retellings of fairytales, at least in theory, so it's kinda YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD, WHY AREN'T YOU GOOD. :wry: Unfortunately, comments of BECOME GOOD FASTER are unlikely to be productive.

[king_touchy]

Yeah, I read that one. Want my time back...and yet, like you said, the stories I want to read are getting harder to find, and I read junk out of desperation.

Hey, I love a good soulmate story, too.

[merit]

Oh yeah genres definitely become popular. I've seen Mafia AUs be popular in the past (and read some of the most popular YOI AU one). There's some I like more than others. I'm surprised by how long ABO has managed to remain popular, especially considering some of the elements of the trope. But I suppose ABO has changed quite a bit over the years. I read a post on it a few months ago and the elements were completely unknown to me, but they were common enough to be discussed between different people.

I like fairytales too :( but from the summaries/tags alone I knew I probably was going to be disappointed.

YOI is probably some people's first big fandom. First real fandom as well. When there's so much being produced, I think it becomes easier for someone to /finally/ try writing something. Which results in some of the fic being produced. And ahah guess I'm setting high standards for my own fic, but I'm just a critical reader ^^;;

[jennaria]

Sometimes the tags are warning enough, and sometimes they aren't, for me - it partially depends on whether the author tags tumblr-style, where you get more information from the tags than from the summary field, or old-school, where it's more 'um, I dunno, what here applies?' :is maybe projecting a bit here, heh:

At one and the same time - yay for people who are putting their toes in the water, fanfic-wise! Hell, YOI is tempting me to write fanfic for something other than Yuletide. But that doesn't mean I can turn off my own critical reader. Unfortunately. (Good luck!)

[jennaria]

A good soulmate story, I think, is a classic romance - fate itself has chosen that they are perfect for each other, after all. :-) Although admittedly I'm more willing to buy some couples as soulmates than others. Victor/Yuuri is one of them.

I haven't managed to read all the stories in the archive, so I skim people's bookmark lists in search of stories I haven't found yet. I've had some luck! But it's not an infallible method, unfortunately.

[king_touchy]

All of the stories? Yow. You win!

I couldn't do that. I don't have the patience to deal with the bad stories to find the good. I could write the stories I want to read -- but I'm too lazy for that. :P

[king_touchy]

YOI is tempting me to write fanfic for something other than Yuletide.

Oh, let me encourage that thought!