Fanfiction/Roleplay/Etc. Story Review/Critique Thread

ILikeDeathNote · Post by **ILikeDeathNote** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:37 am

In the same vein as the other thread I created where we critique and recommend Star Trek and Star Wars canon/official/non-canon sources from a purely literary standpoint, I think we could use a thread where we apply the same to fanfiction: what fanfiction should be considered "must read" for its literary merits, and critique fanfiction from that standpoint as well.

I think we should also go ahead and include some of the various roleplay games that the various forums do as well, since they are in essence an extended fanfic, or a "round robin" fanfic as you will. SDN has the "STGOD Board" (I still can't get over the rather confusing and cryptic acronym, yes even after Tyralak and, I believe it was Mr. Oragahn, explained it to me) and SBC has the "Story Debates" forum. ASVS fanfics and roleplay are spread over Usenet, but a significant portion of them are apparently available here, although it appears as if the bulk of the contributions to that website are now from SDN. Of course, we here have our own combined roleplay and fiction board as well, although it is unsurprisingly smaller, with the biggest contributions being a number of fanfics from Mr. Oragahn, and the single biggest contribution being the ongoing wormhole encounter fanfic by JMS himself. Shockingly enough, DITL has a roleplay forum (I didn't know they had a forum period!) They also have a fanfic forum.

Other than that, the only fanfiction I'm really aware of are Conquest and the uncompleted Reign of Terror, both by Micheal Wong, and Graham Kennedy's Portal, which is awkwardly accessible only though DITL's confusing navigation interface under the "recreation" link. Naturally, there are other fanfics in the links provided by the "big three" seem to be the above.

Please note that this thread is NOT intended to be a debate about the technical accuracy or the accurate portrayal of a Vs. battle in these fanfics. We already have a thread for that.

Post by **Jedi Master Spock** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 5:05 am

I recall reading through Portal once. It's generally been my impression that lopsided encounters make for poor stories, and I've generally gotten the impression that most VS fanfics tend to err in that manner.

Post by **Mike DiCenso** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 1:24 am

Portal actually reads as a decent enough story, if you can get past the lop-sided nature of how Graham portrays Star Trek technology versus Star Wars tech. In fact, Portal predates the Phantom Menace and the EU's Yuuzhan Vong story lines by quite bit, and yet there are certain aspects about how the Force works that he was prescient about. Namely that extra-galactics do not possess the Force and certain Force powers do not work on those not from the SW galaxy since it is a biologically created phenomena inherent there.
-Mike

Airlocke_Jedi_Knight · Post by **Airlocke_Jedi_Knight** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:11 am

Mike DiCenso wrote: Namely that extra-galactics do not possess the Force and certain Force powers do not work on those not from the SW galaxy since it is a biologically created phenomena inherent there.
-Mike

WRONG This was actually addressed, and it was made clear that the Force does exist outside of the galaxy. This was addressed in the NJO.

ILikeDeathNote · Post by **ILikeDeathNote** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:24 am

Airlocke_Jedi_Knight wrote: WRONG This was actually addressed, and it was made clear that the Force does exist outside of the galaxy. This was addressed in the NJO.

ILikeDeathNote wrote: Please note that this thread is NOT intended to be a debate about the technical accuracy or the accurate portrayal of a Vs. battle in these fanfics. We already have a thread for that.

Airlocke_Jedi_Knight · Post by **Airlocke_Jedi_Knight** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:35 am

*hangs head* I is sorry.

l33telboi · Post by **l33telboi** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 12:27 am

I remember reading a fanfic called "The Rift" over at SDN when I first got to these boards. I liked it quite a bit.

Post by **Mike DiCenso** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 2:33 am

That sounds familiar. Can you elaborate on the plot for this story, or at least provide a link to it?
-Mike

l33telboi · Post by **l33telboi** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 4:48 am

Mike DiCenso wrote:That sounds familiar. Can you elaborate on the plot for this story, or at least provide a link to it?
-Mike

Oy, been a long time since I read it, let me see if I can dig up something. Ah, here we go. It's basically a mega-crossover with Halo, Star Wars, Star Trek and Starcraft. And the plot is... well a war between them. :P

GStone · Post by **GStone** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 2:18 pm

STGOD? I don't role play, so I'm out of the loop.

Post by **Mike DiCenso** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 1:17 am

l33telboi wrote:
Mike DiCenso wrote:That sounds familiar. Can you elaborate on the plot for this story, or at least provide a link to it?
-Mike
Oy, been a long time since I read it, let me see if I can dig up something. Ah, here we go. It's basically a mega-crossover with Halo, Star Wars, Star Trek and Starcraft. And the plot is... well a war between them. :P

Thanks for the link. But that being said I'am not sure I like this.... It's trying too hard to convey too much information about the different franchises in play here. It might have worked with any two or even three of them, but four is just a bit of a cluster f--k.
-Mike

l33telboi · Post by **l33telboi** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:21 am

I partially agree, mega-crossovers like that usually tend to be quite heavy in the info-dump area, and with good reason. I liked it though, since I'm familiar with all the different franchises in there.

ILikeDeathNote · Post by **ILikeDeathNote** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 5:05 am

GStone wrote:STGOD? I don't role play, so I'm out of the loop.

Me too.