Terrible, Horrible, Motherfucking Amazing Stories I Have Loved

[strina]

So the recent kerfuffle about owning your awesome got me to thinking about the disclaimers we put forth on a daily basis, and particularly the disclaimers I put forth when I talk about some fanfiction.

Look, I don't like badfic; almost no one does. But there's a whole range between badfic and "goodfic" that gets tangled up in embarrassment and "I know it's terrible, but...", and that's idfic/drawerfic. Winged hermaphroditic super-abused superpowered Harry falls in love with his middle-aged professor (who likes to call him "little one" in a vaguely fetish-y way), is forced by Voldemort to have sex with that professor, erases the guy's memory of his "shame", and then turns up pregnant. And there's angst and misunderstanding and then they inevitably have the baby and the happy-ever-after. That is not a story with scads of literary merit. It's not the story I'm going to rec to all my friends, or use to pimp someone into the fandom/pairing. It's not the best thing I've ever read. But guys, I MOTHERFUCKING LOVE that story (and yes, it is totally an actual story). It is DELICIOUS. And so is the Xander-centric time travel gangrape mpreg fivesome story I've read 30 times and can quote from memory. So is the Hermione pwns everyone and takes over the country and has a harem fic that I've never read, yet would dearly like to.

Because "good" stories often have to temporize, to maintain reality and your suspension of disbelief and the dynamics of the canon. But idfic says fuck that, let's turn this shit up to ELEVEN and SEE WHERE IT GOES. That's amazing! I love that! Fanfic is, at its purest, an expression of love, and just because it's usually held to some standard of objective good doesn't mean it always should be.

So, you know, dear writers of idfic: Don't be ashamed. Take them out of the drawers and set them free. I guarantee someone out there is going to MOTHERFUCKING LOVE them.

Comments

[sineala]

Man, I love idfic so much. There was this awesome gigantic series of Sentinel fic in which there is an Evil Organization that trains Guides or Sentinels or whatever and they kidnap Blair and brainwash him, and then Jim gets him back because he can feel his heartbeat or they have a bond or something, but then there's magic healing sex to fix the brainwashing. But! Somehow Blair runs away and gets captured again and they brainwash him *again* (because I guess it, uh, didn't take the first time), and then somewhere there's hallucinations and tattooing. And they all live happily even after.

(And sometimes there's idfic I will totally rec/pimp with. My absolute favorite Pros story is a gay circus acrobat AU (with, you know, a lot of The Catch Trap in it), so there you go. I think mostly I try not to write idfic, but I love reading it.

So, uh, word. :)

[strina]

See, that's the thing: If it doesn't hit your id, it's weird and possibly creepy (there are totally pairings/fandoms where I can read the goodfic but the prevailing flavor of idfic). But if it does? IT MAKES YOU HAPPIER THAN ANYTHING ELSE. Because not only are these awesome things happening that you've always wanted to happen, here are people who also thought that way! Fulfills a desire/de-stigmatizes or implies at least a limited social acceptance of a desire.