Instability Apparent

[dr_anitacoffee]

So, um...does anyone ever read a fic...or even just the summary of a fic...and immediately warning bells go off because it's pretty obvious that this person really needs to seek psychiatric help? There are a couple of specific authors on both ff.net and here at LJ whose entire bodies of work suggest that they would be unlikely to be cleared for any

Comments

[flippet]

Oh thank goodness, someone else said what I was thinking.

I'm all like - honestly, people are reading this shite? The notes alone are enough to make me step away from the computer. And yeah - how these people can possibly imagine that they're keeping the characters even in the same COUNTRY as 'in-character', I have no idea

[dr_anitacoffee]

I know exactly who and what you're talking about and am glad it's not just me.

I mean, I'm a liberated, feminist woman and all, and I appreciate creativity, but I'm a canon snob. And I think I get the right to be that because I didn't used to be. I was one of those people who took the slivers and ran with it, and was shamed and flamed into recovery. I don't purport to be the end-all-be-all of in-canon writing but William H. Macy, these are some fucked up stories. I get sexual exploration and the need for sex in a story but I have yet to read a fic where I go, "wow, that was some in-canon sex." And I have no great love for normative behavior - goodness knows I'm an outlier - but there is something to be said when an author's entire body of work is defined by violent perversity and, shall we say, violations of international law.

We should so gossip about this via email. I'm a little liquored up - normally I would not admit to being amused by gossip - but I had a bad fucking day and a big fucking glass of wine.

[lieueitak]

Oh I don't know. I've had some really bizarre/wrong as fuck ideas for fic at times, but I'm not mentally ill, and I wouldn't do anything rash other than possibly yell back if you flamed me for it, lol. I think it's kind of dangerous to assume that there's any real sickness behind someone based on their creative work.

There are a few writers who I side eye every now and then. But tbh, I think it's usually more like... they found a universe that they enjoyed writing for whatever reason and they want to delve further into that world, so they write prequels, sequels, asides, etc. Or they found a universe they liked or that was popular, again for whatever reason, and they just want to recreate that success over and over, so they write a variation of the same fic over and over.

Maybe there is disease or a traumatic experience behind the creativity. But then, if it makes them feel better or cope with it, is it really a bad thing? *shrugs* Just my opinion, of course.

[dr_anitacoffee]

See, I have less of a problem with applying traumatic or unusual experiences to a given character or characters than I do with completely bastardizing characters to make them a sort of Mary Sue by proxy. Or writing about exceptionally fucked-up things over and over, rather than it being a plot idea. If it helps them get their issues out, great, but I have a problem with lauding the realistic nature and high quality of something that has no relation to canon (or the English language). And I have a problem, quite frankly, with using fanfiction as a place to explicitly vent personal issues because it is classic attention-seeking behavior that is not conducive to mental health. I have pretty good radar as far as psychological issues go and I know the difference between preferences/ideas and a problem - yes, that sounds like bullshit, but it's a pretty legitimate claim. My rant is more geared toward my frustration that psychiatric disorders come on display and no one gives it a second thought

[lieueitak]

Your comment makes sense. I disagree with some of it, lol, but I get what you're saying. I can relate to wanting to read things that are in canon. I don't read a lot of fic, because I rarely find things that have an appealing plot, a modicum of proper grammar, and good characterization. I see tons of things that are lauded as being in character that I find offensively bad, and there are people who feel the same way about my work. People like what they like for whatever reason

[stenveny]

No idea which one you're talking about. It could apply to so many. (I'm a little concerned it might be me. But only a little.) There are some whacko ideas that work, and some that are just disturbing. It isn't always obvious to me which ones are cozy crazy and which ones are scary crazy until I read the first few paragraphs.

I think some people do write fanfic to expatiate their issues. I guess if it works for them (and it seems to, or they would not spend so much time doing it), that's all to the good as long as I don't have to seek counseling because I stupidly opened the file and exposed myself to it.

[dr_anitacoffee]

I am not talking about you. At all. I don't agree 100% with your portrayal 100% of the time, but I also don't agree with my portrayal all the time. Also, I don't think you've ever published a fic that focused on multiple federal offenses, violations of the Geneva Conventions, and/or DSM-IV classified psychiatric disorders that House can magically treat with a pill.

See, there are fanfics that are so fucked up that they haunt me. I am horrified for days on end. I want to contact fanfiction.net or livejournal admins, request their IP address, and send police and a licenses psychiatrist with a large hypodermic needle full of Haldol to their door. And that, I do have a problem with. There needs to be a site devoted to that - fuckedupfic.com or something, because I think I lose entire armies of brain cells when I stumble upon those things.

[london_fan]

Pretty sure I have a good idea whom you're talking about. That author was the reason I finally hunted down the tutorial to remove this user's entries from my f-list. Just the description in your post fit all the things bothering me about her stories so much that I had to check if she had posted again. Your other comments here assure me in my assumption. If any author ever got me to wonder about their mental issues it's this one. Her stories are so horribly disturbing I still wonder if the writer really is who she claims to be. Either way, I really hope she'll stick to adultfanfiction.net from now on, because I don't even want to think about how many people have been traumatized by her work. Sadly "Don't like, don't read" doesn't work in hindsight and she used to post her stuff without proper warnings in the past.

[dr_anitacoffee]

I don't think she's sticking to adultfanfiction anymore than she is sticking to canon.

It's just like...WHY. What would possess a person to write about those things for their amusement? When violent degradation of an individual is incorporated into a story, I expect it to be a facet of a larger picture, a way of furthering character exploration. Even then, I flip out when it's written in a gratuitous manner because there is no reason besides shock value and perversity and is really quite disrespectful to victims of violence when it is treated so lightly.

I'm not making some Rick-Santorum-crime-against-nature judgement - do whatever the hell you want in your own house as long as it doesn't break the law and is consensual. But holy hell, celebrating violence against women over and over is, in my book, a big giant red flag emblazoned with the words "I need help."

[london_fan]

I don't think she's sticking to adultfanfiction anymore than she is sticking to canon.

Nice analogy. Well, people already taught her to add warnings (even if they're still vague as shit and "Hey, you know what I write" in her case has to stand for a warning already) nowadays, so maybe there's hope? Nah, probably not really, I know...

Honestly, I've asked myself all these questions numerous times in the past... that's why I was so sure about whom you were talking here even without having seen her latest fic announcement at the time. I really wish I could figure out if that is really her (whoever that woman might be) or if some sicko just invented that profile and has a secret wank about all the attention he's getting with those perverted stories.