The Best Damn Fics You've Ever Read.

[spiritualatheist]

Here's another short one I've been sitting on for a bit:

Black-Clad Bats and Making Money, by Gray_Days is a fabulous little story about how John Mulaney became the Riddler "because of a misunderstanding he couldn't correct without 'seeming rude'." It's Mulaney voice is absolutely pitch-perfect, and it still makes me laugh even though I've already read it like five times. It's definitely worth sparing 20 minutes for.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Since we're on the topic... I want to nominate One Small Kindness Chapter 1, a naruto fanfic | FanFiction

Why this fic is awesome and I think its a fit for the thread: OMSLK is a for want of a nail story, one where Mikoto Uchiha takes actions that ultimately, change the face of Naruto as a story. Digital Tart through a wonderful use of her words grabs the canon rails of Naruto and not only detonates them, outright atomizes them. There are no rails, there is absolutely nothing in there that resembles the canon events.

Mikoto as a character is wonderful, as a ninja she's subtle, beautiful and deadly. As Kakashi says, Itachi certainly didn't got his talents from dear ol' dad and its shown to us. In all its subtle glory.

Picture Kakashi Hatake, infamous Ex ANBU, Jounin level, sole non uchiha to possess and master the Sharingan, few can rival him (such as Itachi) Mikoto is able to lay a good enough illusion that it actually takes him by surprise.

If you start to think Mikoto is now a Mary Sue, she is not, her actions have consequences, for good and for ill. The consequences breach to Naruto, to Sasuke, to many people, to the village even.

I think she's developed as a 3D character and not a caricature, you can certainly understand, sympathize, support and disagree with her opinions, but I think that's also what makes the writing here so strong. Mikoto is running out of options and time, the walls are closing on her and its a race against time to prevent the coup.

Give it a read and I hope you like it.

 

[13th Bee]

Since we're on the topic... I want to nominate One Small Kindness Chapter 1, a naruto fanfic | FanFiction

Why this fic is awesome and I think its a fit for the thread: OMSLK is a for want of a nail story, one where Mikoto Uchiha takes actions that ultimately, change the face of Naruto as a story. Digital Tart through a wonderful use of her words grabs the canon rails of Naruto and not only detonates them, outright atomizes them. There are no rails, there is absolutely nothing in there that resembles the canon events.

Mikoto as a character is wonderful, as a ninja she's subtle, beautiful and deadly. As Kakashi says, Itachi certainly didn't got his talents from dear ol' dad and its shown to us. In all its subtle glory.

Picture Kakashi Hatake, infamous Ex ANBU, Jounin level, sole non uchiha to possess and master the Sharingan, few can rival him (such as Itachi) Mikoto is able to lay a good enough illusion that it actually takes him by surprise.

If you start to think Mikoto is now a Mary Sue, she is not, her actions have consequences, for good and for ill. The consequences breach to Naruto, to Sasuke, to many people, to the village even.

I think she's developed as a 3D character and not a caricature, you can certainly understand, sympathize, support and disagree with her opinions, but I think that's also what makes the writing here so strong. Mikoto is running out of options and time, the walls are closing on her and its a race against time to prevent the coup.

Give it a read and I hope you like it.

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Huh, I could've sworn that was already on the list, but it isn't. I second it, obviously.

I don't care for the sequel nearly as much, and the sequel was incomplete and dead last I check.

 

[SolipsistSerpent]

Here's another short one I've been sitting on for a bit:
Black-Clad Bats and Making Money, by Gray_Days is a fabulous little story about how John Mulaney became the Riddler "because of a misunderstanding he couldn't correct without 'seeming rude'." It's Mulaney voice is absolutely pitch-perfect, and it still makes me laugh even though I've already read it like five times. It's definitely worth sparing 20 minutes for.

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Okay, that one was very good. Extremely amusing.

 

[Abhorsen]

Here's another short one I've been sitting on for a bit:

Black-Clad Bats and Making Money, by Gray_Days is a fabulous little story about how John Mulaney became the Riddler "because of a misunderstanding he couldn't correct without 'seeming rude'." It's Mulaney voice is absolutely pitch-perfect, and it still makes me laugh even though I've already read it like five times. It's definitely worth sparing 20 minutes for.

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I just read this, and definitely seconding.

 

[Epsilon Rose]

Here's another short one I've been sitting on for a bit:

Black-Clad Bats and Making Money, by Gray_Days is a fabulous little story about how John Mulaney became the Riddler "because of a misunderstanding he couldn't correct without 'seeming rude'." It's Mulaney voice is absolutely pitch-perfect, and it still makes me laugh even though I've already read it like five times. It's definitely worth sparing 20 minutes for.

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I have to say, they pulled off the rambling storyteller voice very well and that's hard to do.

It's short, but it's good, I'd also be happy to second it.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Black-Clad Bats and Making Money,

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Its Eh? It relies on you knowing who John Mulaney is, which I have no idea who is this person and why they'd make for a good E.Nigma.

Looking at this... the fic reads as someone trying to be funny with this sorta 4th wall breaking but not quite type of commentary (which is later revealed to be a narration, which is clever I'll give it that), but otherwise? I am not seeing the awesome part.

 

[SolipsistSerpent]

Its Eh? It relies on you knowing who John Mulaney is, which I have no idea who is this person and why they'd make for a good E.Nigma.

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It does not. I have no idea who John Mulaney is (some comedian according to Google, but that doesn't tell me much) and I found it amusing.

That said, I don't know that I found it amusing enough to be the best damn fic I ever read.

 

[CV12Hornet]

Here's another short one I've been sitting on for a bit:

Black-Clad Bats and Making Money, by Gray_Days is a fabulous little story about how John Mulaney became the Riddler "because of a misunderstanding he couldn't correct without 'seeming rude'." It's Mulaney voice is absolutely pitch-perfect, and it still makes me laugh even though I've already read it like five times. It's definitely worth sparing 20 minutes for.

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Having now read this fic, it's funny, but I don't think it's funny enough to be "Best Fic Ever" material. And I also speak as someone who barely know what John Mulaney is besides the voice of Spider-Ham.

 

[Dakkaface]

Here's another short one I've been sitting on for a bit:

Black-Clad Bats and Making Money, by Gray_Days is a fabulous little story about how John Mulaney became the Riddler "because of a misunderstanding he couldn't correct without 'seeming rude'." It's Mulaney voice is absolutely pitch-perfect, and it still makes me laugh even though I've already read it like five times. It's definitely worth sparing 20 minutes for.

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It's good. That voice is spot-on. Not sure it qualifies as Best Fic Ever read, but it is, really really good as a character piece and It makes me want to see a live action version.

Its Eh? It relies on you knowing who John Mulaney is, which I have no idea who is this person and why they'd make for a good E.Nigma.

Looking at this... the fic reads as someone trying to be funny with this sorta 4th wall breaking but not quite type of commentary (which is later revealed to be a narration, which is clever I'll give it that), but otherwise? I am not seeing the awesome part.

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It does not. I have no idea who John Mulaney is (some comedian according to Google, but that doesn't tell me much) and I found it amusing.

That said, I don't know that I found it amusing enough to be the best damn fic I ever read.

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Having now read this fic, it's funny, but I don't think it's funny enough to be "Best Fic Ever" material. And I also speak as someone who barely know what John Mulaney is besides the voice of Spider-Ham.

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Okay. I have to ask. With none of you familiar with the central character at all, why are you bothering to read/pass judgement on it? This is like watching Spaceballs or Men in Tights or Blazing Saddles without any knowledge of Star Wars, Prince of Thieves, or the Wholesome West. Yeah, you;'d get some slapstick humor out of it, but all the specific parody jokes would fall flat. I don't bother to read recs in fandoms I don't follow because I can't judge anything but the quality of writing, since how plausible the narrative or how on point the character voice are are completely unknowable to me.

The core premise of the fic is "The Riddler is John Mulaney." Not 'played by' but is the same social diasaster character he portrays in his comedy. It's literally in the opening author's notes and listed characters. If you don't know who Mulaney is as a person or the character voice that the author is shooting for, you're missing the entire point. It's not just there to tell a story about 'accidental supervillain,' but to do so in the style of Mulaney's comedy routines complete with final punchline. This is effectively a crossover/fusion fic.

 

[Tiroth]

And people can't read or critique literally any story they like because...?

If this is effectively a crossover or fusion fic, then it's up to the writer to set it up in-story. If thay fail to do that, it isn't Best Fic Ever material.

 

[Epsilon Rose]

kay. I have to ask. With none of you familiar with the central character at all, why are you bothering to read/pass judgement on it?
[...]
The core premise of the fic is "The Riddler is John Mulaney." Not 'played by' but is the same social diasaster character he portrays in his comedy.

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I took it to mean that this take on the Riddler was more inspired by John Mulaney, rather than actually being him in some way that requires knowledge of his routine. Personally, I felt it did fairly well in that regard, because even though I don't know John Mulaney, I could recognize the character archetype he was shooting for and draw connections to broader themes in both the Riddler's portrayals and media in general.

That said, while it's reasonable to expect some cursory knowledge of major fandoms in a fanfic, a good work should also be able to stand on its own fairly well. That is, you should have to explain the basics of alchemy if you want to write a short character study of the Elric Brothers, but the reader also shouldn't have to remember the specifics of every character in Hohenheim's campfire flashback.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Okay. I have to ask. With none of you familiar with the central character at all,

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Because I am familiar with DC and several iterations of Edward Nigma/The Riddler and was curious to see how this approach to the character would be.

A good fanfic should let you fill the holes by yourself even if you have the barest knowledge of the setting. That's called show, don't tell. In this case the fic tries to do something original... and really I don't get it. That's where the fanfic fails, it assumes the reader is familiar with John Mulaney's routine and quirks of it, and anyone who doesn't will feel lost.

 

[SolipsistSerpent]

Okay. I have to ask. With none of you familiar with the central character at all, why are you bothering to read/pass judgement on it?

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There are a lot of well-written crossovers you can parse if you only know half of the material involved. Indeed, the ability to write as such is a strength.

 

[TheUnicorn]

Okay. I have to ask. With none of you familiar with the central character at all, why are you bothering to read/pass judgement on it?

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Because while a fic may be better with familiarity with the source material, if it requires familiarity with the source it can't be one of the best ever.

his is like watching Spaceballs or Men in Tights or Blazing Saddles without any knowledge of Star Wars, Prince of Thieves, or the Wholesome West. Yeah, you;'d get some slapstick humor out of it, but all the specific parody jokes would fall flat.

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Exactly. Or if you want another analogy, it's like watching Blazing saddles without knowing Yiddish or traditional ashkenazi Jewish culture. That's the point, those movies have lots of injokes from many sources, but you can enjoy them without knowing any of those.

 

[jesus]

This has to be the second or third time in this thread, but because it is still being used as a basis for de-recs, there is merit in discussing it further.

Because while a fic may be better with familiarity with the source material, if it requires familiarity with the source it can't be one of the best ever.

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Nonsense. If it was a sequel, would anybody say that it could not be a classic because it was unenjoyable without having read the previous book?

Being written in a way that can engage a reader unfamiliar with the source material is a boon, but trying to claim that fanfiction must be able to stand on its own is ludicrous and a fallacy.

It is simply not mutually exclusive. You could hypothetically have a derivative work written in a way that takes such advantage of assumed knowledge that it would simply be meaningless to someone without it, but brilliant for those with that shared knowledge. It just depends on how the author creates meaning from that shared knowledge.

And since that is hypothetically possible, you have no grounds dogmatically stating that a fanfiction cannot be great unless non-fans can enjoy it. Just get a job, make some money, and buy some real books instead of feeling entitled to having everything written with you in mind.

That said, I'm not familiar with DC or this McManus guy, so I didn't really get what was going on. A derec from me too, I'm afraid.

 

[TheUnicorn]

Nonsense. If it was a sequel, would anybody say that it could not be a classic because it was unenjoyable without having read the previous book?

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Of course not, but you could say it's not one of the best stories ever. To be suitable for the "best ever" list you need to be suberb, while I agree you can have great fanfiction that is impenitrable for people who aren't familiar with the source material, those stories don't IMO qualify for the list if "best ever" stories.

Exception could be made, I suppose, for stories where the source is so well known you can assume anyone who can read english is familiar with it.

 

[jesus]

Of course not, but you could say it's not one of the best stories ever.

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Wait, you're actually saying a sequel might not qualify for one of the best stories ever if it's expected that you read the preceding novel first?

To be suitable for the "best ever" list you need to be suberb

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Yes, but nowhere does it say 'superb' means 'necessarily penetrable to newcomers'. My point was that someone else could simply argue that any fanfiction that is readable by non-fans has necessarily wasted effort and real estate on that, instead of spending that same effort and precious word count leveraging that expected understanding.

EDIT: You could even go a step further and argue that it's not a superb fanfiction unless they're brilliantly making the most of the genre's unique trait, which is the shared understanding and shared expectations born from the source material.

Let's go with that, actually. "A fanfiction cannot be a superb fanfiction unless it is making the most of what it means to be a fanfiction." Because if it doesn't then it's just a poor excuse for an original story because of its stolen setting and/or characters, and any therefore word count devoted to that is wasted not making the most of what it could be.

You could argue that and be totally justified for it.

 

[Vyslanté]

Wait, you're actually saying a sequel might not qualify for one of the best stories ever if it's expected that you read the preceding novel first?

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Well, obviously. If you need to read [X] before, your sequel cannot, by definition, be the "best story", as it's not even a story on its own.

 

[Ashaeron]

Well, obviously. If you need to read [X] before, your sequel cannot, by definition, be the "best story", as it's not even a story on its own.

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It is a story, though. If you read The Two Towers, it's the escape of two hobbits and the fall of Isengard to Saruman's fear and lust for power. It just doesn't have any context for everything else going on. It's still brilliantly written and taken in isolation could still qualify as a top tier story, but Fellowship and Return obviously enhance it further.

In the same way, fanfiction should be judged on its own merits, but also in the context of the source. It's rare that people with no knowledge of a fandom read fanfic for it, and CAN, imo, be assumed knowledge. It does happen, but the source material is there for consumption if they don't understand it.

 

[Nean]

It is a story, though. If you read The Two Towers, it's the escape of two hobbits and the fall of Isengard to Saruman's fear and lust for power. It just doesn't have any context for everything else going on. It's still brilliantly written and taken in isolation could still qualify as a top tier story, but Fellowship and Return obviously enhance it further.

In the same way, fanfiction should be judged on its own merits, but also in the context of the source. It's rare that people with no knowledge of a fandom read fanfic for it, and CAN, imo, be assumed knowledge. It does happen, but the source material is there for consumption if they don't understand it.

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I strongly disagree. If something requires another component before it can be considered great then it can not be listed as a great story without a major caveat, and in the case of this thread it has been decided it should be the best no ifs or buts about it.

Should someone recommend me a TV series but I can't stomach the first 3 seasons before the "great 4th season", and I can't watch season 4 without only understanding like 60% then I'm not going to be enjoying it as 'the greatest tvshow'.

 

[TheUnicorn]

Wait, you're actually saying a sequel might not qualify for one of the best stories ever if it's expected that you read the preceding novel first?

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No "might" about it. If you tell me X is the best story ever then it should stand on its own. If you tell me X&Y together are the best story ever, then obviously I wouldn't necaserily expect either to stand on their own, but instead I'd only judge them together.

EDIT: You could even go a step further and argue that it's not a superb fanfiction unless they're brilliantly making the most of the genre's unique trait, which is the shared understanding and shared expectations born from the source material.

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I'd even be willing to grant that for the sake of argument, however this isn't the thread for "superb fanfiction". It's the thread for "the best (free online) stories you ever read".

If you want a thread for "superb fanfiction", you'll need to go elsewhere, while we have quite a few of what I consider superb fanfiction here, that isn't what the thread is for, especially not using your definition.

It is a story, though. If you read The Two Towers, it's the escape of two hobbits and the fall of Isengard to Saruman's fear and lust for power. It just doesn't have any context for everything else going on. It's still brilliantly written and taken in isolation could still qualify as a top tier story, but Fellowship and Return obviously enhance it further.

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You might note that when people talk about best fantasy ever, or highest selling, etc... they talk about "The Lord of The Rings" not "The Two Towers" or "Fellowship of the Ring" because while those are good stories, if you look at them alone, they don't come close to being the best or definitive fantasy story.

 

[Wobulator]

This is ignoring the entire point of fanfiction.
The entire point is that it's derivative of another's work. If it isn't, it isn't fanfiction, by definition. Assuming familiarity with the setting and mechanics is perfectly normal and acceptable- pretending otherwise is saying that no fanfiction deserves to be in the "best damn fanfiction you've ever read", which seems mildly counterproductive.

 

[Luminous]

What? Fanfictions being based on other works and it being advantageous to be familiar with those works to enjoy the fanfiction!?!?! Who could ever have foreseen such events???

 

[TheUnicorn]

This is ignoring the entire point of fanfiction.
The entire point is that it's derivative of another's work. If it isn't, it isn't fanfiction, by definition. Assuming familiarity with the setting and mechanics is perfectly normal and acceptable- pretending otherwise is saying that no fanfiction deserves to be in the "best damn fanfiction you've ever read", which seems mildly counterproductive.

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Except there is quite a lot of fanfiction that does not assume familiarity with the source material, and in fact a lot of people (myself included get introduced to new settings by fanfiction.
Prime examples off the top of my head A Young Woman's Political Record (Youjo Senki/Saga of Tanya the Evil) the story that introduced me to The Saga of Tanya the Evil. Not complete but otherwise I'd be tempted to recommend it here.
Fictitious Persons Chapter 1: Meet Jane Doe, a lois and clark fanfic | FanFiction A story from the list here which does not require any previous knowledge of the setting.