by Mayv 'SpearBourne' Amaia

Created on: August 16, 2010   Last Updated: August 17, 2010

Badfic is a term applied to some fan fiction stories that are regarded as poorly written, badly structured, or lacking characterisation. Depending on the author’s accidental or intentional composing of such a work, the application of this term to a particular story can be derogatory or humorous.

When the author did not intend for his or her work to be considered a badfic, it might be considered such due to various reasons. It might have poor grammatical structure, numerous misspellings, or a plot that lacks cohesion.

These authors often honestly don’t see what other people find wrong with their work. This may be due to general inexperience. It could also be caused by a lack of knowledge of proper grammar, incorrect use of punctuation, or a poor grasp of language and writing skills overall.

Some who write what is considered to be badfic might write in a similar manner to how they speak. This causes problems when they speak in incomplete sentences or do not pronounce a word correctly. When they do write, they often mistakenly use homonyms interchangeably (such as they’re, there, and their) or confuse words that they think are pronounced the same (such as then and than).

This has, sadly, lead to others seeing the same mistakes so frequently that they become accustomed to them and begin to think that that is the correct usage of a given word.

Authors that are seen to post badfic, when they do so without intending it to be so poorly written, should be guided and taught the proper way to construct a sentence rather than be ridiculed for their inexperience and/or lack of instruction in good writing practices.

Such stories may also be deliberately written with the intent of showing an example of the mistakes inexperienced writers may make.

In this case, it is a way of demonstrating what not to do when writing. Authors of deliberate badfic misspell words that are commonly used, use the wrong homonym constantly (your for you’re, among others), or create run-on sentences with little or no punctuation to aid the flow and meaning of the story.

When done for teaching purposes, an Author’s Note often precedes or succeeds the text of the story in order to explain the writer’s intent when composing a work such as this. In this case, a badfic can serve as an instruction manual in reverse; a “how not to” guide to writing can help those who hadn’t known any better.

Badfic is also written for amusement. Writers and readers alike enjoy an intentionally poorly written work of fan fiction on occasion. This has lead to challenges and contests based on this premise. Rather than awarding the best story, the worst quality story wins in these contests.

Different archives and sites have their own individual guidelines as to submissions and what constitutes a badfic, and the criteria for determining the “winners” of these contests varies from circle to circle of fan fiction writers.

When done deliberately, badfic might also be called Crack!fic or could be seen as a related genre of fan fiction.

While there does tend to be some overlap between the two, some archivists keep them separate. When submitting a badfic or crack!fic to a site, it is advisable to check their guidelines to assure that what they mean by those terms is what you intend, as well.

Sources:

http://fanlore.org/wiki/Badfic

http://www.fanhistory.com/wiki/Badfic

http://www.englishchick.com/badfic/

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