Subject: Nah, it's not that sort of badfic.
Author:
Posted on: 2020-06-23 21:57:45 UTC
The smut is just badly written, not grossly disturbing. It hails from the days when "really bad fic" often meant "really bad writing", rather than "NSFPlanetEarth squick".
(Though we had those too - hello, C-l-br--n!)
hS
Because I've asked before at least twice, and people haven't actually been against the idea; it's just been buried by other topics.
So: I contend that My Inner Life is a Legendary Badfic. Looking at the formal requirements:
1/ It was written in the early 2000s, so easily old enough.
2/ With such a generic title it's hard to pin it down in Google searches, but:
a) Its Fanlore article tops the Google hits for unquoted my inner life for the past year.
b) Without a year restriction, the entire first page of hits for unquoted my inner life is about the fic.
c) Searching for "My Inner Life" "Link's Queen" in the past year produces at least five hits, despite being extremely strict.
3/ I think My Inner Life has maintained its 'popularity' more than LQ's rants have (though the latter are still hilarious, AND HAVE BEEN FROM THE GECKO).
4/ I mean... it's been killed by the PPC. I think we can assume it's bad.
Taking more empirical evidence:
5/ It's still one of the four original Legendary Badfics.
6/ It has its own wiki, a detailed Fanlore article, and a TVTropes article. They use words like 'infamous', 'most memorable', and 'one of the greatest pieces of 21st century literature'. (^_~)
7/ It has been endlessly reposted, MSTed, and dramatically recorded. There's even a fan-comic.
8/ There are at least two non-PPC references straight-up calling it a legendary badfic: TVTropes and this fanfic on AO3. Given that we appropriated the term from wider fandom, I think the fact that it's still in use for MIL - despite the fact that most Google hits for "legendary badfic" nowadays are PPC-related - has relevance.
Please can we add it to the list so I don't have to worry about it any more? :( ;)
hS
EDIT: And just after posting, I found the objection... it's on the Wiki talk page, where Iximaz is worried that a) it would look like she's Legendary-grabbing, and b) that it wasn't killed as a Legendary. I hope the fact that it's not her doing the asking will address the first point; as for the second, the only mention of 'legendary' in my 'legolas by laura' mission is qualified by 'practically', and the mission is hilariously short. So is Clbr__n, for that matter. ~hS
I've added it to the list. I don't really know what would go on a page, though.
And thank you. :)
hS
I think it counts. At first I was thought that this was a fic that I hadn't heard of, but then I looked it up and it turns out I had. So, yeah. Given the reputation that My Inner Life has, I definitely think it deserves a spot as a Legendary.
Also, I'm pretty sure that My Inner Life wouldn't be the first Legendary fic to be killed before being designated as one/without the knowledge of it being a Legendary, though I might be wrong.
I also vote yes. It makes sense :)
~Z
I'm pretty sure I missed it at the time, but I've seen it now.
I love it.
It's particularly hilarious to me, because one of the very first hS/Kaitlyn shipfics features the Dark Lord Huinesoron and his captive Kaitlyn. How times change... ^_^
hS
I had a lot of fun with it...and, well, given you basically prompted it as a continuation to the original, I'm even more pleased you like the result :)
Also, that's a great semi-coincidence! I'd write something about both versions meeting, but I think it would, at the very least, require the little bit of research of checking out said early shipfic, assuming it's still available. For accuracy, of course. Because that's the most important thing about shipfics, right? Right...? Why am I hearing crickets and distant laughter?
What I may be more likely to do is write the next piece of said shipfic, but I'm a little reluctant to say that for sure since I'm currently kind of trying to finish...uh. Three other things? I think it's three. Three main things, anyway, with some extras around the edges that are currently in second place but weren't a couple weeks ago. Something like that. Guess we'll see what happens. I will very much take it over feeling more or less unable to write without sitting on a writers' group call for something like half of March and a week of April, though. At least there's a reasonable amount of actual writing happening now, even if it's occasionally a bit too prone to bouncing between ideas instead of finishing 1-2 pieces at a time. It's not perfect, especially since I wouldn't mind also getting back to things like the writers' group stuff, but I'll take it.
Anyway, this pretty much made my morning a few days ago, so thank you. :)
~Z, who will also get the Tamora Pierce reading going again sometime, hopefully, eventually. Not sure how quickly it'll happen, though, unfortunately. Many things. We'll get there at some point.
Well... it seems like it meets the criteria. I... think it should be legendary. If you'll excuse me... I'm just going to try not to get sick from this fic...
The smut is just badly written, not grossly disturbing. It hails from the days when "really bad fic" often meant "really bad writing", rather than "NSFPlanetEarth squick".
(Though we had those too - hello, C-l-br--n!)
hS
But yeah I definitely support My Inner Life getting Legendarized.
Also, does Plort have a Legendarium?
I mean, it basically consists of "all the body parts were LAAAAAARGE" written a hundred different ways, with weird digressions into ice cream and magic sticks. But "Legendary Badfic" meant the kind of "traumatising" you can troll newbies with, not the kind that left you genuinely disturbed. It's a change; I don't dwell on it.
Plort is all Legendarium. ^_^ Um, yeah, sorry, I'm not sure what you mean.
(What Plort actually is is seriously outdated. I really need to dig out my old 'replacing the Board' story and fit it to the actual Fall of YourWebApps.)
hS
What do we call YWA in Plort?
If you need any comic relief, I shall note Sir Thoth's incredible contributions of sitting in the corner and doing absolutely nothing when whatever equivalent of the T-Board Technical Committee met to move.
(My sole contribution to T-board is making it GNU Terry Pratchett compliant)
... there's a river named Yuwebap near the city of Borrd. Baron hS's current castle sits near it, which... probably isn't going to end well.
More crucially, for the past few years the gods Kanun and Spelin have been syncretized in Borrd with the gods Syorn and Tam-Ara - ie, Shawn and Tamara of YourWebApps. So there's a whole religious issue tied up in the move, which is part of why I haven't written it.
Plus, my original version of the story assumed Baron Me was still Protector of Ozerbord, which he hasn't been for a while, and anyway, Ozerbord doesn't really exist any more. So there's some rethinking to be done.
hS
...is Baron hS being mostly just offended that Ozerbord has pretty much slipped through his fingers for some reason. Maybe it broke up into smaller pieces (towns, farms cities? Not completely sure what category Ozerbord as a whole falls under, and I'm on mobile, so I'm not going to look it up right now, especially as it's not vital to my point) and then just kind of fell apart/the people moved away?
I don't know. Hopefully that helps spark something, or is at least briefly amusing :)
...come to think of it:
-Borrd is falling apart for some reason. Conquering? Moving? Polytheistic style war amongst the gods?
-Baron hS steps in to come to the rescue with Ozerbord somehow.
-It turns out that, actually, Ozerbord is very quickly leaving the picture. Baron hS is Not Pleased.
-A new plan is made and put into effect. Sir Thoth sits in the meetings making funny comments?
-Baron Na'Shirah tries to stay as far away from it all as she can, and mostly just makes some preparations on her own lands and maybe gives an opinion here and there--IRL I remember mostly just speaking up when we were deciding the URL name, and making some plans for new posts or something. Also checking the Old Board a lot and somewhat excitedly figuring out what was different about the New Board and generally liking it. It has posts from more than a couple years ago. That's still pretty cool.
~Z
Squick was never too brain-numbingly terrible for me (though it's really bad). The complete murder of logic and/or the English language is what gets me. I guess I'll just have headaches instead of stomachaches...
Aight, guess I'm doing this, then. Putting forward my vote to make this one Legendary.
Now if you'll excuse the Aviator, she's going to need another drink.
You have fallen into my nefarious trap! With this precedent, I will soon be able to declare all my missions Retroactively Legendary. Oh, yes indeed - I may start small, saying "Al and Death is legendary in the PPC, because it came back for seconds", but soon it'll be "The King's Mercy is a Legendary Badfic because it was surprisingly good", and I shall rule! the! WORLD! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Er, or maybe not. ^_~
(muahahaha)
hS
No, not that kind of--
Ahem. I've been nefariously plotting for a very long time. You can take my nefarious plotting from me over my cold, dead
I SAID NOT THAT KIND OF--
hS
This got me laughing. Out loud. Especially the second interjection. So thanks, and I'm very amused.
Also, quail are kind of pretty, aren't they? That second one is basically a floofy ball of pretty feathers with silly little legs and a sharp little head.
~Z, who can now look at the post without laughing, about 3-5 goes in.
Speaking of you: you (well, you several years ago) may have just inspired me to write a new mission for the first time in yonks. We'll have to see if I bother to put in the time.
(According to the post I just ran into, the specific inspiration is your mission #6. Not positive that's accurate, but...)
hS
Iiiiinteresting. Very interesting. :3
(God, I need to get back into writing missions again, but I'm currently... checks word count, gulps 115874 words into a Castlevania fic with no plans to slow down on that yet. Honestly I'm just glad I'm writing anything again.)
I'm sure I saw a high 90s mention the other day.
I actually wrote a few paragraphs of PPC mission the other day! But then stopped again. XD I really don't have my writing head on these days.
hS
Still plan to tackle My Immortal as number 100. I honestly think it's nervousness to do it well that's making me drag my feet.
... a perfect opportunity for a drabble mission.
Or a haiku mission.
Has anyone ever written a mission in a single word? Your 100th would be a great time to try that out! :D :D :D
But seriously though that is an incredible number of missions.
hS
... that I actually did this. The haiku mission. Back in 2015:
"You overreact." Harry Potter yelled: "It's SPRIIIIIIIING!!!" "... never mind. Charge now."
There's nothing new under the sun... o.O
hS
Well, that or its inevitable sequel. We'll see. :D Now I just need to figure out who'd do it, though I suppose I could always just leave that bit offscreen...
~Z
OneDayTheConsoleBeepedAndTheAgentsWereAnnoyedSoTheyWentInABadficToKillTheMarySueTheEnd.
I especially like your characterization of the agents. I know that the word "Agents" doesn't seem like a lot, but you really put a lot of meaning into that word that conveys a lot about them. You could stand to add more details about the fic they missioned, like what continuum it's in and what type of Sue was killed, but that's not a glaring problem.
Overall, 10/10!
The wiki's a bit odd, to my eyes - lots of anonymous contributions, only one accounted author. (Anyone know an AgentParadox? With a name like that...)
However, there's also a drinking game with more than a dozen contributors on TVTropes. And, just to go by that summary... I'm impressed and horrified, and I haven't even looked at the main page. If a badfic is so bad it can establish its reputation solely by reading a drinking game for it, and has been doing so for years, it sure sounds Legendary to me.