What do people want from a Doom fan fiction?

Do they want details about atmosphere and enemies? Do they want killings? Do they want characters or carnage? Do they want something brief like a page per chapter or do they want five pages per chapter? Do they want a retelling of Doom II / Knee Deep in Dead or do they want an original story? Do they want new monsters, demons and creatures or will that just piss them off?

I am really curious and I want to know :-) What do people want from a Doom fan fiction?

At least in my opinion, most Doom fanfics are really just a few paragraphs about killing and getting weapons. They really have no character; which I personally believe a fanfic is about.

When I wrote How I Became a Cowboy I tried to keep as much of the killing and puzzle solving out of it (because really that's all Quake is, and Doom isn't too far off)and focus on the guy who was doing it all.

So if you're in the mood to write one the only advice I have is to stick to the basic story or setting if you're talking about what actually happens in the game, but feel free to do a little backgrounding. Just don't change things that people know happened, alternate histories at least I don't particularly care for. That and character development and voice. There. Done.

My approach to fanfiction has always been to figure out what narrative genre best suits the characters, settings, and overall premise of the videogame in question. Then I read examples of those genres to get a feel for how it's done, and try to produce something along the same lines. Write a Megaman fanfic reminiscent of Isaac Asimov, or a Wolfenstein fanfic in the style of Alistair MacLean. Then just make sure all the original game elements are in there, or at least put a unique spin on them.

I'm writing my novella, Knee Deep in the Dead, with H. P. Lovecraft in mind, so it's written in the form of a document recovered from the scene of a disaster, which details a first-person account of supernatural horror.

But yeah, if you write a fanfic of Doom, you have to write it like you'd write anything else. You won't get far with a few sentences about killing stuff. You need something more cerebral.

Then again, I couldn't tell you how many readers actually enjoy one or two paragraphs of summarized bloodshed. Might be a booming market, for all I know.

Interesting two writers replied to this.

Anyone else?

Stories are about characters more than anything else, regardless of whether it is original fiction or fan fiction. It is characters in conflict that attract readers; everything else revolves around that. This is what I have tried to do in my fanfics:

A Christmas Fable
Space Station Alpha
Welcome The Darkness
Hell and Revenge

this is all good advice. one thing that you also have to remember is GRAMMAR. I've read way too many fan-fics with atrocious spelling, sentence structure, paragraph placement, and vocabulary. knowing HOW to write is just as important as knowing WHAT to write.

Moar Impse

VileSlay said:

this is all good advice. one thing that you also have to remember is GRAMMAR. I've read way too many fan-fics with atrocious spelling, sentence structure, paragraph placement, and vocabulary. knowing HOW to write is just as important as knowing WHAT to write.

Seconded. Pay attention in English class. Or buy Rhetoric and Grammar and read it thoroughly. Just because a sentence makes sense to the author doesn't mean it'll make sense to the reader.

So as for conflict... what kind of conflict like:
- Man vs Cyber Demon
- Man vs Death in a struggle to stay alive instead of trying to kill things?
- Personal conflicts between characters with a Doom back drop?

Lemonzest said:

Moar Impse

This greatly amused me and I am still laughing about it. I can imagine someone writing it with a crayon :-)

You're starting to come off like the concept of storytelling is completely alien to you or something. Maybe you should be reading books on the subject instead.

The only Doom fanfic I've had interest in was "Doom 4: Heaven Turns Agaisnt Me" and the few spin-offs from that. So, for me, more fanfics of that calibur.

Impie said:

You're starting to come off like the concept of storytelling is completely alien to you or something. Maybe you should be reading books on the subject instead.

Story telling is not alien, but there are various stories that could be told. Like Cloverfield is about surviving the monster, while Dragon Wars is about killing the monster. Titanic is a love story set in the backdrop of a tragedy / natural disaster.

Different stories can be told, there are different conflicts as well. Finding a cure to make the Doom Zombies into normal people again. Killing the cyber demon. Surviving the cyber demon. Escaping Mars. A male marine falling in love with a female research assistant and must rescue her from being a sacrifice. Going through time, finding Batruger and eliminating him before he unleashes Hell on Mars. Conflicts.

Maybe you should just write something instead of talking about it.

Bank said:

Maybe you should just write something instead of talking about it.

Not if his narrative is anything like his forum posts.

Writing's not a bad subject to talk about, but he's not really driving much of a discussion. I'm not really sure what he wants us to talk about here.

no attempt at 'repercussions'

Impie said:

Not if his narrative is anything like his forum posts.

Writing's not a bad subject to talk about, but he's not really driving much of a discussion. I'm not really sure what he wants us to talk about here.

That is true, I am not driving a discussion. I just ask questions and throw examples out there.

Thank you all for your answers. :-)

As for writing. I write five pages of manuscript a day then post it as a friends only blog. Friends read it and comment on it, even people that no longer like me comment positively on it. Some people have commented that it is like reading a daily soap opera. They look forward to reading it each day and I never ask people to read them. People come back to me quoting lines from my posts.

Then when I get far enough to 30-60 pages or so I post it on fanfiction.net and my Doom fictions get negative reviews. Everything else that I post on fanfiction.net gets positive reviews except for when I write Doom.

So apparently I do not know what Doom fans want, so that is why I was asking.

So...why not post links to your stuff and ask for feedback?

You're not gonna find out what's wrong with your fanfics if you don't share them. Otherwise, if you can't stand critiques, keep your work to yourself from now on.

http://www.doomworld.com/vb/fan-fics-fan-pics/40328-martian-marines/
http://www.doomworld.com/vb/fan-fics-fan-pics/42356-phobos-the-moon-of-dread-chapter-1-3/
http://www.doomworld.com/vb/fan-fics-fan-pics/42357-chief-medical-officers-audio-log/

Sorry about the wait. Took me a while to get onto my laptop to post some of them.

Okay, now you're starting to piss me off a little. I thought you said these were on fanfiction.net, first off. Second, and more importantly, half of being a writer is knowing how to be professional, and expecting us to critique your entire collected portfolio doesn't fit the bill. Nobody has the time for that (certainly not me). You're supposed to post a sample chapter and let everyone critique that, then apply what you learn to your other works on your own.

Never once in this topic did I ask for feedback. I posted a list, because you egged me on. This is petty. Someone please close this topic or delete it. I tried to delete this post myself, but I do not seem to have that power.

geo said:

Never once in this topic did I ask for feedback.

geo also said:

What do people want from a Doom fan fiction?

@Bank: I believe he meant feedback on the fanfics.

You did get me there Bank :-) But yes I did mean never once did I ask for feedback on my fanfics. I just posted a list as encouraged by someone.

I do thank everyone for giving their opinions before this topic got a bit off track.

This is petty.

I agree.