Fix-it fics

[mythicmistress]

Like them, dislike them, what would possibly drive you to write one?

In my case, whether or not I'm willing to read/keep reading a fix-it fic depends on what the author decided needed to be fixed.

For example, one type of fix-it that I have very little patience for are the ones that are done expressly for the sake of a romantic coupling, without exploring the other consequences that would arise from the situation being fixed, and especially if there is character bashing involved. Conversely, I love the fix-its that take the consequences of the fix into consideration as much as possible, no matter what the situation being fixed is.

As for what drives me to want to write fix-its, the reasons vary. For the Sly Cooper games in particular, I want to address the things in canon that I felt were not given the weight they deserved or that tend to be glossed over. For other fandoms, the reasons include: having things make more sense, bringing out the missed potential that I see, or changing things that stick out as illogical when put up against established canon.

Comments

[tei]

I think I pretty much agree with your conclusions. There isn't a specific genre of plot that I'm always going to read or not read, but... I think the idea of "fix-it" often means that something happened in canon that someone didn't like, so they're merely "fixing" it so that the "right" thing happens, which can, although of course doesn't always, lead to... a kind of two-dimensional approach? Like, if the only purpose of the story is for a specific event to occur or not occur, that just isn't particularly interesting to me. Especially since often the "wrong" thing, that happened in canon, was something bad-- an event that was harmful to characters that the author likes-- and therefore the fix-it is just a story where a bad thing pointedly doesn't happen. And "bad stuff happening" is pretty much the definition of plot, it's what drives emotions and character development, so, no, I don't want to read a story whose only defining feature is a bad thing not happening.

On the other hand, the same concept could be taken and extrapolated to its fullest conclusion-- like OK, that specific bad thing didn't happen, but every action or event has a consequence, and a story built around the consequences of a plot point going the opposite way is going to be a good story.

[hannah]

a kind of two dimensional approach

I see this a lot in my current main reading fandom. Thank you for putting it into such a succinct term.