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NexusCell · Feb 23, 2015

Alright, so I couldn't really put all of it in the title, but the gist is this:

Also, Concrit = Constructive Criticism, I couldn't fit it in the title.

A student run course at UC Berkeley is teaching a class on fanfiction, and as part of the course, they were given a few fanfics to read and write a constructively critical review of them.

This didn't apparently go over too well with some writers. Basically, this is a post by a girl who got one of her fics reviewed and seems to be leading the outrage. And this one where the author actually flat out says that constructive criticism is not welcome unless asked.

Unless we say “Concrit welcome!”, assume it’s not.

So basically this has been a thing about whether or not its okay for academic students to write constructive criticism for an authors writing and posting these criticisms in a review.

Also, just for the lols, heres a schedule of the class.

Schedule of Classes

Lecture 1: Introduction & A Brief History of Fanfiction
Spockanalia excerpt*

Lecture 2: Stepping into the Community
Less Wrong Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality Ch. 1-10

Lecture 3: Media Reception
Snowqueen’s Icedragon Master of the Universe Ch. 1-7
closer 5U175

Lecture 4: Mary-Sues, OCs, and Self-Inserts
My Immortal*
Dante’s Inferno excerpt*
not_poignant From the Darkness We Rise Ch. 9
Optional Reading: not_poignant Game Theory

Lecture 5: Alternative Universes
waldorph Delilah
First short writing assignment due in class.

Lecture 6: Crossovers
closer Sidekick
esama Safehguard ch. 1-3
AvocadoLove The Boy Who Spoke With Ghosts

Lecture 7: Sidekicks and Villains
Lise Life in Reverse ch. 1-5
Magneticwave kyle wei, tree whisperer

Lecture 8: Tropes – De-aging & Gender Bending
laventadorn The Never-ending Road ch. 1, 31, 54, 70-72

Lecture 9: Tropes – Forced Bonding & Time Travel
Elenothar lay down your sweet and weary head
Second short writing assignment due in class.

SPRING BREAK March 23-27

Lecture 10: Fanfiction as Vehicle of Social Commentary
megganoconner All That’s Best of Dark and Bright
RobinRocks Wertham’s Law
songlin Random Numbers

Lecture 11: Slash
Diane Marchant “A Fragment Out of Time”

Lecture 12: Femslash
yollm For Her Hand
TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel If I had to beg for your love, would it ever be enough

Lecture 13: Kink
MajaLi Good Boy
Whisper91 As Luck Would Have It (I’m already smitten) Ch. 1-5

Lecture 14: Closing - Is fanfiction a valid literary genre?
eleveninches, Febricant, helltailor, M_Leigh, neenya, tigrrmilk Steve Rogers at 100: Celebrating Captain America on Film

RR&R Week May 4-8

FINALS Week May 11-15

Fifty Reviews Assignment Due

Force me to read omegaverse slash if old.

terrisus · Feb 23, 2015

Concrit?

EDIT: Ah, "constructive criticism" I guess.
Never heard it combined into a single term like that.

gutshot · Feb 23, 2015

Tumblr drama? Tumblr drama.

cirrhosis · Feb 23, 2015

holy shit

I'd take this class just for the lols. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment.

Burt · Feb 23, 2015

I don't know how they could possibly think that exposing students to microaggressions like these could be anything but incredibly harmful.

FZZ · Feb 23, 2015

If terrisus doesn't know what concrit is, I will never know in my life.

Take that OP.

Edit: And just as I post this he figured it out. Damn.

God Dayumm · Feb 23, 2015

do they make you read 50 shades?

NYCmetsfan · Feb 23, 2015

no sonic?

bigkrev · Feb 23, 2015

Lecture 11: Slash

Why save the most important thing for the 11th class?

Slayven · Feb 23, 2015

No Stephen Ratliff?

The class is bunk

terrisus · Feb 23, 2015

FZZpure said:
If terrisus doesn't know what concrit is, I will never know in my life.

Take that OP.

To be fair, I'm not too hip on slang terms.
Crazy kids and their wacky lingo.

THRILLH0 · Feb 23, 2015

That's a terrible portmanteau.

Servbot24 · Feb 23, 2015

Burt said:
I don't know how they could possibly think that exposing students to microaggressions like these could be anything but incredibly harmful.

Are you saying their work shouldn't be critiqued?

Absolutely absurd if so, and tbh offensive.

Derekloffin · Feb 23, 2015

If you don't want critic, then say so in the fic. It isn't hard. Although really, if you're putting your fanfiction on open web then to not expect criticism is rather naive. Sure you can moan if you're just sharing it privately, but on the open web, it is just silly to not expect people to tear it apart. If you don't want to hear about it, then just ignore all replies.

And yes, I'm a FF author, and I've gotten my fair share of flames.

SteveWinwood · Feb 23, 2015

when you publish your work anywhere it is open to criticism

period

you are not forced to listen to it, read it, or even acknowledge it exists

it can still be personal and help you or whatever you want it to be but when its on the internet its not entirely yours anymore

Stet · Feb 23, 2015

"You're not allowed to give me constructive criticism on this thing I made public" can be solved pretty easily by removing the last three words.

kitschykitty · Feb 23, 2015

If you put a piece of work out publicly I'd say it's not really within your power to prevent people from critiquing it.

I don't think posting the critique as a comment was really necessary but whatever, if there is a spot for comments don't be surprised when people comment on it.

NYCmetsfan · Feb 23, 2015

bigkrev said:
Why save the most important thing for the 11th class?

I didn't know what this was...

Nappuccino · Feb 23, 2015

I'm not sure why they posted the reviews online for the authors to see, and I'm not sure why the authors are upset. You put your stuff online, you get feedback, that's how it works.

Malreyn · Feb 23, 2015

Concrit is just one person's head canon vs someone else's head canon, right?

striferser · Feb 23, 2015

LOL.
Master of universe (OG 50 shades of gray) and My immortal is required reading!?
Good choice by the lecturer

i wrote fanfic and feedback are expected. Yes, there will be those who give you sick burn and trollish comment, but those are expected.

Bacon · Feb 23, 2015

Man, I took my fair share of BS classes but I think this one may take the cake.

patapuf · Feb 23, 2015

are these popular fanfics?

From what i remember fanfiction writers that go beyond a few pages of wish fullfilment usually try to become better at writing and ask for constructive critisism.

I guess not everyone can deal with it.

B-Dubs · Feb 23, 2015

APKmetsfan said:
I didn't know what this was...

You were better off

Mumei · Feb 23, 2015

APKmetsfan said:
I didn't know what this was...

Have you been enlightened yet?

Krauser Kat · Feb 23, 2015

that fan fic lady is nuts. The world's need for better writing out weighs the need for more fiction.

Valhelm · Feb 23, 2015

Why teach a course on fanfiction, though?

It seems like a waste of time and talent to teach people how to better write other peoples' characters purely for their own entertainment.

NYCmetsfan · Feb 23, 2015

Mumei said:
Have you been enlightened yet?

The human mind has a incredible ability for creativity

terrisus · Feb 23, 2015

bigkrev said:
Lecture 11: Slash

Click to expand...

Why save the most important thing for the 11th class?

APKmetsfan said:
I didn't know what this was...

Mumei said:
Have you been enlightened yet?

Should we post examples? >.>

collige · Feb 23, 2015

I would pay so much money to take a university course that covers My Immortal.

HK-47 · Feb 23, 2015

Valhelm said:
Why teach a course on fanfiction, though?

It seems like a waste of time and talent to teach people how to better write other peoples' characters purely for their own entertainment.

Apparently for the comedic rage.

Also this sounds exactly like a stereotypical fan fic writer response.

FelixOrion · Feb 23, 2015

Gotta get working on my NeoGAF fanfic for next semester I guess.

Also, someone should try to get the Erotic Batman fanfic from NeoGAF Secret Santa in the course.

SenorArdilla · Feb 23, 2015

bigkrev said:
Why save the most important thing for the 11th class?

Because you need to give students an incentive to stay.

RecursiveFault · Feb 23, 2015

Constructive Criticism is generally, y'know... constructive.

Valhelm · Feb 23, 2015

RecursiveFault said:
Constructive Criticism is generally, y'know... constructive.

From the Tumblr post, the writer was flustered because it was constructive. She was used to shallower criticism that probably often amounted to "I don't like this pairing".

NexusCell · Feb 23, 2015

terrisus said:
Should we post examples? >.>

Where should we start with? Supernatural or Harry Potter?

bigkrev · Feb 23, 2015

Valhelm said:
Why teach a course on fanfiction, though?

It seems like a waste of time and talent to teach people how to better write other peoples' characters purely for their own entertainment.

This isn't a class about writing Fanfiction. It's more about the discussion of the medium, broken into topics. Just look at Lession 14

Lecture 14: Closing - Is fanfiction a valid literary genre?

It's the equivalent to having a class on something like Crunkcore at a music school

finowns · Feb 23, 2015

This waldorph person needs more concrit after looking at his fics. http://archiveofourown.org/users/waldorph

Damaniel · Feb 23, 2015

That syllabus is missing Legolas by Laura. How can you have a course on fanfiction without that classic?

Sorry, authors - if you create a work and make it available for others to read, they're going to provide criticism (some constructive, some not). If you're so afraid of getting your feelings hurt that you feel the need to call the critics out, then perhaps publicly releasing your work isn't the best idea.

(And for the love of Thor, please give these authors a goddamn spellchecker and some grammar lessons. I've never seen a piece of fanfiction that wasn't full of glaring typos, grammar issues and other butcherings of the English language.)

Piano · Feb 23, 2015

Mumei said:
Have you been enlightened yet?

Enlighten me.

Platy · Feb 23, 2015

Starts slow .. but after week 5 it has potential to be really awesome.

I would take it if it was on my university

RecursiveFault · Feb 23, 2015

Valhelm said:
From the Tumblr post, the writer was flustered because it was constructive. She was used to shallower criticism that probably often amounted to "I don't like this pairing".

I guess if you really just don't want to improve at all, you would just write things and get upset when people try to give advice.

Burt · Feb 23, 2015

Servbot24 said:
Are you saying their work shouldn't be critiqued?

Absolutely absurd if so, and tbh offensive.

Sarcasm

And sadness for living in a world where the use of 'microaggression' could be anything but

Valhelm · Feb 23, 2015

bigkrev said:
This isn't a class about writing Fanfiction. It's more about the discussion of the medium, broken into topics. Just look at Lession 14

It's the equivalent to having a class on something like Crunkcore at a music school

You're right, sorry! This is an interesting idea, in that case. It's great to apply academic analysis to anything that academia tends to ignore.

striferser · Feb 23, 2015

Valhelm said:
Why teach a course on fanfiction, though?

It seems like a waste of time and talent to teach people how to better write other peoples' characters purely for their own entertainment.

Well, to be fair, it teach you how to write using determined character and setting, which will be useful if you get a job like say, writing an anthology for Sherlock Holmes or star wars.

Edit: oh, it's discussion about medium. Okay then.

CarpeDeezNutz · Feb 23, 2015

If they're rude or mean with their criticism I can see why they would get upset but... I thrive on being critiqued on what I do. It's how I learn to get better, and I don't know why someone would not want to improve.

Fury451 · Feb 23, 2015

gutshot said:
Tumblr drama? Tumblr drama.

Tumblr drama is simultaneously the best and worst type of drama, for vastly different reasons.

Constructive criticism is a fact of life, yo. Deal with it.

Most people are lucky if the criticism they get is even "constructive" at all.

Exr · Feb 23, 2015

Wonder how much the course costs

huea

Mumei · Feb 23, 2015

Piano said:
Enlighten me.

My dear, I am at work. And while my friend did trick me into clicking a Goodreads link to a book called My Billionaire Triceratops Craves Gay Ass, I'm not about to go looking for slash fic, too!

NexusCell said:
Where should we start with? Supernatural or Harry Potter?

Or Batman / Superman with pregnancy.

Tesseract · Feb 23, 2015

constructive criticism leads to microtriggering microstressors, and death

legit shooken

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