Today, I'll be comparing two Crack fics if you don't already know from the title.
Office Antics
&
Networking Chaos
A bit of background: Crack fics are basically a genre of fanfiction. According to
fanlore.org,
'"Crackfic" is a term for a story which takes a ridiculous premise as its starting point, such as casting all the canon characters as My Little Ponies. It may or may not deal with this premise in a serious way.'
Thus, the two I will be comparing are both ridiculous and entertaining fanfiction.
Office Antics
Citation: "Office Antics." Asianfanfics. n.p. 16 Aug 2012. Web. 16 Nov 2014.
[office!au] Twelve guys and one software startup. Baekhyun’s that new guy, Chanyeol's the guy who falls for the new guy, Kyungsoo has pedo problems, Junmyeon's the oblivious CEO, Kris is the cutthroat CFO, Yixing’s out to get more vacation time, Tao’s a receptionist (sorta), Minseok is a closeted romantic, Jongin’s the intern that actually does stuff, Sehun’s the intern that doesn’t, and Luhan and Jongdae just like messing around.
(http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/255780/office-antics-comedy-exo-hunhan-baekyeol-kaisoo-ot12)
Networking Chaos
[There is no poster for this and that is sad.]
Citation: "Networking Chaos." Livejournal. n.p. 25 June 2012. Web. 16 Nov 2014.
wherein they're all obsessed with networking sites that only produce chaos and a lot of unhealthy feels.
(http://mistyblur.livejournal.com/1521.html)
The comparison:
Authors
Office Antics
The author of 'Office Antics' goes by the pen-name 'Areumdaun'. She has written and published in both
Asianfanfics and
Livejournal (and maybe also Tumblr). She has written 4 oneshots (one body of text - one chapter), 3 drabbles (a short work of fiction), and 1 multishot(a fic with multiple chapters). Her tumblr bio states:
' HI. I'm not very
interesting, but I was born in the dead of winter in the northern part of the
golden state. I've since migrated to the south, to a warmer city nestled on the
coast with soft-sand beaches and surfable waves.
But it's
not like I get to see any of that, I'm there for academics, not for the sun.
And so I live in the university bubble, sheltered from the world and subject to
wide-eyed ideals and youthful optimism. Class of '16, I'll catch the real world
on the flip side in four years.
I write
fics and things, mostly for fun. But developed plots and words run slow by my
fingers, and so my output is monthly at best. I only have two major fics, but
thousands of threads of thought lying in wait. We'll see how that goes. My full
time attention-span is about good enough for one fandom at a time, and for now
I'm on EXO.
I stan
Baek and Yeol and Sehun, though Kyungsoo and Tao are pretty fine too (as well
as the other 7). My OTP is Baekyeol but I'm inclined to Kaisoo and well
Sesoo as well.
In terms
of my fandom history, it started with a crush on a storm that that
was dropped when I fell head over heels for five gods rising from the
east. During their split, I had a brief love affair with the hottest time of
day before jaywalking out of there during the turmoil, going fandomless for a
few years before finally settling in a place where we're one. Okay that sounded
retarded. Basically I went from Arashi to DBSK, from 2PM to Jay Park, to a
fandom burnout, before slipping back in for this current EXO stint. And epik
high forever, yo, six years with their music and counting <3.'
To my utmost sorrow, Areumdaun has retired from writing fanfiction because she 'outgrew(?) the fandom and she wants to focus more on her future ahead. I wish her luck in her life! Post about leaving -
http://taochui.tumblr.com/post/88157301900/bye
Networking Chaos
The author of 'Networking Chaos' goes by the pen-name of 'Baekhyunnie'. She has written and published in
Livejournal in the blog(?) called
Mistyblur. She has written a total of 3 oneshots. Although she has not much information about herself, 'Networking Chaos' is still one of the best crack fics in the EXO fandom (at least according to me).
Also to my sorrow, Baekhyunnie's last fanfiction was published on July 2012. So, I think she is not active anymore.
Length
Office Antics
Since this is a multishot, length-wise, it's longer - by a lot. The published chapters total up to 18 and although it has been discontinued, Areumdaun has uploaded a post on how the fanfiction was going to end. This includes: the outline for the rest of the story, unfinished character profiles, and her inspiration for writing the fic. This can be viewed here:
http://taochui.tumblr.com/post/88157295430/regarding-the-end-of-office-antics
Networking Chaos
Since this is a oneshot, length-wise, it's shorter - by a lot. The length of the fic is just right though, any longer than that then it would be too much.
Setting and Structure
Office Antics
It takes place in an office, and for multiple chapters, it stays in the office - EXO KM Systems to be exact. Other times, it would be at someone's house or when the characters are out, or when they have a company trip.
The structure of the fanficiton is well organized-ish. With each chapter, the story flows, like a river, like a stream, the sea. Oho. They are connected to one another. But at times, there are chapters that can maybe counted as 'filler chapters', and the purpose of those are to show the tightening relationships between characters, and also for more laughs. Sometimes, chapters are interconnected through parts - this means that one chapter has, for example, three parts and are published separately due to the never ending lengths.
Networking Chaos
It takes place on Tumblr, YouTube, Facebook, a fanfiction site, and Twitter. The characters are using these forms of media. On a paragraph or two, it takes place in a cafe. To sum up the settings (by sections):
Tumblr, Tumblr, Tumblr, Facebook Tumblr, Tumblr, Tumblr YouTube-ish, Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube(?) Tumblr, Youtube Twitter, Tumblr Twitter, Twitter, YouTube Facebook, YouTube Fanfiction, Cafe, Tumblr, Cafe, Cafe, Everything & Twitter.
The structure of the fanfiction is also well organized-ish. In each section (separated by more than one 'enters'), it describes a different character's perspective. To sum them up too:
Luhan, Tao, Sehun, Jongdae, Sehun, Kyungsoo, Wu Fan, Joonmyeon, Jongin, Baekhyun, Jongdae Kyungsoo, Joonmyeon, Yixing Wu Fan, Chanyeol, Tao Wu Fan, Sehun Luhan, Jongin Kyungsoo, Baekhyun Joonmyeon Chanyeol, Jongdae.
Characters' Character
Office Antics
The characters here have their own distinct character. For example, Chanyeol is the weirdo and Luhan is the devil in disguise. They differ from their actual personalities (based on reality shows and other videos and social media posts and fan accounts) but Areumdaun still manages to include some EXO fandom puns and jokes and words like Baozi.
Unfinished character profiles-
http://taochui.tumblr.com/oaprofiles
Networking Chaos
This on the other hand, includes more of the Exo fandom puns, jokes, and words. However, each character still has distinct character that differ from their actual personalities. For example, Jongdae being a ship enthusiast, and Chanyeol being a stalker.
Both fanfiction, same but different, are equally amazing. Both of them made me laugh (A LOT) and although I look forward to more of these types of fanfiction from the talented authors, I know they have a lot going on in their lives so I shall find others to read - if I even have the time, because nowadays I don't.
Anyway, this is the end of today's post!
Bye Bye!
