Hedi's Five Fanfiction Links

tergiversation by Ivory Muse

This fanfic is from Asami's POV, after the Season One finale, when Asami overhears Mako's confession of love for Korra. Asami is feeling lonely, bitter and maybe a bit betrayed after everything she has done for them, and this fic is basically just Asami's introspection and her feelings towards Mako and their messy break-up.

What makes this fic work is that it is written really well, and despite portraying Asami as bitter and angry, is does so in a way that is believable and doesn't seem out of character. It is written in the third person, focusing solely on Asami's thoughts, so doesn't have any interaction with other characters and it doesn't really have a plot, so I think the main reason this works is because it is so believable.




Fixing You Songfic by Mournless

This is a songfic based around Bolin and Asami's supposed broken-ness at the end of season one, where Mako and Korra are allegedly happy and in love and ignoring their friends. Asami and Bolin are sad and wallowing around and crying and then somehow miraculously fall into some kind of deeper friendship but not love and are cured of their desperation. All to the sound of Coldplay.

First off, the formatting is awful. The lyrics are italicised which is great, but everything is single spaced which is really hard on the eye. Especially towards the end where it is mostly lyrics and then one line of story - it's really difficult to see the story if you're attempting to avoid reading the lyrics. Also there is no dialogue, everything just happens with searing looks and hugs-while-kneeling, which sounds really uncomfortable. In fact, nothing actually happens. Asami and Bolin cry and then hug it out and that's it really. We aren't granted an in depth view to their feelings, just told how sad they are and how awkward everything is suddenly. Last of all, Bolin is nothing like Bolin from the TV show, he is just like some random completely out of character person that the author just threw in there. Like Mournless thought, 'I need a really gloomy and depressing character, but I don't want to create my own so I will just chuck Bolin's name on it and call it a day." It makes me sad because Bolin got shafted in the series and doesn't deserve to also be shafted in the fanfiction universe too. 1/10 would not read again.




Acquired by slacktension

slacktension describes this as 'missing scenes from life in the Southern Water Tribe - Mako, Bolin, and Asami try their best to integrate into Korra's family.' This occurs in the last episode as well as some time after, when the group leaves the South Pole and heads back to Republic City. It details how Mako and Bolin, who grew up as street urchins, and Asami, motherless and recently abandoned by her father (who turned out to be murderous and 2IC to the series' villian) are taken in by Korra's parents.

 This story is done so well. Everything is perfect. Everyone is in character, it is well written, beautifully presented, everything is feasible and believable. Even the minorest of minor characters, Tonraq and Senna, are written in a way that is consistent with what the audience knows about them - which isn't much, considering they got about 30 seconds of screen time throughout the whole season. And slacktension even got the names right, despite them only being referred to as 'Korra's parents' on the show - clearly the author has done his/her research. This fic details how Mako, Bolin and Asami deal with having parental figures, how they all overcome their family issues. It's just done so so so well.




Ink Stains by halfway-to-forever00

This is a future fic which takes place at least five years after the season one finale. Bolin is failing at the Metalbending Police Academy due to his illiteracy, and Asami helps him learn to write and thus graduate.

This story is also done really well. As it takes place five years in the future, the author has given them jobs that would make sense for the characters - Bolin studying at Police Academy, Asami taking over her father's company, Korra off saving the world, Mako working at 'the plant' which is probably the plant that Asami owns. She's also kept them in character, like Mako working double shifts to take care of his brother as his scholarship isn't enough, Korra picking Bolin up at his graduation. It's also well formatted with the time-breaks and scene shifts, no spelling or grammatical errors. The plot is probably a little bit thin and not quite enough to disguise the fact that it is a blatent excuse to get Asami and Bolin together, but it is just fluff and the cheesiness is not overwhelming.

 


The Love of Bosami by  DCLWLOKPR44424

 Well. This story is about how Bolin and Asami get together. A one sentence synopsis could be: Bolin and Asami watch their friends make out, then walk around an island, then kiss and then live happily ever after. Actually that one sentence I just wrote is probably a better story than the story itself.

This is probably the worse fanfiction ever. Ever ever ever. DCLWLOKPR44424 says it is her first fic, and you can really tell. It is poorly spelled, poorly worded, poorly paragraphed, and a poor portrayal of characters. Here is an excerpt:

"hey Asami want to go for a walk?" asked Bolin
"Sure" said Asami they walked around the island talking about their favorite stuff to do and laughing.

I count seven grammatical mistakes in those two sentences. Was it two sentences? Because there sure as hell wasn't enough punctuation in there. And that's just grammar! Don't even get me started on the storyline. This fic would be an example of what not to write. There is no point to this story at all. I don't even know why you would publish this. Surely not because you are anticipating rave reviews?