Fanfic Friday Review Collection

10. Vampire Diaries ~ Dark Paradise (18. Perfect Storm)

Title: Dark Paradise

Writer: BirdieLittleWinx

Fandom: Vampire Diaries

Contest: Perfect Storm

Here is where I admit, I don't know the fandom. I imagine from the writer's name that they know the Winx Club fandom, but sadly this fic isn't for that fandom, so I can't judge the writer on whether the characters are in character, and that I think is one of my personal concerns, that the characters may or may not be out of character. However, perhaps that may attest to how well the story is written, that someone outside of the fandom wouldn't have a clue something is up. By that I mean someone with absolutely no knowledge of the fandom beyond the fact there are vampires in it, and that's kind of obvious from the title.

I actually love the prose for this particular fic, and how stormy the narrative is. The writer dropped in a ton of weather buzz words into the first page of the story, and this really jumps out at me because the theme for this challenge is storms. This is also something they maintain pretty well through the story, and the writing is smooth. At that, I've got to add that the narrative is written in first person, and it feels like one character, and not the writer.

I don't know if Elena is a canon character, or an OC, but she blends well into the story, she feels like she's needed, which you could say is needed for both canon characters and original characters in any given story, but that it tends to stand out more for original characters then OCs. It would be really awesome if this was a canon character, and the writer is writing this particular story in character, because it does mean she did a good job, but again, I don't know enough about the fandom.

I also love how the story starts. The writer starts off with a diary entry. Putting diary entries into stories, particularly the beginning, is not actually something I would recommend for a newbie writer. I am instantly reminded of my favorite Mary Sue, Eliza Diawna Snape, and how the first story in the trilogy started off as a diary. In that story, Eliza's diary had many problems. The first, it wasn't written in diary format, but regular narrative. Second, it was there to elicit pity for Eliza.

The writer for this particular story is successful in the fact the writer honestly used the chapter for set up. I felt that, even though I didn't know the fandom, that the writer through the diary had given me, a person not familiar with the fandom, enough to go by, even if it was just a taste. And of course there is the important fact that the diary was written like a diary. Had the writer not done this, with it being the first part of the story, I would have been jarred out of the reading.

I also loved the dynamics between the relationship, how there is a romance going on in the story. The ship though runs around in the background, allowing the plot to run it's course. Since we've got the vampire genre, there is a lot of wonderful anxiety, and the angst is realistic. One thing which turns me off a story, is unrealistic angst. What helps round out this angst ridden motif is the stormy weather going on outside that just pulls it together, rather then the writer just relying on the character pretty much throwing a mental tantrum without the setting to go with it.

Actually, I think even I struggle with getting that. It's not so much something a writer absolutely has to do when they write an angst piece, but the added setting to build it up is like adding just the right kick. The writer also emulated the plot quite well.