FanChats💬submit your prompts!It's trope discussion Monday! What do you think about fix-it fics? What makes them work for you? Can you recommend a good fix-it fic? 
Forestofglory@FandomChats I have mixed feelings about fix-it fics. I want good things for my blorbos, but also if things are too easy I generally get bored. Not sure where the line between things are better than canon yay! and too easy is though!
I guess if they characters have genuine reasons they didn't fix it the source material then I want those reasons addressed not just waved off.
@FandomChats Time travel fix its are my least favorite because they tend to fall on the too easy side and generally fail to address the complications of time travel
emilies to lovers@FandomChats I love writing them but hesitate to read them lol. What I like is "bittersweet but hopeful resolution to a story that ended sadly but somewhat open-endedly" vibes, rather than "all the bad things have been resolved or ignored and now it's fluff time", and it's easier to calibrate those knobs myself..
Dr. Neon, PhD in Tragedy@FandomChats Maybe we should define "fix-it" because iirc there was a discussion on here sometime back about "fix-it" having two meanings: 1) fixing the canon because plot holes/some other perceived issues with the story, 2) fixing it so blorbo gets a happy ending
When I think fix-it, it's the latter... (If it's the former, entire swaths of Weiss Kreuz fanfic is a fix it 😂)
What makes a good fix-it is hm, limited in scope. It doesn't fix everything. If it does fix everything, then it's just boring.
When I think fix-it, it's the latter... (If it's the former, entire swaths of Weiss Kreuz fanfic is a fix it 😂)
What makes a good fix-it is hm, limited in scope. It doesn't fix everything. If it does fix everything, then it's just boring.
gnocchi@geraineon thank you for explaining 
FriskybizFan@FandomChats After OFMD S2’s end, I really needed a fix-it fic! I usually like them, if they are plausible.
Ocean Blorbocean@FandomChats yeah, I love them especially as a magnus archives fan
@FandomChats I love Trope Discovery Monday 
Soph (they/them)there are many modes to fix-it fics, and some work better for me than others!
if the fix-it is of the type "canon was wrong, I'm rewriting it the way it SHOULD have been," then the fic writer and I need to agree on whether canon was wrong and what it was wrong about
if the fix-it is of the type "I'm sad my blorbos are dead/evil/miserable, and I want to imagine a version where they get to be happy" then it depends on...a lot of factors, lol
In general I want a fix-it to make sense within canon and with the characters. a "they make a different decision at a pivotal moment" type of fix-it needs to provide lead-up for why they're able to make that different decision in the fic, for example.
and if a story has lots of emotional complexity and darkness in canon, I'm unlikely to enjoy a story that's "everything's happy fluff now :)" because that's tonally jarring! that can be the END to a fix-it, but the more interesting story imo is in seeing how they manage to get there
@FandomChats actually now that I think about it a bit more, a fix-it fic is in some respects just a subset of the canon divergence au fic, one that comes with a particular type of ending specified.
I like canon divergence AUs a lot! but often imo it's so much fun to see things go /differently/ bad, instead of fixing all the problems!!
but I also think it depends a lot on the canon, for me. like, is canon saying interesting things and drawing together compelling thematic links by depicting dark things happening to my blorbos? if so then I am very attached to that, actually!
but if I want to argue with canon about whether, for example, a character's death was actually important for the story being told....then yes I'm all about the fix-it that makes that character stay alive
but ALSO. sometimes I do just want to read my blorbos going on that long journey to eventually reach the happiness that canon denied them 🥲
Julia@FandomChats I love all sorts of fix-it fics :) I don't consider them as replacing canon but as a what-if, a way to explore characters and the experiences/ relationships shaping them. Time travel fix-it fics additionally have signif. character growth and redemption, often bringing relationships to a depth that was impossible in canon. I also enjoy fics with little angst bc the contrast with canon is always present in my mind and gives any fluff or bamf content a bittersweet hurt/comfort note.
@thalassa @FandomChats I read those fics differently but your point about character development is very helpful to something I've been trying to figure out! Thank you!
@Forestofglory @FandomChats Oh, I'm glad! :) What were you trying to figure out if you don't mind sharing?
@thalassa @FandomChats I was trying to figure out why some fics felt 'too nice" and didn't land for me and I think character development is a key factor. Stories don't need conflict but they do need characters and character development!
@Forestofglory @FandomChats Ah yes, I agree completely!
shipMy absolute favorite thing about fix-it fics is the #CoulsonLives movement in which fandom collectively said fuck you to Marvel and Kevin Feige and decided Phil Coulson survived Loki's stabbing. That was beautiful.
In general, I enjoy them. They can be time travel fics (see: MDZS) or the MCD can be solved with science or magic (see: MCU). And while I might enjoy happy-happy-joy-joy feels all around, I usually enjoy the story a lot more if the implications and consequences of changing things on a fundamental level follow the MCs through their new, fixed reality.
charisu@FandomChats Sometimes a work is messy and not on purpose. Persona 4 is very messy. I won't elaborate. I have hated it for 10 years until very recently when someone brought up Shuada (Yu/Adachi) feeling very 'human' and 'raw', similar to Nyata (Nyarlathotep/Tatsuya; entirely its own class of self hatred ). I then read one fic and it flipped a switch in me. This fic was Fidelity Decay. I can't sing its praises enough, it made Yaso-Inaba fun again.
@FandomChats As far as what makes a fix-it work for me... I like the changed scenarios and interactions. That the author(s) has self awareness that there is no one thing is going to actually fix everything ever. tbh there's very little media I didn't like that I would go out of my way to look up fic for, I hadn't thought about why one might seek out Fix-It.
I did end up replaying P4 and it was pretty cozy with the mindset as a small town horror mystery, potentially buddying up with the murderer.
I did end up replaying P4 and it was pretty cozy with the mindset as a small town horror mystery, potentially buddying up with the murderer.