Heh. I love a bit of good crack!fic now and then. But it has to be good crack!fic. I don't smoke the sub-standard variety. My personal favorite is anything involving Doctor Scruffy and/or the Sheep's "DVD commentaries" featuring the various characters. Oh and her Cameron-angst-poem which was so funny that I'm glad I wasn't drinking anything when I read it.

I tend to be cautious when I see "crack" in a summary because so often it's code for "characters behaving OOCly with no plot and some juvenile excuse for humor." But good crack, like the one where they turn into penguins, or the one where there are dinosaurs in their offices, can be very good. I ought to re-read those two, actually. Now, I can't seem to write crack to save my life. I try--like with the story where House played Santa Claus for Wilson's cancer kids--and it ends up being sappy angst, with jokes. You know, my usual schtick.

I'm usually very happy to read crack!fic so long as it's H/W crack :wink: It's a welcome break from angst & hurt!comfort sometimes. The penguins are my favourite (one of my Desert Island Fics) but I have a soft spot for House or Wilson or both turning into grey tabby kittens too. This seems to happen a lot for some reason... the one where there are dinosaurs in their offices Could we have a link, pretty please with sugar on top?

I'm with CousinAlexei Crackfic can be good, but too often it's something that's not. I tend to be cautious of the crackfic label just as I'm cautious of "humor" labels. Most writers, in my experience, can't write humor very well. They try way too hard, or it's funny in their minds, but isn't in character -- or worse, to me anyway, they try to make themselves funny when the humor should be coming from the character. House is funny. Let him be a funny guy -- don't try to show off how funny you, the writer, can be. But then humor, like crackfic, is a very subjective thing.

The One Where Wilson Finds A Triceratops In His Office by crackmaster thedeadparrot. Now there's an example of crack done right. Actually, the betteronvicodin crackfest has produced less of what you'd call crack and more of what you'd call intriguing, well-written fic along nonstandard lines.

I always thought crack fic was something people wrote while high on your American Pixie Sticks? I think it is a bit like an established slash or monty python - no one should blink an eye at a load of dinosaurs roaming the halls of PPTH - then fun and hilarity can ensue. I don't know. Is it possible to write a funny normal House story? Hugh is always fun, there are fun lines here and there, but it's not a show that has me laughing out loud. ... Oh and... Doctor Scruffy says he resents the implication he is on crack. Everyone knows his drug of choice is morphine. He gets it from some doctor called Home or something.

ITA good crack is hard to find! But such fun when its done right. Can't forget to mention the queen of crack, ticcy herself, in this discussion. Writing funny as opposed to extreme crack strikes me as harder in some respects because you've got to keep the characters IC where crack is more forgiving (even demands) of lapses in to OOC. And House humor is particularly hard because in needs to have a fair degree of wittiness.

I enjoy crack!fic that is a parody of fandom and fanfiction, but not, in general, for the show. The humor of crack just doesn't mesh for me with the humor of House. However, I do have a soft spot for fics that take a crack!premise and make it serious. I have no idea why.

I think Blue said it - Crack that takes the mickey out of House and fandom I find very enjoyable too. Is that meta? I've never been quite too sure what that actually means a la fan fiction. Sometimes I think a meta fic is one that, like Monty Python, knows it is an artificial contruct. But what does it mean in general ff terms?

Probably going to bog myself in the mire here, but: Crack doesn't have to be funny. It usually is, but it doesn't have to be. Also, you pretty much have to take a crack premise seriously, or there's no chance for the fic to be funny. "Postcards from Ruritania" is one of the wilder premises ever, and it only works because every character in there behaves as if it's actually happening. They take it seriously, so we get to laugh. Were do we draw the line between AU and crack? I guess AU is a situation that could have happened but didn't (House & Wilson in Roman times); crack is a situation that couldn't have happened (House & Wilson are penguins).

*tilts head pondering* I don't know...I write almost noting BUT humor in the House random, and I've been told I'm hilarious (I pretty much just write what makes ME laugh like a hyena, and if someone else enjoys it, cool) and a fair about of crack fics too. So I guess if it's not possible to write Good House humor fics then I'm just a bad fic writer (OK I knew that already) But really it depends on your sense of humor. Like this one fic? No matter how many tiimes I read it I howl with laughter, but like 99.9% of my reviews were "...what?" "You're sick!" "I bet you rape corpses, cause that's the only kind of sex you can get, you sick freak!" Oh come on! What's not hilarious of House sleeping with a dead Cameron while listen to Stephen Lynch?!? Hmpf. I love Crack fics. They're lots of fun to read and write. Wither it's raining rabid koalas, House's random "daughters' are breaking out of the psych ward, House is revealing Chase's naughty past preforming Rocky Horror or whatever.

Also, you pretty much have to take a crack premise seriously, or there's no chance for the fic to be funny. "Postcards from Ruritania" is one of the wilder premises ever, and it only works because every character in there behaves as if it's actually happening. They take it seriously, so we get to laugh. Ah, thanks for the nice words about Postcards, Dee! I had to go back and check out your experience with crack, and--oh my god, Crash! I had to attend a Pampered Chef party once, and I would've paid tons of money to have House and Wilson rescue me by stumbling in to the party while having hot sex! :P On topic, though, I have to agree with your statement about humor fics having to take themselves seriously in order to be funny. I like them best if they illuminate something about the characters, usually with a lightness of touch that isn't seen in most angst fics. Almost anything by Roga, but especially her Serenity crossover, is particularly good at that subtle sort of characterization; i.e. "Foreman was still trying to convince Stevie (the gypsy boy) that he too could be a successful black neurologist some day"--and the musings of Chase on why shouldn't the PPTH crew be as family-like as the Serenity crew.

Personally, I believe that if it's done well, sexuality can be a great character exploration. Indeed, a lot of the time that's exactly what fanfic does--explores characters through their sexuality. Or, alternatively, their response to extreme situations. Thank you Zulu, I was feeling the same thing and you phrased it beautifully. I guess I have a question for people who just follow their pairing ... is it because that's all that interests you? Is it a lack of time? Is it because of exposure to badfic outside of that pairing area? It'd be more accurate to say I'm an House/Wilson addict than a House addicted. Their interaction is what hooked me and what I can't get enough of. Anything else doesn't particularly interest me, or, if it clashes with H/W, gives me panic attacks. Re: crack & Humor. I lol in almost every episode, so a good fic, for me, usually has a few funny moments too. Crack is problematic, I'll read only if it's a writer I know and trust, because poorly written crack is a sad, sad thing.