I really feel strongly that fan fiction writers should know canon backwards and forwards, even if it's just so that they can write against it in an informed way. Watching these eps has felt a little bit like homework to me. [Smile]
I agree. There's nothing will make me close down a story file quicker than seeing some 'fact' which directly contradicts what we saw on the show. (Unless the writer is deliberately twisting canon and makes that clear in the story).
A solid grounding in the characters and their history, along with significant events in their lives, would seem to me to be essential to write fanfic - no matter what fandom you're writing for.
That isn't to say that a writer can't change canon - that's always fun.
I don't think you necessarily have to get that background from watching the episodes though. Several writers in the past have managed quite well to keep to canon and avoid having their characters OTT in other ways, never having seen an episode. Hazel springs to mind.
They ask questions about canon on irc or here on the mbs or they rely on their betas having the knowledge they lack and correcting them when they make mistakes.
Knowledge of other incarnations of Superman can add a little bit of spice to a fanfic, if blended in well with ours. But if the chracters are too far removed from what I saw on screen and veer too much towards being the characters from another incarnation, then that's not an LNC fanfic as far as I'm concerned and another reason why I'll be turned off reading.
LabRat
