Cimorene

Here from metafandomyes. I love the comparison to children's art; I've never thought of badfic in quite those terms, but that's a perfect parallel.

I came across this badfic novel, hundreds of thousands of words long, a couple of weeks ago, and missed class the next day because I was up all night simply howling with laughter. I don't think I've been as amused in an age, even though the way I was amused wasn't at all the way the author intended the story to work. I love that badfic can be so ridiculous and endearing - the child's art comparison really works, because even though it's patently flawed, it's somehow a scream and strangely cute.

...er, I got distracted. I was going add, re: your point about fannish unconscious, that I love how so much badfic is pure id fic. There are tropes I love that I wouldn't use in fic because I know they're out of character, or overdone, or just plain wrong (and if I did use them, it'd be as crack and self-consciously) but badfic doesn't care - it does them anyway, in patent seriousness and without apology.