In a real novel that told a protagonist's journey from mysterious orphan to adventuring hero, the sidequests would be summarised and the focus strictly on the central plot. The excuse for the sidequests is to provide character development or explanations for how the kid from Candlekeep got gradually good enough to beat Sarevok, but most fan novelisations, I think, would be ripe for some cutting if they wanted to be more like 'real' fantasy novels.
It's a difference between a fan recounting of a videogame versus a fan trying to write a novel. The reader of a BG fanfic knows that the group should be encountering a particular sidequest at this certain point, or looks forward to a favourite NPC making their cameo; expects that and responds positively to it. But if a fan wants to write a novel instead, to tie the story threads as closely together as Fury manages...it produces something that's stronger and tighter as a *novel* or novella, if less of a fannish recounting of a game experience. Likewise, a movie would cut most of the non-canonical companions and streamline the story.
I'm guilty of a BG1 recap that does go into the sidequests and use that episodic structure, so I'm not trying to complain of the strategy. It's just an aspect of fanfic I've been pondering: how different writers choose to go beyond the game and take steps to convert it into a novel. Especially in Shadows of Amn, many of the parts I've liked best about stories is where the plots have been changed for interest and suspense, although I'm less fond of changes to characters. For example, this interpretation of the Baron Ployer and Spellhold plots: new! original! (if unfinished). Or the parts that flesh out and worldbuild, like the charms of Acquired Tastes.
I'd also add that the style of explaining-all-the-sidequests could be described as *exuberant*, in some cases: an explosion of one short exciting adventure after another, diversions on the way to solve the final problem. A fun ride. For example, Weyoun's Tankards and Tempers crosses all over and into many random sidequests and crossover cameos and extended parodies, as well as some almost surprising threads of plot. It reads as a less disciplined and polished work than Fury or Fragment, but it doesn't need to be because it's a lot of fun the way it is. About Blood is somewhere between Tankards and Fragment, I think: subquests, but all playing an important role in the parallel development of good and evil parties, staying relatively focused. Although the comparison is difficult there, because it covers much less of the storyline than the other three fic examples.
In addition there is the difference in the games themselves with regard to a plot structure. I think BG1 has a less linear plot, which gives the writer more freedom to pick and choose an order of events, whereas BG2 is somewhat stricter on the order in which quests are undertaken. There seem to be more BG2 fics in general, so I'm not sure how fair or valid this comparison is, but in my experience I think BG2 fics hew more closely around a given order of events than BG1. (Which is perfectly natural: you're handed a structure of earning gold to rescue Imoen and going to Spellhold and heading to the Underdark and killing Bodhi and saving the elven city and reclaiming your soul and a reasonable Charname follows it. Whereas in BG1 there's more freedom to find excuses to alter the subquests to fit into any of Nashkel/bandit camp/Cloakwood/wanted in the city for murder; and more joinable NPCs, each of which can be given a particular plot.)
Originality and what to do with Shadows of Amn in something that's not the standard list of join-the-Shadow-Thieves-save-the-Keep-kill-the-dragons is...interesting, I think; or a question of what if a Charname didn't care about Imoen after all. (Zan's Kaleidoscopes explores the question of what if Imoen was not rescued.) Probably a reason why I've been pondering the general structure of Baldur's Gate fan noveis is just as a fandom late-comer, where so much territory has already been explored by excellent writers.
Here's a rec for a few short stories about an evil Bhaalspawn who apparently didn't go the standard route. And the Sime stories by Viga use a different point of view that's very interesting. And then there's Silrana's Canon that takes Anomen away from the canon storyline and into a wonderful story focusing on his emotional development. Canon's tightly drawn around the single character rather than a full party of six, and though the plot hints at the adventures of the Bhaalspawn in the background it's able to hone in on the one character. (A Cappella, the novelisation by the same author, of course also achieved a lot of character development; as anyone on this forum for long knows, it's *wonderfully* long.)
All fics mentioned here recommended. Commentary, please?