Subject: [FFML] C&C comments...
From: Richard Beaubien
Date: 4/4/1997, 7:12 PM
To: Fanfic Mailing list


Yup, this seems to happen every once a year or maybe once every half year
on this Mailing list. C&C and the appearant lack of it for many fanfics
that get posted to it. Well as a Fanfic writer that recieves little C&C,
I'm here to offer you some advice on C&C....

Don't live for it, it will ruin your writing style completly. While C&C
can be helpfull, it in the end is not really neccesary for you to write or
create your fanfic. What is required is the fact that you are enjoying the
writing of said fic and from there and mail you get is gravy. True,
sometimes C&C helps you polish up or change akward parts of a story but if
that C&C doesn't come well it's not the end of the world.

Let me tell the list (and hopefully some of the new writers) a story about
my first fanfic I made about 2 years ago (it has been 2 years, man I've
come far as an Anime fan..:). It was called Ah!! Ranma-sama!?, and when I
first released it on r.a.a.fiction (r.a.a.c now) I recieved about 5-7
mails for each of the 3-4 parts I released, despite the fact that it was a
formula fic. So I was thinking, hey people liked my work so let's work on
something else. I wrote Be Carefull what you wish for after that, and I
recieved *nothing* back on that fic. I was heart broken, I was thinking
hey, nobody was reading this so why should I continue. And one summer
break later I found that people did enjoy this fic and thus end up trying
to salvage it after I gave up on it. Needless to say I butchered it,
badly, ruining a good idea. The fic still isn't finished, and will never
really be despite people wanting it to be and Todd Hill doing his well
crafted Carefull Destiny...

But thankfully I learned my leason, and with most of my new projects I'm
writing because I enjoy the stories. I wrote my SM fanfic because I liked
SM, I'm writing Natsumi, The Magical Girl because I enjoy Shoujo and hell
I think Kasumi and Inoue Kikuko-san are wonderfull. My Mail box has not
been burned up with mail about Natsumi, hell I think I've gotten maybe 4-5
messages over the first 6 epsiodes. But I don't care, I'm writing for fun.
That's why I'm planning Patlabor, Yuna, and maybe Hime-chan's no Ribbion
or Miracle Girls fic's down the road, because I think it would be fun to
play around in these worlds. Not because I'll get showered by C&C that I
might get with a Ranma fanfic....

So, above all else, write for fun...You'll get more out of the hobby if
you enjoy it then if you do it for C&C

Quick Note on Natsumi: I Caught Kris's Overstreet's Natsumi cameo in Fic
War's and I was quite shocked. Arigato Kris, and I'll try to make sure the
story is at level worthy of being refernced in other works. 

Also caught a Natsumi refernce in a Digital Knight fanfic 'My Split
One-half Manhood in Nerima Summer' that caught me compleltly by suprise
also...

That and I owe Biles a lot of thanks since one of the C&C on Natsumi was a
MfTK 3000 job on it which still cracks me up to this day...^^

Ja ne!!

Richard Beaubien
----------------
Mizuno Ami-chan forever!!!

Fanfic homepage http://www.anime.usacomputers.net/~beaubird