---Ranma Al'Thor <ranma@falcon.cc.ukans.edu> wrote:

On Tue, 17 Mar 1998, Richard Lawson & Joseph Palmer wrote:

        "What kind of fanfic should an author create,
          and how true to the original should it be?"

So why do we write fanfics?  Two reasons, I think.  One: much of the
hard work has been done for us.  The characters have been created,

the

background developed, the situations put in place.  No longer do

we have

to create the shy ESPer or the irreverent spaceship captain - this

has

been done for us.  We don't have to spend time and effort to develop
these things before plunging right into the plot - our readers

already

know these things.

For me, this isn't a factor.  Most of the best fanfiction puts

enough work

into expanding the universe of the story that 'the work having been

done

for us' isn't very true.  It does, however, make the READER's job

easier.

I'm kind of both of and neither of these things. I mean, I always find
that the temptation to build a world, whether from scratch or on top
of an old one, if very great. On the other hand, using someone else's
worlds *does* mean any fiddly bits I might not like are usually done
for me. (Take for example, my own MUSTARD GIRL, a mixture of both
techniques.)
And the second part *can* depend on the reader, I find, though 'name'
appeal is always gonna get more people in.
But what's often greater to me than either is that sometimes I come up
with stories that can *only* be told as part of that pre-existing
work.  For example, if I wonder, 'Say, wouldn't it be interesting if
Chichiri and Tasuki did *this*...' then that's a FUSHIGI YUUGI story.
But a new story with a ready-made world. Even if I did make up a new
character-and-setting to put the story in, I would still most likely
have done little more than recreate what parts of FY I needed. 
 

Which leads into the second reason we write fanfics:  a ready

audience.

People are much more willing to read a fanfic about an anime or

manga

series of which they're already familiar than somebody's original

story

with characters they don't know.  We write fanfics because we know

an

audience is already out there, waiting to read.

Hai.  That's a BIG factor.

Very. 
Alhough now I think about it, both NARRABUNDAH 1/2 and STAR TREK: THE
LAST GENERATION have been ably (nay, eagerly... :)  ) picked up by
people who had seen little or no RANMA or STAR TREK.
 

I think you left out a third and fourth major, or at least minor

factor,

however:  

3.  Dissatisfaction with some aspect of a story.  For example, the

ending

of Ranma 1/2 has spawned a TON of fanfics because people didn't like

the

ending for some reason and felt the urge to provide their own.

I can see how that's a big factor for people, though I'm yet to write
my own MARMALADE BOY fic where Miki keels over and dies (joke, people,
joke...)

4.  The 'What if' curiosity factor.  What if Ranma had fallen in the

pool

of Drowned Wombat?  What if A-ko transferred to Tomobiki?  This

reflects

the desire to see characters meet each other who we think would

interact

in interesting ways.  This tends to spawn elseworlds and crossovers.  

I can certainly speak for that one, as both of my lead fanfics go
there. And, once more, it's 'What if *Ranma* had fallen into pool of
Drowned Wombat [at Jusenkyou]?', not 'What if some geezer you don't
really know about found some other way that he accidentally gets
turned back and forth from a wombat with water?'
 

My answer:  there *are* no rules.

I disagree :)  More later. 

There are, but there aren't...pass.

I do not think that any series should be made to bear the burden of

any

possible story.  Yes, you CAN write a story where the cast of KnO is
gangraped, or where the forces at conflict in X: 1999 decide to play
Trivial Pursuit for the destiny of the world, then everyone goes out

for a

burger afterwards.  But was there any point in writing THAT story

with 

that particular universe?  In my own opinion, when dealing with

stories

that have definite fixed authors, there's a certain disrespect for the
original author shown when you take any liberty you want with the

universe

that he or she has created.  Where exactly the line is drawn in any
particular case is another question.  I can't offer a formula for

how much

liberty is too much.

Exactly. I mean, obviously sometimes you break mood on purpose,
usually for humorous effect (look at all the FY spamfics that are
adverts) or lemons, but usually if you want to write a 'proper'
fanfic, you keep to the style of its parent.

That's why often in crossovers, one series can suffer. Because people
try too hard to match up series with different styles. For example, a
RANMA 1/2/URUSEI YATSURA crossover can work. Even though one is SF and
the other not, their style is often quite compatible. On the other
hand, if you try to mix MAGIC KNIGHTS RAYEARTH and
UROTSUKIDOUJI...well, somewhere along the line, one of 'em's gonna
lose the mood. 
 

I'd argue that in many cases you may be negating the entire point of

using

the characters.  There are plenty of series that already have any

tone you

might want or need without having to impose one that doesn't fit the
series.  I remember the glut of Ranma fights some Alien being for no
particular reason and people get brutally mangled stories way, way

back,

for example.  

Usually because everyone thought that they were the first to do it, or
that they were doing it differently.

While I hold to this, the existence of copyright law doesn't

influence my

opinion on the subject.  We are univited and illegal guests, and a

story

that is highly respectful of the original is just as illegal.  For

me, it

is a mixture of moral and aesthetic belief that causes me to think

that

fanfics should be at least mostly true to the original ethos of the

show

or shows/ book or books being taken off from.  

(I mentioned the Rumiko Doesn't Mind thing a while ago, didn't I? Just
gotta find the Glendamned transcript...)
 

Grafting things that don't fit onto the original strikes me

aesthetically

as being like taking one of those old Greek statues whose head is

missing

and sticking a bust of Elvis on top.  

So, in some contexts funny or interesting, but by and large a bad idea.

I personally find it implausible that any fanfic would make people NOT
want to buy the original, since people rarely read fanfics of series

they

don't know

Well, as I said, rarely, but by no means never.

and I HOPE they have the common sense not to somehow think the
fanfic should shape how they view the original.  

True. (I've read some fics I find better than their parents, but
that's another discussion...)
 

Herein lies the main problem of Joseph's viewpoint.  To him, there

is

one way a "guest" should behave.  I have guests who put their feet

on my

furniture and jeer at my taste in music.  How guests "should" behave
varies greatly from individual to individual.

Yes, but does that make them a good guest or a bad one?  Would you

WANT

people to put their feet on your furniture and jeer at your taste in
music?  Does this cause you to invite them back?

I think actually that the fact that he might and you (John) might not
was part of his point.

Yes, there is no authority which can enforce any sort of standard, but
that doesn't mean the idea of standards of good and bad writing, or

the

act of trying judge how true a story is to the spirit of the original
should be abandoned.  Even if it makes you a lone voice crying in the
wilderness.  To say otherwise, IMO, makes any critique of another

person's

stories impossible, or at least pointless. 

Like that stops some people...sorry, griping.

  Lawson points out that Takahashi has herself created stories "from
purely humorous to horrific". The fact that the "horrific" so

evident in

her other works is conspicuously missing from Ranma 1/2, both in the
manga and licensed anime, is irrefutable proof of her intentions

that it

not be there.

Well, maybe not entirely irrefutable.  There are some elements of

horror

stories, such as the demon doll story, for example.  Still, I do

tend to

agree in the broad terms with your argument that the sheer bulk of

Ranma

episodes and the fact that many sorts of things she DOES treat in

detail

in other stories are not present in Ranma 1/2 except ta a fairly
incidental level makes an argument for the exclusion of certain things
thematically from a Ranma story.

Exactly...I really meant to exclude using RANMA as an example for
this...it's got so wide-ranging even in itself it's hard to work out
what its actual style is.

An even worse example of this is the Dirty Pair.  Between Movies,

OAVs, TV

series, Dirty Pair Flash, the Original Novels, and Adam Warrens
fanfics^H^H^H^H^Hcomics, it's very hard to say what is the REAL Dirty
Pair.  

James Bond is another example of this.  The Connery and Roger Moore

Bonds

are hardly recognizable as the same person.  

Guess there's a lot of trouser-seats on runways in these departments...

  If an author feels the need to unleash dark and horrific visions

on

their readers, (a subject for another discussion) why not choose a
series where those elements are already present, or better yet,

why not

start with a truly clean sheet of paper?

I'd agree.

Makes sense, Rose.

I really STRONGLY doubt this.  I've never read a fanfic in my LIFE

that

altered what I thought about the original series.

I honestly do not think that a bunch of us churning out stories on

Usenet

are going to effect the sales one drop.  Fansubs are another story

here.

I woulnae say it *never* happens (I know the sort of person who has
made such decisions), but I doubt anyone's sales are in trouble.

I think you're underestimating the elasticity of the human mind.
At least in my own experience, my only reaction to a story that

violates

the ethos of the original is usually to be disgusted with THAT

author, NOT

the original, and usually it makes me wary of reading anything else
they've produced.  It doesn't somehow mystically taint my perception

of

the original.

Exactly.

I would be more impressed by this example if I didn't think e. e.

cummings

was a lousy poet :)

Bailesu, you ain't alone there.

  Fanfiction is the use without permission of proprietary,

copyrighted

property. (We do not write fanfiction, we commit fanfiction.) :)
Copyright laws are rules of a sort, and while writing a story and
leaving it spinning on our hard disks can be considered fair use,
publishing them in the internet breaks that copyright law.

But sticking to any set of rules won't make it any less of a copyright
violation.  (Excluding the Fair Use laws)

True. I think, however, recently in this forum, that some people have
overestimated the significance, cosmically speaking of this violation.
(In short: No-one gives a toss.)

Joseph Palmer

Period.  I don't think you can successfully use this as an argument to
constrain how we write, because no matter how true to the original's
spirit we are, it's STILL illegal.  End of story.  If I write

something so

perfectly Ranma 1/2 that everyone thinks I'm really Takahashi, it's

still

illegal.  

Unless *everyone* thinks you're Takahashi... ;)

Ratbat
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