On Sun, 14 Apr 1996, Scott Johnson wrote:

On Sun, 14 Apr 1996, Ryoga Hibiki wrote:

On Sun, 14 Apr 1996, Ben Kosse wrote:

	But isn't it just as wrong to follow an EXACT set of someone 
else's guidelines?  Is it forbidden to tamper with characters just 
because someone else created them?  If so, then half the stuff written is 
a hideous perversion of the truth and everyone who wrote them should be 
executed.

Yes, it's bad to slavishly follow someone else's guidelines - but 
nobody's suggesting that.  All people have been doing is saying what 
makes for a good fanfic in their eyes. 

	It would appear that in my case, the Saotome syndrome has struck 
and I have opened my big mouth without having my relatively little brain 
attached.  I must apologize, and clarify my position.
	First, I posted all that because one of my biggest nightmares is 
checking my email one day and seeing fifty fanfics, all with different 
authors, different plots and different characters, but ALL BASICALLY 
IDENTICAL IN STYLE AND FORMAT.  This is what I fear.  It is also why I 
think it is a bad idea to start drawing up a "Build Your Own Fanfic" 
outline where all you do is plug in the names, places and plotline and 
WHAMMO, instant microwaved-in-less-than-a-minute fanfic.  There would be 
no imagination, no individualism, and no creativity.  Just communist 
fanfics, where the one is sacrificed for the many.  I thought this was 
what might be happening, so I stated my opinion.
	And that opinion still holds.  RISK:  TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS.
	I may have made a boo-boo, just a bit, but I will not and cannot 
condone having authors basically tell new authors how to write their 
fanfics.  C & C on a COMPLETED work is good, and I'm not against C & C, 
but when you tell an aspiring author HOW to write their fanfic, it no 
longer becomes their fanfic, but YOURS.  And that's ethically and morally 
wrong in my mind, and that will NOT change for anyone.
	I hope this post clarifies some things, as your replies have 
clarified things for me.  But I must repeat my warning:  designing a 
fanfic MUST be left to the mind, imagination and INSTINCT of the author, 
not to a coalition of others who all have different ideas on how to write 
fanfiction.  Fanfic clones are not good things, and fanfic author clones 
are even worse.  I will continue to fight against such leanings as they 
come, so you may see this material again.  But for now, I think that I 
will simply drop it and wait to see what happens.

Scott Johnson |
zagyg@io.com  |           This space intentionally left blank.

                                           Ryoga Hibiki
                            Wielder of the Bladed Belt, Friend of P-Chan