From:        Charles Lewis, clewis@virtu.sar.usf.edu

On Mon, 10 Jun 1996, Travis Butler wrote:

Yes, people can certainly have many different views and interpretations 
of the events in Ranma, or any other fictional story. But those views are 
all derived from an explicit *and objective* core -- the events 
themselves, as they are shown in the series.

	...and what the hell does *objective* mean?  If we accept that I 
see the world in a very different way, then wouldn't it also follow that 
I would read Ranma (or anything else) in a very different way? 

<Heartfelt sigh> Let me try this again, and see if this makes sense to 
you. 

"Objective," as I'm using it, means "of or pertaining to actuality;" in 
other words, what *actually happened*, the events that are actually 
depicted in the story, apart from any views or interpretations.  A few 
examples:

ITEM: In the contest at the beginning of Urusei Yatsura, Ataru does grab 
Lum's horns. He does say (paraphrased) "Now I can be married!", and Lum 
does reply (again paraphrased) "If that's what you want, then yes." Now, 
you can make all kinds of speculation about why she replied that way, or 
even why Ataru said what he did to begin with. But all of these 
speculations -- all of the different ways to view this scene -- are based 
on the objective facts of the scene: Ataru grabs the horns, makes his 
statement about marriage, and Lum replies. Any view that tries to state 
that one or more of these things *didn't* happen is flat-out wrong -- 
unless that view is named "denial." 

ITEM: In Tenchi OAV 1, Ryoko attacks Tenchi, shooting energy blasts at 
him and destroying a good part of his school in the process. One can 
argue that she wasn't serious, that she was playing with him, that she 
lost her temper when he called her a monster, and so forth. But if a 
fanfic tries to say that the attack never happened, then again that's 
"wrong with a capital W." 

ITEM: In the Ranma 1/2 that I've seen so far, Kasumi has never been seen 
to lose her temper. (Note that I haven't seen the OniKasumi stories yet; 
my comic store hasn't gotten Ranma in since Viz went exclusive with 
Capitol Cities.) The only time she actually openly expresses shock is 
when she first saw Akane after her hair was cut off by Ryoga's belt. The 
closest thing to an angry outburst was her making Akane promise not to 
hit another boy. Her only reaction when Genma falls into the pond just 
before breakfast was saying "Oh, I guess Mr. Saotome will be needing 
something different to eat," and pulling out a dish of bamboo stalks. 

One can have different views of what this means -- is Kasumi a space 
case? a clever manipulator hiding behind a mask of innocence? just very 
mellow? One can argue about what she's really thinking when she's acting 
like this. But to argue that she does *not* normally act like this, in 
direct contradiction of what's shown in the story, is simply not 
credible. A fanfic showing her *acting* (not *thinking*!) differently -- 
without a convincing reason *why* -- is likely to turn off readers. 

Why is it 
that there *has* to be one True way to read this stuff?  Why is it that 
I have to accomplish the same damned things in my works that other 
people seem to accomplish again... and again ... and again ... in theirs?  

No, there doesn't have to be One True Way to read a story. There's 
usually plenty of room to look at different reasons *why* the characters 
do the things they do, and what it means to them. There's room to look at 
different versions of *what* they think and do, when it comes to unspoken 
thoughts and off-screen actions. 

But when the manga explicitly shows Ranma thinking "C-c-can it be... that 
*this* chick really is... *cute*?" (p. 299 of the Viz collected edition, 
vol. 1), then *that's what he thought*. (Yes, I know, you can argue 
whether that's an accurate translation. Nevertheless, I hope you can see 
my point.) Hence, a story that tries to claim that Ranma *never* liked 
Akane, that he always thought she was ugly and was just stringing her 
along, would be "wrong," because it contradicts something that was 
explicitly shown in the manga.

What exactly is the problem with this? Even the most wide-ranging 
speculation needs a starting point, and that's what the objective events 
of the story provide.

And no, you *don't* have to do the same things that everyone else does. 
But IMHO you *do* need to stay reasonably within the objective, 
established facts of the series, especially if you expect to communicate 
effectively with other fans of the series. I don't see this as terribly 
limiting or restrictive; like I said above, there are plenty of things to 
explore in terms of unspoken motivations, hidden thoughts, and so 
forth... just as you can take the characters in new directions, provided 
that you don't contradict the established events of the story and/or give 
convincing reasons for the change.

Views that directly contradict the events in the series are likely to be 
rejected out-of-hand. Views that are "highly improbable" (for lack of a 
better term) explanations of the events of the series are probably going 
to be rejected, unless they are explained/justified and not just pushed 
out in front of the readers.

	In my mind, the question really is why things have to be spelled 
out in such blunt, obvious terms?

If it sounds like I'm advocating a by-the-numbers style of fanfic, I'm 
not. As I've said several times, there are plenty of things to speculate 
about, and plenty of directions to take the characters -- provided there 
is adequate justification. But if you're deliberately contradicting parts 
of the story, just because you don't like them or find them inconvenient, 
then how can you call what you're writing a fanfic based on that story? 
It's like saying "I really like Japanese culture... but I don't like the 
way they treat women, or the way they treat causal nudity; so I'll either 
ignore these things, say they don't exist, or say that they exist the way 
*I* think they should exist." Then you're no longer talking about 
Japanese culture; you're talking about a nonexistent culture that you 
made up, based on Japanese culture. 

I would consider writing honestly within the series a challenge, in a 
positive sense. It's easy to go for cheap shock value by doing something 
like making Kasumi a mass-murderer; but it takes skill and effort to 
write something convincing within Kasumi's character, defined by her 
actions as shown in the series, that has the same impact.

Maybe an author _wants_ to try 
something unorthodox. 75% of what I see appearing on this list seems to 
be tired rehashing of the same ideas, flimsily repackaged in trapping 
which seem to tend more towards mediocrity than anything else.  

This seems to be the heart of your complaint -- that too many people are 
writing what you consider to be mediocre fanfics, by using the same set 
of ideas over and over again in unimaginative ways. You seem to be 
connecting this (forgive me if I'm putting words in your mouth) with 
sticking to the established continuity of the series, and thus imply that 
breaking this continuity is a Good Thing. I disagree with this in a 
couple of ways:

* Sticking within the boundaries of an established set of facts or events 
does *not* have to be a limiting factor on creativity. As I keep saying, 
the bare events of a series still leave plenty of room for speculation or 
interpretation, that can serve as the heart of a good story. This issue 
is faced, to one degree or another, by every fiction writer. Hard SF 
writers need to stick within the established set of physical laws. Police 
procedural writers need to stay within the laws of the society and the 
rules of the police department where they set their stories. Historical 
writers need to tuck their stories in among the historical events of 
their chosen setting, and avoid contradicting known historical facts. 
Even "mainstream" writers (whatever that means) need to follow the 
established facts of their chosen setting (what would you think of a 
writer who placed Chicago in a tropical climate?) and the boundaries of 
good characterization. And so on... Limitations aren't the really 
important thing; it's what you do inside those limitations that counts.

* On the other foot, deliberately breaking the established continuity 
will not in and of itself make a good story, and often makes things worse 
instead of better. How many bad fantasy stories have you read where the 
author changes his magic system at the drop of a hat to get his 
characters out of a jam? And I've gone into other reasons above, often 
enough that I'm tired of it. :)

	At least in my works, I *intentionally* left out a lot of salient 
details.  I *like* the idea of leaving the reader to fill in the blanks.  
If you'd like, you can think of it as a form of minimalism.

I won't disagree, but what does this have to do with 
accepting/contradicting things that are already established in the 
stories?

	This is all sort of distressing.  A few authors have *tried* to do 
something different, and the response has been one of shock and dismay.  
Then again, I think this ends up being the highest praise of all.  I'd 
much rather see people on this list actually wrangling with their own 
perceptions of these series, and the works written about them, than 
engaging in megabyte after megabyte of this *pout pout* *fart fart* 
spam nonsense (which, IMHO, is far worse for one than sparsely written 
fanfics).

The 'shock and dismay' that I've seen is exactly what I've been talking 
about here -- readers reacting negatively when an author ignores or 
deliberately contradicts the established events of a story. Take the fic 
that started this whole thread, where Akane walks up out of the blue and 
says she doesn't love Ranma. The manga depicts literally dozens of events 
involving Akane that are generally viewed in society as indications of 
love -- things like jealous reactions when rivals show up, or her worried 
look and yell when Ranma goes over the cliff at the end of the "breaking 
point" fight. If the author expects we the readers to accept his 
character as "Akane," then he has to accept that his character has 
"Akane's" history, including those events. But since those events 
contradict his character's declaration, we have a problem. Now, if the 
author actually chose to explore the issue -- talked about the kind of 
attitudes and perceptions that might have led us to a wrong conclusion -- 
then this might have been an interesting fic. Instead, the author simply 
chopped off the story. That's not "leaving the reader to fill in the 
blanks"; that's a cop-out. If you want a real example of "leaving the 
reader to fill in the blanks," read _Cyteen_. 

<Snip>

	Geez.. I wish someone had given me the program before I got on the 
bus.   And here *I* was thinking that the point was coming up with 
something *new*, *interesting* and *engaging*.  Gosh...

By definition, a "fanfic" is based on an existing story or universe; 
that's what the "fan" stands for, that you're a fan of that work. And a 
fanfic comes with all the baggage of the existing work. I think there is 
plenty of room for writing interesting and challenging stories within 
that framework. But if you feel constricted by, or are unwilling to 
accept, the established facts in that existing work... well, bluntly, I 
think you should write an original story, instead of distorting an 
existing work by twisting the characters or situations to fit your mold. 

For example, the story a little while back about one of the Sailor Scouts 
becoming a prostitute. I thought it was an extremely powerful story, but 
that the story didn't fit the character in more than a superficial sense; 
that seemed to be a frequent comment, and several people suggested that 
the author re-write it as an original story.



Travis Butler
(The Professor, formerly of Myth and Magick!, Lawrence, KS;
 tbutler@tfs.net, now from the Wandering Powerbook;
 <http://www.tfs.net/personal/tbutler/>;
 Mac page <http://www.tfs.net/business/tbutler/>)

..Cats are the proof of a higher purpose to the universe.