It appears that this got lost in transit somewhere along the line the
first time I sent it. Here it is again. Apologies if you've already seen
this.
On Sun, 23 Jun 1996, Mike W. Loader wrote:
I'm not really into LomanFics.....couldn't stand Dropping Anchor, despite
the skill with which it was written. On the other hand, I love the
wonderfully surreal way that the story is layered...Everything's normal,
if gloomy, on the surface, but read between the lines and...
Since I wrote Dropping Anchor I guess this is as much as an invitation to
respond as I'm likely to get. I've been silent on the ML for several
months now, reading and enjoying all the stuff here but too busy working
on my own stuff to participate. But it looks like I'll have some spare
time coming around soon so maybe I'll speak up a little more now. :)
As for these remarks on my story; I can empathize. I'm very proud of
that story especially since it's my first fanfic I've let out of my
computer, but if I had to do it over I doubt I'd write it again. I too
have grown to loathe depressing stories, the LomanFic (love that term :)
Maybe because there has been a lot of fanfics of the genre in the
aftermath of Dropping Anchor, many of them just ugly and for the sake of
ugliness, imho of course. Or maybe its because I've read so better written
uplifting stories the prove that happy endings are more rewarding (TIL by
Richard Lawson and Misa-chan's LOL come to mind). I don't plan on writing
any more depressing stories.
Anyway, to the point of why I'm writing this. I just thought I'd
announce the subject of my current fanfic project and see if I got any
reaction to it. The story is a long way from finished (even a long way
from being able to post the first part) but I'd like to gauge the ML's
reaction to the idea itself. Lemme see if I can summarize the concept in
a single paragraph:
There has always been one nagging question on my mind ever since I saw
the Sailor Moon episodes that described the Moon Kingdom during the
Silver Millenium. How did such a small territory such as the moon rise
to become the center of a solar system wide empire? There are senshi
from all the planets (except Earth) and it is implied that they each
came from a kingdom on their respective planets. So why is the moon,
and not the earth the center of the empire? My fanfic, tentatively
called "The Silver Millenium," is my attempt to answer this question.
It tells the story of how Queen Serenity rose to power and how the Moon
Kingdom rose to become the leading kingdom of the planets. It also
answers the question: Serenity is Princess Serena's mother but who is her
father?
This story incorporates a lot of ideas from other works of fiction and
fact that I've read (people who know me know that I've never had an
original plot idea in my life :). Strong elements from the Dragon Prince
novels by Melanie Rawn and from the true life facts of Cleopatra, Queen
of the Nile, are already included in what I've written, but probably many
other elements will make their way in before I'm done. Obviously there is
a lot of latitude in this story. As far as I know this segment of the
Sailor Moon timeline has never been explored in the TV series, the manga
or even in any other fanfiction. So there will be a lot of original
characters and very little relationship with the actual Sailor Moon story.
Also even now, when I'm just beginning to write, this fanfic has the
making of an epic production. I've only written three scenes introducing
a few characters and already its blown up to almost 30k in size.
The fact that this fanfic will be more original work than true fanfic and
the fact that it'll be an epic story are giving me serious pause. I
really don't want to get into any heavy writing only to have the story
fall flat on the readers, so does any of this sound even remotely
interesting to anyone?
I'd be interested in hearing comments, both private and public.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Mark Crewson <mcrewson@mts.net> http://www.mts.net/~mcrewson
PS: It's also interesting to note that while I said above that I would
write anymore sadfics, everyone who knows Sailor Moon knows that the
Silver Millenium ended in tragedy. Hmmm.....