Peter L. Ward          falcon@best.com          Kyusaku on IRC #Anime!
Caretaker of the Urd Shrine (http://www.best.com/~falcon/urdhome.htm)

"Sensei...my brother...my brother...promise me...that you'll
kick his ass!" Jinnai Nanami - El Hazard #7


-------------- Enclosure number 1 ----------------
Thanks to Taleswapper's post a few days ago, we have some fuel
for discussion on original characters.  While he also brought up
the issue of authors-as-characters, I won't really bring it up in
my response since this has been hashed over for so long on the
FFML.  I'll just say that I take those stories on a case-by-case
basis and judge them on their individual merits rather than toss
them automatically.  I do happen to like "Oh My God" and "Bubble-
gum Zone", though.

I will say right now that I think Taleswapper should have split
his post in two.  One post being the one with the reviews, while
the other being his opinion piece.  It was a rather long post,
and the opinion part may have detracted from the review part for
some due to the intensity of the opinions he had.

As the writer of Aa! Megami-Sensei, a Ranma and Ah! My Goddess
crossover with many original characters (some alien), I think
it's safe to assume that my stories aren't exactly among his
favorites.  I'm not sure if my original characters qualify as
annoyances in his book, but I wouldn't be suprised.  There are
also other story elements that may or may not be considered
strikes in his book.

Assuming that my stories aren't to his liking, it's disappointing
to me.  It's only natural since I am the author, after all. 
However, the disappointment, assuming that it's warranted, is
mitigated by the feedback I've gotten over the past several
months from people who have liked my stories.  That alone tells
me that I'm doing at least *some* thing right and makes my
efforts worth it.

Now that *that's* out of the way, on to the defense.  I obviously
disagree with Taleswapper on the subject of original characters
in Ranma fanfics, or in any other fanfics for that matter. 
Unlike Taleswapper, I do not limit my enjoyment of a storyline to
a strict set of guidelines.  While fanfics shouldn't flagrantly
disregard the story elements put together by the original cre-
ator, they shouldn't be limited to just those elements either.

Taleswapper mentioned that he enjoys the "what if" factor of
fanfics, as well as the character development and other things
that go beyond what the creator has set before the audience. 
This is what many of us enjoy about fanfics.  However, Taleswap-
per prefers to limit the "what-if" factor by limiting original
characters and their origins.  That seems contradictory to me. 
"What-ifs" by nature are unlimited.  That includes "what-ifs"
involving new and/or unfamiliar characters being introduced into
a particular storyline.

You can't have your cake and eat it too, as the saying goes.

While I said I won't raise up the topic of authors-as-characters,
I will bring up the subject of original characters having traits
and interests of the authors in question.  It's virtually impos-
sible for a character not to share at least something in common
with his or her creator.  It may be a small thing, like a nervous
twitch or a habit.  It may be something big, like a life goal or
a dream.  No matter how big or small, though, the character will
end up sharing something in common with the author.  Why? 
Because a character, as a creation, is a part of the author. 
Kind of like how a child has a part of each of his or her parents
in them.  To object to a character sharing something in common
with the author is being shortsighted.

As for Taleswapper's objections of possible injections of western
culture into a Ranma fic, that's nearly impossible to avoid.  For
one thing, aspects of western culture are prominent in Japanese
culture.  We even see these aspects in Ranma itself, since Ranma
is a part of Japanese pop culture.  To object to the occasional
infusion of one culture into another in a story is to ignore the
fact that this world is becoming more and more global.  Of course
we're going to see this happening, even in Ranma itself.

Not only that, but it's a matter of the authors themselves.  With
the exception of authors who have spent an extensive amount of
time in Japan, most authors will have a limited exposure to
Japanese culture and may wind up injecting western culture to
fill in the gaps at times.  It's a matter of writing from experi-
ence (or lack thereof).  It'd be silly to expect a near-pure (let
alone pure) Japanese influence from most fanfic authors due to
this lack of experience.  And no, anime and manga are not suffic-
ient for this task.  It may help depending how how much is
viewed, but it's no panacea.  Pesonally, I hope to increase my
experiences in the future, but that's not important at this time.

As far as my fics are concerned, I had a few goals in mind that
might have been annoyances to Taleswapper.  For one thing, I
actually wanted to shift the focus from Ranma for a time in my
stories.  Instead, I wanted to see the other aspects of Furinkan
High, such as what other students think of Ranma & co.'s activi-
ties.  What other students do, such as extra-curricular activi-
ties.  Things like that.  For that, I needed a cast of original
characters as well as getting some of the Ranma characters, like
Nabiki, involved in some activities in their own fashion.

I also wanted to explore how outsiders, such as aliens, would
react to the chaos that is Nerima district.  Not only that, but I
wanted to see how outsiders would react to Ranma & company.  For
instance, Amano Buffy, one of my characters, is very much an
amazon, and I thought it would be amusing to see some clash of
personalities between her and Ranma since Ranma's a product of
the heavily-male-dominated Japanese culture.  I also wanted to
see how a sentient cat-like being would take to Ranma's phobia of
cats.  Thus, I created Suzie Cabbit.   Sure, Shampoo has aspects
to her that could possibly address such issues, but from what
I've seen, this was not really addressed due to her infatuation
with Ranma.

My fics weren't the first ones to have original characters, nor
will they be the last.  In fact, I know of a few favorite fanfic
classics that have original characters.  For instance, we have
the first anime fanfics by Ryan Matthews, which were Dirty Pair
fics that had original characters.  Lord Robin still sticks in my
mind as a favorite original character.  

Then we get to Kimagure Orange College, by Stephen Tsai.  Not
only did it have original characters, but only a few of the KOR
characters were around in his universe.  He took Kyousuke, Madoka
and Akane and put them in a college environment to make new
friends and deal with new issues and conflicts.  He took only a
little of the original anime/manga universe and put it in a
totally different situation.  Guess what?  It worked tremendous-
ly!  There have been those who have voiced opinions that any
possible KOR sequels should at least have some elements from this
excellent series.  I would have to agree, and yet be dismayed
that this, in all likelyhood, would probably not happen.  A
shame, really.  I only hope that Stephen can work things out with
his job situation so that he could get back to work on the story.

As for story purity, again we turn to Stephen Tsai and another of
his works (again, uncompleted)...Sailor Ranma.  This, by its very
nature, flies in the face of "series purity" by putting the Ranma
cast in the roles of the Sailor Senshi and company.  Again, this
worked tremendously and is another fanfic reader favorite.

Sorry if I bored any of you with my blather and opinions.  This
was something I just had to get off my chest.  I'm just glad I
waited a few days before doing so (or else we may have been in
for a flamefest).