gaffney@iconn.net wrote:
OK, I want to take a moment here to yell at some authors for
a bad habit that, these days, is getting much worse. Richard
Lawson is one of the worst offenders, and Jeff Hosmer is known
for this as well.
I speak, of course, of self-effacement to the point of
ridiculousness. Y'know, nobody likes an author who says that
their fanfic will erase any others from the memory, nor would
I want to read those. But I feel even less of a need to read
a fanfic when the author tells me that it's bad, it's boring,
I'm sorry I posted it, etc.
Look, I don't care if you think your fanfic is crap on a cracker,
DON'T TELL US!!! Because, surprisingly, an audience can believe
you! They'll let you know soon enough if it's bad, you don't
have to enforce their opinion! AAAIIGGH!
Sorry. Had to be said.
I guess it's gotta be me who apologizes. I wasn't going for any kind of
false humility; I really was unsure.
I had two reasons. One was the Communist angle. I wondered if making
Shampoo a Communist would turn off people. During my formative years in
the late 70's/early 80's, Communism was A Bad Thing. Russia was called
"The Evil Empire". I take it as a good sign that no one's blasted me
for including Communism in my 'fic.
The second was a point Don Wang also mentioned: This wasn't much
related to the spirit of Ranma 1/2. I used the characters, put them in
a setting of my own creation, and had them do things very
un-Takahashi-like. I was afraid this 'fic had lost all real
relationship to Ranma 1/2.
Sean makes a good point. If the story is bad, people will either: a)
tell me it sucks; b) ignore it. But I shouldn't make judgments for
them.
A little to my surprise, feedback to my story has been positive. So
what do I know?
So, okay, no more of that. I have heard, Sean, and I am chastened. :)