A warning: This contains spoilers for the story, and is less than
kind, though not a flame.
At 01:06 AM 10/27/96 -0600, you wrote:
It looks like Chris Willmore has some competition. I had thought "Within
the Candle Flame" was the most disturbing fic I'd read (the message I saw on
[SNIP]
Please don't. I find it insulting to have my work compared to this piece.
In 'Within the Candle-Flame', I *tried* to make Akari FULLY IC, and she
WAS, to the limits of my knowledge about her then. NOW I know more about
Akari, and the story would be more subtle if I wrote it...
What I did, in a phrase that I've been using a lot lately, was fill the
lacunae in the character with things that didn't contradict the canon.
For example: Akari owns a pig-farm, and runs it enthusiastically? She must
enjoy killing pigs, and selling them for meat. Which probably also meant
that she liked the taste of pork. And so on.
Where, I ask, is the power in a dark/shock-'fic if the chars are completely
OOC?
Nowhere.
The power of such a story lies in the fact that one can have the characters
committing/being submitted to horrible things without contradicting anything
in the anime/manga. Otherwise, why the heck should anyone care?
Here's another 'shock-fic''.
It was a sunny day in El-Hazard, and everyone was happy until Mr.
Fujisawa killed Makoto in a bloody way for no reason whatsoever. Tsk.
BWAHAHA! Wasn't that a great shock? -.-
The 'Akane loves P-Chan' 'fic ANGERED me. A LOT. As a writer of dark-'fics,
I spend most of my time trying to make everything perfectly IC.
I DETEST those, like that person who wrote one of the Ryouga-rapes-Akane
stories, who take 'Dark' as license to go OOC. It isn't. If anything, it
means one has to be all the more IC, otherwise the story is WORTHLESS.
SPOILERS BELOW
SPOILERS BELOW
SPOILERS BELOW
SPOILERS BELOW
It is explicitly stated in the manga AND the anime that Akane IS fond
of her P-Chan, and Webdragon gave NO EXCUSE WHATSOEVER for her murdering
him like she did. Hence, the only 'shock' was that anyone would try to
pass this off as a Ranma 'fic.
Now, if he'd given a suitable REASON... For instance, if Akane had just
learned about Ryouga's curse, AND gone through some severe psychological
and physical stress recently to stretch her to the breaking point, THEN
it could make a VERY good dark-'fic. [In fact, if Webdragon will allow
me, I would like to write that version, as an example of what a dark-'fic
SHOULD be like.] As is, I find the story pointless, and, as mentioned
above, an insult to writers of dark-'fics everywhere.
My apologies if this seems like a flame; it isn't meant to be. Using
'Dark=condoned OOC' is an all-too-frequent occurrence, and 'Akane Loves
P-Chan' is just the straw that broke the camel's back.
Sincerely,
Christopher Willmore
Interfector beluam Ecclesia Ryougis.
Custos tabula nomina Franka Ecclesia Azusis.
C.A.S.K.E.T. | http://qlink.queensu.ca/~4cw6/
4cw6@qlink.queensu.ca