On Thu, 5 Sep 1996, David M Lerman wrote:
Dear ML,
I am attempting to write an article on anime fan fiction. Would some kind
person please go through the types of fan fiction that exist (sadfic,
darkfic, etc..) and what qualifies a story for a particular label. Also,
where did the term "lemon" come from? For that matter, how did the
revengefic start? Are these terms common to the entire fanfic community on
the net?
Every thing below is INHO - so don't flame me for it:
Um, as for the types of fics - that changes week to week
darkfic - somebody dies, gets raped, mutilated, etc
sadfic - happier darkfic. Also considered by some to be the same as darkfic
spamfic - garbage story writen in fits of bordom using characters created by
authors on huge amounts of caffine. Mostly used as stress relief
What qualifies a story for a label? Author's choice, nothing else.
Lemon - I think the Jury is out on this one. Rumor has it that it was based
upon the anime series 'Creamy Lemon' which had some *ahem* adult situations
in it. I don't believe that their is a definative answer for this.
I would also appreciate it if some of the authors could email me some lines
about their motivations. Why do they write fan fiction? What determines what
type of stories they write? What draws authors to a particular anime series?
What changes have occurred in your perception of the base anime since as a
result of your writing? How do you regard the issue of OOC? And answers to
any other questions that you feel I should have asked.
I write becuase I see a hole and want to fill it. Takahashi-sama is a
wonderful creator, but a terrible continuity person. She writes stories and
does what ever is needed to finish the story line - even at the risk of
sacrificing previous story lines. Ranma is a perfect example of this, she
introduces characters left and right through out the series and they have
serious impact for a story or two and then dissapear. Dr. Tofu, for
example, is a perfect match for Kasumi (according to popular opinion) - but
we don't get that resolution.
In short, I want character development - I want answers to questions. I'll
go and write those answers.
Also, I write based upon a weird situation. Somebody once suggested killing
Kasumi - I took that and out popped 'Beauty and the Bastich' - a Kasumi/Lobo
Crossover - how weird can you get!?!?!
As for what draws writers to series - well Ranma has so many character
development holes, it's easy to fill the gaps. I've found most beginning
authors start with Ranma. Series like Maison Ikkoku do not have many
writers because the story line was tied up very nicely - what else can you
do?
Any series where there are holes in the story or character development is a
good canidate for a fanfic.
I would also like both authors and readers to send me some comments about
what they like about fanfic stories and what they dislike. What do you like
to see in a story? Why do you read fanfics? Likewise, feel free to answer
any additional question that you felt I should have asked.
Thank you,
dml
I don't like to see good ideas started and them dropped in the middle.
However, I am a good example of what not to do. I wrote Communication
Breakdown in 1995 - I still haven't finished it. Why? Because I'm stuck!
Mondo writers' block - believe me, I have tried. I plan to try and do it
again. I still get requests for the 'rest of it'. *sigh*
I like good writting and I like good writers. I don't like it when a
writer takes a story concept and crams everything he/she can think of into
10 screens of writing. It's usually poorly written, poorly timed, and
extremely annoying. However, it's a starting place and everybody has to
start some where.
If you want the ultimate example of the ultimate fanic - check out
Undocumented Features. This is a story of biblical proportions. It was
written back around 1991 about a bunch of numbskulls running around WPI
(it's a college - I won't even attempt to spell it out) and they suddenly
generate Kei and Yuri, the Dirty Pair! From that moment on, everything
possible happens.
...anyway, this story line was so popular, that the authors kept writing
and writing. I believe it was Gryphon who changed his major to Creative
Writing becuase of this story. Megazone went on to be the moderator of
Rec.Arts.Anime.Stories (later to become r.a.a.creative) - he is now in
semi-retirement. MZ also set up one of the major fanfic archives.
what happened next? Well, the story was so good, that people outside the
original author circle took up the torch and ket the story going! It
finally got to a point that the origianl authors *CLOSED* the universe!
They asked that no more stories be written about the UF world and people.
UF still has to be one of the all time favorite fanfics.
...oh, my, I do believe the Gopher has rambled a bit. Hopefully you can dig
someinformation from this.
l8r,
AlberCrombie
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