I read a lot of Sailor Moon fanfic. There are many reasons that I
do this -- for one, I enjoy quite a bit of it, being one of the fans that
it's written for.
Did I say "quite a bit"? That may be stretching the truth.
In fact, quite a bit of it I despise on general principle.
Theodore Sturgeon probably expressed it best when he said that 90%
of televised science fiction is crap, but that 90% of *everything* is
crap. The same rule applies to fanfiction -- 90% of all the published
stories using the Sailor Moon characters are basically substandard, poorly
written, and just plain bad.
I *really* enjoy reading good Sailor Moon fanfic. The question
is, how can I encourage its development?
One possible answer presents itself in the form of offering my
reviews of the Sailor Moon fanfiction which is released every week to
Artemis and Luna's Central Command, better known as "A Sailor Moon
Romance". Every Saturday morning, they release a zip file of all the new
fics that they've recieved over the previous week, which will shortly be
made available to the reading public. It's usually a few hundred
kilobytes, zipped.
[Rant warning. Ranma fanfic writers: Consider that. Every week, a
*megabyte* or so of Sailor Moon fanfic is released. The only reason that
this isn't more noticeable is that most of it is *only* placed on Luna and
Artemis', the most influential of all Sailor Moon fanfic websites.
Consider what would happen to the Sailor Moon directory at the raac
archive if all that was released to raac instead ... and be a little more
humble, please. End of rant.]
Every week, my other commitments permitting, I shall henceforth
sit down with this zipfile, and review the best Sailor Moon fanfics
released that week. I shall also select what is, IMHO, the *worst* fanfic
in the file, and explain WHY it is so bad.
In a perfect world, this would inspire the "best" fanfic writers
to even better works, cause the "worst" fanfic writers to dramatically
improve, and raise the level of talent displayed by the majority that fall
in between as well.
Need I really mention that this isn't a perfect world?
BEST:
Sailor Moon V - part 5 (revised)
by Troy Stanton <stantont@email.chievres.army.mil>
Now, it's important to remember a few things about this series.
Number 1, it *is* a slightly lemon-scented series -- sex does happen, and
it's sometimes very ... sensually described, but never *explicitly*.
However, this chapter has no *real* sexual content. On the other hand, to
understand what's going on (Amy's a *what*? She's with *who*?) you'll
have to read previous chapters, and ... well, there's a lot going on in
previous chapters. If you have a problem with the idea of the sex lives
of the Sailor Scouts, you'll have a problem with this fic ... but then,
you'll also have a problem with virtually all the fics that I really like,
so my opinion is meaningless to you!
Number 2, this is probably the single most influential series of
Sailor Moon fanfic *ever*. It was one of the first to use the North
American names of the senshi, and was the first fanfic to be placed in
Luna and Artemis' archive, back when it was a dirty pictures site. It was
also the first to break from the original continuity laid out in the
series and forge in a different direction (which was, through an
intriguing coincidence, not that different from what Takeuchi-sensei
originally wrote about the final battle ...)
This chapter deals with Leda's (that's how Troy spells her name,
and it's probably one of the most popular alternate spellings)
relationship difficulties. We get a pretty good feeling about how she
feels being surrounded by happy couples and being alone, just as yet
another tragedy hits.
My one problem with it is that, essentially, it's not done. The
tale just breaks off without any closure to the plot threads ...
presumnably, Troy intends to post more when he gets more done. This is a
bad idea. When you write something in parts, you should always try to
give either a cliffhanger or a sense of closure at the end of each chapter
-- and while the ending of Part 5 is sort of a cliffhanger, it doesn't
quite whet the reader's appetite for more. Of course, we want to know
what's going to happen to Leda next, but there's nothing to suggest that
she's in any danger. It's a quibble, but given the length of time between
chapters of this story, it's something to consider.
Distant
by Greenbeans <gbeans@kfalls.net>
While the standard for deep psychological probing of the character
of Ten'ou Haruka was set by Elisabeth Hegerat, aka "Ophelia", in "After
the Storm", this gives a different but just as intriguing look at what
makes her tick, with a greater focus on her sexual identity. Greenbeans
gives us a Haruka with a number of very good reasons to run from the idea
of femininity, and a past just as troubling as that of any of the Senshi.
(And best of all, IMHO, it's *not* her father's fault ... well, not
completely. Neither of her parents is shown as a really great role model,
but the more traumatic episodes in Haruka's life are the fault of her
mother. As one who's read *far* too many "Mulder's father was a complete
and utter b*****d" X-Files fanfics, I can only approve.)
My main quibble with this story is a rather minor one ... Michiru
comes off as being just a little too perfect. But on the other hand, she
is both Haruka's soulmate, and we only see her through Haruka's eyes. So
it's understandable that she's rendered just a little bit larger than
life. Another problem is the slightly non-standard formatting ... it uses
a 55-column format, which detracts *just* a little bit.
I would *really* like to see a companion piece to this, telling
the same story from Michiru's point of view, and since Greenbeans seems to
identify very well with Haruka and Michiru, as can be seen in her "College
Life" series, which is also great, maybe I will.
Sailor Orion - episode 18
by LeVar Bouyer <levar@smart.net> or <lbouyer@geocities.com>
It is rather intriguing to read this story, for the simple reason
that it breaks every rule of good fanfic writing that I've ever heard of
-- most notably, don't let the original characters you've created take
over the story -- and still manages to be a great, compelling storyline.
It's set in the Crystal Tokyo period, post-Black Moon -- and post
a number of other things that are only hinted at, such as the Second
Sailor Wars. LeVar has obviously gone to a lot of work to create a very
organic, "lived-in" universe. The story is that of the newest Sailor
Senshi, the Pretty Soldier Sailor Orion, captain of the Crystal Tokyo
starship Pleiades, on a lonely mission against a new threat which bears
more than a passing resemblance to a number of old threats ...
While I find the series fascinating, I do wish that there was more
about a certain element of Orion's character in the storyline, but that's
just me. Also, this particular chapter wasn't really as good as
preceeding chapters ... while the plot moves forward, it seemed to be
dragging a bit. (But it could be that I'm feeling let down after the 17th
chapter, which (a) was great and (b) featured the original characters in
major roles. I'm also not really happy with the character development
that LeVar visualizes for Chibi-Usa, but it's understandable.
But again, this is a multi-part epic, and you'll want to read all
the preceeding chapters before diving into this one. Oh, and the
formatting is off ... remember, 75 characters is the standard.
Burn Therapy (Laura Hudson)
by Laura Hudson <lhudson@ids.net>
Laura opens up by stating that this isn't the best fanfic that
she's ever written, it's also not the worst. Well, I hate to admit it,
but she's right. But that's only because "Ripples" was *so* good that
anything else, including her previous tour de force, "I Could Never Lose
You", pales in comparison.
This is the *second* best fic that Laura's ever done, which means
that it leaves virtually all other stories treading in its wake.
I can tell you next to nothing about the plot, because to do so
would spoil it entirely. Just who and what it's about should be fairly
obvious from the title. When it comes to technique, it's almost flawless
... I didn't notice any mistakes of spelling or punctuation.
We Never Knew You, Aino Minako
by Victor Naqvi <vnaqvi@hotmail.com>
This is proof that a fic can be AWFULLY formatted -- I think
nearly *200* characters in one line, rampant mispelling, Mamoru being
called Mamorou -- and still be outrageously funny, once you get into it.
The problem is, the formatting *will* cause people to quit reading before
they get a chance to read it, and that's unfortunate, because as I said,
this is a *hillarious* story, brilliantly illustrating both sides of
Minako's character -- the determined, heroic warrior and the complete
nutcase -- and showing how they aren't so contradictory after all. It
also brilliantly sends up that ever-so-familiar action movie cliche --
"someone who is 'heroic' in their professional career becomes enmeshed in
a plot while 'off-duty'" -- which is at the heart of the sequel to "Speed"
coming out in a few weeks.
However, the formatting *is* terrible. Victor, if you're reading
this, I *strongly* encourage you to make use of a pre-reader, and to limit
yourself to 75 columns. More people will read your stories if they look
good, and it would be a crying shame for people to miss a fic this funny.
Secondary Characters: Evil
by Jon Carp <jcarp@med.unc.edu>
Jon Carp has an almost disturbing insight into the darker side of
human nature. Anyone who intends to write a story in which the
protagonist is mentally disturbed *must* read his "Pain" cycle -- which,
as with LeVar's work, manages to break one of "the rules" and get away
with it magnificently.
This chapter of a long-running tale which has mostly focused on
the Outer Senshi -- although there were hints that the Inners would play a
greater role, their threads seem to have been dropped -- can be summarized
as follows: "Having been freed from her obligation to protect the
timeline that leads to Crystal Tokyo, Pluto decides to become evil."
And do you know something?
That summary doesn't *begin* to do this chapter justice. A
chilling examination of a soul without direction, and what someone might
do when all the rules that have guided her existance are stripped away.
Read it.
WORST:
Sailor Moon Plays the Price Is Right - part 1
by Lawrence Lee <ar066@torfree.net> or <LHLee2@hotmail.com>
This is not, to be fair, the absolute WORST Sailor Moon fanfic
that I've ever read. That honor goes, surprise surprise, to "Teenage
Wasteland". (Note that I categorically exclude from consideration any of
the more ... unusual lemons that certain sad individuals have came up
with.) But this has a distinction that makes it the single worst fanfic
I've seen this week.
It is a transcript of an episode of "The Price is Right" with the
Sailor Senshi as the contestants.
Now, in more skillful hands, this could be amusing. The Senshi
could make jokes about being placed in such a ridiculous setting, fight
monsters that came out of the various prizes offered on the show, and
generally behave as though they were, in fact, the heroes we love.
What do we get?
-----
BOB : USAGI, HOW ARE YOU ?
USAGI : JUST FINE, BOB.
BOB : USAGI AND HER FRIENDS HAVE FLOWN ALL THE WAY FROM TOKYO, JAPAN TO SEE
THE PRICE IS RIGHT AND HER FRIEND MINAKO IS A GOOD PRICE HUNTER.
USAGI : YES, SHE IS.
BOB : HERE IS THE ITEM THAT YOU WILL BE PLAYING FOR IN THIS PRICING GAME.
------
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the sum total of the character
interaction in this tale. The rest consists of the characters playing the
pricing games, spinning the wheel ... In short, this could be about ANY
group of girls who happen to wind up on the Price is Right.
From what I recall of Mr. Bob Barker -- it has been several years
since I was a regular watcher of "The Price is Right" -- he seems to be
somewhat out of character. Mr. Barker is usually somewhat flirtatious
with the female guests, who tend to be just a *tad* overwhelmed by the
experience of being on television.
Also, in case you hadn't noticed, it's in all caps. If the total
lack of any *story* hadn't killed it, this would have. The English
language uses a mixture of capital letters and lower-case letters for a
reason -- you use caps for IMPORTANT things, such as to EMPHASIZE
something, or to give someone, like Marco de la Cruz, a proper name.
(Quite frankly, on a second reading of this, it feels more like a
commercial for the Price is Right than a Sailor Moon story. The author
even includes the address where one can get tickets for the program.)
In short, this fic is really the pits. Maybe the second part,
which the author threate -- uh, promises to release sometime in the
future, will improve on its flaws.
No, probably not.
-----
Chris Davies, when he's not being an irascible commentator on Sailor Moon
fanfic, has actually written some himself. You may have heard of them.
http://www.ualberta.ca/~cdavies/hmpage.html