On Mon, 15 Dec 1997, Christopher Angel wrote:

Frankly folks, those of you who took this essay to heart, remember that
Mike did say that he reserves the right to be wrong.

Indeed. This doesn't mean I doubt my arguments, it just means that even a
monumental ego like my own can admit to the possibility that I'm not
perfect, and, therefore, capable or error. Then too, what's irritating to
me and my crowd can be meat and drink to another. I base my essay on
personal feelings and input from other writers *wave to the Kawaiimuck
crowd*.
 

He even quoted fics that work against his arguments.  

I did? If you mean Sandborn's, I admit to being stumped on that un. The
only possible explaination I can give is that Greg writes one hell of a
good story, is a very funny guy who makes the lead character shoot cool
lines like anything, crafts superb character interplay, and all and all
paints a very fine fic.
   If you think you can do all of this on command, by all means go ahead.

Not to toot my own horn here, but if half the C&C I get is right, there
is a LOT of room out there for fics where a new character takes over the
plot.

Indeed. Well... I don't say that all new-character central fics are bad.
As a Converging Series writer, that'd be downright hypocritical. I will
say that I like/enjoy roughtly 50% of the R1/2 fics presented on the ML,
but only about 98% of the new character ones. Other writers I've spoken to
share a similar opinion.

If you make the new guy central, you are running one heck of a risk. And
what saddens me is that they tend to be done by first-time writers.

My own rules are as follows:

1) Try and make him distinct from me in some major way.  I can't do it in
speech, since even non-original characters tend to talk with my voice
(probably my greatest weakness) but I can with attitudes and actions.

Okay, I'll agree with that.

2) Make sure he isn't perfect.  If it wasn't for the C&C I get here,
Crimson in Shieldsman would have been a LOT less likeable.  Andrew from
Siblings would have been truly annoying if he didn't have a few faults.

As very late C&C, this was one of the truly annoying things I took
exception to in your premere fic, the one with the "male Kasumi".

3) If he does have a major affect on the plot, make it reasonable, and
DON'T focus only on him, unless it's necessary.  Siblings was as much
about Ranma as Andrew.  Shieldsman focussed on events for which Crimson
was present, but the changes in the others was as important as the
actions he was involved in.

Hrm. I can't say that Siblings was a fic that focused much on events
outside Andrew. Ranma really only existed in that fic to react to him.
IMHO. Shieldsman I've yet to read, and thus can't comment.

I have more, but these are my major ones.  But then, I break these too...

Hey, rules are made to be broken. Just not too often, and not in great
quantities at a time.

--
Christopher "God-boy" Angel
cja124@mail.usask.ca      http://www.engr.usask.ca/~cja124
"The Man.  The Myth.  The Legend.
The Action Figure from Bandai!"