At 04:03 PM 7/2/98 -0500, you wrote:

Shortly after rereading Taleswapper's essay on Annoying New Characters, I
started reading "The True Cat Fist" by Jeff Groves and currently on RAAC.
I wonder if Jeff read Taleswapper's essay before writing the fic since he
manages to incorporate almost every single quality that Taleswapper
dislikes about ANCs in Ranma fics.  

Well, we *are* reading about Ranma, not the new character.  The character
should only be support until we have a clear grasp of the character, and
even then should not surpass our main characters (any recurring character -
i.e. the Tendos, Saotomes and Kunous, Ryouga, Ukyou, Shampoo and any others
I forgot to mention)

Exceptional martial artist with
strangely named attacks - check.

Any self-insert with a degree of martial arts skill greater than Ukyou will
be carefully watched.

 Successfully romances Nabiki - check.

If the Nabiki is a fanfic-convention Nabiki, I'd be almost inclined to
believe it.  What about Greg's "Nabiki: New Horizons"?  (I haven't read it
so I can't comment)

Perfect beyond belief - check.

Nobody's perfect.  And that's one of the differences between good and bad
writing.

 Steals the story away from the Takahashi
characters - check.

Only indicative of author with unchecked ego and wild fantasy.

 The story wonderfully, if unintentionally, illustrates
the points raised in Taleswapper's essay. It is a pity that Jeff seems to
have put a fair degree of effort into writing a mediocre fic.  

I am commenting about it because otherwise it is not a badly written story
and illustrates that a story can be well written technically and still be a
mediocre or bad story.

This indicates that the writer is spending too *much* time on the technical
aspects of the story, and should be spending the time instead on developing
the story to a reader's satisfaction.

 Recently, I have had the impression that too many
of us on the FFML only read a story when the spelling and grammar are
correct.

Well, if we have to struggle to read a fic it's *not* very enjoyable.  One
or two grammar or spelling mistakes in a fic are acceptable (also, the
writer's style has something to do with non-technically correct grammar)
but a fic full of them is just unacceptable.  For example,
Catbert25@aol.com (Sean D'anna).  No offense to the person, but Catbert's
fics may be good in terms of plot, but just plain unreadable.  Also, he
also never bothers to read what I tell him in C&C.  That's what really gets
me.

 Certainly, mea culpa.  The very fact that I read through a story
that had little appeal for me demonstrates this phenomenon.  Although a
good story should be independent of the quality of the spelling,

That's actually not true.  Unless the person writing has a very serious
language problem, the quality of the spelling indicates 1) the time a
person spent in writing the fic and 2) the time a person spends in
proofreading the fic.  Whether this means having prereaders or just looking
over the fic yourself and making minor adjustments, it demonstrates effort
put into writing.

What should critics look for in a story?  We use terms like "character
development", "plot", "consistency", but each of us have a different idea
of what these mean.  I would like to see some discussion on the FFML about
what we look for when reviewing a story, what we like, what we dislike,
i.e. what makes a good fanfic.

Plot - unfortuneately, everybody has different interests, and what happens
in a story may be one man's meat and another man's poison (sorry for the
cliche) for example, I don't really like Ill Met By Starlight not because
it's not good, but because it's gruesome and dark (sorry, I couldn't come
up with better words) but it's that point which some people like - they say
it adds "realism" to the story.  For another example, I don't like Thy
Outward Part for it's sexual graphics, which unfortunately is a critical
part of the story.  Generally, I will forgive a character's slight OOCness
if it can advance the plot in an interesting way.

Generally, if you want your plot to go anywhere, you have to plan it
(unless your story is really short, but even then you have to have a
beginning, an ending, and places in between).  I've started to do it
myself, for a number of fanfics that are in development stage.

Characters - Like I said, characters aren't perfect.  They have to have
some shred of humanity within them.  Also, what happens *between*
characters is just as important as what happens to characters individually
(something I currently call "complex character interaction")  In Waters
Under Earth, for example, we see Tarou and Ranma interacting (actually,
they throw insults at each other) and we also see the internal politics of
Saffron's people.

Too much OOCness, however, especially when we're working with a template,
is not good, unless we do this intentionally.

To help with this, decide what your character or template's attributes are.
 Then use them as a rough guide, but don't be too rigid.

Style - Actually, style doesn't carry so much weight (apart from the normal
aesthetics of writing), but it can make or break a fanfic.  I don't mind
there's a lot of description, so long as it doesn't clog the plot up.  Too
little of description is usually what I'm afraid of.  It means 1) rushed
writing (Mike Allen's Alternatives, Chapter 6 is an example (no offense,
Mike, you usually write good description)) or 2) not enough effort put into
writing.  Writing is partly an art, but partly a skill, in which hard work
is put into words and research.  A good example of good description is Mike
Koos' Destiny's Wish (which doesn't appear on this list, but what the
heck).  Here's a passage from the first part (which I borrowed without
permission, I'm so sorry)

-----

     The rain was beginning to taper off.
     She didn't particularly mind the rain; she had more important
concerns to worry about.  Besides, she had been through worse.
     Still, she decided she must look a dreadful sight... Every part
of her quite drenched, from the curls in her aging black hair to the
sandals on her feet and the worn kimono in between.  As for whatever
it was she kept wrapped securely in a towel, propped against her
shoulder as though it were a bayonet or something else along those
lines, only a few people knew.  There was no reason to show the item
off to everyone - she didn't want to alarm anyone.
     Yes, she could use it in self-defense, if it came to that. 
Thankfully, that rarely happened.  She needed more practice, at any
rate.  Using a katana wasn't a skill most people picked up overnight.
     All those people passing by in cars or what-not or watching her
through their windows were probably saying that it served her right
for trudging through the rain like this.

-----

Look at the description of Nodoka in this small passage (yes, I know,
Nodoka's a redhead, but never mind that).  It draws a picture for us quite
nicely in our minds.  It's as if we were in the rain with Nodoka, and we
can see her being drenched.  Also, notice the flow from one thing to the
next (no sharp cutoffs) from a description of Nodoka, to her katana, to
others' opinion of Nodoka.  This is my ideal form of description.  The
writer's page should be like a canvas to an artist - a place where you
paint the image you want shown.  Check out Charles Dickens for excellent
description, as well.

There!  I've covered the basics.  Do as you will.  Oh and I spent almost an
hour on this (with all my heart), so please take this into consideration
when you're writing.  It would save us a lot of time (and maybe I can find
a good fanfic on the way!)



----------------------
Jonathan Ng
jonathan@worldy.com
alternate address: jonathan_ng@my-dejanews.com

"Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!  Rage, blow!"  King Lear, III, ii, 1

"I am a man more sinned against than sinning." King Lear, III, ii, 62-63