This my dear fellow is absolutely the most asinine thing I
have heard in a long time. Continuations pointless?
"I don't like continuation fics."
"I find continuation fics annoying."
These are valid statements. You hold an opinion of them. To say they are
pointless is not only ridiculous, but patently false. To be
pointless, something has to have no point. Simple linear logic. The point
of a continuation fic is to tell the story of what happens after a
storyline has finished. Just because the author chose not to tell the
rest of the story does not mean that all of the characters in that
universe or any given alternate universe cease to exist and go on.
Sometimes an author decides to pick up a finished storyline and create a
sequel or spinoff. There is nothing pointless or invalid about that. You
may not like it, you may be disgusted about it. For example I find the
fact that there is going to be a Jurassic Park 3 to be nauseating, but my
opinion does not make the work invalid. I am not the center of the
universe and my opinions are not superior to those of anyone else.
When a fan sees a series end before they wanted it to, sometimes even
when it ends at a logical ending point, it is natural to want to know
what happened afterwards. If the person is into fanfics, it is natural
for them to want to give their version of what happened. Continuation
fics were among the first fanfics and are as legitimate a category of
fics as any other.
This does not mean that you have to read them, nor do you have to like
them. But the arrogance implied by one declaring an entire category of
story invalid is beyond belief. This attitude implies an insult to all
who write and read such fics. There is no reason or excuse for this.
There is no excuse for degrading any other author or reader. Debate,
criticize, discuss, state your opinions all you want, this is why the
list is here. But insults, derision, and degradation have no place
here.
These are fanfics. No two authors are going to agree on all issues of
character and theme. Each person on this list likes and dislikes
different types of work this is fine. It is even fine if you discuss what
you dislike and why you dislike it. But what bothers me, what truly gets
under my skin, is that you call yourself "The Critic", you try
to couch your rhetoric in terms that sound professional, and then you
shatter one of the most simple and basic tenets of literature. No work is
invalid (except for plagiarism).
I am sorry for this little tirade, but I write and criticize literature
for a living and I have ignored so much that I really wanted to go off
about. This was just it for me. I try to stay out of these things because
my RL has kept me from being active in writing and C&Cing fics, but
when a person calls themselves a critic and then behaves in such a manner
under some mantle of superiority it really gets under my skin.
This is not a personal attack. I am not trying to insult you or degrade
you. I simply find this
attitude deplorable. I do not know your real profession and would not
have the arrogance to hold you to the standards of a literary
professional, but there is such a thing as common courtesy and
reasonableness and you have severely passed that line. I am not saying
that you should change your opinions or that you should stop expressing
them. You can be as undiplomatic as you pleas, even coarse and sarcastic.
This happens all the time. But there is no excuse for playing the
superior deific god of all that is proper writing. It defeats any logical
positive purpose your efforts could serve and in the end, taken with some
of the errors you have made that indicate that you don't know nearly as
much about grammar and critical theory as you imply you do, only makes it
seem as though Tatewaki Kuno has obtained a hotmail account and then
decided to share his vast wisdom with the FFML. If this is the effect you
intended, then you are definitely succeeding. Otherwise, I would practice
diplomacy a bit more before continuing to critique.
Again, I do not mean this to be a flame or an insult, just an attempt to
reason with you and to get some of my own opinions off of my chest. I
take great exception to being insulted (by the idea implicit in your
statements that those who read crossovers and continuations and so on are
somehow inferior or without taste and discretion) and at having so many
others on this list insulted. There are a large number of talented and
intelligent people on this list and not one person on this list deserves
to be insulted or degraded because their tastes and opinions differ from
yours. I am sending this private mail because there have been enough spam
discussion lately, if you feel the need to debate this whole issue, feel
free to e-mail me. Probably a pointless exercise, but I had to try.
Regards,
C-chan
At 11:35 AM 8/27/98 -0700, The Critic wrote:
>>You've made me feel like I belong here, Gubby. Rest assured that
I
>>shall value your commentary just as much as every other author
has, and
>>will respect your obviously carefully-considered views on just
what
>does
>>or does not constitute good fanfic.
>
>I won't hold writing a continuation fic against you. When you post a
>real Ranma fanfic (ie, not spam, an SI, dark, an xover, or a
>continuation fic) I will give it my fair consideration.
>
>Continuation fics get deleted because they have, by nature, no point.
A
>writer who writes a continuation fic really isn't writing a fanfic,
he's
>engaging in mental masturbation; feels good, but is ultimately
>pointless.
>
>
>
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