Subject: Re: [FFML][Fic Idea/Editorial]
From: "Christopher DiNote" <damobsta@hotmail.com>
Date: 9/14/1998, 3:30 PM
To: rgorman@telusplanet.net
CC: ffml@fanfic.com




In order to spawn much fanfic a show must be officially translated into 
English in significant quantity and must have a decent sized cast to 
play 
with.  It helps if it has loose continuity, and unanswered questions or 
inconsistancies.  However, it also helps if the general outline of 
events
is clear to the audience despite any gaps and inconsistencies.  And 
lastly
it helps if the show contains many moods.  GITS for example (the movie, 
not the
manga which doesn't appear to be much available in North America), has 
no humour
at all, no warm and fuzzy romance, no horror, no lust, no fear, no 
melodrama, 
nothing except cynicism and intellectual angst.  

I think that last line above is important.  The replies I've gotten thus 
far (and thanks to everyone who replied) have highlighted the following 
as probably the most important reason why some series don't generate a 
lot of fanfiction:  completeness of the ending.  If the story is pretty 
much self-contained, then not a lot of room exists for fanfics.  Another 
example of this, I think, would be Gunbuster (one of my personal 
faves!).  With this type of story, you can be pretty much limited to 
fanfics in the same _setting_, if not using the characters and 
situations of the source material. 

Another reason commonly agreed on is scale.  How "big" is the original 
story?  Generally speaking, you need something either pretty epic or at 
least with a huge cast (three guesses here).  Gunbuster is pretty epic 
in scale, but not enough of a cast or background story really exists to 
delve into.  I'd go back to Angus's email:  you're  pretty much limited 
to cross-overs, alternate universes, prequels, or sequels.  But the last 
two especially would have to be populated by a large cast of 
author-created characters though.

Nothing wrong with that, if someone has a good enough idea they ought to 
do it.

Anyhow, going back to that last line "GITS for example (the movie, not 
the manga which doesn't appear to be much available in North America), 
has no humour at all, no warm and fuzzy romance, no horror, no lust, no 
fear, no melodrama, nothing except cynicism and intellectual angst"
goes back to what I said about "hardcore" cyber-punk versus the "gimick" 
to make it popular.  The "harder" it is, the more cult it is.
And that's all I've got to say on the matter.  

Wow, we had a whole discussion on the list without a mention of 
you-know-who.  I like that.

Chris DiNote, aka Dino
SMD Publications Inc.,
...and from the introduction to The Grace of Great Things:   
  "Creativity is dangerous.  We cannot open ourselves to 
   new insight without endangering the security of our 
   prior assumptions.  We cannot propose new ideas without 
   risking disapproval and rejection.  Creative 
   achievement is the boldest initiative of mind, an 
   adventure that takes its hero simultaneously to the rim 
   of knowledge and the limits of propriety.  Its pleasure 
   is not the comfort of the safe harbor, but the thrill 
   of the reaching sail."


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