All commentary IMO only.
On balance though, my experience with FFML has been negative.
Sorry to hear that.
I have been witness to the outright mistreatment of beginners
other than myself here on the FFML.
I am not always as kind as perhaps I should be when I give C&C.
Perhaps this has had the effect of discouraging writers, but IMO
writing is a dark and lonely field. Should some sensitive
beginner persevere and become a professional, she or he would
then receive no slowdown of vituperation; but quite possibly
far less comment at all. IMO, it's _much_ worse to get _no_
feedback on a story than to get negative feedback.
How is it that a matter of plot choice constitutes a mistake?
No choice of plot can, in principle, be a mistake in any absolute
sense. Particular writers, however, can and sometimes do choose
plots which don't suit their strong points, or which, to carry off
well, require more skill than they yet possess.
Self-Insertion? Who cares? You have seen too many of them you cry? So?
Does that not mean that you should know how to write a good,
self-insertion piece and be able to help a beginner with such a work?
The only good SI pieces I've seen have been parodies of the genre.
A Ranma1/2 story that "fixes" everything. So? Oh, you mean
you have seen
too many of those as well? That means you should be able to help a new
author write a superbly entertaining one, right?
Perhaps. But look at it another way: Richard Lawson's TIL can
be considered a "fixes everything" fic. It's 10 chapters long.
It's not perfect, but it's _much_ better than most beginners
on this list would be able to turn out.
Now, why would a beginner want to write a story which covers
this same material? Should I, as a commentator, encourage a
beginner to try? I don't think it a good idea for beginners,
or even many experienced writers, to attempt these stories,
for the following reasons:
1) you're only holding yourself up for comparison to some
very illustrious fics. The bar you must surmount to be
considered a 'success' is higher than it is for other plots.
2) you're adding substantially to the demands on
your writing skills: you must handle _all_ the characters
well, instead of just a few, and you must cause most of the
characters to adjust their behavior believably.
Compare this to the demands of writing an introspective
character piece on a single character, or a short comedy
focusing on a few characters (where everyone remains
unchanged), or an epic fight story.
Now I am informed that a story based upon the Ranma1/2
stories must fall completely within the realm of "Martial Arts
Sex Farce," for it to be of any entertainment value or, by some
other criterion unknown by me, to be somehow acceptable to
veteran members.
You didn't read this in the FFML FAQ; you read it in a single post
by a single, admittedly veteran, author. It's his opinion, period.
"Martial Arts Sex Farce" strikes me as being a rather narrowly
specialized field of writing. Further, I must admit to being
deeply puzzled by this emerging rule, inasmuch as
several of the more popular works based upon the Ranma1/2 stories are
nothing of the kind. Is this now the emerging consensus?
No.
Must we indeed attempt to be self-made clones of Takahashi Rumiko
before we can expect help with works based upon these characters?
No. Actually, even among Ranma comedies, one would be hard pressed
to name any authors who emulate Takahashi's sense of humor very
closely. Many of my favorites (Loader, Kenjiko) have quite
different styles.
I have one last question and a request for you, my fellow FFML
Participants. Are we participating on this list to help each other, or
does this list have some other purpose?
Actually, I'd imagine that most subscribers are on the list simply to
read fanfics, given how small a percentage of subscribers appear to
post C&C. Then again, what would an author do with over one thousand
separate C&C messages?
Also, the process of providing C&C helps the C&C-er to become a
better author as well, since it necessitates actually thinking about
what works, what doesn't, and why, in another person's story.
I hate to think that I may be intruding where I am neither wanted
nor welcome.
You are both wanted and welcome. However, your welcome is not
guaranteed to manifest itself in kind words in response to your
writing. Aspiring writers, IMO, should grow a thick skin as a
survival skill.