allyn yonge <ayonge@yahoo.com> wrote:
Well everyone sorry I didn't post anymore of my fic,
lack of response
from
the FFML kinda discouraged me but I figured HEY! why
not do like
everyone
else and post even though no one answers you :P so
with out further
rambling:
##Sometimes it takes a while. ^_^
Keep trying.
True, but there are things you can do to increase the amount of C&C you get. Do
more high-quality C&C for others, for example. Also, respond to any C&C that you
do get. You don't have to agree with everything (or even anything) that a critic
says, but at least show him/her that you gave his/her comments some serious
thought.
As far as this particular fic goes, all I can do is tell you honestly why it
didn't grab me much.
A lot of essays have been written on the Annoying New Character, or ANC for
short. But for me at least, something that comes up even more often is what
might be called a BNC -- Boring New Character. Simply put, you've introduced a
character and are expecting your readers to be interested in what he does
without giving us any reason to be interested.
Look at the Ranma manga for examples on how to do new characters the right way.
Notice that almost every time someone new shows up, from Principal Kuno to
Pantyhose, it means trouble for Ranma and Akane in some way or other. Is this
because Takahashi hates those characters? Of course not. It's because _this is
what makes for an interesting story._ Even when benign characters like Akari or
Plum appear, we know right away that they'll figure significantly into the lives
of our hero and heroine. (The former provides Ranma with a possible way of
getting a rival off his back, and the latter introduces a threat -- Kima and
company -- that might prevent Ranma from ever getting cured.) Characters who are
just there and don't really affect the story that much, like Ranma and Akane's
schoolmates, are kept well into the background.
So how will the introduction of this character cause trouble for Ranma and Akane
or otherwise affect their lives in an interesting way? That's what you need to
show to make a "New Character" fic work. And no, it's not easy; that's why there
are loads and loads of such fics out there, but very, very few good ones.
##Punctuation. :(
(OK, I can hear you laughing Kleppe-san.) *_^
He finds it humorous that I correct someone's
punctuation.
No, no, I was only sneezing. Really. :)
Gary