Akraen2@aol.com wrote:
Seems like we all have excuses for why we don't CC
more often. They may be excuses but they also have
a very strong standing.
This is indeed the FAN FICTION Mailing List and not
the ORIGINAL STORY Mailing List. If you get any CC
you should be happy rather than angry when you don't
get it. In fact you should be thankful that the
admin doesn't put a stop to non fanfiction stories
being acceptable to the list.
I think this is, to put it mildly, complete exclusionary hogwash. Look
at Kumiko and Sunshine Girl. Read them and tell me with a straight face
that they aren't in the anime style. Tell me they don't read like an
anime. Tell me they don't have better plots than half the Eva and Ranma
fics out there. I want you to tell me that the worst Ranma fanfic is
better than the best original fic simply because it's Ranma and the
original fic is not based on a particular anime series.
Contrary to popular belief, there are some of us out there who write
original fics not to self-insert or act out fantasies, but to write an
anime-style story that *cannot be told* using another series. Is it
wrong, then, to post this story, a work crafted specifically to look and
feel like anime, in amongst other stories that are crafted to look and
feel like anime? I am not going to "be thankful" the admin doesn't put
a stop to me writing original fanfic.
ORIGINAL FANFIC WRITERS ARE NOT SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS HERE!
This list specifically allows original anime-style fanfic in the
charter. This list does not discriminate based on series or lack of
series. I refuse to let this pass, because original stories are no
worse or better than series-based stories. Popularity has never equaled
quality. Never. Not once. If you feel that we as original fic writers
should be thankful for any crumbs we get, you too should feel the same
for anything you get.
And about hits. I doubt it has anything to do with series. Since 1998,
my website has received 3600+ hits. I have a sneaking suspicion this
has to do with the quality of my stories rather than any series they may
belong to. By the way, the most popular (and only) anime I actually
wrote for was Boku No Marie. Hardly Ranma, and hardly my main draw.
Readers seek quality in story, quality in characterization, quality in
technical considerations such as spelling and grammar. Because it is
Ranma or because it is Eva or because it is Utena or Sailor Moon or
Dragonball does *NOT* mean it will be better. It does not give it any
more entitlement to server space or to readers' minds. Quality
determines the latter, and charter determines the former. I think
everyone here knows that.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go write some more original fanfiction.
Sincerely,
Matthew Johnston