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I had already written this by the point that VGAP's latest letter came down the
pipe, but I'm gonna speak up, and then go back to avoiding my writing.
....
C&C is not a judge of how many people read your fic. C&C is more a judge of
whether one particular person found things they liked and thought you could
improve, or how many things they didn't like and think you can improve, or
whether or not you explained this, that, or the other well enough.
That's a little vague, I realize. If I tell you: "Gee, I really liked the fact
that you made Akane fall in the pool of drowned Kuno, but making everyone fall
in is trite and annoying," you probably can tell that yes, I might not like it.
You can ignore it totally. You can rewrite it in such a way that it's not as
trite and annoying. You can tell me to piss off, but don't expect to hear from
me again. You can make use of what I thought was trite and annoying and make it
into a future plot element that adds comedy and character to the story.
Now that that's out of the way, I'm going to take on VGAP's statement of "Okay,
I will say it straight; I don't like the way Akane is in this story. She
doesn't harass Ranma unless she has a reason to, and she freely admits to
herself that she has no chance against Ranma as early as volume 11 of manga. To
see her trying to beat Ranma's new seemingly invincible technique just because
he won't let her hit him is really OOC. And if there is a reason for her to act
this way, I sure didn't see it in your fic."
This comes off as a flame, but, having read VGAP's critiques in the past, I'm
gonna say that he was tired or on the way out the door. Frankly, it doesn't
matter to me, because that's not my point. His concerns about canon are valid,
especially if you were writing Volume 39 of the manga, or making a new episode
of the series. Lots of people do that, but it's tough now to write a pure Ranma
fic, in continuity, with a new idea and new premises. I look at canon and say
"Cool! Here's this great woman who gave me these characters so I can try out
ideas for my novel." I don't pray to the manga, I don't worship it. It's
source material.
Now, let's say we have a scene like this (Scene A):
A shadow fell upon the campus mall, and Akane looked up. "Ranma?
Is that you?"
"Of course it's me, you silly tomboy. Who'd you expect? Ryoga?"
Her face burned red. "Rrrraaaanma," she began, but cooled off
upon seeing him flinch. "No...I just thought you were in classes until three."
"Um...Akane, it's 3:30."
"Oh!"
It had been one year since the failed wedding, and things had
begun to look up for the pair, who had grown closer over the year. There were
changes, of course, and sometimes and random glomp from Shampoo or Ukyo, but
nothing like it was the year before...
----------------
Scene A is continuation style. Since it is set a little in the future, the
scene has changed, maybe people have matured, but mostly, the characters have
traits similar to those in canon, and they don't change that much.
Scene B:
If one was willing to brave the heat, and if one were to look at a
small empty lot near the house of one Ryoga Hibiki on a hot summer day in early
August, one would see a fascinating sight. Not wild pink elephants, but a young
man and a young girl. The young girl was wearing a purple shirt, with black
tights on her legs and a staff on her back while she sat on the ground, a
spatula at her side, fiddling with a grill. Anyone who saw her would correctly
assume that she was some sort of cook, most likely of
okonomiyaki. The young man, on the other hand, had much more intriguing
appearance. His black hair was tinged with blonde, pulled back very tightly
into a pigtail, and if one was to pay closer attention to the hair, one would
notice that it seemed to alternate between straight and curly. The outfit he
wore seemed to be a conglomeration of styles, merged into one that
looked correct, as though they were always one. On his feet were black
slipper-boots that were held together by straps, ending halfway to each knee in
three separate belts. For pants, he wore dark-colored loose jeans, each leg of
which disappeared into the top of the boots. His shirt was white silk but one
could only see the sections that were not covered by a dark red many pocketed
jacket, and perched above his forehead sat a pair of flying goggles. The young
man looked over at his partner.
"Ucchan, where is he? That compass I made him should be able to lead him
wherever he needs to go!"
"Well, Ranchan, he did promise that he would come. This duel is his idea!"
(From Getting Home Wednesday, by Patch Monkey)
---------------
Scene B is an alternate universe and a crossover fic. In a pure crossover
fic, characters meet, but should still have their canon attributes. An
alternate universe is my preferred form, as you have great great great freedom.
Ranma can be a god, a mazoku, a dragon, a mutant, and so on, and you have tonnes
of different spin-offs from those each. Canon can be thrown to the wind -
mostly. If you make Ranma or Akane or Tenchi or Nanako so far off from their
canon attributes that you wouldn't know who it was without their name, you
aren't writing a fanfic. You've made a new character altogether, like the Ranma
in Scene C below:
The stranger stepped off his bike, walked over to the bar, and stared down
the bartender. "Rum and coke," he said, then turned around to look straight at
me. "So, kid, what's your name?"
"U...u...Ukyo," I managed to stammer out. "Ukyo Kounji. I'm a sailor."
"Pleasure to meet you, Ukyo. Name's Ranma. Ranma Saotome."
"Nice to meet you too. What're you in town for?" I couldn't help asking.
With all the new folks ending up in town lately, I never know who's gonna show
up. I gotta admit, I'm not really a sailor. I'm more of the law in these parts,
but for all I know, that Ranma guy could be after my head.
"I'm doing a bit of travellin'. I'm a reporter, but I also research
ancient weapons," he said, as he reached over his back and yanked out a sword.
I couldn't help myself, as I watched the sword burst into flames in his
hands. "Golly! That's an incredible katana you have there...magical and
everything to boot."
I figure that at this point, I should describe him. This Ranma was about
six-one, blond hair tied back in a ponytail, and with the most incredible golden
eyes I'd ever seen. And I've seen a lot of eyes.
------------------
See? Nothing there but names. The point, of course, is that canon is a
starting point, but you can take it anywhere from there...But only if you make
it clear, somewhere, why there's a difference. If you write an entire story
that mirrors the manga word for word, but instead of saving Akane, Ranma
voluntarily lets her die, you've written a load of crap. A real big load of
crap. You've given no reason for that to happen, and you made a bad story. C&C
will come in, and you won't like it.
And I'm done.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jerry Levine
Patch Monkey
"There was no difference between the behavior of a god and the
operations of pure chance..."
patchmonkey@patchmonkey.net jlevine@wam.umd.edu
maddhatter@earthling.net jerry@jancomm.com
AIM: maddxhattr
http://www.patchmonkey.net