Please don't take this as personal criticism or
criticism or "No Dominion". I'm making general points
here, not directed at anyone specifically (well, maybe
one particular author - see below ;).  

--- DarkHorse <darkhrse@edsamail.com.ph> wrote:

My point is this: as an occasional writer of fanfic
myself, I find
that it is easy to take a character that has been
portrayed as a
villain in so many fics and even parts of the canon
and then take
it to the extreme. I'm writing a Ranma fic and I
need an antagonist, bam, easy, why not use Shampoo?

This is exactly what's wrong with so much AMG
fanfiction. I'm sure it applies to other series as
well, but I know most about AMG.
 

If I did come up with such a fic, based on the
reaction I saw on this list, I would be lambasted as

well. But I wouldn't deserve it
since I did not use Shampoo because I hated her or I
wished to annoy Shampoo fanboys (or girls, for that 
matter). It was simply convenient to use her, a path

of least resistence so to speak.

While it's easy to pick a Shampoo, Ukyou, Akane,
whatever and take them OOC, it doesn't make for an
enjoyable story for those readers who care for the
characters. Does an author have the right to do this
with a character(s)? Sure. However, if that author
posts in a forum where others can critique their work,
they should be prepared to have their
characterizations picked apart. Character twisting,
bashing, whatever, even when not done intentionally,
is a cheap plot device. A disclaimer at the beginning
of a story that the author isn't that familiar with
the series and that "C&Cers should be gentle" or
better yet "Potentially Loose Canon" may help, but if
an author gets slapped on the wrist for trashing
characters they shouldn't be surprised. 

I'm going to cite a particularly onerous example.
There is a recently written AMG fic (thankfully
incomplete, not posted here) where the author said
something like "I don't really think this is different
enough to be alternate universe" then proceeded to
have major characters kill off other major characters
for no apparent reason, had Belldandy and Urd acting
like they were on crack, and completely threw out the
canonical characterization of Hell. Did he do it out
of malice, ignorance or indifference? It doesn't
really matter. The point is that, for whatever reason,
he produced a fic which was onerous to anyone who is
intimate with the series. 

I would like to urge the C&Cers of the list,
therefore, to take
the time to be more diplomatic. It doesn't cost a
thing and is quite easy to do. 

I certainly agree with you, here. That's one of the
reasons I try to stick to arguing canon in my C&C.
Instead of making general statements such as "your
characterization of xxx was lame", I prefer to
reference specific canonical points ("In the zzz story
arc, character xxx did yyy.") to illustrate what's
wrong.

It would also be beneficial to all
to give the author the benefit of the doubt and not
automatically assume the worse.

Except that another new author, seeing no objection to
a certain characterization, could assume it was
correct and perpetuate the problem. Author bashing has
no place in legitimate C&C, but then authors who don't
know that much about a series may want to use a light
touch in their characterizations. The "Canon Police"
can't be expected to sit idly by while characters and
settings are trashed. 

For good or evil, Fanfics have a way of creating their
own canon. In the AMG world, two nicely written fics
"Trial by Tenderness" and "Oh My God" seem to be
regarded as canon by some new authors. Both of these
fics were written (or at least too far along to
change) when there was very little known canonically
about Heaven and Hell in the AMG universe. They are an
important part of AMG fanfiction. However, if they
were begun today, they would probably be criticized
for their treatment of canon (though they do show a
love for the characters, something that keeps them
classics - my compliments to both authors). Yet, many
AMG fanfics seem to base their characterizations and
concepts of Heaven and Hell off one of these two fics
rather than the actual info which is out there.
 

Lastly, I believe that the reason why we even expose
our work on
FFML and provide C&C on the work of others is to
help each other
improve. I believe the FFML is a place where we can
encourage
writers *with talent* to become better. This whole
bruhaha about
villainization does nothing to improve someone's
writing ability.

Careful characterization is also one of the hallmarks
of a good writer. Most good authors do research on
their subject before writing about it, especially
those who, like all fanfic writers, are writing about
known universes. There are websites that go into great
detail on the characters of any popular anime. Some of
this is biased, but after reading a few sites it's
easy to form a consensus. Granted, some fics
deliberately elaborate on characterizations from other
fanfics or otherwise deliberately deviate from canon,
but such a premise should be made clear in the
introduction to the fic. 

My advice to an author new to a series would be to use
a light touch, or include a "Potentially Loose Canon"
warning. Running wild with the characters in a fanfic
without first warning ones readers is probably a bad
idea.

These are just my opinions about fanfic writing in
general, not targeted at "No Dominion".

Brian W.

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