All I can say on the KKJ fic I recently sent is that
it is shoujo. It is meant to read a bit cliche. You
have the heroine wallow in her angst, rebel against
her destined fate, and finally accept it, since she
has the hero to guide her; the hero, who as usual,
knows more about what�s going on then she does. And
of course, she confesses her love and has it returned.
Shoujo is meant to be repetitive; how many series have
filler where how many-odd episodes you have the
heroine spending thirty seconds doing the SAME
transformation sequence? I won�t defend my writing
style, since it�s obvious that it still needs work-
hell, I�m an editor in real life and deal with prima
donna writers enough that I don�t want to be one. I
know I fall flat there- but I�m working on it, but
part of it IS style.
Still- that�s not what this is about.
I want to defend shoujo.
Girly animes.
Animes where you coo over the plot, dissolve into
mush, and scream BISHOUNEN! Anime where something
brings a tear to your eye, or it jerks at your
heartstrings. Anime were it�s silly, or just fun- and
I�ve just about had it!
I think... there is a bias against shoujo on this
list- no, Allyn, I'm not talking about you, I mean in
general. You're at least willing to read it, even
though I tag DO NOT READ IF YOU CAN'T TAKE SHOUJO! I
do question how opened-minded most people on this list
are to shoujo.
And here people scream Sailor Moon.
Big whop de do.
The Sailor Moon that comes through this list is hardly
recognizable as the anime the Takeuchi Naoko wrote.
There�s hardly of the mush, or if it there is, it�s
quickly transformed into lemon or something of the
sort. There�s nothing of the �girl power!� that is at
the heart of the series, or Usagi�s sweetness that is
inherent underneath her whining and fear. Everything
that comes through is just so transformed that we
hardly recognize it� or if it isn�t, it�s ignored.
I�ve gotten to the point where I�m AFRAID to send in
my �canon� Sailor Moon fics for fear of being trashed
as �not different enough.�
It's been frustrating me for a while. I'm guilty of
it as well, but I think it was really illustrated to
me when Raye sent out her Full Moon wo Sagashite
piece. It was, while short, perfectly acceptable as
shoujo- it caught the angst and feeling of the
situation, and while it wasn�t perfect, it was GOOD.
And what did she get?
HAMMERED.
It was actually kind of amusing, in retrospect. All
the reviewers (with the exception of DB Sommer, who
came a little later) seemed to roar out of nowhere�
and I don�t think they would have if Raye hadn�t made
the remark on it being her fifth year as a writer.
�Five years? And this shoujo fan still exists? Let�s
EAT her for lunch!!!� I didn�t see much encouragement
for her trying a new series, or anything positive-
just people bashing her and commenting on her writing
something so obscure�.
Well, isn�t that what�s it ABOUT? She TAGGED it Full
Moon wo Sagashite� if people weren�t willing to give
the series a benefit of the doubt�. This list is so
dominated by the popular series� well, if someone had
done the same thing to a Ranma fic, everyone would
have been laughing their heads off at the idiot.
It�s not the first time I�ve seen it, and I�ve been
canned for it myself- which I actually get a kick out
of. I seem to be playing a game called �how obscure a
series can you find� and it�s a hoot to see people�s
reactions. I drift, naturally enough to shoujo.
There�s fodder for fiction there. I�ve seen writers a
plenty be scared off because of their shoujo
inclinations� there seems to be an unwritten rules
that �shoujo/waff/feelings� are bad and must be
rewritten! Any �thought piece� or �character
reflection� is canned� and it�s just� well, there
seems to be no room for them. Either that or ignored�
And here�s where people say it�s because I�m either
jealous of lack of feedback, I should feedback more,
or get the hell out of here, girly, it�s a man�s
world.
I�ve tried feedbacking, but frankly, I�m not
interested in Ranma; I feedback on a bit of the
non-Ranma stuff that comes through when it strikes me,
but people have short memories. Also- let�s just say
that I make Allyn-san look nice. I don�t believe in
disclaimers� you post to the net, your writing is
public property and may heaven help you if I hate it.
While I do not flame, two girls have �retired� because
that can�t take honest C&C- which is why I PREFER the
FFML to the other mailing lists I belong to.
But hating something because it is SHOUJO, rather
because of the WRITING is a different story.
Maybe it�s the tenor of the list, no?
So have people scared me off? Hell no. There�s still
things I won�t send (there�s WAY too many men here for
me to send my yaoi lemon CLAMP fics, and I have a WAY
too fluffy Sailor Moon fic I know no one will
appreciate), but I�m going to keep ramming shoujo down
people�s throats. Why? Because- someone might
appreciate it.
Maybe. Maybe someone will come on the list and see
that shoujo is not dead; it�s merely waiting for
people who aren�t too �common crowd� dominated.
This is the FFML, which is supposed to welcome all
anime fanfiction; I�ve read the guidelines. And
frankly, it�s hard to find fans of some series, though
the DO exist- it�s connecting to them that�s hard!
And if I get canned for every non-Ranma fic I send,
well, I have tough skin. I used to love Ranma, but
it�s been forever since I�ve seen anything new in that
fandom. The last thing I liked there was �Genma�s
Daughter.�
So long live shoujo!
=====
Don�t ask of me to tell you where I�m from.
Don�t bury me in the lost yesterdays.
Don�t stop me any further.
Even now in my heart sleeps, my dream that like a storm is still raging.
I Want to Become the Wind
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Quicksilver/
http://www.midnightrevolution.org/quicksilver/
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