And here's the part where I come out of lurker mode.
It saddens me to see the FFML come to this. It's been an important part of
my writing evolution, and as I'm working on my author's notes, I cannot help
but look at the fact that I have it as one of the things that I namecheck in
my growth.
I wish I had the time to write a lot of my old fanfics (they're not exactly
dead, just on extended hiatus while I work on my manga), and the FFML (yes,
the name is and always has been a misnomer) has always welcomed and loved
them. But I do think that Studio PC is correct. The FFML has to evolve or
die.
I do think that one of the things, at least from my perspective is that it
should be more welcoming of original, anime-syle fiction (or, since I prefer
the Japanese term, light novels). I remember a few years ago there were
(myself included) several people whacking out many of these types of
stories, and they were fresh and vibrant, and many people liked them - my
own fanbase went up as well (in fact, I gained the ultimate fan out of my
original fics: a particular manga artist liked my fanfics, but absolutely
loved my fanfics, and went so far as to pester friends to have them
introduce her to me; the first thing I did when I met her was to autograph
her copy of Hikage. Three years after I met her, we married). However,
note that these stories are few and far between now. Why? Many people were
saying how "inappropriate" and "not relevant" these dojin fics were to the
FFML, and in one particular case, one detractor went so far as to say I was
wasting my time on my original works when I could be writing Tales of
Shampoo 3 (it was letters like this which ultimately led to my distaste for
writing a sequel and eventually killed that series). So I plead to you:
when people write these works, support them: they may be the guy or gal
writing the next work coming out of TOKYOPOP, Seven Seas or Dark Horse.
Secondly, as Studio PC notes, perhaps it is time to expand beyond the
Japanese culture. I'm not too keen on opening up to 1 billion Harry Potter
fics, but there are outstanding Chinese and Korean animation, comic, and
dramatic works that deserve their own fandom. One of the most interesting
fanfics I've been reading as of late is one that would, in its current form,
never make it to the FFML: Green Destiny 2010, a 21st century continuation
fic of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Not only that, but Amerimanga as
well: I would love to do a Blade for Barter or Shutterbox fanfic, but alas,
not if the current protocol remains in place.
Just a few words of thought, and I hope they help change things here. I
would really hate to see my crediting the FFML be a posthumous one once the
first volume of my series hits the shelves.
mata ne,
-Rob
www.tokyoteleport.com/www.mitsukai.com
www.megamistudios.com
-----Original Message-----
From: ffml-bounce@anifics.com [mailto:ffml-bounce@anifics.com] On Behalf Of
StudioPC
Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2006 11:00 PM
To: FFML
Subject: [FFML] Re: Why the FFML is really dying
I'm gonna second this. I realize that I'm only slightly more
tolerated around here than CKK and my opinion is just about
worthless, but Lurker has a point. ff.net is killing the FFML.
Unfortunutly, I don't know of any way to fix it short of those of us
with ff.net accounts pimping the FFML every time we post a fic or
chapter in the author's notes.
Option two: Open the list to other fandoms besides those out of
Japan. That's always been the hole in this whole affair. We're the
FanFiction Mailing List, but we're restricted to Anime, Manga and
Japanese Live Action. God knows I'd like to get some crit on some
Marvel, DC, and WB Animation ideas, not to mention Harry Potter.
Knowing I can't post those here and get serious feedback kinda takes
the wind out of the sails, you know?
It really is, isn't it? We still get some good, long-running fics
posted
here--a couple multicrossovers that seem to be fairly popular,
Nowack's
exceptional Naruto fic, Megane's MSTings, Lawson's recent return,
and the
like--but the general amount of traffic IS down lately, and it's
not because
of the moderation--it's because of McBurger Syndrome.
For those not familiar with the term--although it should be pretty
obvious
and self-explanatory--McBurger Syndrome is basically this:
For years, a small mom-and-pop diner is THE popular local hangout.
It has
the best hamburgers in town, a friendly atmosphere, a jukebox, damn
good
malts, everything.
Then, a McDonald's puts into the neighborhood.
Suddenly, within a couple years, the only people eating at the
diner anymore
are the old-timers who eat breakfast and lunch there, or who hang
out there
all day not actually doing much business, talking with the owners
and each
other about the way things used to be. Sure, you get the occasional
random
new customer--business isn't so bad as to warrant actually shutting
the
place down--but the cash register's looking mighty lean and the
owners find
they're ordering half as many supplies per month as they used to,
simply to
avoid having so much to throw away.
The FFML (and to an extent, rec.arts.anime.creative) are the "Pop's
Diner"
of the fanfiction world. Fanfiction.net is the McDonald's. Today's
fanfic
authors want instant gratification and aren't especially interested in
getting honest, helpful reviews of the stuff they write--which is
why they
flock to FF.net, where the most godawful piece of crap ever written
can get
at least a dozen "lol luv ur fic rite mor plz" reviews within a day.
Meanwhile, the rest of us old fogies sit around reading our
newspaper and
eating the occasional big, juicy bur---err, reading the occasional
really
good, long fanfic and complaining about how it just ain't like the
good old
days anymore.
FF.net is the McBurger of the fanfiction community, and is pretty much
what's been killing the FFML slowly over the last few years.
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