On Mon, 6 Jul 1998, Trakal wrote:

Look, if someone is still writing about Tenchi or Ranma or the title character in Ogre 
Slayer after a long time, no one complains about it. But if someone remains faithful to a 
lesser or non-recurring character like Prince Toma, Kirin, or Operative A they get dumped 
on?  

Sorry about being so bitchy, but it just makes me... well... bitchy. I mean, okay, so I'm 
faithful to Operative A. (who, btw, does *not* appear in Legacy of Tears Book 1). How is 
that different from someone who writes only about Ryoga or Mousse or Washu?

I think the main difference is that, if you're writing about the main
characters or primary supporting cast of a series, you've got a
near-guaranteed audience -- at the very least, the devoted existing fans
of any characters you feature will be looking to see if you've done well.
With a lesser-known character, be they one-shots from the original, new
characters, or just the folk who always hung around in the background,
you've got to give your audience a reason to care.  Sure, I may think
Shoujo Kakumei Utena's Arisugawa Juri is one of the most interesting
characters I've ever seen, or Ranma 1/2's Kenzan Konatsu has strong and
complex potential, but if I can't get that across to the readers, why
should they keep on reading?  To use an example close to you, I've seen
Tenchi Muyo in Love, and nothing about Operative A really grabbed me.
Obviously, you saw something different, something about the character that
made you want to explore him more.  That's fine -- in fact, it's a much
better idea than being inspired to retread the same ground a hundred
other writers have done. But it means that if you want me or others who
reacted like me to be interested in your stories about him, you'll have to
hook us in early by giving us a reason to think about him as an
interesting protagonist.  It's easy to accept Tenchi or Ranma or Ryoko or
Ukyou as the star of a story, as they've been established as such in the
source material and in myriad fanfics.  Therefore, when Konatsu or Kirin
or Operative A swoops in, steals the spotlight, and reduces the rest of
the characters to supporting cast, there had better be a good reason, or a
compelling plotline, or a hook of characterization so gripping that the
reader just *has* to follow along.  If you do it right, you can end up
with the audience nearly as sympathetic to your character as you are, but
if you do it poorly, the audience just gets annoyed.

Furthermore, there's a lot to be said for variety.  If someone writes one
story where Ukyou ends up with Ranma, it'll likely be judged on its own
merits, and considered fairly.  If every single story someone writes
focuses on Ukyou getting Ranma, people will doubtless get bored and see
all the stories as just wish-fulfillment with few merits beyond that.
(The worst case of this comes when the author obviously has a crush on
Ukyou and identifies with Ranma, or vice-versa, so the stories are simply
ways of 'living out' the author's fantasies.  Substitute any appropriate
characters for a series for Ukyou and Ranma, of course.)

I think that this is actually a broader issue worth discussing on the
list: what are the best ways to make sure a focus on a character doesn't
turn uninteresting?  Even tight focuses on established main characters can
fall victim to the 'my favorite character is perfect' syndrome -- what are
some good ways to avoid that?

-- 
Scott Johnson |
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