Twoflower wrote:
Recently, I did a sweep of the web to see what other Slayers
fanfiction was out there, since there seems to have been a boom
in links to new fanfic on the Anime Web Turnpike. Pleased to see
my currently favorite anime series getting such popularity,
I cruised.
I don't want to kick a gift horse in the mouth, but I managed to
spot a lot of common problems that kept me from really enjoying
a lot of what I read. So, here's my soapbox rant, which I hope
doesn't alienate anyone... keep in mind that this is my highly
subjective and opinionated list, so feel free to write me off as
a loudmouthed arzhole if you want. ^_^; I won't name names
of what fics I felt had these problems.
Biggest problems :
! AUTHOR INDUCED ROMANCE - The author has paired up Lina with
someone, and assumes from word one that they're in total love with
each other. No explanation given.
WHY IT'S BAD : Fits like a round peg in a square hole. Changes
characters just because the author prefers this
particular match. If developed over the entire
run of a series, with satisfying explanation
given, it's acceptable.
I agree with this, at least partly. For example, Lina is *not* likely to
flirt up with anybody without a *very* plausible story behind, but other
charaters, like Amelia or Zel may not. (Even if lack of background usually
sucks.)
! SELF INSERTION - The author becomes a character in the series,
usually as the hero of the day with interesting powers. Usually
involves 'dimensional travel' and awareness of Slayers as an
anime series.
WHY IT'S BAD : Lessens the other characters. Looks like a wild
ego trip. Ranma fanfic community burned badly
by really horrible fic in this genre, because it's
considered very obnoxious... even when well written,
with the author downplayed, the stigma attached is
nasty.
I don't really know about this point. After all, don't authors put
somethingof their own in their works?
! AUTHOR WISH FUFILLMENT - Dead characters (sometimes evil) are brought
back to life and made into heroes because the author liked them.
WHY IT'S BAD : Lessens the other characters. Looks like a wild
ego trip. Can range from truly blatant worship of
a character to simply a strange element that the
reader may not be as enthusiastic about.
It could happen, but this is matter of plot development.
! CONFUSING INTRO - No setup or establishment of where these people
are or what they're doing is present. Not explaining who Lina is
is forgivable; assuming we know an obscure character from two
episodes of Try or an original character isn't.
WHY IT'S BAD : Slayers is a complex series, and a lot of it lies
in fansubs, which are NOT easy to get a hold of.
Anything not in the domestic releases needs some
kind of introduction. Anything. Even Xelloss.
Lack of scene establishment leaves the reader
without a paddle in terms of getting oriented to
the plot.
Does Xelloss need an introduction? Anyway, aside from the MAIN characters, a
biographical note or little phisical description should be placed somewhere.
More basic problems :
? SHORT - Maybe 3-10k of text is included in each part. Sometimes
you can fit a whole 'chapter' on the screen at once.
WHY IT'S BAD : Looks more like an excuse than a story. Plot feels
truncated, characters are shallow. You don't need
to write War and Peace, but more than a page is a
good idea.
I think this is more a lack of ideas (usually, the very beginning is the real
problem of a fic).
? LACK OF ORIGINAL FLAVOR - The fic is a crossover, an elseworlds or
otherwise not pure Slayers. Usually Ranma 1/2 is used.
WHY IT'S BAD : Right now, original flavored fanfic is in the
minority, with these genres dominating. As a result,
reading a Slayers fanfic has less chance of being
ABOUT Slayers alone, or IN the Slayers universe.
Instead, we get a percentage of Slayers, mixed in
with something else, as our standard fic formula.
I don't agree, but this is for personal tastes.
? UNUSUAL TONE - The mood and tone of Slayers is not a large part of
the fanfic; it's either absurdly silly or deathly serious without
being both.
WHY IT'S BAD : More a personal taste thing. Not too many attempts
have been made at mixing the serious and silly the
way original episodes of Slayers does. Darkfics
are usually solid, if overdramatic, but Sillyfics
can go way over the top and lose the reader if not
done carefully.
I think there is only one person out there named Yohko Yoshinaka.
Minor/Less Common Problems :
. THIN PROSE - It's written in prose format, but contains very little
narration, description, action, etc... mostly just dialogue.
Script would work better in those cases.
WHY IT'S BAD : Script allows you to be lax on the non-quoted prose,
and concentrate on your strengths. It's difficult
to establish a 'voice' for the narrator.
. PLAIN HTML - It's written in HTML, but doesn't do much to take
advantage of that fact. No tabs to make it feel like printed text;
sometimes difficult to read due to layout or arbitrary color
selections.
WHY IT'S BAD : Taste issue again - I feel that you should write
for the medium you choose. If you're writing straight
text, suitable for FFML/RAAC posting as well, that's
cool... if you're writing just for the web, it needs
to be a readable web page. And don't forget that
you can jazz it up with a few pictures, if you have
software/time to do it.
. JUST ZELGADIS - It's about Zel. And that's all. Any other
characters are original, obscure or authors self inserted.
WHY IT'S BAD : Fine for Zelworship, I suppose... but see the problem
with Crossovers above. There are only so many Zelfics
I can read before passing out.
This is something I too have noticed. C'mon, there are other more intersting
characters, like Xelloss.
Right now, I'd hazard that Reflect and Chaos are guilty of Thin Prose
from time to time, and Author Wish Fufillment. I've tried to avoid
the others, though. Up to you folks to decide if I was successful.
-2f
Bona
http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/garden/5779