Rod M wrote:
See what I mean? Detatchment is key. You must know your material, this is a
given. But you can't get so emotionly involved with the characters that it
interferes with your ability to tell a good story.
It may be a mistake on my part, but I also think it gives me an
edge since because of that detatchement, I am willing to do things
to the characters that those more emotionally involved might
consider completly insane.
Am I wrong? Perhaps.
You're somewhat correct, but you phrased it all wrong. Who says fans
can't become detatched?
I think "become" is the key word. Involvement and detachment are yin
and yang, and you can't write a good story without both. However,
fans are strongly susceptible to overinvolvement and lack of distance,
and rarely the opposite problem. So you get fans writing
self-insertions, Mary Sue stories, character slam pieces, and
disconnected snugglebunny scenes.
Look at, for example, Mike Loader's "Ill Met
By Starlight". He likes these characters, he's a fan, and he's
entirely willing to write them all getting hideously mauled. That's
just one example, but there's a lot more. Point being he didn't
let his being a fan get in the way of telling a good story.
Look at Mike Rhea. He likes Ukyo, he's a fan, and he's not willing
that she should suffer so much as a case of the hiccups. There's no
distance between him and the story, and the result would only be
interesting to a psychologist.
The point is, really, that you have to be willing to not treat any of
your characters with kid gloves or else your story just might read as
nothing more than a "this character is my favorite can't you tell?"
sort of story. I'd point a few out, but there's quite a lot out there
and I'd rather not step on several dozen toes at the moment n.n;
There are always going to be more people on the Rhea end of the
Rhea-Loader Mike Spectrum. Detachment is hard for anyone, and it's
going to especially hard for people who like a story or character
enough to want to write about it. It's important that they try,
however
So, when you're setting out to write fanfic, oh ye people, remember to
write as a writer and not as a fan. To assist you with this, keep
these rules in mind:
1. I am writing to entertain others, not to gratify my desires.
2. Not everyone likes my favorite character. Not everyone hates
characters that oppose my favorite character.
3. No one wants to read a story in which nothing bad happens. This
is tantamount to a story in which nothing happens.
4. No one wants to read a story in which nothing happens.
-- David