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Gary Kleppe wrote:
True. It's a little like trying to sell hamburgers at a pizza
restaurant. If the
customers had been hungry for burgers, they probably would
have gone to a burger
place to begin with.
I wouldn't say that. It's like selling a hamburger or taco pizza in a
pizza restaurant. It's still a pizza (anime-style), but the flavors
aren't itallian. I'm firmly of the school that original fanfiction
belongs, and that it can be viable if it is given the same chance
series-based fanfiction is given.
I have no idea how you can gather readership, except to put
a Ranma tag
on the story and trick them.
Er, don't. Believe me, I've seen plenty of supposed Ranma
fics where (1) the
character is called "Ranma" but has basically nothing in
common with the
character from Takahashi's manga, and/or (2) the story is
really about the
author's own characters, with Ranma only appearing
peripherally for no real
reason. You might get readers this way, but they'll be
readers who are expecting
a Ranma fic and will judge your fic on that basis.
It was a joke, but it's not an uncommon business practice (okay, so it
is an illegal business practice... doesn't make it uncommon. ^_^)
One of the things that gives original fics a bad name, and makes me
cringe, is the original fic which uses names (and often personalities)
of established anime characters. I mean, what's the point besides
author laziness (relying on archetypes and assumptions already set up by
the original anime) in doing that/ It's so Artmic. I mean, honestly.
*sigh*
Good advice. Something else I'd suggest is to give out a lot
of high-quality C&C
to other writers. I know that when I take a chance on an
original story, it's
much more likely to be one by one of the people from whom
I've received
intelligent commentary on my own fics.
Once ceveat of this being that, if you're like me, you don't read much
series-based fanfiction here. I find myself becoming less and less
enthusastic about C&Cing Ranma fics just to get C&C back from Ranma
writers. Something about that seems counter-intuitive. But then again,
I'm lazy and beggars can't be choosers and all that.
Also, C&Cing a good writer to get good C&C back means intelligently
C&Cing a story that just got 20 comments that day, and reading through
all 100 pages of chapter 32. Have y'all ever heard of *short* stories?
But you're right. If you're a part of that audience already, then go
for it. It is, in theory, very sound advice. Just don't expect C&C
from admins by C&Cing admin messages. ^_^
--Matthew