On Sun, 14 Apr 1996, Ryoga Hibiki wrote:

On Sun, 14 Apr 1996, Ben Kosse wrote:

     I hope that you read this and can see where I'm coming from. I agree
that you must write in whatever way you can do best (I just sit down and
write, others plan their story before touching it). But, fanfics require
that the author pay attention to someone else's characters and universe. Not
following those will usually detract from the entertainment value of a story.

	But isn't it just as wrong to follow an EXACT set of someone 
else's guidelines? 

Is it wrong to write a couplet, because it has a standard form or Iambic 
pentameter because it has a standard form?


 Is it forbidden to tamper with characters just 

because someone else created them?  If so, then half the stuff written is 
a hideous perversion of the truth and everyone who wrote them should be 
executed.

Well, techically, it's all a violation of copyright law and we should be 
imprisoned or fined.

It's a simple matter of respect for the creator of the original work.  
If you're going to warp the characters, don't bother using them...make up 
your own. 


 > 	The point I'm trying to make is that while giving advice is good, 

TOO MUCH advice can weaken an author to the point where it no longer 
becomes that author's work.  And THAT is a bigger sin than any anyone has 
listed, myself included.

Nothing FORCES the author to take the advice.  

John Walter Biles :  MA-History, Ph.D Wannabe at U. Kansas         
ranma@falcon.cc.ukans.edu   http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~ranma/falcon.html 
                            http://www.dhp.com/~wraven/john/index.html

If you've ever watched the game warden through a gun sight...
     You might be a redneck.