On Thu, 5 Sep 1996 18:40:15 -0700 (PDT) Mr. the Rutsch said:
: On Thu, 5 Sep 1996, George Mori wrote:
:
: > how far IS too far out of
: > character. I know there is a line, but where do you think it is?
:
: I dunnow. I don't think there is a line. This talk about Kodachi tying
: people up with ribbons (for sexual reasons, presumadably ^_^)shows that
: sometimes it's fun to see characters acting against their
: characterizations. Fanfics are written for fun, not because we're in a
: contest to see who can be most like the cliched characterization.
Yes, but if you make your fanfics *public*, you expect people to
like it, too. Why do other people read Ranma fanfics? Because
they have come to like the characters they saw in the Manga or
Anime - Takahashi-san's Characters.
If the characters in a fic are too far removed from the originals
- If the only similarity between them are their names and
appearance - then the question arises, why did the author bother
to take these characters at all, instead of making up his or her
own? Maybe s/he thought that Ranma gives instant audience appeal,
or something like that.
I don't know where you live, Jeff, but do you call people
clichee'd, if they don't change their personalities overnight,
every now and then? Correct characterization isn't clichee'd -
some behavior patterns, that we have seen repeated too often, may
be, but characterization is more than that and can be fresh and
correct at the same time.
: Also, characterizations are very arbitrary. I think Ryouga's a
: mega-shmuck. I know that other people think he's super-nifty. Takahashi
: doesn't release a guidebook saying "This is what Ryouga is like," she
: gives us his actions. They can be interpreted pretty much any way you
: want. I'd much rather see an author try (and perhaps fail) a new
: interpretation of a character than see a characterization I've seen 300
: times before...
Takahashi-san *did* release a guidebook; It's 38 volumes long. :)
About interpretation I have this to say: an interpretation is
correct *only* when it explains all given facts and does not
produce contradictions. It has often been said that there are
infinite correct interpretations - that's true. But that DOESN'T
mean that *every interpretation is correct*! There are infinite
odd numbers, right? Does that mean that all numbers are odd?
Nope, it doesn't. And even thought there are infinite correct
interpretations to choose from, there still are some that are just
plain wrong.
You can write a fic where Kasumi is a homicidal maniac under her
sweet facade, and it's in character - but you can *not* write that
she is running around the house with a bloody axe all the time,
since there is evidence against it.
Now, that doesn't mean that you should never take the players out
of character - it's a valuable source of inspiration. You can
write that "Ryouga rapes Akane" fic, if you want to, AS LONG as
you are *aware* that Ryouga acts out of character. You might
preface the fic with a note saying "Hey, I just wondered what
would happen, if Ryouga was OOC in this and that way" which would
make the fic a thought-experiment and passable. But selling it as
an ordinary In-Character fic would be wrong.
If you are *aware* that (and where) the players are OOC, you
might even find a plausible excuse how they got that way inside
the story; It is *not* OOC to let your characters evolve. Heck,
in a world full of magic like Ranma's, any author woth his/her
salt should have no problems with that. (Except that I'll shoot
anyone who uses Passion Spice again - I'll find out where you
live!)
: Jeff
: Too much into fanfics
Sebastian (Too much into characterization, perhaps)