At 08:18 PM 6/15/97 +1000, Andrew Dynon wrote:
SECONDARY RANT:
Okay, this is something I've been meaning to bring up for some time, but
never gotten around to: The excessive amount of Ranma stuff on the FFML.
When I first joined I read it, then I started thinking "Oh, another
Ranma fic. Delete." Now I have started to think "Oh, no, here we go
again." People, I know that Ranma is incredibly popular with you, but
surely there are some other shows that you like. I mean, the Two thirds
of the total stories in the synopsis list this week were Ranma stories
for god's sake! Do something else before I start actually hating Ranma
fanfics, and then hating the real thing as well! Please, I don't wanna
hate Ranma but you guys and girls are forcing me to!
Now, this sounds familiar somehow...didn't I post something like this when
I first joined the FFML way back in August of '95? *grin*
To quote myself, "Hasn't the subject matter been a bit monochromatic
lately?" "SOMETHING ELSE BESIDES RANMA!" ;)
And so people prodded me to *write* "something else besides Ranma. And I
did. And life was good. 8)
What you describe reflects the popularity and availability of the Ranma
series. It also indicates that the series serves as a good basis for the
two standard types of fanfics, the what-if story and the continuity
story. Here is a relevant passage adapted from an article I wrote on
anime fanfiction
There is a third, although it's not often done. I don't know of a generic
term for it, but it would be something like "fill-the-gaps". What
happened between this point and that point? What did the characters do
that might have been interesting? What were the characters up to before
the story/series began? And so forth. Andy would probably kill me if he
knew I was deliberately writing a story to fill the gap between BGC OVA 8
and the beginning of BGC Cross, but that'll be our little secret now,
won't it? ^_-
---
Many, if not most, anime series end without a definitive wrap-up of the
basic plot and character relationships. The continuity fanfic attempts
to provide follow-on to the existing anime. It may follow Kyouske and
Madoka (Kimagure Orange Road) to college, or Keiichi and Belldandy (Oh My
Goddess) after college. It may not even focus on the main characters of
the anime. It might examine a possible future for Nabiki (Ranma ½) or
Leon MacNichol (Bubblegum Crisis). A different impulse lies behind the
what-if story. The what-if story is an exploration of characters and
emotions by putting them into situations often drastically different from
the anime or manga. What if Ranma was trapped in his female form by some
event? What if Akane and Ranma discovered what each truly thought of the
other? What if Kyoko had married Shun (Maison Ikkoku)? What if Skuld (Oh
My Goddess) discovered she had a lactose intolerance?
The nature of the anime influences the type of fanfic story that tends to
be written. An anime like Ranma ½ or Sailor Moon, with little continuity
of plot across episodes, allows greater scope to the what-if author,
while providing less obvious direction for a continuity story. Likewise,
series such as Kimagure Orange Road (including TV episodes) are too
tightly structured in their overall plot lines to allow easy play with
the characters and situations, while providing greater direction for
after-the-curtain falls stories. Furthermore, comedies appear to be
favored over dramatic series. This popularity may derive from the greater
availability of series such as Ranma ½. It may also reflect the greater
latitude that a comic series allows. It is difficult to adapt tragedy as
anything else. A fanfic author can write a story based on a comedy as
comedy, tragedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical,
historical-pastoral, tragical-histor<At this point the editor whacks the
writer with the nearest heavy object> ...
The particular anime also has to allow some scope for imagination.
Kyouske and Madoka going to college permits many types of situations,
because of the potential for growth and change in the characters. Yusaku
and Kyoko (Maison Ikkoku) settling down to married life and children has
fewer possibilities for a fanfic author to explore. ---
As anime spreads and becomes more available, I expect that you will see
an increasing percentage of stories based on series other than Ranma and
Sailor Moon, the two current fanfic favorites. Also, I don't know how
long you have been on, but I have seen good fics based on BGC, Tenchi
Muyo, Patlabor, Yuu Yuu Hakusho, VPM, Nuku Nuku, Project A-ko, to name
just some of the other anime used by fanfic authors. Indeed, Richard
Lawson's story "Transitions", a Nuku Nuku fic, was probably the single
most admired story to appear on the FFML within the last half-year.
Unfortunately for you, Iczer is not a well known series. However, that
is not a reason to stop writing Iczer fics if that is what you want to
write.
I think Transitions is everyone's love-to-hate, in certain ways. It took
a comedy anime series and turned it on its ear, killing off the main
character and exploring the spiritual to some small degree, both of which
are usually big no-no's in writing. Lawson made it work, to a fairly good
extent. It's flawless writing, but for those used to the comedic flavor
of Nuku Nuku, it's a bit hard to stomach, if I my be so bold.
On the other hand, No Longer Than Thy Love took the series in a totally
new direction. IMHO, it was "worth" what Transitions did to the face of
Nuku Nuku fanfiction, if I might phrase it that way.
Here's a question intended for the spam list, since it's sort of dead on
arrival. Aside from the two major favorites, Ranma and Sailor Moon, which
series do *you* think are well suited to continuity stories or
fill-in-the-gap stories? I'm assuming that just about every anime in
existence can be what if'ed.
If you're not on the spam list, send a message with "subscribe ffml-d"
in the body to ffml-d-request@universal-net.com. And spam away. ;)
Damon Casale, damoo@monet.carmelnet.com
Spam, spam! WONDERFUL spam! ^_^