-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher Angel
Sent: Friday, December 18, 1998 7:15 PM

Every couple of months, someone writes one of these
silly Essays.  So, upon seeing this one, the following
thought crossed my mind: "Here we go again."

Christopher, this essay was not silly at all.  It was a well-reasoned and
entertaining essay.  What's more, it was *not* an "anti-SI" essay.  Rather,
it highlights what works and what doesn't work in an SI story.  What's more,
it's only one man's opinion, and you can certainly take it or leave it as
you please.

But I think it's a heck of an essay that every writer should read.

While all the points were somewhat valid, I think that
anyone thinking of writing an SI must realize that a
self-insertion MUST BE WRITTEN JUST LIKE ANY OTHER STORY.

Here I agree.

For me, the litmus test I use to judge an SI or ANC (tm Taleswapper) fic is:
did the author create the character, then build a story just to showcase
that character, or did the author want to tell a story and the new character
was a necessity?

Most SI's fail that test for me.  And my personal preference is that I don't
much care for those kind of stories.

That's it people.  Everything else is just window dressing
on the above.

Here I disagree.  There are many angles on an SI story, and Bast does an
excellent job of showing them.

Now can we avoid these threads in the future?

Er, and why?  This essay is by far the clearest, best essay about SI's - and
note that it is *not* anti-SI, just talks about what works and what doesn't
work in an SI story.  And there are new readers who may not have heard these
things about SI stories, and such an essay is invaluable.

I wish we had more essays like that on the FFML.

Christopher Angel

-Richard