"A Fan Fiction Rant From A Reader's Point Of View"
                               or
       "A Small List Of Things Best Left Out Of Your Story"

                       By Michael McAvoy

The first thing I'd like to say, before getting into this, is that Mr.
McAvoy does make a lot of valid points. Despite the rather pretentious tone
of this essay (probably the way I read it, not the way it was written, I
tend to frown on 'expert' dissertations given by complete unknowns), there
are many things herein which I agree with, and which tend to bother me
about various stories which pop up. There's a few things I disagree with,
but it's more a matter of personal opinion, so I won't bother the list with
that.

Instead, the purpose of this reply is to point out a rather amusing
discrepancy I noticed in this essay.

First, I'd like to highlight a few key passages from the essay:

 I AM, I AM SUPERMAN, AND I CAN DO ANYTHING.

Although this part of the essay referred to overstating the abilities of
new characters who are initially described as average to below-average in
skill, experience, etc., it relates to the point I'm about to make.

 LAUGH-IN.  A new character who has a "clever" or "witty" remark to
 everything any other character ever says soon gets very irritating.

As does this one...

 THANK YOU, OBI-WAN.  Also, a new character who comes up with an
 answer for every problem a main character has can get annoying as
 well.

(I'm going to admit up front that I'm only highlighting the above passage
on suspicion, but I have a feeling it applies as well...)

       I have seen this done not a whole lot, but frequently enough
in Fan-fiction to mention it. As a matter of fact, I just finished
reading a huge and lengthy BubbleGum Crisis "fan-fic", and I use that
term very loosely to describe this story, that did nothing but retell
the 8 OAV's word for word, except with the author directly SI-ing
himself into the story.  All the battles ended the same, expect,
naturally, the author tended to be the most heroic of the Knight
Sabers, the most intelligent, and delivered a lot of killing blows.

Mark this well, friends. We're talking about inserting a new character into
a series, reusing the exact same chain of events which takes place in the
series, and highlighting the new character as The Biggest Badass On The
Block, Who Will Take On All Comers And Get Medieval On Their Asses.

Also mark the above passages portaining to problems with new/SI characters
created by fanfiction authors, who are too perfect/too annoying.

       I said I was not going to plug or slam and particular fiction out
there, but if you want to see a GREAT example of how to retell a series
using the same episodes but with a different twist, goto the Eryie
Productions homepage at www.eyrie.net and read their Neon Exodus
Evangelion series.  They use the same angel attacks, but the new
character in the fiction has a personality that causes the other main
characters to gradually change over time, influencing them in little
ways till they are all characters who have grown by the end of the series.
If ever there was a shining example of how to use a someone elses ideas,
that is it. Plus, they have good grammar and syntax to boot!

So...Mr. McAvoy, who is annoyed by new characters who have too many skills
and talents, new characters who are smartasses to the extreme, new
characters who seem to be able to solve any problem that comes along, and
fanfics which are basically rehashes of the entire series using new
characters who seem to exist only to be the ones to kick all the ass and
take all the names...

...recommends NXE as a great example of how to retell a series?


Forgive me, but this is the most hilarious thing I have heard all month.



---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Come to think of it, you haven't named your
Pokemon yet, have you?"
"I have too! Meet Jean Luc Pikachu!"
"Pii!"
"How 'engaging'."


***

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