Re: Here comes Mary Sue [RE: The Decline of B/W Fan Fiction]

[fox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

--- In buffywantswillow@y..., cilia@m... wrote:

> I'm with Mad-Hamlet on the Mary Sue issue and even more so. Good 
> writers that write good stories, but then end up ruining by 
> inserting themselves as a character or even worse the HERO, those 
> kind of stories should remain what they start as fantasies and day-
> dreams. 

It's not just fans. When Frank Thorne did Ghita of Alizar, it was 
basically a soft porn version of Red Sonja with himself as sidekick 
so he got to fuck her.

> Also I believe that writers are strong people, the share amount of 
> courage it takes just to post a story is testimony to their inner 
> strength and a little C&C won't break such a person. So new writers 
> aren't bunny rabbits, but more like lion cubs.

I'd generally agree, but I know some fanfic writers who bruise 
easily, and one at least who writes pro-level stuff but does not 
comprehend the concept of a second draft. I'm sure it drives Anne-
Lise mad the way I take apart B & EVW on a regular basis. Only this 
week we had a perfectly good episode, but I didn't think the 3rd 
panel worked visually and we ended up giving it a totally different 
punchline with completely different art for that panel. Yes, Tiny 
Rat Girl Amy was a last minute revision!

> To support this stance that I've taken on the New Readers Issue, I 
> present the evidence on Cilia the Fairy; I became the writer I am 
> today cause of constructive responses that helped knock of some 
very 
> bad writing habits I had in the beginning, mainly being that the 
> hero could do no wrong and some points on story flow etc. etc. in 
> other words it helped me become a tolerable, albeit slightly fringe-
> style writer, cause lets face fact I'm not exactly main stream here 
> people, but back to the subject.

It strikes me that what we need is a new writers' FAQ that goes over 
the mistakes we all make when we first start.

Fox