General Fan Fiction Discussion

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tehprognoob
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Re: General Fan Fiction Discussion

Wuzzup people?
Back from camp. Ready now to continue my fanfics. Too bad 'bout GX7, though. At least he had a firm belief in himself and his opinions, and that's much better than the cynical disbelief people these days tend to have. If you're reading this, GX7, good luck. Remember, there are worse writers in plenty >_<

ANYWAY...
Came back to find my fanfic doing pretty damn good. :) 4 faves, 10 alerts and 5 reviews on FFN.
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rebel_cheese
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Re: General Fan Fiction Discussion

Ha, I only have 1 fave, no alerts, and 2 reviews. Famous fic me do not have.
MURRUE: Infallible accuracy?? I thought you just usually shot all your weapons at random and they just happened to hit stuff.

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tehprognoob
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Re: General Fan Fiction Discussion

rebel_cheese wrote:Ha, I only have 1 fave, no alerts, and 2 reviews. Famous fic me do not have.
good fics are spammed out by mountains of ccwap
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Re: General Fan Fiction Discussion

Vent Noir wrote:Back in an old SEED thread, I posited the theory that Lacus Clyne was a "super-leader" in much the same way that Soma Peiris was a supersoldier - she was designed to be beautiful and charismatic and intelligent, someone that people would easily follow.

I think that a character who is genetically designed to be a leader is an interesting concept, but the problem is: How does one write a character like that without her being a Mary Sue? I'm thinking that her character arc should focus on her learning to make use of her gifts, and what ends she should put them to, but any suggestions would be appreciated.
To my way of thinking, it's by acknowledging that leadership is more than mere talent or (in this case) genetic predisposition. Potential is not the sum total of reality, nor does it provide a road map that tells someone how to use these talents.

In some ways, it's like the potential ways to write John Connor. He's destined to be the leader of the human resistance, but he really doesn't know how he goes from Plucky Momma's Boy to Savior of Mankind. The journey, and whether he can actually get there, is the interesting part.
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Re: General Fan Fiction Discussion

One of the major themes I use when writing anything with genetic manipulation is that DNA does not make you who you are, it gives you your starting point but everything after birth is unknown. Experiences, choices and influences are what ultimately determine who you are.

It's because of this that I have difficulty accepting many of the characters in SEED. Kira being the “perfect coordinator” just means that he has no genetic aerations from how he was designed. It shouldn't make him instantly better at things, just that he has no genetic quirks. Thing is, those quirks he's lacking are sometimes the things that make people exceptional at things. Technically, random chance could produce a natural with superior piloting abilities, where as with coordinators, unless you set out to specifically design the DNA for piloting, the likely hood of getting a superior pilot is minimal. You'll get an individual who is potentially better physically and mentally across the board but not exceptional at anything.

There is also much to be said for upbringing and experience. A trained solder is always better than a civilian when it comes to combat. A veteran even more so. Someone raised in an environment of constant struggle and danger will develop cunning and tenacity uncommon in the majority of people. Put all that together and you have an extremely potent warrior.

Battletech had genetic engineering and eugenics right. The Clans could produce stronger and better overall warriors but lacked the random genetic diversity that could produce the kind of technical geniuses of the Inner Sphere.

Getting back to SEED, I have a theory about why Kira tends to be disconnected from society (and reality sometimes). Wanting peace, that's not a bad thing. Trying to get it by getting in the way of those who are fighting, doesn't make those people like you. 00 was refreshing because it showed multi leveled social manipulation to bring about a unified world, orchestrating a conflict that would unite the world.

Kira and company just barge in and start messing things up, how this is supposed to stop a multi faceted conflict with deep divisions along race lines I have no idea. All those coordinator and nobody is smart enough to figure out a more effective way do foster peace? No humanitarian add organization? No wining hearts and minds? Championing peace by using superior firepower does not a lasting peace make. So why does Kira do it?

One of the major difficulties with writing Fan Fiction is reasoning out motivation for characters who were... shale we say less defined? Much of SEED suffered from obvious writer's will, rather than being character motivated. So for a Fan Fiction Writer, trying to work out a motivation for a character who's motivation wasn't made clear or who's motivation conflicts with their actions becomes a challenge.

For Kira, I don't want to misrepresent him, but honestly the only way I can think of to enplane his motivations and actions is that he is mentally unbalanced in some way. So this is what I've worked out. Born in a test tube aka artificial womb, meant that Kira lacked something that is a universal human experience. You'd think that wouldn't matter but who knows what kind of psychological effects being born from a machine rather than a mother could cause. For my reasoning, Kira would have grown up with an emotional disconnect from his fellow humans. In addition to being a coordinator, he would have grown up feeling different for some inexplicable reason. Leading to being a loner for the most part, as evidenced by Athrun being his only childhood friend. Because of this stunting of emotional growth, Kira simply doesn't think the same way as an average human. He may be capable of reprogramming an OS on the fly but understanding the thoughts and feelings of others is completely alien to him. So, he wants to make peace, but he can't understand the people he wants to stop fighting. He doesn't realize that imposing peace by force won't be accepted by people. To him, he can't understand why everyone doesn't see things his way, so he is determined to show them that his is right by using his strength.

Kira becomes a tragically naive character, the people around him become enablers. This is just my take on his character though.
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Re: General Fan Fiction Discussion

I don't really see a problem with that interpretation, Heretic. Kira certainly comes across as someone who has a lot of aptitude but a little less understanding, although that can be chalked up him being a typical teenager. However, it seems clear his family hasn't been exactly, well, tight, if SEED serves as indication. He also lived on the Moon, apparently in Orb at some point, and then again in Heliopolis, and alone at that in the latter one. We don't know all the kids of his class from Orb moved up to Heliopolis or what, but it doesn't seem like his friendships are shown to have much depth beyond his fixation to Athrun who gave him a robot-bird. Kira's saving grace as superior coordinator is that he never takes that up as legitimation for his actions; he leaves that to Lacus. ;)

However, I would then point out that from the point of view of their origins, Athrun is not that much better off; Kira is shown as his only worthwhile friend, while Yzak and Dearka are more like fellow cadets, classmates, comrades in arms. I won't vouch for Rusty McKenzie or Miguel Aiman, though, since he seemed to know both of them reasonably well, too. But family-wise, a mother dead before Athrun was barely a teenager and a father bent on ambition, it doesn't seem like a nurturing environment.

I guess what you want to ask yourself is that whether or not Kira was just born plain different, or if it was his surroundings that made him the way he was and the whole philosophical argument that goes in identity-building with it. His problems with perception really only begin with GSD when he clearly struggles to find a rational way of articulating why e.g. Orb and ZAFT should stop fighting. Sadly, Cagalli isn't much better at this either, so perhaps it isn't Kira as such but simply because he is the most visible target, we find him easiest to criticize.

Not to beat my own drum, but in my fanfic one of my explicit intents was to force Athrun to come face to face with the problem of people not wanting the peace he tried to offer, choosing rather to oppose him in every turn. It is difficult in that circumstance to differentiate between people who disagree with you, and your ideology, since both are so integral to the Self. In Kira's case in GSD, it is possible he (and Lacus definitely) sees people intent on war as a slap in the face of their previous sacrifices. The symptom is the same but the disease is changed, and Kira's multi-beam blast no longer serves as an adequate cure, but he cannot see it because he is blinded by the prospect of the world descending into another Bloody Valentine War. That makes him fight all the harder against it, which in turn only aggravates the situation, creating a spiral that shouldn't have worked out as well as it did for them at the end of GSD.

Food for thought. :)
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tehprognoob
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Re: General Fan Fiction Discussion

If you read the end of this chapter would you think that the character died? And since it's ch.3 and she's one of the mains, do you think it might turn readers off?
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Re: General Fan Fiction Discussion

You know, for a while now I've been wanting to see a Gundam lead be more like Ginko from Mushi-shi. I think I like these types of characters better because they're seasoned, rational, and know what they're doing. They have the experience of a lifetime's work and the intuition to tackle new problems. This way the focus could be more on a unique or especially challenging situation rather than the same old coming-of-age dealings of a accidental pilot in a giant robot. I tend to gravitate towards characters I can look up to and even when I was younger I had trouble relating to these "young punks" in their giant robots. Maybe that's why I still like GW more than most other Gundam.

I breezed through an episode of 00 yesterday on my DVR and realized how common and annoying it is that we have these insane or whacked-out people sitting in cockpits or going into the military. What the hell is up with this? Is this a staple, or just a easy way out of making cannon fodder you love to blow up?

At this rate, I think all of my stories will have too many mature and rational people. And I mean pretty much the entire cast will be like that. Eh, I guess that's what happens when you write for yourself instead of an audience. =/
Vent Noir wrote:Back in an old SEED thread, I posited the theory that Lacus Clyne was a "super-leader" in much the same way that Soma Peiris was a supersoldier - she was designed to be beautiful and charismatic and intelligent, someone that people would easily follow.

I think that a character who is genetically designed to be a leader is an interesting concept, but the problem is: How does one write a character like that without her being a Mary Sue? I'm thinking that her character arc should focus on her learning to make use of her gifts, and what ends she should put them to, but any suggestions would be appreciated.
I think outside of being a "perfect person" other problems arise for people in seats of political power. With their positions come hard decisions that have no clear-cut answers. Powerful figures often have troubled home lives or they become corrupt. Sometimes they just don't have time for anything outside of their ambitions.

I don't know. I really like Lelouch from Code Geass. Maybe you should look there for guidance.
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Re: General Fan Fiction Discussion

Seraphic wrote:I breezed through an episode of 00 yesterday on my DVR and realized how common and annoying it is that we have these insane or whacked-out people sitting in cockpits or going into the military. What the hell is up with this? Is this a staple, or just a easy way out of making cannon fodder you love to blow up?
It may be a form of commentary on war. After all, enlisting in the army means you're literally putting your life on the line for a cause that may or may not be just; but all the same, you're willing to give up your life, which is pretty contrary to the whole point of living. And characters like the Flags are apparently hearkening back to the days of the samurai, with Howard, Daryl, and Joshua's banzai charges, their intense focus on the honor and camaraderie of their team, and vengeance for their fallen members.

Also, these are people in giant robots trying to kill others in giant robots. Setting aside issues of pumping testosterone and adrenaline in the heat of combat, I think you'd need to be at least a little unhinged to get inside one of those things and stare down huge humanoid figures that are pointing absolutely massive weapons at you.
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Re: General Fan Fiction Discussion

I think you'd also becomes fatalistic over time, after multiple battles where giant machines are trying to kill you. I think that's why so many Gundam characters have emotional difficulties. The Gundam machines compound the problems already seen in standard warfare.
MURRUE: Infallible accuracy?? I thought you just usually shot all your weapons at random and they just happened to hit stuff.

KIRA: What do you think this is; a cartoon?
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Re: General Fan Fiction Discussion

GX7 wrote:Or possibly the pilots begin to suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. You ever thought about that?
Dude, my Gundam story has Kira Yamato suffering from the most epic case of PTSD ever. Of course I've thought about it.
MURRUE: Infallible accuracy?? I thought you just usually shot all your weapons at random and they just happened to hit stuff.

KIRA: What do you think this is; a cartoon?
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Re: General Fan Fiction Discussion

I'm not going to tell you what you should do with your fan fiction. Only you can decide that.
MURRUE: Infallible accuracy?? I thought you just usually shot all your weapons at random and they just happened to hit stuff.

KIRA: What do you think this is; a cartoon?
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Re: General Fan Fiction Discussion

Flip a coin, and whichever story loses, put it on hiatus. Jot down all the ideas you have for it now, while they're still fresh, and then come back to the story and decide if you want to continue it; it may be beneficial to keep one story on the backburner while you focus on one, so you can switch gears every now and then and keep your interest going in both. It might help you avoid the pitfall of stale writing and waning interest, both of which can kill a story before it's finished.
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Re: General Fan Fiction Discussion

Just something I heard today that I hope people will discuss, or at least take note of:

I went to the Military SF panel at Worldcon today. Very interesting discussion on lots of aspects of the military in SF, and one of the big issues they raised was the difference between "military SF" and "war porn" (the latter of which all the panelists disliked).

The most important thing in avoiding writing "war porn", according to the panelists, was to make sure that killing has consequences, be they physical, emotional, or what have you. Characters should never be totally unaffected by killing.
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Re: General Fan Fiction Discussion

GX7 wrote:
Vent Noir wrote:Just something I heard today that I hope people will discuss, or at least take note of:

I went to the Military SF panel at Worldcon today. Very interesting discussion on lots of aspects of the military in SF, and one of the big issues they raised was the difference between "military SF" and "war porn" (the latter of which all the panelists disliked).

The most important thing in avoiding writing "war porn", according to the panelists, was to make sure that killing has consequences, be they physical, emotional, or what have you. Characters should never be totally unaffected by killing.
Unless of course one of the characters is the homicidal maniac, that appears to have been rejected for a role of a serial killer in an episode of Criminal Minds.

Of course I only have one of those in my Gundam Omega story. The rest all know what it means every time they take a life of another teenager or Imperial soldier, trying to kill them for treason against the Empire. I'm writing the story so that eventually one of the characters will finally snap and go into a psychotic rampage, killing more enemy before finally realizing what that character just did.
They were more referring to stories where the lead characters can happily blow people away, and not have to worry about what they are doing because they're "the good guys" and the people they're killing are "the bad guys".
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Re: General Fan Fiction Discussion

Vent Noir wrote:
GX7 wrote:Unless of course one of the characters is the homicidal maniac, that appears to have been rejected for a role of a serial killer in an episode of Criminal Minds.

Of course I only have one of those in my Gundam Omega story. The rest all know what it means every time they take a life of another teenager or Imperial soldier, trying to kill them for treason against the Empire. I'm writing the story so that eventually one of the characters will finally snap and go into a psychotic rampage, killing more enemy before finally realizing what that character just did.
They were more referring to stories where the lead characters can happily blow people away, and not have to worry about what they are doing because they're "the good guys" and the people they're killing are "the bad guys".
I'm going to go ahead and assume that they also meant that those who aren't involved in killing, whether directly, indirectly, or at all, should also be affected by the deaths. That's something that's kind of bothered me in so many shows and stories and games and movies, when you see soldiers just mowed down without even the slightest acknowledgement that people have just been brutally murdered. I understand that it's difficult to conceptualize death on a massive scale when the idea of death is such a personal thing, but at least it would be nice to see something beyond a shrug.
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Re: General Fan Fiction Discussion

Another thing I'm wondering... do you think a Super Robot story could work in prose format? I know there's been some Real Robot novels (Gundam, Jack McKinney's Robotech books, Battletech), but a lot of Super Robot stuff seems very visually-oriented (and audio-oriented, in the case of hotblooded yelling), and I'm wondering if it's something that wouldn't work well as prose.
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Re: General Fan Fiction Discussion

Well, with the right writer and technique could pull it off. As for how to go about doing it...

You would have to cut out some things, or at least adapt them. In a super robot show, because it's at most half an hour long, we tend to not question the imposable things, “How can that sword cut through solid stone? How can he jump that high? How could his mecha spontaneously double in size?” these things don't bother us in a show. But in prose, where the reader has time to digest the story at their own rate, questions like this would shatter the illusion and cross the line between unbelievability and suspension of disbelief. You have to have some element to make the story believable enough for the reader to let the imposable slide.

Gunbuster could easily be written as a novel, Gunbuster Two would require a little bit more explanation at some points.

Another thing to watch out for with prose is power levels. If you make your characters/mecha too powerful, it becomes “God A fights God B” and becomes really uninteresting to read. Steven Erikson in his “Malazan book of the fallen” series, handles gods by making them very human in nature, capable of making mistakes, being outsmarted by mortals, and in some cases, being slaves to the will of their followers.

I'm using this approach myself for a story I call “Last Generation.” The two remaining worriers of a race much like humanity, seemingly bent on self destruction. The last and strongest of the opposing factions, the very epitome of technological and military progress. Immortal, indestructible except by each other, and equity matched. It wouldn't be much of a story if they continued to battle each other eternally and didn't do anything else.

Crap, now you have me thinking about that story again. Must write it...
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Re: General Fan Fiction Discussion

I think Super Robot would be a very difficult sell in prose, because, as mentioned previously, the reader has more time to reflect on the novel, and eventually realize things aren't making sense. It's something more easily pulled off in a visual medium, because the need to explain something isn't quite as important.

The right writer theoretically pull it off, but the novel has to be written in a manner that allows the reader to accept the super robots the way they are, instead of questioning the logic of how the robots operate (the truest answer: there is no logic) and losing the all-important suspension of disbelief. You MUST be able to sell the reader the concept of super robots and make the reader accept their existence.

I think super robots would be an easier sell to younger demographics than older demos as well, for reasons I think are self-explanatory. Adults like stuff making sense. Children and teens just want stuff that is awesome, they don't always desire everything making sense.
MURRUE: Infallible accuracy?? I thought you just usually shot all your weapons at random and they just happened to hit stuff.

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Re: General Fan Fiction Discussion

Prose is a very malleable form, but it has its definite strengths and weaknesses.

As far as I'm concerned, it's entirely possible to write a Super Robot story in prose form... though, it won't (and shouldn't) resemble a Super Robot television series. Two formats, two forms, two types of stories. It's important to play to the strengths of each format and not try and shoehorn other formats' strengths into it. That will produce a lot of awkwardness.

As for me, I suppose I should state the obvious and report "Renascent Seed" dead. It wouldn't be fair to let Seraphic continue listing it as "ongoing" when it really isn't. :P I'm fairly sure I can use some of the ideas I've developed for it, though, so it's not as though I'm completely abandoning the concept. However, the story is dead as it stands.

I have been cooking up some personal interest in a Gundam 00 S2 rewrite. Recently, I've made some of my qualms with the second season known in the Anime and Manga section and, since I was always far more enthusiastic with 00 than SEED, I've considered putting these ideas into practice multiple times.

Currently, I'm just drawing up a series of notes on how I'd have evolved the concept, following S1's finale. That's the basic rule I'm following: Everything else is malleable from that point on, but S1 is canon. I admit I'm rather pleased with some of the ideas I've been coming up with, so it could make for some good practice.

If it goes anywhere, I'll keep y'all posted.
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