On Mon, 12 Feb 2001 08:07:41 -0000 "Neil Faulkner" N.Faulkner@tesco.net writes:
On the other hand, one of the problems with regular fanfic is the way it is instantly overcrowded by default.
Of the few stories I've done and completed, I just realized I managed to keep an awful lot of regular characters off stage.
OTOH, about Mary Sues. Hmm. I do stick in original characters. Are they me? Hard to say. When I finish a story, I can look back and see things in all of them that I relate to, even the villains. Are they me? For some reason, the idea of identifying to closely with a character in fiction makes me break out in a rash, so I'll say no.
But why introduce a new character?
Sometimes, they're necessary. They're the character of the week. However, I've also noticed, for me, they change the parameters of the show. For me, S4 stories will always end bleakly - unless a new element is added that changes things.
A young woman with a personal motivation to keep Avon and his friends alive? Well, why not?
Granted, the job description requires a high degree of compotency. And yes, I suppose I'm in the midst of writing one (Avon's sort of dead and none of his friends know what's going on, an outsider was necessary). She's even (shudder) hyperactively perky.
I also wrote one with Avon's extremely compotent aunt (well, she would be, wouldn't she?). There wasn't anyone else who would get this ball rolling (and I suspect Avon wouldn't entirely mind shooting her if he thought the rest of the family wouldn't hunt him down).
The one thing they have in common is that the story wouldn't go anywhere I was interested in otherwise. Long day's journeys into night don't always appeal to me, I'm afraid. Somehow, I can't see avoiding that without sticking a nonB7 character in.
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