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.
Ellynne ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.
Ellynne G. wrote:
. . . .Avon's sort of dead. . . .
*Sort of* dead? How do you manage that? ;)
On Mon, Feb 12, 2001 at 05:00:31PM -0700, Betty Ragan wrote:
Ellynne G. wrote:
. . . .Avon's sort of dead. . . .
*Sort of* dead? How do you manage that? ;)
Maybe he's a vampire...?
Kathryn Andersen -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Landlady: You're a long way from home, aren't you, Mr Carpenter. Carpenter: How did you know? Landlady: I can tell a New England accent a mile away. (The Day The Earth Stood Still)
Kathryn Andersen kat@foobox.net wrote:
On Mon, Feb 12, 2001 at 05:00:31PM -0700, Betty Ragan wrote:
Ellynne G. wrote:
. . . .Avon's sort of dead. . . .
*Sort of* dead? How do you manage that? ;)
Maybe he's a vampire...? Kathryn Andersen
Or he converted himself into a computer program?
Jacqui __________________________________________________________________ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Webmail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com/
From: Ellynne G. rilliara@juno.com
But why introduce a new character?
Sometimes, they're necessary. They're the character of the week.
I like original characters because they represent the world, or rather worlds, outside the narrow confines of the Liberator (or Scorpio, had I ever written 4th Season). What fascinates me, I think, is how what we saw on screen can be reconciled with a living, breathing galactic community. So most of my stories are going to make some reference to government, industry, trade and commerce, and are going to have at least one foot in a complex socio-economic infrastructure. Original characters are the means by which the regulars interact with that infrastructure.
What I find rather enthralling is that all the time Blake and co are hanging out with decimas and moon disks, escaping from the Altas, falling into black holes etc etc, masses of ordinary people are doing their shopping, cooking dinner, going to work, putting in overtime, getting the kids to bed, wondering if they can face another day at the office and all the mundane boring humdrum routine of everyday life. Do the two really go together? Obviously they must do, but they just don't seem to fit. So I like to stick a little bit of everyday life into all the outer space adventuring nonsense and bring the series down to earth (in a figurative sense, obviously), and to do that I need original characters.
On top of that, I do enjoy creating oc's, and I also enjoy locating them within the socio-economic matrix. They give me opportunity to say things that the regulars never could, and they also offer a chance to go a bit over the top with characterisation if I want to.
I think one of the commoner problems with oc's is that all too often they are not firmly located. The social matrix is too vague and insubstantial to hold them anywhere. With no place to call their own, they don't have much chance to be anyone in particular.
The silly names don't help much either.
Neil
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Betty Ragan -
Ellynne G. -
jacquispeel＠netscape.net -
Kathryn Andersen -
Neil Faulkner