Caroline of the CoR:
> Personally, I am not fond of having new characters put in stories because
> only the author knows all about the background of said new character, and
> it tends not to be translated very well - what is in the author's head
> doesn't tend to get across to the readers, and people wonder why they
> should care about said new character.

	But the same can be said with even characters from a series.  I
havent read Ranma fanfics in a long time either, but often you get stories
that where everyone has a few part in it, and unless you happen to care a
lot about a minor character, why care anymore about Shampoo or Ukyou or
Kunou than a new character?

	Lack of development is universal problem.  I guess the drawback with
characters being your own is that no one will even have a remote idea of
what to expect if you dont explain it well.

	One of the problems I have noticed from my own writing is that it is
very hard to predict how characters of a given series when you interact them
with a character, whether its your own or from another series or whatever,
that are drastically different from what the existing characters are used to
deal with.  Even Ranma , the common great melting pot of crossover, does
not guaranteed intruders to Nerima will be accepted.  Take Ilya, my favorite
character from Fate.  When she steps into Nerima does she end up killing
half of the cast from Ranma  because she is a girl who absolutely abhors
rudeness or lack of manners, and has absolutely nothing against using her
innocent smile to backstab anyone who has offended her, thus that would
leave Akane, Ukyou, and Ryouga as the only people who wouldnt immediately
die after running into her.  Do the brave heroes of Nerima band together to
defeat this nemesis from another series, and then Ilya kills herself because
theres no way she can stand being defiled by a bunch of rude idiots?  Or
do we wave our hand and say that well they all get along just fine, and that
a character that routinely kills anyone who so much as dare to touch her
will somehow get along with the rowdy bunch cast of Ranma ?  It is
certainly tempting to choose the last option, and it is certainly the way
most crossover or new characters work their way into another series.  But
characters that do not belong in a series really do not interact very well,
unless the person youre inserting isnt all that different from someone
that already exists in the said series.  But in that case, adding the
character wont be necessary.  You couldve just stick with the known
characters.  Even if you want to do something simple, like add another girl
to compete against the cast of Ranma, its still the same thing.  Do you
make her like one of the girls that already exist, and if so, why not just
use one of the girls that exist already.  And if shes so different from the
rest of the girls, how do you even know how Ranma or anyone else will react
to her?  

> But what I believe that Don meant is that someone should write _original_
> stories with _original_ characters, not have them pretending to be Ranma
> 1/2 (or whatever) characters. (As if they're not written the way Takahashi
> wrote them, then they're really not the characters that everyone knows, so
> you may as well give them different names and not link them to Ranma 1/2
> at all.)
> Personally I don't read fanfics any more, but when I did, I liked canon
> ones. Characters can change from original canon, but it requires a lot of
> writing and hard work to do so - otherwise the readers will not understand
> how on earth the change came to be, and will not empathise with the
> character.

	Canon is a strange thing.  Especially in the case of Ranma , it is
probably too restricting, but like you said, it also makes me wonder
something is called a Ranma  fanfic at all if you dont work within the
restrains of the series, no matter how limiting it is.

	Ive pretty much given up writing any character but Akane in the
world of Ranma .  Theyre simply too rigid in the world defined by
Takahashi to allow any freedom.  Maybe Ryouga is a bit more flexible,
because he is relatively undeveloped and not fixed in a predictable reaction
to everything (though certainly he is predictable reacting to Akane).  I
dont really think itd ever make sense for Ranma to be kind to anyone,
Akane or otherwise, unless the said character just died or had some similar
life-altering experience, and even then, its iffy at best.  And how do you
write about relationship of Ranma with anyone else when this is what youve
to work with?

	Undeveloped characters are the best to write I suppose due to the
flexibility they allow, but even then, more often than not undeveloped
characters are pushed into some predictable stereotypes, perhaps due to
laziness of the author, and this makes writing about them much, much harder.


> But only when it's their favourite characters, not when it's some
> character they don't know that just happens to have their favourite
> character's name! ^_~

	I can understand using characters from existing series.  Its easier
when you have a name and a face to work with, and at least a rough
personality to work with.  I certainly have a lot of trouble coming up with
new names and Im hopeless in drawing, so I rely on my considerable
knowledge of characters to find at least find an appropriate face.

	Changing characters wouldnt bother me as much if people didnt feel
like its a privilege they get to use a seriess characters as opposed to
the other way around.  I know everyone puts soandso made this series and
these characters are incredible but I really dont think people really mean
what they say.  People have a right to write what they want, but if theyre
not even going to make an effort to stay consistent with the source, why
even call it a whatever fanfiction?  

	Anyway, its good to see some old faces here.  I have a new favorite
series (Fate Stay Night) but Im still on a R & A camp (Ranma and Akane, Rin
and Archer), and my most hated character still start with the letter S
(Shampoo, Saber), so that makes me a CASKET still.  I dont particularly
care why people like certain characters but its like people see things that
arent even there.  I remember with Ukyou and Shampoo fans Id constantly be
wondering if theyre reading the same series as I do since the qualities
they like in those characters certainly were not observable in Ranma , and
now that Ive moved on to a different game its still the same thing.
Actually, at least Shampoo is straightforward fan service kind of honesty.
Saber fans dont even want to admit their goddess of battle is actually a
slut who stars in totally honorable story arcs titled such as Sacred Maiden
Defiled or Girl and Girl.  Yes Sabers immortal side is only the coolest
heroine ever to grace the world of gaming.  Too bad she left all her
immortal side along with her purity at home with her true name, Artoria.
Maybe thats why Saber didnt want to be spoken to in her true name, because
she certainly doesnt deserve a name that is a symbol of utmost purity.
More disappointing still, I ran out of Saber fans to bash, just like back in
the CASKET days.  :(

Don
Even if you are to combine all the magical power of this world, this
sanctuary that represents the dreams Artoria left behind shall not be
defiled!
Shirou Emiya, final battle, Sabers Arc... and fortunately that was
Artorias dreams, not Saber...

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