Good news, I've graduated. I'm done with college, or at least my undergraduate years. Now it’s life decisions. Thank you U.S. for making the year I graduate one of the worst years for new graduates looking for work. Alas, there is always the backup plan of graduate school.
Anyway, the reason I returned today was to discuss what really makes a good fanfic. Good grammar isn’t it. No doubt, proper grammar certainly helps a great deal, but there are many fanfics with proper grammar that aren’t really that good. Recently I’ve been diving into Mai Hime, Claymore, and Black Lagoon archives, only to find that both Claymore and Black Lagoon don’t update often and Mai Hime fics are now far more about being lesbian than being good.
Admittedly, I only read one fic from Claymore known as Life Sucks!, which successfully puts humor into the story without relying on ridiculous gags. Sadly, since so many of the authors in the anime/manga section they rely on visual gags, which are far less funny if described in words instead of shown in a picture. A lesson to learn from Life Sucks! by Useful Oxymoron, use irony and wit, not manga sweatdrops in a fanfic (please note that humor is not limited to irony and wit, as various other forms of satire are quite funny).
I only read Black Lagoon, because the struggle of an evil protagonist intrigues me. I only really pay attention to Just Another Soul’s work, but there are a few other fanfics that are quite good. There was one entertaining piece that paired Mr. Chang with Balalaika.
Finally, what makes a good Mai Hime fanfic. Well, we all know and love shiznat fanfiction, but come on, that’s not enough. Good fics have a compelling storyline where there aren’t too many convenient coincidences. Suddenly falling in love within two paragraphs is annoying, unless it’s love at first site. It’s something I greatly dislike, but also use due to a serious lack of skill in the poetic arts. In essence, only use it when you know you suck. Mutual love at first site is stupid (humor fics can get away with it, ex. phantom.ryder’s An Heir’s Responsibility). Going from hate to love in two paragraphs is too sudden for the reader. There is nothing wrong with going from hate, to tolerable, to more tolerable, to maybe there is an attraction.
There really is an important ratio between dialogue and description. I normally say it should be 1:3 sentences minimum. If someone needs to explain everything in a paragraph long phrase, it’s too long. It’s really important to scatter these descriptions between the talking; otherwise we’ll just end up with high concentrations in areas that make it feel disproportioned. Having images outside of a character’s mouth really helps the story.
Rant’s for all those who’ll hear:
For all you authors who keep using “Ara”, stop it. I’m not saying don’t use the word at all, but hold back. Vary the vocabulary, use “my my”, “oh”, or even the most dreaded, “oh my”. There is nothing wrong with using English equivalents if you can think of one. Natsuki can be called something other than “wolf pup”. When Nao hates Natsuki and wants to insult her, “cute wolf puppy” would be weird. “Mutt”, on the other hand, would be the dog equivalent of a bastard. There is always “bitch” but it’s almost always used in bad taste. My policy is to avoid it. By the way, snappy comebacks like, “well, I’m not a (insert object here)” etc. make both the character and author sound like a bratty teenager. Only use it when the character is supposed to be a bratty teenager – example, Mashiro-hime in the early Mai Otome series when arguing with Arika.
Reito and Nagi are not punching bags. I feel so bad for the two. Reito’s inner struggle was actually quite depressing during the anime, but it’s only apparent if you’ve watched the extras. If anything, I like his characterization in Lestaki’s Windows of the Soul best. Nagi depends on which series you take him from, Otome or Hime. In Hime he was a mischievous jester who served a master in order to mediate the future. In Otome he was an evil mastermind whose purpose no one could grasp. His Otome personality is often interpreted to be just evil, but that’s boring. He reminds me of Batman’s Joker, always with a stupid grin on his face. Still, Nagi’s character is far too underutilized as anything besides complete bastard villain.
Actually all the male characters are generally hated in the Mai Hime/Otome realm. Takeda is somewhat dense, but he isn’t that stupid. Poor buggar is picked on so much. He has the honorable samurai personality; do you all think he’d sink so low as to become the mastermind of Natsuki’s demise if he’s rejected? Well, a lot of authors do for some reason. Poor Tate, he’s a whiny, indecisive bastard who often becomes the cheating bad guy. Give him credit; at least he tried to stay loyal to Shiho even though he didn’t feel anything for her.
Cursing, oh damn the questionable topic. Curse conservatively. It works great in the speech of certain characters, but does not work well when it is used too much. I find it works well on characters that can see the dark side of life. If they are fundamentally good but their views have been twisted by the world. The sadness, desperation and longing these characters exhibit force them to vent in various ways which includes saying “fuck” and “damn it”.
Physical appearance isn’t everything. Attraction is not equivalent to love. So when I see “Natsuki noticed the beautiful curvy arms, and the long wavy blonde hair,” then “she would love Shizuru for all eternity,” it strikes me as really bad.
It’s all I can think of right now. Until next time,
Dragontiger96
First up is Immaculate (a Black Lagoon Fanfic), by Just Another Soul
It is a Black Lagoon fic centering on Frederica Sawyer (aka Sawyer the Cleaner) and deals with her friendships with Rotton the Wizard and Shenhua. It somewhat delves into an origin story and talks about how she can "clean" up the dead bodies that lie around the city. This had wonderful characterizations that were pretty true to the original anime/manga and explored the inner depths of the human heart. I thought it was wonderful.
J-Crusader generally writes really well in all his/her fics. I only recommend this one because it's the only finished one I've read, the other stories are mostly incomplete. Still, I like J-Crusader for presenting us with incredible internal struggles of his/her characters. Unlike so many other authors who mainly rely on outside villians, the J-Crusader allows for us to be angry at the main characters themselves.
This story centers around the Post-Carnival relationship between Natsuki and Shizuru. It is a nicely written one-shot that I felt really captured what people would have done in real life. Unlike most author's in the Mai Hime fandom, Dr. Lemona accepts that people aren't perfect and true love is not the solution to everything so makes the story reflect that. The main bonus is the sequel that centers around Tate Yuuichi and his relationships.
I hope this works out as a good "sorry I've been too busy to visit" type apology. Seriously, if you want to read good fics, these are it.
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