Valkyrie Diaries writing guide for fanfiction: part the last (10 and 11)

Part 10 below the fold



10. Know thy fandom as your pocket inside:
This applies to fanfiction in general and crossovers in particular. There is nothing, I say nothing, more frustrating than beloved characters from a show going out of character just for teh author's convenience in a so-called canon-story. In Alternate Universe storylines, AU for short, I can understand the reason (see People Lie by Nugar in the Naruto directory on fanfiction.net). It's sort of the whole point with AU, innit? Which is why I have a hard time calling AU fanfiction with a straight face. It breaks the first rule about fanfiction, in many ways: write your own stories with someone else's characters and setting.

Either way, going out of character in canon only reveals your own inability to understand the characters your are writing about. This is annoying, nothing else.
case in point: In many Ed, Edd n Eddy fanfics (EEnE for short) on fanfiction.net, Ed is portrayed as downright retarded. Not only is this disrespectful of a dearly beloved character in the fandom, but it is also wrong on so many levels. Ed in the original cartoon, whilst being unable to focus on any one subject for very long, unless it is monster-movies or soemthing else that interests him, still shows moments of clarity and insight that show a normal level of intelligence. If Ed has any mental condition, my guess would be ADD. If you couple this with dyslexia, I'm certain you get Ed. If you have any friend that is like this, use them as a basis for Ed, even if they annoy you.

OOC-behaviour in canon-stories is only matched by authors' unwillingness to "explain" fandoms to potential newcomers in crossovers. You see, crossovers usually require fairly intimate knowledge of two, in somecases more, fandoms, often totally unrelated. This means that not only do you have a narrow band of fans, you also run the risk of alienating fans of only one half of the crossed over fandoms if you as the author refuse to describe in the first few chapters, through showing of course, why the flying smeg these two are being crossed over and what they are. This is why crossover should generally be avoided.

You can appeal to fans of only one half, however, if you do take the first few chapters out to describe the setting and show character personalities through their actions and reactions to the setting. This is why knowing your fandoms are so important. Take for example, my own crossover series The Space Outlaws. In it, bolters, psychics, power armour etc. gets introduced at the same time the Eds encounter them. From EEnE fans' point of view, you can relate to the Eds' reaction to these new things, whilst WH40k-fans know the setting, but get to know the Eds through their actions and reactions. It's corny as hell but this eases the ride for all involved.

11. A final word on language:
This one was born after reading EdBerry Panic!, which for some reason the author has taken down from fanfiction.net. Maybe he read my review of it? Fragile ego, I say.

Either way, I know I have done this myself in Space Outlaws: Iron Men, but do try to keep to the English language when you write if you are writing in English. It is okay to find "Sasuke-kun" in a Naruto-fanfic, but outside manga/anime fandoms it should be avoided. Using suffixes like -kun, -san and even the dreaded "xxxx" no jutsu, is fine, although the jutsu-thing is balancing the line. Why? Because, insert something in Japanese, and no matter how awesome it sounds, most people will have absolutely no idea what that technique does unless you as the author tell them. I can see how "Kage bunshin no jutsu" sounds more exotic and awesome than "Shadow clone technique", but I know which one I understand without a Japanese-English dictionary. It's one thing to as author consult a dictionary or a thesaurus when you're stumped for spelling and words, but I as the reader shouldn't.

Seriously, I've read stories, usually in the manga/anime directory, where the Japanese characters speak in a mash-up of english and Japanese that makes no sense whatsoever, even if you have a smattering of the Asian language. I can only imagine what it must be like for those who know no Japanese at all. To add insult to injury, the grammar often gets really wonky when this is being done. It also becomes unintentionally comical. This is why I slacked off EdBerry Panic! so hard.