macross fan-fictions

[Macross_Fanboy]

Haha, that reminds me I have three. One I started about 4 or 5 years ago and I keep finding things that need to be re-worked when I read through it. One thing I can't do is find a new name for the protagonist as well as a title, the same goes for the 3rd one, I got lazy and named him after myself because I couldn't think of a name at the time and STILL CAN'T!! The second one is the sequel and the third one is set in the UN Wars. The last two I wrote after I found myself bored after many months of being out to sea. I finished them, but I keep on editing and researching to make them better. Nobody has read them besides myself, and my girlfriend really wants to read them to improve her english...when she asked me if I wrote my own fan fics on anime and games I liked I said "yes" shamefully and now she looks at me like a big geek, but it's ok, I love her anyways.

[chrono]

core philosophical

* I'm having a bit of trouble defining this culture. I'm using it in terms of English and of Western European decent, possibly including the non-English countries of Western Europe, but possibly not; I'm not as familiar with the science fiction and sci-fi productions from the non-English speaking European countries, but suspect it is true as all Europeans have a history of interactions with their neighbours in times yore.)

Well much of the Japanese design theory isn't based on visual appeal like many of the western designs are. You have dozens of cultural, religious, historical,and societal influences. Western designers tend to remove the excess and make them to look viable, mainly designing the mecha for a specific use and that it looks logic and more or less like a machine.

The Japanese tend to design with the entire setting in mind and not just a sole usage, though you do see it on occasion. RahXephon, Evangelion, Mazinger, GetterRobo(Go Nagai designs in general), and Atom are all excellent examples of depth of influence.

- RahXephon for example has highly defined 'slabs', high usage of long clean lines, uses a Gold/Blue/White color scheme, and looks more like an idealized human/god figure from an ancient past rather than a mecha designed for war. So there was a HUGH amount of historical, societal, and philosophical influence from it's setting.

- Evangelion had even MORE such ideals worked into it's designs. O1 for example has a distinctive head design that clearly hints at the historical Japanese warrior, and the other EVA's also have a design that reflects their user/pilot. The highly defined human body styles that the 'mecha' are given help to further focus the viewer on the human element rather than the mechanical nature of the mecha itself.

- Mazinger & GetterRobo some of the first 'giant robots' show clear sentai influences as well as societal influences with somewhat 'proud' looking head designs giving them a thud-like attitude heavily contrasting their simple body styles.

It can be argued Western designers simply don't go the extra mile to breath a unique look/feeling into their designs.

[soul.assassin]

Sorry for me giving this thread the off-topic Frankenstein treatment, but tonight I was trying to find any Macross Frontier fanfic recs (recommendations) and was quite surprised there was none except for a few. Looking further around, I realized that there weren't any discussion of fanfics, and indeed, me being disappointed, it seems that little or nobody tries to bring in a truly worthwhile fic on the MWF table, being that the general consensus here is that fanfiction means mediocrity.

As a part-time NGE fanfic writer, I've seen my share of crummy fics (the 90% that works wonders only to indulge the fantasies of a fan, hence terms such as 'Mary Sue' or 'Gary Stu', or depiction of unrealistically overpowered heroes or mechs) and therefore read such fics only when I need to know why they don't work (and get some brain bleach thereafter). Then there's the crossovers, the slashfics, and the aforementioned author-created characters (ACCs) that outshine the canon characters, some of which are so laughable that they get MST3K'd for comedy gold.

Not all fic writers are clueless, though; a small percentage of these individuals -- being dedicated fiction readers and some of them are pros who take time off from original fiction -- take their homework very seriously, going as far as to do some lengthy research work to make sure the fic is written properly and adhere to certain restrictions (in my case, good NGE fanfic writers that I know of have taken to create a set of rules, which includes keeping strictly to canon, asking for beta reader help, knowing about the proper mechanics of basic fiction writing, and ensuring there are no out-of-character characters or sickening Mary Sues lest it's a comedy/satire fic; of course it has become obligatory for me to peruse Stephen King's On Writing or William Strunk's guidebook).

These are the diamonds-in-the-rough fics that are set apart from the sea of mediocrity, the masterpieces that you can love reading again and at the same time professionally written and comparable to the paperbacks you also enjoy while on bed at home on a rainy day.

And in a nutshell, whenever I'm about to write something I intend not to be like the million others who write on a whim; I want to bring out a proper piece of fanfiction that even the hardcore fan could approve of after reading.

Now going back to topic, only when I finally secure the whole MSDF saga for serious viewing do I begin on a new project (and only once I finish the three fics in the FF.net pipeline first, as one of which has reached 34 chapters so far); I don't want to write something or about somebody that I haven't seen yet, not until I finish watching the whole anime so I could get the whole story and characters firmly burned into my brain.

So right now I'm digging around in another forum for any worthwhile MacF fics to read, before I cast my net further afar.

[frothymug]

It's actually pretty funny that you resurrected this thread. I have recently been discussing starting a fanfiction thread here in the fan works forum just for these kinds of discussions. So far, the only people other than myself who I've seen mention that they were working on a fanfic were Starscream and Robelwell. Starscream and I have had a VERY recent, albeit short, discussion about this idea.

The problem with these forums is that fanfictions are kind of discouraged... for lack of a better term, anyway. Just as you said, 99% of fanfics are just plain crap and I can understand when people see someone talking about their fanfic and then roll their eyes. There's tons and tons of hand-drawn art, digital art, and 3D modelling going on, but there's nary a peep about written media. Shoot, it'd be nice to have someone actually working on some kind of graphic novel to tell their story. I've been mulling over having my brother do the art for my fanfic, but I'm afraid that he'll just become bored of the project over time (He's notorious for never finishing anything he starts).

I find this ironic because we have all kinds of fans who want information on what the next new series is going to be about. Well, that kind of thing is well out of our hands. I think the next-best thing is to, as SA has mentioned, get lost in someone else's "AU" stories. ...and I say "AU" because it's obviously not going to be the next story; doesn't mean that it's not a good story.

When I started my fanfic, I had never written anything like this before. Looking back at my earlier work, I see how much I've progressed in my writing skills. For me when I read the beginning of my story, I get a little irked at some of the devices I'd use... especially the part where I experimented in writing in present tense. Then I decided to change to past tense and I kept slipping into present tense from time to time. Lesson learned. I don't do that anymore, but it makes some of my earlier work look kinda crappy.

Anyway, if you want to talk things out about starting a new thread, PM me, SA.

[Starscream]

My story is on fanfiction.net and is a massive WIP as I explained to frothymug. With some illustrations that go with it (Albeit they're on dA).

[EXO]

MW has a no fan fiction policy. I forget why but it seemed like a good reason at the time. You can put up links on this thread if you want or if you add art to go along with it, then it can be considered fanart.

[TheLoneWolf]

I've also forgotten why MW banned fanfics, but from a liability standpoint, it makes sense. Fanfics are considered copyright infringements, so there's a small chance that Shawn could be held liable if MW were to host them. I doubt Big West would cares about fanfics, but however small the risk, I don't see any reason to put Shawn's neck on the line.

But if Shawn ever moved MW's server to China, then it'd be party time!

[soul.assassin]

That's odd.

Offtopic -- on the issue of copyright: Some authors publish their fics on their blogs, or pages, or in forums, provided that there's a full disclaimer tacked on top, and sometimes the Creative Commons graphic (indicating that the work is derivative from a copyrighted work yet clearly not intended for profit; for more information see http://creativecommons.org/).

At Evageeks.org, which is currently the largest repository of Evangelion information around, the site owner operates the blog, the Wiki and the forum under Creative Commons, as none of us -- binding to a Fair Use policy -- intend to make a buck from the copyrighted Gainax/Khara material we use on-site (mostly low-resolution scans and screenshots and translations of source material such as the Newtype 100% production book); the same policy is applied to fanfiction published in the forum's subsection -- as long as we credit the creators, both on the written and on the graphics.

Of course to keep the site nonprofit, advertising is not allowed.

For further info on the legality of fanfiction, the following links can help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_issues_with_fan_fiction

http://transformativeworks.org/faq/legal

http://www.chillingeffects.org/fanfic/

http://chillingeffects.org/fanfic/faq.cgi#QID310

http://fanlore.org/wiki/Legal_Analysis

http://fanlore.org/wiki/Fair_Use

Anyway, since the rules here are strictly enforced, and finally knowing the sordid reasons, from this point onward I'll have no choice; can't argue with City Hall.

@frothymug: a decent fic can be produced, as long as it adheres to canon and proper rules of grammar, throughly researched with information coming from official sources, and more importantly it has to stand out differently; no one wants to read the SOS kind of fic made from the same boilerplate, and it's a matter of having some discriminating taste, hence the necessity of fanfic recs -- to recommend really great stuff to read.

Edited June 17, 2011 by soul.assassin

[Robelwell202]

In reference to Frothy's opening post, yes, I've been working on a fanfic novel for about two years now, off and on. It's a destroid-centric story, and diverges from the normal Macross-style storyline, where the young, rebelious hero and the cute songstress save the galaxy from whatever evil has been unleashed.

While I've done everything I can to make the story as canon as possible, I've taken the liberty of enhancing the destroid control systems with a type of pre-Macross-Plus system I've dubbed 'Alpha Wave'... I know the purists out there will growl at the idea, but... believe me, this is nothing like Macross Plus' BCS.

So far, I've got a prologue and three chapters complete, with another chapter about 1/3 of the way complete (pre-editing). Once I get some cash in the back, tomorrow, I'll have the site back up, and edited. The story firwst started out as a Schlomoblech fan-fic, but when I got amazingly disgusted with the behavior of Harm-Money Gold has committed over the years, I decided to shift it over to Macross. Suffice to say, the editing process has been completed, and any traces of Schlomoblech have been removed.

I'll post a link, once I get the site back up (That is, if the link isn't already in my sig-line)

Look forward to more discussion, folks!

[sketchley]

I've also forgotten why MW banned fanfics, but from a liability standpoint, it makes sense.

I think the reason was even more base: the owner-operators didn't want the site overloaded with reams of fanfic text.

[frothymug]

I think the reason was even more base: the owner-operators didn't want the site overloaded with reams of fanfic text.

The model I had for a fanfic thread was as SA asked: links to good fanfics and then use the thread to discuss them. I have been asking around because I wanted to know how much interest could be generated from a fanfic thread. The most logical place to start was with other authors of whom I know on this forum. I'm glad a handful of you are actually coming in here to at least offer your two cents on the issue.

Would it be prudent to work out some kind of thread regulations like you guys have with the RT vs Macross threads and the such?

[soul.assassin]

*nods* I see. Fanfiction, unfortunately to some, does have the tendency to deviate from the norms of what we call 'canon', as these works attempt to expand on the existing universe, or to resolve an open-ended issue, or to satisfy a much-desired pairing (never in my life I've seen Frontier fans debate over as to whether Alto belongs either to Ranka or Sheryl -- those bloody shipping wars!) while simultaneously hate the other girl in the love triangle; or give the Messiah a non-canon weapon that's all too stupidly powerful that it obliterates all of the Vajra in one shot; or kill a much-loved character by some deranged unknown psycho (*cough* I found such a darkfic and it was a horrible surprise); and the author would self-insert himself into the story and proceed to wreak havoc.

At the same time, because most of them are small (only a few chapters) and tend to be written by first-timers who don't know jack about grammar and pre-reading, they often end up unreadable.

Those are what I want to avoid while writing, and every fic writer worth his salt should make the fic as believable and entertaining as the anime they watched.

Edited June 17, 2011 by soul.assassin

[EXO]

Would it be prudent to work out some kind of thread regulations like you guys have with the RT vs Macross threads and the such?

I'd say go ahead and start threads that link to your fanfics and discuss it as much as you want. As far as rules how about we just stick to:

A. Links only if it is all prose and text. You can post it if it has plenty of art (and I mean plenty, not a small doodle or a light sketch) like a comic book, or if it's a video like that Aria one.

B. Macross only. Not Robotech, not Mospeada, not Orguss, Megazone nor Aquarion.

C. No whining or bumping of thread if no one responds to it. It's most likely not enjoyable and it's time to face it. If it's bad and people are still responding to it, then it's obviously being read so update it as much as you want.

If it doesn't adhere to those rules, then I'm gonna lock it. I'm not sure if any other mods still come to this section but I think that's how I'm gonna go about it personally. Sorry to sound heavy handed but I think spelling out rules never sound in the least bit friendly.

[Starscream]

I'd say go ahead and start threads that link to your fanfics and discuss it as much as you want. As far as rules how about we just stick to:

A. Links only if it is all prose and text. You can post it if it has plenty of art (and I mean plenty, not a small doodle or a light sketch) like a comic book, or if it's a video like that Aria one.

B. Macross only. Not Robotech, not Mospeada, not Orguss, Megazone nor Aquarion.

C. No whining or bumping of thread if no one responds to it. It's most likely not enjoyable and it's time to face it. If it's bad and people are still responding to it, then it's obviously being read so update it as much as you want.

If it doesn't adhere to those rules, then I'm gonna lock it. I'm not sure if any other mods still come to this section but I think that's how I'm gonna go about it personally. Sorry to sound heavy handed but I think spelling out rules never sound in the least bit friendly.

I'd say that'd probably be the best guidelines on how to go about this. But here's the caveat: Should this be handled under the Fan works section, or should it in turn have it's own section as to prevent the Fan Works section from getting cluttered up by a possible (not going to state probable) flood of individual fanfic threads?

[EXO]

Fan works is fine. There's no current admin to open up new sections and I'm going to doubt they'll do it just for fanfics. It is "fan works" anyway.

[frothymug]

I think we should just keep it all in one thread for now anyway.

[soul.assassin]

I agree, and I have a few to add: (1) Any fic drafts and snippets, as well as poetry, should be put into places like Pastebin.com and make a link from there; I don't want to stuff a post with a wall of text. (2) Linked texts should not contain the any offensive content, including: limes and lemons (all types), extreme violence, gore, racism, excessive use of profanity, etc. (3) Links to fics must be rated using a system based on Fanfiction.net's content rating system (K, K+, T, M). (4) Has to be Macross, no more, no less.

@frothymug: your MacF fic is about the only best in FF.net I've read so far; only issue about is providing lines for the dialogue to make it more readable (see Part 4 of Crimson Goddess' and KawaiiChare's "(Not-so) Easy ways to turn a Crapfic into a Greatfic", which I've used as a reference guide for writing my NGE fic). Here's an example on how a part of the dialogue is fixed: http://pastebin.com/u3yyacTr

Edited June 18, 2011 by soul.assassin

[frothymug]

heh, FF.net already e-mailed me the notification of your +favorite. I actually fix that several chapters into the story. Just bear with me for awhile, there... As I said, this was my first one, so I was learning as I progressed. You'll notice a gradual marked improvement in my style as the story progresses forward; I'm nowhere near perfect, though.

I'll go ahead and put together a new thread tonight and you guys can go ahead and link your fics on it.