The Fanfiction Thread

[frothymug]

Since there has been little to no representation of fanfics on this board to date, it seemed like a good idea to go ahead and start a thread to let some of us authors showcase a little bit of our work. Writing serves as a suitable alternative for those of us who don't have drawing or computer rendering skills. So, we choose to show our appreciation for the Macross franchise by creating our own stories, much like the fan art that is such a staple in these forums.

I'll go ahead and post some preliminary rules as have been suggested in the "other" thread. These rules are subject to change as we find what works and what doesn't. Just be warned....

1) For now, let's try to focus on Macross-only fanfics. I cannot stress how important it is to make sure that whatever it is that you're linking is of good quality. 99% of fanfics are simply crap. Please, only link fanfics that are well-written. If you need help with or want an opinion on a fanfic, PM the regulars on this thread. We'll be more than happy to help you out.

2) Do not copy-and-paste your fanfic text into this thread. Please supply a clean link to a clean site. Do not link to overtly-inappropriate fanfics, or your post will be subject to deletion. Mild language is acceptable, but any kind of graphic sexual situations will be deemed unacceptable. Moments of intimacy are very dicey; please use good taste when posting. The threshold for this judgment will be completely subjective. When posting a new link, be sure to include a reasonable content rating, such as "PG", "Teen", or "Mature"... or any phrase you'd like to use of a simlar nature.

3) Feel free to post your comments, compliments, and criticisms regarding the fics linked in this thread. However, please keep them absolutely civil and make sure that you spoiler-tag where appropriate. Also, try to stay on-topic.

4) Do not feel compelled to bump and re-bump on a frequent basis. This thread is in the Fan Works forum and it doesn't get a lot of traffic. Be patient. If your fic is as good as you hope it is, time and word-of-mouth will bring you more responses.

5) Keep all fanfic links exclusive to this thread. I would like to just keep it simple for the time being. If this thread begins to get overcrowded (oh, how nice that would be!), we can start to branch out new threads, but not one moment before.

For the time being, these rules should cover the important stuff. If other restrictions need to be enforced, I will amend this post accordingly. Suggestions are more than welcome!

Alright, now that the legalese has been taken care of, post away! We all look forward to some entertaining reading material!

[soul.assassin]

SAOTOME ALTO: Guide and Maintenance Manual (Teen)

Also... SHERYL NOME: Guide and Maintenance Manual (Teen)

Both by steshin

Those one-shot fics really left me laughing, as it appears that the author and his/her friend unknowingly got the idea from those Minmay dolls. Also found there are well-contrived acronyms. They very well sum up all of the characters' attributes in a nutshell.

There should be a Ranka unit to complete the combo!

Edited June 18, 2011 by soul.assassin

[frothymug]

I enjoyed those as well. Steshin is a regular on FF.net and is obviously a big fan of the Alto-Sheryl pairing. I don't know if he'd do a fair assessment of a Ranka doll, to be honest...

His Rules of Engagement is worth a read. It's basically a small collection of anecdotal stories about Alto fumbling around a marriage proposal to Sheryl. It's fairly PG-to-Teen and is worth a little bit of your time. You might get some more laughs out of that one, too.

[frothymug]

Sorry, but I've been super-busy with my summer classes and work to update this thread lately.

As has been mentioned in the other, older fanfiction thread, I have a fic that I've been working on for a year and a half and haven't really mentioned on this board, since there's rarely any interest in fanfics from its members. Fortunately, there's been a little bit of recent talk about fanfics and since there's some interest brewing about, I'm going to put my work out there for scrutinous eyes to read.

I created a fic called "United We Stand" and it's blossomed into a work far larger than I had originally anticipated. When you get started, pay close attention to the disclaimers I put in my author's notes. Namely, the fact that it's my first attempt at a fanfiction and that some of the early chapters will appear slightly disjointed, with various errors and mistakes here and there. Overall, though, the story quickly morphs into a more organized and better-narrarated experience. So, go on and see for yourself!

It's still a Work In Progress, but that also means that there's still a lot more content yet to come. Feel free to post your impressions here, or PM me with any thoughts you might have. I might need some input from someone who is very well-versed in the Macross universe. My test reader is not a big fan, and I had to make her watch all of the series before I let her read any of my work. Needless to say, she is not able to point out any technical discrepancies I may write into my story. I've done a pretty good job of keeping things pretty accurate, but I could always use a little input from someone more familiar with the subject matter.

Anyway, that's my formal introduction. I hope that you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Oh, and if you decide to read the reviews, do so at your own risk! Some of them are laced with spoilers in my story. Just take my word for it when I say that it's worth a good look. That way, you don't have any reviews revealing events that happen later on in the story.

Edited July 10, 2011 by frothymug

[cannon_fodder674]

i was thinking of writing a story about an experimental valkyrie unit from the future which is made up of nanomachines that transforms the valkyrie from fighter to gerwalk and then to battroid through 'molding', and can also 'time-fold'.

wild ideas, maybe. but, hey...

[Robelwell202]

i was thinking of writing a story about an experimental valkyrie unit from the future which is made up of nanomachines that transforms the valkyrie from fighter to gerwalk and then to battroid through 'molding', and can also 'time-fold'.

wild ideas, maybe. but, hey...

Anything's possible. With the right execution, it could probably be a damn good story. If you've got a link, I'd look forward to a sample.

[Starscream]

Well considering this is for a massive fanfic/novel I'm working on... here's a 'propaganda poster' I just finished for some of the illustrations. Any thoughts?

And the inspiration was googling a bunch of old Soviet propaganda posters.

Edited July 20, 2011 by Starscream

[Robelwell202]

Starscream, that's pretty impressive.

Here's a pair of symbols that I have for mine. The first is one that I designed, and the second is one that a friend/fan did for me.

[frothymug]

I remember one of the first things I caught in the background of Starcraft 2, were these propaganda posters that said "Protecting you from yourself". I pointed it out to my brother as the mantra of a totalitarianist government. Might be something you'd want to use in another poster, perhaps?

[Starscream]

Starscream, that's pretty impressive.

Here's a pair of symbols that I have for mine. The first is one that I designed, and the second is one that a friend/fan did for me.

Very nice- I like how the second one has the texture of an actual patch.

I actually thought about getting some real morale patches made with the UN Spacy logo on them for shits and giggles to wear while I'm flying around (Attached is a pic of one I made albeit not Macross-related... ended up running me $10 to get it made by a company called Fancy Stitches but I don't know if they're still around... about 10 were produced, mostly given to the Lockheed instructors at Little Rock's C-130J schoolhouse... total play on Futurama, obviously). Wish I had some images of the actual patch but I gave my last one away to a good friend who just finished C-130 pilot training.

I remember one of the first things I caught in the background of Starcraft 2, were these propaganda posters that said "Protecting you from yourself". I pointed it out to my brother as the mantra of a totalitarianist government. Might be something you'd want to use in another poster, perhaps?

Well, the story is very centric around a silent coup d'etat of the entire NUNS Government seated on Earth 6 months after the events of Frontier by the remnants and descendents of the Anti-UN Forces from the Unification Wars... hence, the insignia of the PMC at the bottom of the poster is similar in design to the insignia of the Anti-UN Forces. And in the coup d'etat, while being done silently and behind the scenes (extortion, murder, bribery and all other forms of coercion of high ranking military and government officials), the NUNS Government is slowly being transformed into a very militaristic, totalitarianism-style state reminiscent of the strictest forms of the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War. Also forming is a growing gap between human and Zentran/Meltran citizens, where the new administration in power is seeking to vilify non-humans as threats to the freedom and safety of the human race and that they must be treated as such, rather than as equal partners (With HEAVY reference to the events of Galia IV in Macross Frontier, as well as the events of VF-X2, where in the story it's hinting that this organization behind the coup d'etat also had a LOT to do with both events in order to try and synthesize this threat to give justification for a massive military buildup and to take humanity on the offensive). I have another piece I'm working on that plays on the famous propaganda poster from WW2 (also attached) of "HE'S WATCHING YOU," but in place of a German soldier it'll be the head of a Zentraedi soldier. Lastly, I'm thinking of doing another one that's a play on the "Someone talked!" poster, but instead of a person in the ocean, it'll be the wreckage of a Valkyrie.

[Starscream]

And here is the second piece of Propaganda poster style art for the story... Thoughts?

[Starscream]

And last piece for tonight.

[frothymug]

And here is the second piece of Propaganda poster style art for the story... Thoughts?

Are these posters for after the coup d'etat?

[Starscream]

Are these posters for after the coup d'etat?

Indeed they are.

[Robelwell202]

And last piece for tonight.

I'm looking at it, and the first thought that comes to mind is 'crowded'. I can barely see that ARMD in there, but not much else.

[chillyche]

I love macross related in-universe posters and stuff. Obviously, we created a bunch of straight advertising for Mercury's Word. I might post a li'l something something in this thread at some point, too.

(Starscream: I dig the idea of the world you're setting up. I like that humanity and zentraedi had to pull together for survival following SW1, but old prejudices and fears and differences can die hard, so it may be easy to exploit the cultural/racial memory of the two races for political means. There's a sub-sub-sub plot to the events in Macross Aria that delve into some of this)

[Aurel Tristen]

I operate a Macross themed group on Deviant Art that has a category for fanfic, and its empty! If you're interested in getting more reads, and or having a good place to host your written work, head over there and post it, and then link it in a post here.

[Starscream]

Here's the first of many high end illustrations for my story. Thoughts? This is not my work, mind you- I have the artistic talent of a 5 yearold. I had this commissioned.

Bare in mind this one is resized- This attachment is 1/4 the original size

[Robelwell202]

Here's the first of many high end illustrations for my story. Thoughts? This is not my work, mind you- I have the artistic talent of a 5 yearold. I had this commissioned.

Bare in mind this one is resized- This attachment is 1/4 the original size

So, you're using established characters, then? Interesting. Not something that I'd do, but that's a question of personal preference, isn't it?

I like the pic. It's gotten me interested in your story even more.

WE NEED A LINK, STARSCREAM!

[Starscream]

So, you're using established characters, then? Interesting. Not something that I'd do, but that's a question of personal preference, isn't it?

I like the pic. It's gotten me interested in your story even more.

WE NEED A LINK, STARSCREAM!

Some established as it's still based on Frontier- as stated 6 months after the events of Frontier. The main established characters being:

Alto Saotome, Sheryl Nome, Ranka Lee, Ozma Lee, Catherine Glass, Klan Klan, Jeffery Wilder, Luca Angeloni, with minor appearances of Grace O'Connor (In the form of a highly distorted hologram), Leon Mishima (Incarcerated but testifying), Brera Sterne, Isamu Dyson (Frontier-era since it was confirmed he's still around due to the second movie).

A LOT of original characters (Notice that is NOT Brera Sterne in the pic)... some with relation to primary characters from the various series', such as the grand daughter of Nora Polyansky, Alexia Polyansky, who will be one of the primary antagonists that ties in the major plotline of a resurgence of Anti-UN Forces that have remained dormant for half a century.

Right now the published chapters are out of order from the actual story- the first published one actually being Chapter 4 with half of Chapter 5 also published so far. Chapter 1 takes place at around 8 months after the events of Frontier, where Chapters 2-7 serve primarily as prequel chapters to the events of Frontier, like a massive set of flashbacks that establish just what exactly is going on and how things came to be the way they did.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6790118/1/Macross_Frontier_The_Song_of_Redemption

[frothymug]

I loooove the NUNS uniforms in all of the series. The uniforms in Macross F are no exception. Ranka looks pretty good in one! My compliments to the artist.

Are you planning on updating with any new text soon?

Nanashi, are you Aurel Tristen from the Aria site? You are using the same avatar...

[Starscream]

I loooove the NUNS uniforms in all of the series. The uniforms in Macross F are no exception. Ranka looks pretty good in one! My compliments to the artist.

Are you planning on updating with any new text soon?

Nanashi, are you Aurel Tristen from the Aria site? You are using the same avatar...

I am I've just been swamped. Just got off orders again as of today so I should have some free time for the next two weeks to work more on it. Also, I noticed that the VF-27 colors were wrong. Quick fix. Here is the final rendition with the correct colors of the VF-27, as well as the alternate version with the spirit of the woman not visible (Albeit you can tell that there's something just not quite right with that spot from distortions and whatnot which is what I wanted).

Also attached is the current (Temporary) logo for the story... I'm going to have one remade from scratch that won't look so much like just a simple Photoshop recolor/reedit of the original logo, but it gets the point across.

Edited July 23, 2011 by Starscream

[VF-15 Banshee]

Here is my first ever Macross fanfic! For now (emphasis on the for now) it will be chronicling the adventures of the Megaroad-01... and why it ultimately disappeared.

Oh and who is the naked chick standing next to Sheryl? I don't recognize her from Frontier.

Edited July 28, 2011 by VF-15 Banshee

[frothymug]

Cool, thanks for the link, Banshee. I'll check it out this weekend.

As for your question, read Starscream's fanfic and you might get clued in as to her identity. He linked it in his post earlier in the thread. It's a WIP and he's only posted a couple of chapters as a teaser so far, but you'll get an idea as to what's going on by the time you finish reading what's up there.

[soul.assassin]

Just a few more things I realized as I was planning on writing my own MacF story (perhaps after working on my current NGE-based saga):

1.) For starters and if you want good examples on how military aviation fiction is written (not to mention structure, prose and dialogue, etc.), I recommend reading solid stories from the following authors:

a.) Ward Carroll (Punk's Fight, etc.)

b.) Stephen Coonts (Flight of the Intruder)

c.) Mark Berent (the Rolling Thunder series)

I doubt about using live-action movies as good guides, especially the more recent ones, but documentaries are better for getting the proper feel of authenticity.

2.) I also recommend picking up Stephen King's On Writing; highly instructive.

3.) Terminologies such as brevity codes may add some extra authenticity, along with proper descriptions of combat engagements as depicted in stories by the aforementioned authors in #1.

4.) In-depth research is a must, as it provides a solid foundation and detail to a story. This also includes expert advice from experienced combat aviators.

OBTW, don't be afraid of trying to place Ranka (preferably macronized) or Sheryl into the cockpit as combatants, as we keep in mind one of Kurt Vonnegut's dictums: "No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them in order that the reader may see what they are made of."

Edited August 3, 2011 by soul.assassin

[frothymug]

Hah, I had no idea who Stephen Coonts was until you mentioned him in your review of my story a few weeks ago.

I like your idea about using brevity codes. I'll go over that list and see if I can't add a few terms to my lexicon while writing future chapters.

I've read a couple of fics where the author puts Sheryl into a cockpit. Just in my opinion, it doesn't really do well. Just seems out of character for her. I have yet to see any fics where Ranka is doing much other than just being cute and singing. I'll admit, I don't have any plans to do much more with her than that in my fic. It's something to think about, though.

I haven't had a chance to do any writing or reading (I said I'd check out Banshee's fic, but haven't had time), but we'll see how things go this week. Piece of advice: try to avoid taking three summer classes and working part time. It's a brutal workload if you intend on getting good grades and keeping your bills paid up.

[soul.assassin]

I've read a couple of fics where the author puts Sheryl into a cockpit. Just in my opinion, it doesn't really do well. Just seems out of character for her. I have yet to see any fics where Ranka is doing much other than just being cute and singing. I'll admit, I don't have any plans to do much more with her than that in my fic. It's something to think about, though.

I have a snippet of a documentary about one of the first female Tomcat jocks on duty, hence I'm toying with that idea; first Sheryl has to be trained on the finer points of flying and fighting, then she'll have to go on a checkout ride with Klan on the backseat (as her instructor); it doesn't take days but a several months, even within SMS, unless during a state of emergency and there's an acute shortage of pilots.

Edited August 3, 2011 by soul.assassin

[chillyche]

I think one of the challenges of Macross fan fiction is that there's an established set of rules in the Macross universe, and everybody has to decide which ones to keep and which ones to toss. For instance, a lot of the military structure in Macross is somewhat baffling, they never call out FOX anything when launching missiles, they tend to speak in plain language, their rank structure is unexpectedly terrestrial, etc. So, when writing fan fiction, we get to decide, what will make it feel more "authentic" in our world and what will make it feel more "authentic" in Macross world. How closely do we adhere to canon, how much can we invent? How do we reconcile DYRL with SDF:M with M:1st? Ultimately, it's up to each author what they include.

I personally tried to add a little more real life stuff into Macross Aria. Enemy targets are bandits, the deck crew references SATOPS, and all pilots are cleared hot at some point. I also went back and forth on the ranks about a thousand times. It's a Space Navy, so, Naval ranks? Flight ranks? Or Macross Army ranks? Everybody has their own opinion. Luckily, I think the only rank that is consistently mentioned in voice actor dialog is "lieutenant" which is suitably vague, should I decide to change some things up. But, once all is said and done, I was going for the fun and thrill of a Macross entry, and not hard military fiction, so, the characters often refer to each other by first name over their radios, versus call signs or other descriptors which may be more appropriate. And some of the military lingo is obtuse in such a way that it's not immediately obvious by context what it means, and therefore might cause somebody with less familiarity to miss a story beat. So, my personal choice was to make the story accessible. That said, I enjoy stuff that is done with a far greater degree of realism than what I've done. Another classic example is that those GU-11 Gunpods don't actually hold very much ammo. Yet, people will LAY ON THAT TRIGGER in the course of various Macross episodes without running out of ammo unless it's a dramatic choice. In order to maintain a level of excitement, sometimes you have to fudge reality. Again, it's all choices.

Look forward to seeing what everybody is working on...

[frothymug]

You bring up some good points, Che. Making your story accessible to more readers has to be balanced with a sense of realism. Fortunately, as you said, the Macross world doesn't follow standard military lingo. I do my best to at least make sure that there's some semblance of military protocol and terminology in my writing. My prime demographic is fans of Macross; I don't write to casual sci-fi fans who maybe have a passing fancy in the series.

[frothymug]

Just to keep the thread going, I posted a new chapter tonight. School's been kicking my ass, but I now have a good week of free time before the fall semester starts.

SA, if you're still reading, I want to let you know that I posted a "prologue" at the beginning of the story. It's a good chunk of text describing some of the events that happened just before my original beginning.

Anyone have any updates on their projects? Anyone run across any good fanfics?

[VF-15 Banshee]

Well, I've made a decision. Instead of having Macross Odyssey run as a full-length story, I think I'm going to switch it to a series of one-shots. Ultimately I just wanted to tell the story of how the Megaroad-01 disappeared and I can do that without writing the next Hunt For Red October. Having the characters ride off into the sunset is all well and good (that was one of the best scenes of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) but Macross always gave me the "Hikaru, Misa and Minmay ride off into the sunset with implication that they died a cold, lonely death in deep space" vibe. They deserve a bit better than that I think.

Recently, I've become enamored of expanding on the Jenius family. Personally, I know very little about them. There's Max, Millia and their eight daughters and not much else. To sum up:

Max and Millia: First Macross and Macross 7.

Komillia: The baby that saved the universe!

Emillia: Hangs out with Basara, tries to kiss him, has a dumb kid fall down her macronized cleavage.

Moaramia: Hangs out with the coolest adoptive parents ever in Macross M3 (Dreamcast).

Miracle: Almost killed Millia to give birth to her.

I think that's about it.

oh and as for good fics, here are two Frontier fics I've found. One deals with all OC characters who are pilots in the Frontier Fleet. The other deals with what happens after the Frontier arrives on Planet Aimo (?). WARNING: The latter fic is about 47 chapters long so far... HOLD IT... FrothyMug, are you the same FrothyMug who is writing a fic called United We Stand?

Edited September 4, 2011 by VF-15 Banshee

[frothymug]

Well, I've made a decision. Instead of having Macross Odyssey run as a full-length story, I think I'm going to switch it to a series of one-shots. Ultimately I just wanted to tell the story of how the Megaroad-01 disappeared and I can do that without writing the next Hunt For Red October. Having the characters ride off into the sunset is all well and good (that was one of the best scenes of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) but Macross always gave me the "Hikaru, Misa and Minmay ride off into the sunset with implication that they died a cold, lonely death in deep space" vibe. They deserve a bit better than that I think.

I completely forgot to come back here and give my thoughts on your fic. I thought you did fairly well, given the lack of reference material for the time period after SDF:M and DYRL end. The good news about that is that you have all kinds of free range to do whatever you want with your story!

I do kind of feel the same way about your opinion on how they kind of got the shaft, since we know that they've disappeared only a couple of years after leaving Earth. I've thrown around the idea of writing a story that, in some way, explains what happened to them, but I get the feeling that it's probably not a good idea to mess around with something like that. We'll see how I feel about that down the road.

oh and as for good fics, here are two Frontier fics I've found. One deals with all OC characters who are pilots in the Frontier Fleet. The other deals with what happens after the Frontier arrives on Planet Aimo (?). WARNING: The latter fic is about 47 chapters long so far... HOLD IT... FrothyMug, are you the same FrothyMug who is writing a fic called United We Stand?

I was really enjoying The Angel and the Ensign, until DarthTabby just stopped posting. I e-mailed him to see if he was just having real life stuff getting in the way and he never responded He had a lot of potential with his story and as a writer.

And yes, guilty as charged. That's my fanfic. I was doing some writing last night, but I'm not sure if I will get around to posting anything new this weekend. I had a lot to take care of and I still have a bunch of homework to finish before Tuesday. Plus, my new roommate is moving in today. We'll see how things go, though. If not this weekend, I'm sure I will be posting a new chapter next weekend.

[VF-15 Banshee]

I'm also looking for this fanfic site that I heard mentioned sometime ago. It's a major site along the lines of FanFiction.net and MediaMiner but I can't remember what it's called.

Also, I was doing some research on the Jenius family, so tell me if I got it right. I figure that by the time of Macross 7, this is how things would work out:

Max Jenius--52

Milia Fallyna Jenius--??

Moaramia Fallyna Jenius--45

Komilia Maria Fallyna Jenius--34

Miracle Jenius--28

Muse and Therese Jenius--23

Emilia Jenius--21

Miranda Jenius--19

Mylene Flare Jenius--14

Edited September 4, 2011 by VF-15 Banshee

[VF-15 Banshee]

For another fic I'm planning to write about a new interstellar war in Macross, what would make a good Macross-type villain race?

[frothymug]

Oh, no...! I'm not giving away some of my ideas for a future story!