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Unusual takes on common stories
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How about this for a crack minific?
Harry sends himself back in time, all right... into himself, right as his time-travel ritual is about to go off... My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours. I've been writing a bit.
So, there's a lot of fanfics out their premised on the idea that someone is going through a timeloop. There've been ones that follow the character through multiple loops, ones that focus on one loop, ones where multiple characters are going through the loops... all kinds of variations.
But what I haven't seen is one where the canon story is actually the umpteenth loop, and not the "original" timeline. Imagine if, say, Naruto as we know it is... I don't know, Orochimaru's 117th loop. (It puts a different spin on his claimed motivation during the Chuunin Exams that he "likes to see moving things", doesn't it?) Aaron Nowack 
Hmm that makes for a fun Ranma 1/2 idea... if Genma is the one looping, or Kasumi
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.'' -- James Nicoll  anowack Wrote:So, there's a lot of fanfics out their premised on the idea that someone is going through a timeloop. There've been ones that follow the character through multiple loops, ones that focus on one loop, ones where multiple characters are going through the loops... all kinds of variations. There's a suggestion that this is what's happening with Rebuild of Evangelion, actually. Especially some of the remarks made by Kawaoru about bringing happiness to Shinji 'This time' at the end of the second movie. Kawaoru is the one who remembers the previous events. ________________________________ --m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig? Herr Bad Moon Wrote:This idea is cool. Plus, I'm rather annoyed at that characterization of Dumbledore myself. In canon, Dumbledore was very afraid of succumbing to the lure of power, which is why he's the Headmaster instead of the Minister.jpub Wrote:How about something a tiny bit different? I may have mentioned this before... Anyway, I've also got a twist for the much-loathed self-insert genre. The author is inserted into a story/game, with the chance to alter the outcome. Problem is, he's only read the story once. And that was Five, maybe six years ago. And he really wasn't paying close attention either. So the SI's knowledge of the setting is spotty at best, his knowledge of the characters is sketchy, and he's forgotten more than a few plot twists.
I seem to recall that Dartz has a story that (partially) works under that premise, Yours Truly, 2032, where the SI had only seen bits and pieces of BGC before being thrown into the world.
It also sounds like a twist on Ma Vie et Roses by Scott Johnson and Scott Jamison. If you haven't seen it before, it's an Utena fic that deconstructions the self-insert by making the insert character only barely cognizant of the existence of Revolutionary Girl Utena before he gets shoved into it. What makes it fun, despite it being incomplete, is that one of the Scotts was genuinely unfamiliar with Utena at the time -- he wrote the pseudo-insert character, Skyler Sands, while the other Scott wrote around him. The results are pretty interesting.
-- Bob --------- Then the horns kicked in... ...and my shoes began to squeak.
I recall a fanfiction kind of like that - the person gets SI'd into Utena, which they had only ever read a few magazine articles about. Apparently one of the co-authors was genuinely unfamiliar with the series.
EDIT: Uh...maybe I should make sure I'm actually reading the last page before replying, huh? 
I'm currently pre-reading a fanfic where the author has never read or seen the source material. (Although, since I'm the only pre-reader who has read/seen the source material, I'm more a gamemaster than a pre-reader. And since the story is ongoing, I occasionally have to say "oops, ignore what I told you"...) It's interesting - occasionally in the "Chinese curse" sense when I have to say "oops", far more often in the usual sense - seeing how much attention he's paying to some background characters who don't get very much characterization in canon. (Mind you, by Chapter 4, enough had changed that canon is now merely a guideline...)
If the author wants to say more about this story, I'm sure a post will be forthcoming. -- Rob Kelk "Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of the same sovereign, servants of the same law." - Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Umm... Bob? You might want to fix that link. All I'm getting is a 404.
----- Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea. "Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
That's because Yuku is playing silly buggers with outbound links again - they're adding text to them to track where we surf to, and Eyrie doesn't like that added text.
Cut'n'paste this into your location bar: http://archives.eyrie.org/anime/Shoujo- ... t-roses.gz -- Rob Kelk "Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of the same sovereign, servants of the same law." - Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Thanks.
I wonder why Yuku is doing that, and if there is a way to disable it. ----- Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea. "Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
If you're using Firefox or a Firefox derivative like Seamonkey, the Noscript add-on seems to eliminate it.
-- Bob --------- Then the horns kicked in... ...and my shoes began to squeak.
In the process of "saving" Gabrielle Delecour during the Second Task, Harry becomes "soul bonded" to Fleur's younger sister. This is met by almost universal distaste by the general populous, and revulsion from Gabrielle's family, seeing it basically the enslavement of a eight year old to the whims of a English child. The fickel Hogwart's student body ostricise Harry, calling him a pedo etc... Harry wants none of it, and desperately looks for a way out. He becomes further incensed to find out that the only apparent way to break the bond will cause Gabrielle to go mad and die. So Harry is stuck, either never getting a choice at love before he even goes on his first date or murder an eight year old.
--- Jon "And that must have caused my dad's brain to break in half, replaced by a purely mechanical engine of revenge!" Bob Schroeck Wrote:It also sounds like a twist on Ma Vie et Roses by Scott Johnson and Scott Jamison. If you haven't seen it before, it's an Utena fic that deconstructions the self-insert by making the insert character only barely cognizant of the existence of Revolutionary Girl Utena before he gets shoved into it. What makes it fun, despite it being incomplete, is that one of the Scotts was genuinely unfamiliar with Utena at the time -- he wrote the pseudo-insert character, Skyler Sands, while the other Scott wrote around him. The results are pretty interesting.Ah man! That is the kind of collaborative writing that I love to do! Especially when the setup is two keyboards and mice... and one computer. Makes for some very fun "Oh waituhminute! I got an idea!" fast-paced writing. Once upon a time I had one girlfriend I did this with and we would simply blow through an entire chapter in a day. Wonder if I can coerce my current girlfriend into doing something like that someday. She disdains most anime, but she has a passion for everything Dragon Ball. (Something to do with fond memories of Saturday mornings.  If I can come up with a suitable chew-toy/ass-monkey/straight-man to drop into DB-verse for comedic affect she might go for it. Eventually.
... I can't believe I wrote that it "deconstructions the self-insert". What were my fingers thinking while I was typing that?
-- Bob --------- Then the horns kicked in... ...and my shoes began to squeak. Quote:If I can come up with a suitable chew-toy/ass-monkey/straight-man to drop into DB-verse for comedic affect she might go for it. Harry Potter _and_ Utena Tenjou. Quote:"deconstructions the self-insert" Deconstructicons the self-insert. "No can brain today. Want cheezeburger." From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies  Wiredgeek Wrote:Deconstructicons the self-insert."Desoundwaves the self-insert" is superior. Deconstructicons inferior. --Sam "Who are you callin' unkrazzamatic?"
So... Harem fics. Person X develops simultaneous relationships with half of the female cast, including all of the really nifty ones.
Well, the obvious thing would be for it to melt down in the various love interests deciding that they're not willing to share like that - but that's been done pretty heavily too. (Tenchi/Ranma the before picture, anyone?) Thing is, tremendously poly situations *can* work, but they require *huge* amounts of communication and establishing rules, and setting aside special places and so forth, none o which these fics really go into much. Two ways to go about it, then. - The first is that the characters have about the same communication skills as their normal selves. Everything seems to be going fine for a short while, because people are *trying* to make it work, and ignoring their own needs in order to make ti work, but then someone loses it and the whole thing melts down completely in a horrorstorm of jealousy and envy and frustration and shards of insulted possessiveness, with the main character protesting "but I didn't *do* anything" at least once. The female characters eventually decide that you know, he's cute/hot/ubercompetent/etc and all that, but it's just not worth the cluelessness and the drama that being involved with him causes. - The second is that he *does* know what he's doing, in which case keeping everything running smoothly is a lot of work, that becomes more complicated as you add people and make the people you have more important. Eventually, he's spending nearly all the time he has running maintenance on his various relationships, and doesn't have any to spare doing things like makign decent grades or saving the world. He's forced into the situation that highly successful poly people with more enthusiasm than sense get into from time to time where he actually has to sever relationships with women that he cares fairly deeply about because he simply does not have time for them. Angst ensues.
I would be absurdly impressed if someone made a 'Poly Harem' fic actually interesting to read.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger." From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
I would be tremendously impressed if someone wrote a poly fic where there was more than one male and more than one female involved.
---------------- Epsilon
The Ministry of Magic sends its best team of Aurors to protect a young Uchiha from some weird pedo-snake. Either Mad-eye, Shacklebolt and Tonks or Harry, Ron and Neville, depending on the time-line.
Epsilon Wrote:I would be tremendously impressed if someone wrote a poly fic where there was more than one male and more than one female involved.I've actually seen one, or something close to one (depending on exactly how you define "poly"), but I don't remember where or what it was, though I think it was a HP fic. I agree that that would be a truly excellent thing. If you don't mind branching outside of fanfic, then you might be interested in "Prudence, Texas, Population 1276", hosted on playground.pele.cx; the relationship starts out as a strictly one-to-one M-to-F deal, but as of the latest chapter, there are a minimum of two men and two women involved - and some signs that the numbers may increase further. Be warned that the ages and social situations involved may bother some people; it doesn't bother me, but especially in recent chapters, it does strain my suspension of disbelief a little bit. The story is still good, though. 
There is a short, unfinished fic by SteelBlaidd called "Misery Loves Company" that I think deserves an honorable mention as an attempt at the disintegrating harem plot. Tenchi Muyo GXP, post series, the main character is married to eight women but four of them were casual aquaintances who were desperate for his help and were included for political reasons. The group mariage isn't holding up under personal friction and some of the cultual diferences between the various members.
I give it an honorable mention as it was the writer's first and so far only fic, has various rookie-writer flaws, and stands unfinished at four very short chapters. However, it was the first serious attempt at addressing this issue in harem stories I encountered and I was very much looking forward to see where it went. ---------- No, I don't believe the world has gone mad. In order for it to go mad it would need to have been sane at some point. Bob Schroeck Wrote:What makes it fun, despite it being incomplete, is that one of the Scotts was genuinely unfamiliar with Utena at the time -- he wrote the pseudo-insert character, Skyler Sands, while the other Scott wrote around him. The results are pretty interesting.Didn't read it, but from description it's not deconstruction of self-insert, but one that is properly made and not suck. PS. For that matter I tend to stay away from anything characterized as deconstruction of self-insert genre, because it's usually means excuse to write self-insert even shittier than usual. PPS. If anything such fic would be not deconstruction of self-insert, but of mary-sue. Which most of SI are. |
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