Now that there won't be NEW episodes of DARIA for a while, I would like to urge the newsgroup to turn their attention to FAN FICTION. There is ALOT out there.
(http://systech.simplenet.com/daria and click on Fan Fiction. Or http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/wildbill/155/dmain.html Or http://www.fanfiction.net/master.dfm (from there click on Cartoons instead of TV. Had me fooled since Daria is more real then most TV) OR the occational poster who says `see my fan fiction at...' (I"ll put in a plug for mine which is at all the above the above but also on my own website: http://www.cs.umd.edu/~gasarch/mywritings.html)
Once in a while I will post an item ABOUT fan fiction.
This weeks topic:
TIPS ON WRITING FAN FICTION
(My qualifications---I've READ lots of fan fiction and WRITTEN three pieces. All three are at all the sites above. I'm working on a fourth.)
1) The most important tip-- JUST DO IT. I've seen people talk ABOUT writing fan fiction (not just for Daria) but never actually DO IT. If you have an idea FLESH IT OUT. Some of your ideas WILL flesh out, and some WON'T. But you don't know until you TRY.
2) Buy THE DARIA DIARIES and THE DARIA DATABASE so you can get some of your misc facts right (e.g., Stacy's last name).
3) You can have Commercials, the scenes before the commercials, even the alter egos at the end of the show. You can have Sick Sad World. All are optional. You might want to make them funny in isolation, or even connect up to the main plot.
4) Some fan fiction breaks continuity (crossovers have to, but other pieces do also) and some are very careful not to. If you break continuity you can do things the actual show cannot do, which may free your creativity. If you stick to continuity you are in familiar ground which might make lines come easily (e.g., it is easier to think of what Daria might say to Jane, then what Daria might say to Darth Vadar)
- Where to get ideas?
a) You might see a minor item on a show and want to expand on it (Michelle Klein-Hass spotted a line in LAB BRAT which could be seen as a hint that Jake was not Daria's real father. She used this as a starting point for her story FATHER OF MINE.)
b) You imagine how two charaters that don't interact might get along. C.E. Foreman had the Morgendorfeers meet the Landan's (Jodie's family) in ways that made perfect sense in NO PICNIC.
c) You imagine how a character in the series would relate to one NOT in the series, for a crossover. E.g., Jake and Dr. Katz? (JAKE'S THERAPY by MITCH) This type of story might be very short.
d) You imagine how to tell ANOTHER story with these characters (CYNIC WARS EPISODE I: THE FASHION MENACE by Mott)
e) You make a minor character more major (Forman has done more with Jodie then the series usually does. Klein-Hass has a 12-part series about Trent going to LA and coming back.)
6) Because you are NOT writing for the show you can write long, short, very short, diary entries, other characters narrating, whatever you want. (A shippers delight!) But you SHOULD keep the people pretty much in character.
7) READ Fan Fiction and see what YOU like to see and not see. (I liked how Foreman would have a scene early that related to a scene later, so I imitated that in my story THE COMPLETE IDIOTS GUIDE TO...)
8) Get your stuff proofread and dont' be protective--- scenes that you THOUGHT worked but DON'T should be DROPPED. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT--- scenes that you are attached to emotionally or that you think work, might not really work.
9) Your reader is a Daria fan, but might not be as knowledgable as you are. How much to assume? Best to insert things that a Daria Fanatic will appreciate, but won't confuse a mere Daria fan. (FLASH: IDEA FOR A FANFIC: have Daria on FANATIC)
- Get grammar and spelling right. Get it proofread.
- When Demartino talks you can have things like
KEVIN you are a compLETE IDIOT.
He emphasizes words or parts of words, so you can make him do that.
12) Same with Principal Li's speech, like Laaaaaaaaaawndale high
- Use *'s around words for emphasis. Like
Li: We want to stop *random* acts of violence
Daria: So my *well planned* bombings should be no problem
bill