So as to not needlessly clutter up that thread, I thought it would be best to move the discussion to the appropriate board.
If someone can think of a better title, feel free to suggest one.
The same is true for Suzu, Miki, Ritsu and a lot of other characters where someone wrote a route or at least started to. Also for all OC stories around here.Leaty wrote:Iwanako has almost zero characterization,…
The storyline for the VN – not necessarily that of every fanfiction.…and her relationship with Hisao collapsing is the fulcrum upon which the entire storyline pivots.
The VN is called Katawa Shoujo. Finding love with a disabled person is the point of the VN.Because the series is literally called Katawa Shoujo? Because finding love with a disabled person is the whole point of the entire game?Mirage_GSM wrote:So Hisao is only allowed to start a relationship with a disabled character? Again why?
I think restricting fanfiction to only using disabled characters is just as bigoted a mindset as the one the VN denounces so much.
So, if I understand you correctly it is okay to use fully characterized characters from the VN even if they are not disabled and it is okay to use OCs as long as they are disabled, but it is not okay to use OCs if they are not disabled? I’m sorry, but I don’t see the logic here.Now, a caveat—I'm obviously not inherently opposed to pseudo-routes for non-disabled characters in the setting. If somebody wants to write a pseudo-route for Nurse, Meiko, Akira, Misha, et al—that's okay because those characters are very clearly and cogently characterized, and have distinct personalities and backstories. Iwanako is not.
I agree with you there, and I don’t expect the result to be on a level with themocaw’s or your writing, but so far the author has shown to be receptive to suggestions on how to improve this story (as opposed to suggestions to write another story), so I’m not going to discourage him.and it would actually be exceedingly difficult to pull off compared to a normal route, something beyond the level of a first-time writer uncomfortable working in the Katawa Shoujo setting.
I agree with this example, so it seems the only thing we disagree on is where we put the threshold. In this proposed story, Hisao does have a heart attack, he does go to Yamaku and probably will interact with the other characters there. The theme of dealing with one’s disability is still there, even if the love interest is not disabled. For me this is close enough to qualify as a fanfiction, for you it isn’t. Let’s just agree to disagree here.Nope. Seriously, nope. I couldn't disagree with you more about what the point of fanfiction is.
By all means, people are free to explore, distort, contort, deconstruct, reconstruct, and otherwise meddle in the themes, characters, and settings of the work for which they are writing fanfiction. I will absolutely be the first to encourage writers to do exactly that. However, there is a threshold of ideas, beyond which the connection to the original story becomes so flimsy and tenuous that you're essentially writing original fiction of your own. …
Let me give you an example. Suppose I want to write a fic where Hisao doesn't have a heart attack, and accepts Iwanako's confession, and the rest of the story is about their happy relationship. If one was to tell me this story concept was "interesting," they would be completely out of their mind.
That’s true for every story that deviates from the original VN. You had to mess with the source material so Iwanako had the heart attack instead of Hisao. Scissorlips had to mess with the source material so Hisao would fall in love with Suzu, etc.… there is no avenue through which Hisao and Iwanako could meet to want to rekindle their relationship. You have to mess with the source material to make it work.
As for there being no way – Iwanako writes a letter to Hisao in every route, and Hisao reacts differenty in each. Why shouldn’t there be a route in which he decides to renew contact with Iwanako, especially if he hasn’t hooked up with any of the other girls in the meantime? It’s certainly plausible, even if the resulting story does not meet your criteria of fanfiction.
I had to look up nail fic… Sure your story is that. Not sure if it isn’t also a route. That depends on your personal definition of “route” as well as how you’re going to continue the story.My story isn't a pseudo-route, it's a nail fic. I've been fairly vocal in correcting readers who presume otherwise. The point of deviation solely exists to enable the genre in the first place. If I were to add contrivances at any other point in the fic, it would undermine my whole concept.
And by that token, all routes that don’t lead to one of the canon endings are nail fics as well. At some point they have to be missing a nail somewhere or they would lead to a canon ending. The difference in your story is that the nail is missing right at the beginning and it is a rather large nail.
In my story the initial nail (there were others later) was Hisao giving the cat to Misha instead of to Shizune. In another story, Hisao yelled at both Lilly and Shizune in Cold War and ended up with Miki.
I’ve pored over this paragraph for ten minutes now, but I fail to see your point. You seem to say the same thing I do, but apparently you get to a different conclusion^^°Pseudo-routes, as well, have (or should have) a single contrivance; the addition of (or the implication of the addition of) a single new option in the course of the normal narrative that leads to a whole new storyline. That's why they're called pseudo-routes. If you're not writing the story that way, you're simply writing a ship fic. (One of my major qualms with the Rika pseudo-route is that it didn't handle this very well, leading to a shaky start. I would have preferred to see the point of divergence.)
We don’t even know yet how this route is going to handle this. I’m not saying monkey will be able to pull it off perfectly and to everybody’s satisfaction – that would be too much to ask of any first time writer – but I’m interested to see the result anyway.Writing a pseudo-route with multiple contrivances, as this Iwanako pseudo-route is apparently going to do,
I don’t think so. Hisao fell in love with Iwanako before. If they go the chance to work through Iwanako’s (presumed) guilt and Hisao’s self-pity that would make an interesting story… I added that to my ideas folder, but I’m afraid I won’t get to write it anytime soon.An Iwanako Pseudo-route is too complicated to exist. It fails Occam's Razor. The amount of ass-pulling required to make it believable would be ridiculous.
Again I fail to see your point. Most stories do exactly that. The difference is just when the divergence point happens and how big of a divergence it is at first. Maybe a point could be made about whether the divergence is due to an action of Hisao or due to some external interference. Is that what you mean?That isn't how a pseudo-route works. If you're going to call your story a pseudo-route, the sequence of events leading up to it has to be familiar. Reading the first chapter of a pseudo-route should, ideally, make me think that if I booted up the game, I'd know how to get there. If you're unwilling to do that, you can't call it a pseudo-route...