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A 'canon' fanfic universe

Posted: 2004-09-13 04:56pm
by Sothis
Ok, so I don't mean for fanfics to be taken as canon. But how about a central 'universe', with set groundrules (for example, if a Trek/Wars crossover, rules set for power levels, the overall story, etc), where different authors can contribute different tales, offering different insights into the lives of the main characters, the situation, etc.

The stories can be grand epics, personal, intense stories between a small group of characters or the crew of one ship, they can take the form of government and media reports, anything, as long as time is taken to ensure that the authors involve don't contradict each other, and there would be a need to create and maintain a site that had the 'key' plotpoints for us to follow. But I think it would be a fun adventure.

Posted: 2004-09-13 07:54pm
by The Wookiee
Are you talking about something sort of like what H.P. Lovecraft did with the Cthulhu mythos? I kind of like this idea. Phong, don't they do this over at Eyrie?

Posted: 2004-09-14 12:54pm
by Sothis
Not aware of this Cthulhu thing, or Eyrie :?:

The challenge is to find a story (or write a story) as the jumping offpoint for additional tales. I guess it could be an existing story (as long as the author gave permission), or a group of us could bang our heads together and think of a new one.

Posted: 2004-09-15 01:59am
by Elheru Aran
Well, the problem is, with this you'd be having fanfics of fanfics. Aside from that, I do admit it's a nice idea. Some stories, like TBO, and Knife's tale (forgot the name), as well as the Drakafics, might adapt well.

Posted: 2004-09-16 01:32am
by The Wookiee
Sothis wrote:Not aware of this Cthulhu thing, or Eyrie :?:
H.P. Lovecraft is a very famous cult author who created the Cthulhu mythos and offered it as a universe for others to play in, IIRC (Essentially what we do with SW and ST). Eyrie, I believe, did something similar to what you're proposing, but they're a fanfic site. So yeah, it could work.

Re: A 'canon' fanfic universe

Posted: 2004-09-16 07:07pm
by MKSheppard
Sothis wrote:Ok, so I don't mean for fanfics to be taken as canon. But how about a central 'universe', with set groundrules (for example, if a Trek/Wars crossover, rules set for power levels, the overall story, etc), where different authors can contribute different tales, offering different insights into the lives of the main characters, the situation, etc.
Sounds like War Diary of A Crewer. A fanfic that never got off the ground.

Posted: 2004-09-17 05:52pm
by phongn
Dalton, you know that I don't come in here every day :P

The Eyrie Productions fanfic crew does indeed do something like this, mainly in the Undocumented Features fanfic universe (aka the most infamous self-insert of them all). While it is closed to new authors, the current ones more or less write stories inside the universe whilst doing their best not to step on each others' toes.

More infamously, that group also authors NXE -- with one of the most hated characters in all of fanfic-dom (DJ Croft).

Posted: 2004-09-17 06:46pm
by Pablo Sanchez
phongn wrote:More infamously, that group also authors NXE -- with one of the most hated characters in all of fanfic-dom (DJ Croft).
We will not have that name spoken here unless it is in a sentence like:

'Eyrie.net has deleted NXE and all mention of any character called DJ Croft. Fans of the series are encouraged to grow up and find some fanfiction that isn't a "NGE/Tomb Raider/X-Files/X-Comm Alien Defense/Self-Insertion/God only fucking knows what else" crossover.'

Posted: 2004-09-17 06:54pm
by phongn
Pablo Sanchez wrote:We will not have that name spoken here unless it is in a sentence like
How about I mention Oscar or Marissa Picard instead, then? :P

Posted: 2004-09-17 07:11pm
by Pablo Sanchez
phongn wrote:How about I mention Oscar or Marissa Picard instead, then? :P
Oscar is funny as fuck. He's a super-powered hermaphrodite who finger-fucks talking cats. The guy who writes that crap must be a complete and utter perv on top of being a semi-functional retard.

Marissa Picard is useful as an object lesson in what constitutes a Mary-Sue.

DJ Croft is just fucking annoying.

Posted: 2004-09-18 03:46pm
by Dalton
I wish to know more about DJ Croft.

Posted: 2004-09-18 05:57pm
by phongn
The definition of a Marty Stu. It looked like the authors tried to reign him in a bit, but they failed in the end, IMHO. It isn't that the story is poorly written -- quite the opposite, on every technical level it shines -- but that he is just Wonder Boy.

His parents, incidentially, are Lara Croft and Fox Mulder :wtf:

The final story in the series got some props from me since they added a major supporing character in remebrance of a forum denizen who passed away (if a bit overdone) and DJ wasn't too uber, but it couldn't fix the problems with the series in one fell swoop.

Posted: 2004-09-19 01:35am
by Pablo Sanchez
phongn wrote:The final story in the series got some props from me since they added a major supporing character in remebrance of a forum denizen who passed away (if a bit overdone) and DJ wasn't too uber, but it couldn't fix the problems with the series in one fell swoop.
DJ Croft would ruin any story. He's a fucking natural winner at the game of life; he can attain a perfect synch ratio in his Eva, outshoot and outfight trained soldiers, bang Asuka often and well, and get women of all ages wet for him--all at the age of 15. A demigod.

Every good character should have some kind of foible or failing. That's what makes them human. This is especially true of any character that you throw into the Neon Genesis Evangelion universe.

Posted: 2004-09-19 12:34pm
by phongn
Pablo Sanchez wrote:Every good character should have some kind of foible or failing. That's what makes them human. This is especially true of any character that you throw into the Neon Genesis Evangelion universe.
Yes. Especially NGE.