A Guide to Writing Outer Senshi Fics
Subtitle: How not to Write Crappy Outer fics
Last revised May 9th, 1999
Written by:
Jackie Chiang
PLUTO
Amanda "Greenbeans" Anderson
PLUTO
Tim Nolan
Otherwise known as Michiru/Neptune, Haruka/Uranus, and Setsuna/Pluto
respectively. Go Tim. :P
Here is a list of topics covered:
Introduction
Section I: Deaths of Haruka and/or Michiru
Section II: Names, Nicknames, and Japanese Suffixes
Section III: Misinformation and Weird Story Ideas
Section IV: Setsuna, aka Sailor Pluto, the Dark Ruler
Section V: Hotaru, Firefly of Death and Neat Stuff like that
Section VI: Perfection
Section VII: Cursing in Fanfics
Section VIII: More Rantings on Names
Section IX: Other Laws
Section X: Our Fics
Rules to Abide by a fic by Jackie Chiang
Introduction
[Most of this is written by Jackie. So when it refers to 'me' it is Jackie
unless otherwise noted.]
We, as you should all know, write fanfics... Either a lot of fanfics or
really, really, really long ones, whichever, if not both, and we are all
Outer Senshi fans. Most of our fanfics hold them in high esteem, if not
revolve around them, but we have Tim here, with his Minaaako bias...
[Tim hastens to point out that he likes Minako because she is almost as
psycho as the Outers if you really think about it... before he is dragged
off by Jackie and Amanda.]
Anyway, as the title indicates, this is a guide to writing Outer Senshi
fanfics. We are not a bunch of little annoying writers who have no clue
to what we're dealing with, nor are we attempting to get a power high. All
of us have broken several [in my case a zillion] fanfic rules, but we'd like
to think that we broke them well, if there is such a thing...
The following are laws, ideas, and suggestions to consider when writing
an Outer Senshi fic. We have tried to remain somewhat humorous in the
presentation of these guidelines, but the ideas behind them should be taken
to heart. There aren't a lot of Outer Senshi fics out there [yet] and we
want to make sure that things get off on a good foot for future stories
featuring these dynamic characters.
I've read quite a lot of Haruka and Michiru fanfics, as well as general
Outer Senshi fics which seemed to be revolving around the two lovers to
begin with. I'll admit that while I like reading many of them, it's usually
a form of sadistic pleasure. In other words, I enjoy reading them simply
because I get a good laugh out of them.
That's not particularly nice to admit, but I know quite a few Haruka and
Michiru fans who tend to agree that there rarely are well written H&M fics.
I'd support that claim. The number of ridiculous fics on those two that
I've read counterbalance the good fics. I won't mention names, since I
really don't remember many of the titles, but they can be found mainly on
Uranus and Neptune shrines; a couple of the titles are on
A Sailor Moon Romance
as well.
I. Deaths of Haruka and/or Michiru
Upon hearing this idea, two ideas for the girls should pop immediately into
your head- they've been overdone numerous times:
1) Haruka always dies in a car accident. Yes, I myself am guilty of this
in "Never Forgotten." Oh well, I break a lot of fanfiction laws.
2) Michiru always dies by drowning. Well, not always, but a number of
times. It's either that or a car crash. I sort of did the drowning bit in
"Memories" but she didn't die, so does that really count? You tell me.
Then Haruka and Michiru always grieve over the loss of their partner, which
is considerably understandable, but on the other hand, their depression is
usually taken to overemphasized heights. Having a plot line in which Haruka
or Michiru is constantly depressed is hardly interesting- cry, cry, grieve,
grieve, la, la. You get the idea.
A secondary element is the obvious 'let's depend on Setsuna to help us out'
plot line. We get Setsuna to go back in time and rescue Haruka or Michiru,
which she would never do, at least from my understanding of her, even
though she is apparently close with the other Outer Senshi in SailorStars
and the SuperS manga. [More on this addressed later in
Section IV.]
This brings us the third repetitive idea. Haruka or Michiru always
comes back to life. I don't get it. I mean, if they're dead, they should
stay dead, right? You can have a happy ending without them deciding
that death bites, and that they want to live again. Or rather, Setsuna
saves them...
"We were [dead] but not anymore." That line from "Pain: The Lovers" sums it
up pretty nicely. Not to say that Haruka or Michiru not dying would
be a nice change of pace, but if you're going to kill them, at least bring
them back with an interesting idea.
Law #1 of Outer Senshi Fic Writing: If you kill the
senshi off, do it in a unique way and bring them back in an equally unique
way.
The sadistic side of me, by the way, yells out, "Make Haruka die from a
heart attack while in a track meet!" or better yet, a leg cramp, where upon
she stumbles off a track, down into a ravine, and breaks all the bones in
her lovely body. As for the other, "Let Michiru die from the blisters on
her fingers she got from the violin bursting and poisoning her!" or perhaps
she kills herself after she mis-mixes her paints on her palette. That would
make an amusing parody, I think.
II. Names, Nicknames, and Japanese Suffixes
Okay... Here's something that I constantly cringe at. "Michi-chan" [which
I used once, again, but it was an understandable nick from her
immature best friend], "Haru-chan," "Sets-chan." Come ON. If you wish to
use the Japanese suffixes, at least have a basic understanding of them.
Some fics have used Michiru calling Haruka, aside from "Haru-chan,"
"Haruka-kun" or "Haruka-san." "Michi-chan," "Michiru-kun," and "Michiru-san"
coming from Haruka are constantly used nicks as well.
Ok, so here's a brief explanation of suffixes, so that we may save a lot of
fics from this misuse. First off, using NO suffix indicates a deep
closeness, such as the bond between Haruka and Michiru, or it's an insult.
I don't believe the lack of a suffix has ever been used as an insult in
Sailormoon, at least with regards to the senshi and their friends.
Haruka calls Michiru "Michiru," and Michiru talks to Haruka as "Haruka."
They're close- best friends and lovers- so there is no need for any sort
of suffix. Minako even asks Haruka in the third SMS episode, after hearing
her refer to her sea green haired friend as "Michiru," whether their
relationship was that close that they could talk to each other on a
first name only basis. Other instances include Rei calling Usagi simply
"Usagi" as she is the closest to the blond and the most protective of her.
Michiru always names Usagi as "Usagi" because initially Usagi was in hero
worship of Michiru, and she wanted to become close with her, so she asked
her to call her that.
Originally, Haruka and Michiru use "Setsuna-san" with regards to the woman,
and Setsuna replies with "Haruka-san" and "Michiru-san." I drop the -san
when I have all three together, because you can infer that since all four
Outer Senshi live together by the time the SuperS manga rolls around, there
is no necessity for formality in a family-type of setting. I'm unclear
about the SailorStars anime, since that's a separate case altogether.
-chan: -chan is used for younger children, generally girls. It is
also used for affection, closeness, or endearment. For instance, the Inner
Senshi call each other "Usagi-chan," "Rei-chan," "Ami-chan," etc. The Outer
Senshi are older than the Inner Senshi, and therefore they call them using
the -chan suffix. However, as stated, -chan is for endearment as well, so
Usagi and Chibi-usa call Mamoru "Mamo-chan."
-ko: A common suffix added as a real part of a girl's name, as in
Minako or Naoko [Takeuchi].
-kun: Generally used for boys, though it's becoming more used for
girls as well. For those you aren't extremely familiar with, but are younger
than you or the same age. For example, the Inner Senshi call Seiya
"Seiya-kun" and Yaten "Yaten-kun." Haruka is called "Haruka-kun" by Mamoru
at one time, due to the fact that she's so boyish. [Haruka refers to
herself using the masculine "I."]
-sama: For formal respect. It is equivalent to about Mr. or Ms.,
used in place if -kun sometimes. It is also used when calling someone a
king or queen or other royalty [ie "Demando-sama" and "Galaxia-sama"] or
someone you must be respectful to. Diana calls Usagi and Mamoru
by -sama, which is cute. It is also used when you have admiration for
someone [ie Sailormoon and Tuxedo Kamen-sama].
-san: For respect. You can call anyone who is older than yourself
using this suffix, whomever you are not close with, or people you just met.
It can be equivalent to Mr., Ms., or Mrs. Using last names + the -san is
typical. [ie Taiki calls Usagi "Tsukino-san"] The Inner Senshi address
Haruka as "Haruka-san," Michiru as "Michiru-san," and Setsuna as "Setsuna
-san." Hotaru calls Usagi "Usagi-san."
So therefore, the nicks the Outers use in reference to each other are
unnecessary and just really weird. May I add that I detest the shortening
of the names- they're never used in the anime or the manga. "Michi-chan"
is used just a tad too often, and I only get really edgy when people refer
to the "real" anime/manga character by that nick. "Haru-chan" sounds a bit
strange as well [I prefer "Ruka-chan" myself, it flows better], and
"Sets-chan" is just way off from anything remotely comprehensible. [Why
anyone would use -chan with Setsuna is beyond me.]
The only suffix I would use would be -san [perhaps -kun for Haruka if
I was feeling like it], and that would be for the fics where Setsuna first
met Haruka and Michiru, when Haruka first met Michiru, or when Michiru was
first introduced to Haruka. In those particular cases, general usage would
be "Kaioh-san," "Tenoh-san," or whatever. Perhaps if you wanted to indicate
something more than an acquaintance, preceding the actual closeness we see
in S to SailorStars, you would use "Haruka-san" or "Michiru-san."
By the way, I wonder if anyone is aware of the fact that "Hime-chan" for
Hotaru is not a nick used in the anime or the manga. In the manga
[tankubon 14], Michiru makes an incidental remark, calling Hotaru the family
"princess," and I thought that cute, so I used it as a nick in "Memories."
I don't know if the spreading use of that endearment is a result of the same
conclusion I made or what, but I don't have any real problems with it, I am
just curious.
Law #2 of Outer Senshi Fic Writing: Should Haruka
call Michiru anything but "Michiru," it had better be well explained.
Michiru calling Haruka anything but "Haruka" should be explained as well
[ie. in one S episode Michiru said "Haruka-san" as a sort of gentle mockery,
when she was telling the blond that her aversions to a gift Michiru had
received from a boy in love with her was called jealousy]. Should Setsuna
be referred to as "Sets-chan" by Michiru or Haruka, the author should be
smacked once with a book on "How to Use Japanese Suffixes."
One more thing. You know the last names of the senshi? This is a minor
critical point, but it sort of irritates me when it comes to the family
names of the Outers. Here are the ways to spell the names:
Tenoh, Tenou, Ten'ou
Kaioh, Kaiou
Meioh, Meiou
Tomoe
The only Outer that I see consistently spelled with the apostrophe is
Haruka's name- "Ten'ou." All forms are correct. However, I have to admit
that it is annoying to see inconsistency among the spellings. That is,
mixing, oh, I don't know, "Ten'ou," "Kaioh," and "Meiou" together. That's
sort of sloppy, in my view, but it doesn't really matter when you get
right down to it. I just like pointing it out.
[Amanda: Actually, I like having it "Ten'ou", "Kaioh", and "Meiou" simply
because it makes them more distinctive. At first I had problems keeping
them straight because their names all had 5 letters and oh/ou at the end.
So I'm sloppy... add it to the list of laws I've broken ^_-]
By the way, for those interested in trivia, both the anime and manga use the
initial spellings ["Tenoh," "Kaioh," and "Meioh"] though the anime
merchandise uses "Tenou," "Kaiou," and "Meiou."
III. Misinformation and Weird Story Ideas
Now we get to the heart of the deal. Misinformation is something that makes
a fic where the author obviously has talent a wash-out. I recall reading
another Haruka and Michiru fanfic where the writer did have more
talent at writing than most, yet the fic was really... um, screwy, to be
honest. It attempted to make sense, yet it really didn't, and the story was
just sort of whacked.
Here's the biggie- when the Outers are shown in a time obviously after
S, whether it be SuperS anime/manga or SailorStars anime/manga, and Haruka
and Michiru still don't know how they feel about each other!
It's like, please, gag me with a wooden fork. It's very clear in the manga
and anime that even before S takes place that Haruka and Michiru are
in love with each other. To wait until the Outer Senshi are living together
in a family setting and to have Michiru realize then that she loves
Haruka is belated, a ridiculous plot, and just a poor interpretation of
Sailormoon. The same goes for Haruka realizing that she loves Michiru
sometime after the first three years that they've known each other.
Now for the weird story ideas. I've read more than several fics that focus
mainly on Haruka or Michiru as being the rightful queens of their planets.
Is it just me, or does that seem only a tad silly? While being the
princesses of their respective planets is neat and all that nice stuff, to
say that being queen of a minor planet is something important after the
destruction of the Silver Millennium doesn't cut it. Maybe I'm not giving
the fics enough credit, but it strikes me as a sort of lousy way to go.
One notable fic [in HTML format, no less] tore me between laughing so hard
at a disorganized plot and gagging at a disorganized plot. I think I opted
for the latter... Regardless, the story, besides magic space travel of
Michiru, Haruka, and Hotaru, had Michiru meet Seiya on some obscure planet
because their ship crashed or something. Michiru and Seiya immediately
decided to hop into bed, because they 'loved' each other, though the
only time they even near that is when they flirt with each other in
one SailorStars episode. I doubt flirting constitutes as love.
Anyway, yes, the plot was simply not there, aside from the ridiculous
obvious things I've pointed out.
Law #3 of Outer Senshi Fic Writing: Get your info
straight, and please, please, please do not attempt to do something that is
so out of character people will be wondering what planet you came from
without apparent explanations.
Okay, another little overused factor- having Haruka give Michiru a ring as
a demonstration of her love. [This does not include the promise rings that
the Outers possess in the manga.] Yeah, I do this like once or twice- I
think only once if I remember correctly, in "Memories" but be quiet. Can we
think of other things to have Haruka give Michiru? [Do not
say lingerie, that idea in a real fanfic scared me enough already.] Rings
are very overdone; it's very boring now. Blah blah, Haruka gives Michiru an
aquamarine [always an aquamarine], Michiru gasps, puts it on, and now they
are in love or else they are getting hitched...
Get over it. And as Amanda remarked, so eloquently: "Love isn't an object."
Law #4 of Outer Senshi Fic Writing: Using rings to
express Haruka and/or Michiru's love in fanfics are like most SM webpages-
overrated and overdone. Diamonds [or rather, aquamarines] aren't Michiru's
best friend if she can afford to buy a million of them with her wealth.
IV. Setsuna, aka Sailor Pluto, the Dark Ruler
Setsuna- Sailor Pluto, guardian of the time gate. The three rules that she
must obey:
1) Never stop time
2) Never cross time yourself
3) Never leave the Time Gate
Ok, so we've established this and discovered that Setsuna breaks all three
of these rules. Oops. Do we have a problem here? Yes, we most certainly
do. See, it's bad enough that the original Sailormoon storyline is
confusing in itself, but when we have fanfiction writers who decide to let
Setsuna, or rather Pluto, break her three laws anytime they feel like it, we
end up with what I'd like to call a really screwed up story.
First, if you write about Setsuna crossing time, be aware of the following
ideas:
1) Why the hell would Setsuna cross time in the first place? She,
being the guardian of time, obviously understands the implications of her
actions, so she would thus be learned of the fact that time travel creates
these fun little things called paradoxes. If you fail to address paradoxes
or the effects of her time travel or to officially announce that you
acknowledge their existence yet refuse to use them, you basically have said
that time travel is a fun, entertaining thing.
Think again.
You know how long it takes to figure out the storyline, without the various
ideas that fanfiction writers present? A very long time; it still makes me
dizzy thinking about it. And if you have Setsuna going in the past to save
dear Michiru or darling Haruka, that had better be a significant enough event
for her to deal with. Otherwise, going back in time to rescue those two [or
any other senshi] from certain death is going to create unwanted
discontinuities, tears, or paradoxes in time, so please explain the
consequences of her actions. Do not just end saying, "And Haruka and Michiru
were happy together, the end." I will hit you if you do.
2) Setsuna is not God, nor is she a goddess. Granted, she holds an
undeniable amount of power and knowledge, but she can die, and she
does die quite often. [Silver Millennium, R manga, SailorStars.]
This is related to the idea of Setsuna being intelligent enough to reason
whether time travel is important enough to be worth all the consequences.
So, if she inadvertently causes the destruction of the world by time
traveling, no, she cannot fix it with a snap of her fingers. Oops, there
went the world, my bad.
3) Time traveling is not an easy way to save some senshi's butt.
Tim sums all this pretty clearly in his comments:
"Make sure that if you disregard this advice and employ time travel to solve
your problems, all your time traveling and the ramifications thereof are
clearly and carefully plotted and explained in the story."
Law #5 of Outer Senshi Fic Writing: Don't screw
lightly with time, my boy [or girl], or else you'll be reincarnated as a
popcorn kernel in your next life.
V. Hotaru, Firefly of Death and Neat Stuff like that
Here's a suggestion Amanda gave:
Law #6 of Outer Senshi Fic Writing: Always make it
clear how old Hotaru looks like in a fanfic.
There's a lot of controversy over the specific age of Hotaru. In the manga
[S], it clearly states that she is 12 and in the sixth grade. In the SMS
Memorial Album II, I do believe it says she is 12 as well [look to the
sketches of Hotaru]. Anyway, we have a variety of ages for her, ranging
from 12 to 16, the same age as Haruka and Michiru, which I claim is wrong
but I did it in my three part series thing...
BUT, if we write fics after S, we get more fun ages from the area of being a
baby to being the same age as Haruka and Michiru at the specific point and
time the fic takes place. You can well imagine that this is fairly
confusing, so please specify what age she is.
1) No, Hotaru does not constantly age dramatically all the time. She
did it only twice- once from a baby to a toddler and from a toddler to the
age of Chibi-usa. There is no substantial support for causing Hotaru to wake
up one day and say, "Oh, looky, I'm a full breasted teen at the ripe age of
16 so now I can sleep with the author who shall self-insert himself into
the fic." [Knock it off, hentai, in both the idea and my choice of words;
it was pure coincidence, I assure you.]
Law #7 of Outer Senshi Fic Writing: Don't go
age-changing happy with Hotaru on the readers; if you do, I promise that
Michiru-san will whack you five times over the head with her Deep Aqua
Mirror.
2) Give the correct history of Hotaru. Her entire life is explained
in both the anime and the manga, so you don't have to make anything new up.
You'd think that would be an easy thing to do, but you're wrong. It's quite
apparent that a lot of people either have no clue on what Hotaru's life is
like or don't care to acknowledge it.
This is similar to the Haruka and Michiru principle in that yeah, you kind of
have to know when things happen or else you'll look foolish; on the other
hand, Haruka and Michiru give you more room for creativity, especially if
you use the manga plot line. You can still be creative, though, using the
preset lines of Hotaru's past. But if you feel the urge to rewrite it, at
least do it so that it makes sense in explaining the events that happen in S.
Law #8 of Outer Senshi Fic Writing: If you're going
to retell the past of the Outers, do it so that it makes sense, please.
VI. Perfection
[Written by Tim.]
You have to face it. The Outer Senshi, when compared with the Inner Senshi,
seem to be virtually perfect. Better grades, more money, better entrances,
better music, better henshins, more powerful visually dynamic attacks, and
the cherry blossoms... This is not exactly the case, and a writer should
not avoid or misuse the Outers just because they seem to be perfect.
They have an air of being perfect to them that makes it difficult to see that
they are far from being perfect, actually. When you look at the important
things in their lives, they are not the icons of perfection you think that
they are, and this can offer a lot to a writer.
What a writer shouldn't do is to make them perfect, and therefore boring,
because the characters aren't perfect. If you make them perfect, there is no
point to really make about them or to trying to show any developement.
There is a lot of room to develop them, but it just takes some research and
thinking to find the room to work in.
Law #9 of Outer Senshi Fic Writing: The Outer
Senshi [sadly enough] aren't perfect, so making them all like that would be
a waste of writing time and talent. Develop them.
VII. Cursing in Fanfics
[Written by Amanda.]
Part 1: Who Curses
I will say it now. Under no circumstances, situation, conditions does
Usagi curse! She is supposedly the innocent, naive type. Did she
come home with some new words? The same goes for Ami.
The only characters that I personally would feel comfortable having cursing
would be Makoto, Haruka, Michiru, and possibly Setsuna and Mamoru.
To me at least, having the others do it would seem out of character. Again,
Rei may be an exception. Tim has done it in his stories on the rare moment,
but I would be wary of it. I respect Rei too much to want to include her in
the 'do' category because that may reinforce the idea that she's 'just a
meanie against Usagi.' She's not.
[Jackie: I would also not have anyone curse at Usagi. All three of us
agree that while some of the senshi may swear at something she does, none
would be likely to swear at her.]
Part 2: Usage
Sub A: Expand on the characters
I'll cover Setsuna and Mamoru first. Don't. That simple. They are both
very 'controlled' personalities, ones that wouldn't lend themselves to
emotional outbursts. I include them in this list because of their age and
the slight possibility for doing it. In my fics, they never will.
Michiru I would only have cursing as in anticlimax to something. She is too
refined to resort to cursing to express her frustrations. Much like Setsuna
and Mamoru. An example of this is episode 184 (Stars ep 18). The scene is
in Usagi's house, and there is a battle going on. Uranus and Neptune
curse in unison because of a bad turn in the battle. It was a funny episode
(one of the best in Stars, IMO), and that was a great way to get an extra
chuckle. The point is to be wary when having Michiru cursing.
Haruka and Makoto. One is tempted to think the green light is on when
encountering these two. That's the furthest from the truth. In my opinion,
these two are the ones you have to be the most careful with to stay within
character and not to have them coming off as harsh. A central idea; only in
extreme frustration. Example for Makoto since it's easy to find them for
Haruka. The SuperS Movie when the ship had taken off from the park with the
children still in it.
Sub B: How to use it and stay within character
Much like a spice, only sprinkle cursing into the dialogue if it fits.
No one curses just to do it. 'That was a f*cking good party' is not an
acceptable usage. Next to the dictionaries in the library is another
wonderful book called a Thesaurus. It's full of other words someone could
use to describe the party.
Keeping along that line. Personally, I haven't seen that much of a variety
when it comes to the cursing within the anime. 'D*mmit' is the only thing I
can recall seeing repeatedly. It would be good to keep this in mind. This
also means no creative cursing. Having Uranus string together a long line
in insult of a Daimon may be funny, but, frankly, she's never done
that.
Part 3: Self-inserted characters
"This is the author's character, so what if s/he curses?" That's true, but
do keep a small thing called 'good taste' in the back of your mind.
A good number of people are offended by the use/abuse of cursing within a
story. I would again suggest only using it sparingly.
It's a strong spice folks, really =)
[Jackie: In other words, fics are not contests to see how many times you can put
'f*ck' in a single sentence.]
Law #10 of Outer Senshi Fics Writing: Use cursing
sparingly, and don't do it out of character.
VIII. More Rantings on Names
[Written by Jackie and Amanda.]
No, we did not cover all the ground we could have in
Section II. The topic: English
Names.
Unfortunately, there are English names for the three main
Outers, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Coming from the back of
Irwin doll boxes, they are, respectively, Corrine, Nerissa,
and Celia. Okay, so they suck, any questions? [Though I'll
give whoever made the names that Nerissa does have a pretty okay
meaning.] Still, I must gloat at this point and say a hearty
"HA HA HA" at everyone who made the Outer Scouts' names Alex,
Michelle, and Susan/Sharon. HA HA HA.
Of course, I'll also point out that just because the Outers have
scout names doesn't mean anything. They still don't have any
personalities to suit those names [not that all the names suit
the personalities anyway], and you can't very well create a
personality for them- Oh wait, my bad, obviously you can
because it's been done [very shoddily too, I may add].
Law #11 of Outer Senshi Fic Writing:
Having names for the Outer scouts still doesn't give you
the right to screw up their personalities; treat them with the
respect that they rightfully DESERVE, otherwise I'll write a
sequel to "Rules to Abide By" with MUCH harsher consequences.
Also, don't go about mixing the NA names and the Japanese ones. That's poor
style all around. Go one way or the other, but to use both in a twisted mix
of languages confuses, frustrates, and misinforms readers. Especially ones
new to 'Sailormoon'. It's a problem in some Inner Senshi fics and a very
preventable one in Outer Senshi fics since they haven't been brought over
[yet].
Law #12 of Outer Senshi Fic Writing: Do not mix
NA names and Japanese names! It is sick, twisted, and wrong! Like those
odd flavored fruit drinks that leave a funny taste in your mouth. Readers
will experience the same feeling with your fics if you do.
IX. Other Laws
Here are some other laws we [mainly Tim] cooked up...
Law #13 of Outer Senshi Fic Writing: If you
introduce male counterparts to the Outer Senshi as < Planet name > Knights
and love interests, we are going to find out where you live and hurt you.
We'll use knives. Big knives. Or heavy blunt objects.
Law #14 of Outer Senshi Fic Writing: If you subject
the Outers to the same degree of stupidity that marks many of the fics
dealing with the Inners, we will hurt you. We shall chase you down like the
rabid dog that you are and then shoot you.
Law #15 of Outer Senshi Fic Writing: If you want
some more hints on good fanfic writing, read some of our fics [Tim's,
Amanda's or mine], and yes, this is shameless plugging, but so what?
Law #16 of Outer Senshi Fic Writing:
You know, not that we actually practice this very often, but
there should be some degree of realism in a fic. Granted,
Sailormoon is a magical fantasy world where life's fairly easy,
only interrupted occassionally by nasty monsters who are out to
kill the senshi, and that icky death factor but... COME ON, you
know the phases of the moon, don't you?! You don't need to be
an environmentalist to know that the moon doesn't remain full for
two damn weeks! I don't know, if you're going to get that
detailed, I'd at least apply some common knowledge someplace in
that area... In summary, use common sense where applicable.
Law #17 of Outer Senshi Fic Writing:
'Senshi' is both singular and plural! Don't write any
of that annoying senshis stuff, you certainly wouldn't throw an
's' at the end of any Asian word in order to pluralize it. These
aren't European languages, these are Asian ones that are only
romanized and in actuality, look vastly different from their
normal forms as symbols and characters. It's just bad form, detracts
from your writing if the reader has to wince every time they come
across "And the senshis screamed" and "the senshis ran down the
street" and et cetera...
X. Our Fics
Amanda points out that we ourselves have broken tons of rules. To prove
that we are human, here are a couple...
I've pointed out most of mine- Haruka dying in a car crash, the usage of a
ring from Haruka to Michiru, and Michi-chan. I've also broken the following
normal fic rules- don't name a fic after a letter in the alphabet [Sailormoon
A], don't break fics into parts [I have four series], don't have Sailor Earth
or Sailor Sun [have both, Sun twice], and some other good stuff. [Like the
mixing of names in "Serena and Darien" ;)]
Tim's broken the all powerful 'Don't have a Sailor Sun' rule. Also using
'Englishified' names, but he corrected that mistake so we forgave him ^_-
Amanda's done the 'Ruka-chan' and 'Hime-chan' bit, has self-inclusion fics,
and has done the series no-no.
However, as she also mentions, it's okay because we did it well [Tim and
Amanda did it really well ^^].
[Amanda: Heh, and you Jackie :)]
Law #18 of Outer Senshi Fic Writing: Rules are
meant to be broken, just do it with style.
Hope this does something in the world of Outer Senshi fic writing. All
complaints, comments, and criticisms can be sent mainly to me,
Jackie, but
feel free to spread the love and e-mail to
Tim or
Amanda
[especially if they are anti-happy messages ^_-].
Rules to Abide by
Now that we have layed out some guidelines, Jackie has written a fic to
re-enforce the ideas. It's called
Rules to Abide by. This is
honestly one of the funniest fics I, Amanda, have ever read. I am biased
since I'm one of the characters in it, but Tim, Jackie, and myself are the
ones that get slammed in it. Thus I say, read it, laugh, and soak in it's
words of wisdom. Go Jackie ^_-
Greenbeans' Homepage
URANUS
The Sailor Senshi Page