Ventingness

News first, then the rant. The beagles are gone, and I am now in the hottest water I've ever been in. Picture being forced to sit down to a two hour family talk and being told that you've been a terrible daughter and that your parents didn't raise you to be like this. Now actually, picture that this has been said in such a reasonable manner that you're forced to believe it, instead of it being something that you can deny. Oh, and I have to have a job one week after graduation or I will be paying rent, working around the house, and effectively wiping out my savings account. And yes there are somethings about what happened during that talk that I disagree about and disapprove about, but mainly because I am so tired of being wrong all the time. But he's in Myrtle Beach right now.

Now the first rant that's going into the MS plague.

Canon? In a part about making a good original character? Wow. Look at that. Amazing. It shouldn't be though. Let me put it this way 99% of all the readers that lurk in the Kingdom Hearts section do so to read about their favorite canons, regardless of the genre/favorite parings/etc. How many times you've said to yourself: "Hmm . . . I want to read a story about some person's avatar where the canons appear only as sidekicks to this 'character?' and the rest of the Kingdom Hearts canon is completely disregarded." Not very often, I'm willing to bet. Fanfiction should, almost by definition, be about the canon.

The first sign of a Mary Sue is the complete inablity for the characters to do, say, or think about something that doesn't involve the MS. Remember, these people for at least the course of one game have managed to live, fight, and win on their own. So when your character appears on the scene, she should not become the center of the universe because, frankly, she's not what got our interest in the game in the first place.

And no matter who well developed your character might be, if she's surrounded by flat interpretations of the original characters, or some major characters suddenly and mysteriously disappear off the face of the canon for no good reason, then your character will never free herself from the shame of being labeled a Mary Sue. So feel free to develop the canon characters as well. As far as I know, Sora doesn't have a food obsession, but it fits with the happy-go-lucky personality and the anime stereotype. Kairi is more intellectual than she's presented in Kingdom Hearts, but she's not really a fighter, so I prefer to think of her as thinker. Riku probably isn't as pessimistic and cynical as I've presented him, but after so many Mary Sues, it's not impossible. And with Lai and Persei having such strong, exaggerated personalities, I have to give the canons exaggerated personalities of their own or risk having my OCs dominate the story.

Anyway, canon itself is the be all, end all. It's the ground that good fanfiction walks on and that great fanfiction takes off from. An interesting interpretation of it can give you a plausible way to insert your own original character. Washing up on the beach of Destiny Islands? Cliché. Family member? Longtime friend? Cliché, and not to mention completely improbable. Someone who came to Traverse Town? It's been done, but it works with the canon. Someone from a world that Sora and Co. visit during their travels? Well, that has possiblities, and if you know that you can't leave from a world without a Gummi Ship then your OC will be restrained.

Interesting interpretation of canon also gives your story a plot, which any story with an original character in a major role must have. Playing through Kingdom Hearts, things happen that need to be expressed, explained, developed, etc. Is there something in the canon that you disagreed with? Do you wonder what really happened after the end? What is the true nature of the Heartless? Do you have a favorite couple? There are more plot ideas out there than simply inserting an original character into Kingdom Hearts and following her around. So, please, I beg of you, use them.

That's it. Over and out.