Tools for Captain Scarlet fan fiction writers

[shaqui]

I wasn't making the ascertion that a story has to be filled with unnecessary exposition - that's another crime any writer should avoid, but which I've also come across a lot of times. As Hazel points out, it is a fine line.

[Marion]

Yes, it is a difficult call on how much explanation to include - and this is where I find my wonderful beta-readers come in so very useful. I can blether away about something , happily convinced that it is a well-known fact or whatever, and they will say - what are you on about?
I think the new series will muddy the water in some cases too, as there are several instances already where it differs from the original (as discussed elsewhere on the forum). In my own fiction - Scarlet and Black do not get on at all - even before the Mysterons get involved - and several other writers (myself included) have made reference to a past romance between Scarlet and Destiny whilst prefering to link him romantically with Rhapsody. These situations have no real foundation - except maybe inference from the original series/comics/novels etc - but it may become more important to explain what scenario the writer using, especially as the new series does develop its own plotlines.
BTW, Doc Brown- I can't for the life of me who you mean when you say:
I can think of at least one author who is going to be very upset if Captain Blue and Symphony aren't at least the very bestest of friends this time around!

[shaqui]

In my own fiction - Scarlet and Black do not get on at all - even before the Mysterons get involved...

Ah, that's where fan fiction can be such a problem - no unification of thought or characterisation. I for one would for have thought Scarlet and Black friends, but drama is about conflict, and it's a reasonable call to have some clash of personalities somewhere in Spectrum...

[Marion]

Shaqui wrote:
Ah, that's where fan fiction can be such a problem - no unification of thought or characterisation.

Well, neither do the sources we draw our inspiration from! That's what makes writing about Spectrum such fun - at least for me - and I love to see everyone else's take on the topics too! It makes for varied and interesting stories.
I think everyone's ideas are valid as long as they don't fly in the face of what slight evidence we do have...

[The Fox]

Trouble is, with the arrival of a completely new series with a completely different set of prior assumptions, it could become rather important to establish such things explicitly - if only to ensure that the reader is in the correct mindset. How long will it be before somebody makes the mistake of assuming when writing for Classic Scarlet that everyone knows Captain Black had a thing with Destiny prior to his ill-fated trip to Mars? I suspect this sort of thing is going to make life increasingly difficult for authors as the new series gathers momentum - and I can think of at least one author who is going to be very upset if Captain Blue and Symphony aren't at least the very bestest of friends this time around!

I think the only way to look at the new series is as a completely different entity to the original, with its own continuity. The back-story is slightly different, the vehicles are different, the characters are different. So you could have fanfic based around the classic series, and fanfic based around the new series - there's no reason why this should be a problem at all.
The Fox

[Carrie]

Fox, I think that's a very sensible comment. I for one am going to consider them as two different universes.
Course...I only have the time and inclination at the moment to write anything about the original series...
I was very interested in everyone's comments about info-dumps and exposition..(Doc/Hazel/Shaqui) It's something that I'm agonising over at the moment in a multiverse/classic story - (jeez..isn't THAT going to be confusing??) - i.e. how much to put in to make sense for people who don't know every minor detail of the backgrounds...without it sounding leaden..
I'm finding this thread discussion interesting and helpful..thanks guys!

[The Fox]

I was very interested in everyone's comments about info-dumps and exposition..(Doc/Hazel/Shaqui) It's something that I'm agonising over at the moment in a multiverse/classic story - (jeez..isn't THAT going to be confusing??) - i.e. how much to put in to make sense for people who don't know every minor detail of the backgrounds...without it sounding leaden..

Well, each to their own, but my personal opinion on the issue is that if you feel you're putting in a little too much exposition, info-dumping and so on, you're probably not concentrating on the right thing... the story should take priority, surely? And if there's anything the reader really needs to know, an appropriate juncture will probably present itself more or less naturally within the story.
The Fox

[Matt Crowther]

I agree with and see your point, if that makes sense, recently in my stories I've gone into too much info on one thing and not enough on the other. The story should be number one and keep everything else on par.

[Sage]

Good point

I always go for a 'less is more' approach with exposition in fanfic. Probably because I don't really like reading a lot of it myself. Also I tend not to think it's really very important/relevant to explain a lot, when for the most part you can get away with just a reference or two (e.g 'they flew to London in the SPJ', should make it pretty obvious said SPJ is a plane).

Will take for granted that people have seen the show and know the key details. Why else would they be reading the stories in the first place?
Otherwise will credit my readers with enough intelligence and initiative to just look stuff up, or figure it out for themselves.

Also a lot of things will become obvious because they are ingrained in the writer's mindset and end up being portrayed in the story without much thought. There's no need to explain that Scarlet & Blue are best friends, you can tell from their dialogue.

[Sage]

Shaqui wrote:
Ah, that's where fan fiction can be such a problem - no unification of thought or characterisation.

Well, neither do the sources we draw our inspiration from! That's what makes writing about Spectrum such fun - at least for me - and I love to see everyone else's take on the topics too! It makes for varied and interesting stories.
I think everyone's ideas are valid as long as they don't fly in the face of what slight evidence we do have...

I can see a lot of unity in the stories. For the most part we have a muturally agreed upon canon of our own collective devising (fanon). Ideas are presented then they are considered and evolve through subsequent stories, we share original characters, and so on.

Having been a fanfic 'creator' for a long time before actually writing anything (or even reading it) I came into it with my own ideas, and can see where our fanon is at work.

Do think the fanon is great. For continuity, and just that things make sense. It opens up new avenues that perhaps individiual writers might not have considered which they can encorporate and build on themselves. Also kind of fills in the blanks in parts.

The flipside is that at times I feel really self concious about using concepts/characters of my own devising, as I wouldn't want to confuse people or mess up the continuity our stories collectivley have. Usually fairly minor things most readers probably wouldn't notice (like tweaking the names of Blue's siblings; but have kept their genders, birth order and approximate ages) but still.

Yet I've given Magenta a teenage niece (Fae). Which far as I can tell doesn't tie up with anyone else's fic at all, and probably never will; and that doesn't phase me at all.
Think we all have the right to do that, shake things up a little. Even if it does prompt 'WTF! s' from various quaters.

Shall consider it as an interesting experiment, to see if/when a character or concept of mine becomes fanon. LOL that sounds very egoistical doesn't it?

[Matt Crowther]

A good point also. I was told to bear in mind there might be no one who knows anything about the show but I gathered after a while everyone does know. After all most of the stories does not completly reiliterate (sic) why Scarlet is indestructible and everything else to do with the show.

Having said that, I haven't written one since April 2004 (at least, in terms of putting it on the site). And everytime I try, I give up.

Good term 'fanon'

[Marion]

I think it can be generally assumed that most readers of the fanfic will know the basic aspects of the story. In my early fiction, I tended to always start with a few pargraphs explaining the set up- but it quickly became tedious and hard to find new ways of explaining it.
Where it is necessary to explain - through narrative or dialogue - is where your ideas may vary from the 'accepted norm' or where you are introducing someone or something for the first time - as Sage says - mention the SPJ is a plane, at least the first time it gets mentioned.
As the fandom grows - and with the NCS 'universe' changes to muddy the water - it may be more important to define which set of rules you are using, don't you think?
The other occaision when you need to explain some background is setting up your plot. Never assume the basic outlines are apparant to anyone but yourself - at least that's how it seems to me. Events, people and incidents you refer to and use, have to be explained if they're not part of the canon or fanon... otherwise it is incredibly confusing for the reader. Supplying background information may not be fun, but I think it is necessary. Your readers need to know what's happening in your imagination, after all.
But, the most important thing is to have fun doing it - or why else do we bother?

[Mary]

I think it can be generally assumed that most readers of the fanfic will know the basic aspects of the story. In my early fiction, I tended to always start with a few pargraphs explaining the set up- but it quickly became tedious and hard to find new ways of explaining it.

That was the problem I had when submitting stories to Power Star, a "non-denominational" fan fiction zine (i.e. it printed stories from all fandoms). In my first few stories I did put some background in the body of the story, but just enough to set the tone of the original series and provide just enough information for the zine's readers to understand what was going on. I tapered off after a while because I figured the zine's readers would know the backstory by now. I suggested to the editor that if he ever found the need (since our series is so little-known in the States) he could add the backstory in an introductory paragraph, which I would be happy to write for him if he so wished.

But then Power Star got a new editor. That editor then took it upon herself to insert a long, tedious backstory narrative in the BODY of EACH AND EVERY STORY I SUBMITTED after that. In a way I can understand this, as I was the only one submitting stories in this universe at the time, the stories were several issues apart and they may have had different audiences. But then when a) the editor started writing her own Scarlet fanfic and b) printed others' Scarlet fanfic, with similar narratives in each one, it really started getting annoying. The worst was when she would publish issues of reprints where she would run SEVERAL Scarlet stories without editing out the backstory.

Colonel Chris can vouch for this, as when she originally started up Spectrum Headquarters, she had taken my stories from Power Star. When I found her site and started corresponding to Chris I quickly began repairing the damage back to the way I had originally written the stories (and made some long-needed corrections of my own work along the way ).

So the fiction stories bearing my name that you see on Chris' site ARE the original versions, while the Power Star versions, although being the original *published* versions, are not. Hope that makes sense.

[Sage]

Ugh that's so stupid, major over kill there and it must have really weighed the stories down.
Which would have been a shame, as they are very good stories.

[hazel]

Sage - oh, it did! PowerStar was my introduction to other people's Scarlet fanfic, and I rapidly got extremely peeved with the constantly re-iterated backstory. This was around about the time I met Mary (online, not in person - that came later) and I quickly realised that it was not her decision to include those leaden chunks of exposition.

There are so many ways to introduce backstory and necessary explanation. For instance - might your readers not know that the SPJ is an aeroplane? In that case, you write something like: "Having received take-off clearance from the airport's control tower, the SPJ sped down down the runway. Its nose lifted, the undercarriage left the ground, and soon, the aircraft reached safe cruising height and speed." I defy anyone to mistake that, for instance, for the launch of a boat. (The first person to suggest that it could also be the launch of a space shuttle will be beaten around the head with a rolled-up copy of "The Silent Saboteur".)