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Debate No. 5
Debate Part 5 - Patience
How can she do that
to our heroes!
First of all, I would like to thank everybody who bothered
to write to express their views regarding my stories. Good or bad,
this is greatly appreciated! After all, you cannot grow unless you
know what to correct, so, if you think you have anything to say, don't
worry and let me know! I am not generally offended easily!
A special thanks to Laura, for her plea to save Andre:
It is a wonderful feeling when somebody is so enthralled by a story!
(Please check Debate Part 10 for more of my
ideas on Andre). Same for Miranda, for the always sincere support
and the questions, counterpoints and criticism which made me think, and
Morgane, for her time, her ideas, and her Web
site. You are all very talented writers and I am honoured that
you gave me your opinion.
Ok, now, let me explain a few
things. If you are offended by some stories, let me say first that
you can never please everybody. Secondly, if you think that this
does not stick to the chronology or the characters of the original stories,
I will say that my writing is like a new car you are taking for a spin:
you take the keys and the car is in perfect order. By the time you
are done, the car is not in the best of shape, you try to tidy it as much
as you can before you bring it back.
What I mean is that I start
with the situation and the characters as they are in the story in the Manga
or the Anime, but, because I have them encounter situations they never
did "in reality", they start behaving differently from this experience,
thus becoming different from the established characters. I try to
tidy the ends of the stories so they are more compatible. Sometimes
it works, sometimes it doesn't.
The aim of a good story is,
after all, to entertain, and this is fiction! I try to make my characters
behave as much as possible according to the original works, but sometimes,
it is just more fun to have them misbehave. There are only so many
stories you can write that would fit in the original timeline and with
the established behaviour of all characters in all situations.
A little while ago, there was,
apparently, a polemic regarding another story which gave Andre a lover
in the shape of a young foreign prostitute resembling Oscar. I can
understand that it is never pleasant to read about those things when you
have in your head the idea of an "ideal" couple in the persons of Oscar
and Andre, and everything else which is involved is therefore badly seen.
This fanfic, which I have read and liked very much, had the advantage of
breaking the taboo that asphyxiated the creation of stories: from
now on, it was OK to write about other love or sex experiences involving
our heroes.
I think the problem actually
comes from the relationships and the affection depicted, rather than the
act of having sex with somebody else: Despite the fact that I may
write some bad and/or unpleasant stories, I still can't bring myself to
give Oscar or Andre lovers they actually appreciate. These are either
"easy" and meaningless, or perverse who abuse them. In any case,
they do not represent any Love relationship, or even Friendship.
Which is actually totally different from the story I was describing above.
In a strange way, I cannot force myself to "kill" the idea of the "eternal"
"ideal" couple represented by Oscar and Andre. I just make it a bit
more tricky by placing people in their way: it is so much more interesting
this way! But I am a romantic at heart. Stories do not necessarily
need to finish well to be romantic! (As if you didn't know, I mean,
we are talking about Berusaiyu No Bara!).
As Miranda wrote to me: it is
reasonable to think that Andre may have had some (purely sexual) experience
before he made love with Oscar, but she is right in the sense that Oscar,
refusing her femininity -she is determined to be the most ferocious of
men- is highly unlikely to have had sex before that famous night with Andre.
So there you go, I was probably wrong to write "La Fuite", it wasn't in
character, but my only defence is that I wanted to explore every avenue
possible, Oscar knew she was going to die, so... why not? I reassure
you, I would not see anybody else but Oscar and Andre together and this
piece was more or less a rhetorical exercise.
As I said before, if I manage
to make people think about Berubara (even if this is because they hate
me because of what I have done to their favourite characters), then this
is entirely worth it!
Keep writing to me, I'll correct...
More about my views on the character of Andre: Debate
Part 10
Is it only me?
I have a question for all other
Fanfic writers out there, many I would love to get in touch with, since
I love your stories... How does your writing "work"? How do
you go about the process?
Personally, I never end up writing
what I planned! I start with a solid idea, even pointers and a sort
of scenario. I know where I want to start, what I want to say and
how to end it... (honest, I always put those guidelines down!), but as
soon as I start writing or typing and I am getting into the story... nothing
in sight!
I start to add a few more dramatic
elements, can't seem to help it, maybe my love for drama, some more background
(where does it all come from?) and before I know it, "my" characters are
already heading in a strange (and distinctly different) direction.
The tone, of course, ends up
changing as well, depending on the result: I am not going to use a light
tone to describe a major incident or confrontation (confrontation I didn't
think about 5 minutes before my fingers put it in the middle of MY story,
obviously without telling my brains first).
Basically, I don't control a
thing! And when I say I didn't expect to write some stories like
that, it is actually the truth!
The funny thing about that is
that quite a few of these added passages in my stories end up being the
ones people remember and enjoy the most! Obviously that doesn't mean
that these passages are bad, because some turned out better that the original
plot I planned, but they are certainly spontaneous!
And this is the greatest thing,
you see... when you get somebody thinking about something he or she
enjoys, then dozens of thoughts come to mind, and they continue until the
last word is written... until the next story. This, you see, is what
will keep the Rose of Versailles alive, and I am glad it is alive in my
mind.
I have to admit, at least, that
I am lucky in that I have managed my stories so that they always finish
the way I intended. It takes a bit of work, and it certainly takes
longer than I expected... so much for control. But did anybody really
think we could discipline characters like these?
Berusaiyu no Bara; Lady Oscar: All Rights Reserved Ikeda Productions 1972-1973, Tokyo Movie Shinsha Co. 1979-1980.
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