First Impressions - A Meme
Jun. 27th, 2006 08:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azuriteOkay, so in light of me trying to find some semi-decent Sailor Moon classic fics, I have decided to peruse Alicia Blade's "First Love: Usagi and Mamoru Beginnings" C2 over at FFnet. First Love actually used to be a pretty massive fanfic archive; it moved around a lot, died, and then was finally reborn in the form of a pretty ambiguous C2.
For me, first impressions come from two major things: the title and the summary. The summary, of course, has much more weight than the title, but it can vary. So I've decided to give myself a bit of an exercise and ignore the title and summary as best as I can, and then just read THE FIRST LINE/PARAGRAPH of the story. If I like it, I'll keep reading. Who knows, maybe it'll be worth it. But you can help me judge.
I was confused. For several weeks now, maybe months, I had seen this Tsukino Usagi, this unexplainable girl I was attracted to. She was a complete enigma, Tsukino Usagi, Sailor Moon. --The angel, Dannee-san.
Read? No Read?
Usagi relaxed into the leather office chair, leaning back as far as it would let her, watching as the computer came to life, waiting patiently for the home page to appear. It was a dark night, and her family was out, opting to go to a movie; there was nothing planned for Usagi that night, however, and she had decided that it was a good night to use the computer. --Anonymous?, Goddess Usagi.
Read? No Read?
The light touch of a hand on his tense shoulder brought Mamoru back to himself. “Mamo-chan,” its owner whispered softly. “Matte, onegai.” As he turned to her, a single dark brow arched questioningly, sapphire eyes met cerulean. “Kenji-papa would not be very pleased to see me driven up in a boy’s car, after all,” she reminded him gently. “Besides, I was at Rei-chan’s house, remember?” --Togewonuku, Arashinobara Jikkankakyoku
Laugh? No Laugh? Read? No Read?
Usagi looked at the clock across the café, its bright colors reflected the time: 4:39. One more minute, she thought. She glanced back down to the magazine article she was reading about time travel. The article caught her attention, not because it was actually about time travel, but the fact that it’s being researched. --The Secret Behind The Roses, Jill Annette
Read? No Read?
The results thus far:
(1) No read. Why? Because first person POV is hard to pull off well, especially with Mamoru. And this first line doesn't "sound" like him at all.
(2) No read. It just seems jarring. Usagi doesn't strike me as the type who would gravitate toward using a computer. That's Ami's forté.
(3) Read with a laugh-- er, no read. This is a sequel to Sexylyon's infamous "Interlude" (steamy UsaMamo first season smut), but not only does the author announce her sexual status in the author's notes, but she uses fangirl Japanese, FAKE Japanese (the title, ladies and gentlemen? Is not Japanese), and many other evil things, all in the name of imitating Sexylyon's never-quite-purple prose. And while I can see Usagi maturing as a result of finally getting together with Mamoru far earlier than expected or intended (assuming they WERE both smothering feelings for one another, rather than having those feelings based on their past), I don't think she'd mature like BANG! Even in "Interlude," Usagi was devious and witty, but not WISE.
(4) No read. Usagi, care about time travel? Only if she's traveled back in time herself, and is waiting for Mamoru to walk into the arcade so she -future queen of Earth- can seduce him and get a good laugh out of it. I've only seen that done well once, by the way, and it isn't this fic. Also, bad grammar. Know your "its" and "it's".
God, is there such a thing as GOOD Sailor Moon fic anymore? No, let me revise that -good Sailor Moon fic, preferably from Classic (because that's the season I'm watching at the moment, therefore the season I want to read), and something I've never read before. Better if it's new, EVEN BETTER if it's finished.
Nominate stuff. Judge stuff. Give me the first line or first paragraph. And pass it on for your fandom.
I love Seventh Sanctum. Seriously! It's got so many great generators which are a kick to laugh at, even if you don't use them. But generators can and ARE useful at times, and with this whole plethora of bad!SM fic, I had this idea... why not make a Sailor Moon generator? No, really. The parameters would be pretty easy to set, it's the fun of mixing and matching EVERYTHING up that could inspire a good idea. But am I biting off more than I can chew? Is it even possible?
Example categories:
ACTORS:
* Sailor Senshi (canon senshi, on the side of good- no original senshi)
* Helpers (the guardian cats, Tuxedo Mask, et. al.)
* Friends (anyone with non-magical powers who is a friend of a Senshi or Helper.)
* Villains (including evil Sailor Senshi, but not the brainwashed ones, or brainwashed!Tux. Would include the "Big Bads" as well as the smaller fry, but not individual youma, etc.)
PLACES:
* Earth places (places in Japan, seen somewhere in some form of the series, i.e. anime, manga, PGSM, video game locations)
* Extraterrestrial places (places on the moon or other planetary bodies, places in other dimensions, the Space-Time Gate)
PROBLEMS:
* Someone turns evil
* Someone turns good
* Someone must go on a quest
* Someone is kidnapped
* Someone is killed and must be ressurrected
* Someone must be protected
* Someone is tinkering with time
* Someone is sucking everyone's energy
* Someone is destroying everything
GENRES:
Romance
Comedy/Humor
Parody
Action/Adventure
Drama
Angst/Tragedy
Fantasy
Horror
Supernatural
Thriller
Can anyone think of any additional categories or subjects to go in the categories? I wouldn't want it to be ridiculously complicated, but I'd love to have the results come out something like this:
One day while at [Tokyo Tower], [Sailor Venus] discovers [a treacherous plot to kidnap] [Sailor Mercury] and [turn her evil]. Genre: [Drama].
It's simple, but you could really run with it, I think. *shrug* I just don't know how to go about it. I don't know if I'd want it to be completely random with little-to-no input, a'la many of the SS generators, or have some input, like a Mad Libs (text fields), or possibly with multiple drop-down menus. It would be even more complicated if I let people choose Japanese names versus dub, so I'd probably be better off with a conversion chart.
For me, first impressions come from two major things: the title and the summary. The summary, of course, has much more weight than the title, but it can vary. So I've decided to give myself a bit of an exercise and ignore the title and summary as best as I can, and then just read THE FIRST LINE/PARAGRAPH of the story. If I like it, I'll keep reading. Who knows, maybe it'll be worth it. But you can help me judge.
I was confused. For several weeks now, maybe months, I had seen this Tsukino Usagi, this unexplainable girl I was attracted to. She was a complete enigma, Tsukino Usagi, Sailor Moon. --The angel, Dannee-san.
Read? No Read?
Usagi relaxed into the leather office chair, leaning back as far as it would let her, watching as the computer came to life, waiting patiently for the home page to appear. It was a dark night, and her family was out, opting to go to a movie; there was nothing planned for Usagi that night, however, and she had decided that it was a good night to use the computer. --Anonymous?, Goddess Usagi.
Read? No Read?
The light touch of a hand on his tense shoulder brought Mamoru back to himself. “Mamo-chan,” its owner whispered softly. “Matte, onegai.” As he turned to her, a single dark brow arched questioningly, sapphire eyes met cerulean. “Kenji-papa would not be very pleased to see me driven up in a boy’s car, after all,” she reminded him gently. “Besides, I was at Rei-chan’s house, remember?” --Togewonuku, Arashinobara Jikkankakyoku
Usagi looked at the clock across the café, its bright colors reflected the time: 4:39. One more minute, she thought. She glanced back down to the magazine article she was reading about time travel. The article caught her attention, not because it was actually about time travel, but the fact that it’s being researched. --The Secret Behind The Roses, Jill Annette
Read? No Read?
The results thus far:
(1) No read. Why? Because first person POV is hard to pull off well, especially with Mamoru. And this first line doesn't "sound" like him at all.
(2) No read. It just seems jarring. Usagi doesn't strike me as the type who would gravitate toward using a computer. That's Ami's forté.
(3) Read with a laugh-- er, no read. This is a sequel to Sexylyon's infamous "Interlude" (steamy UsaMamo first season smut), but not only does the author announce her sexual status in the author's notes, but she uses fangirl Japanese, FAKE Japanese (the title, ladies and gentlemen? Is not Japanese), and many other evil things, all in the name of imitating Sexylyon's never-quite-purple prose. And while I can see Usagi maturing as a result of finally getting together with Mamoru far earlier than expected or intended (assuming they WERE both smothering feelings for one another, rather than having those feelings based on their past), I don't think she'd mature like BANG! Even in "Interlude," Usagi was devious and witty, but not WISE.
(4) No read. Usagi, care about time travel? Only if she's traveled back in time herself, and is waiting for Mamoru to walk into the arcade so she -future queen of Earth- can seduce him and get a good laugh out of it. I've only seen that done well once, by the way, and it isn't this fic. Also, bad grammar. Know your "its" and "it's".
God, is there such a thing as GOOD Sailor Moon fic anymore? No, let me revise that -good Sailor Moon fic, preferably from Classic (because that's the season I'm watching at the moment, therefore the season I want to read), and something I've never read before. Better if it's new, EVEN BETTER if it's finished.
Nominate stuff. Judge stuff. Give me the first line or first paragraph. And pass it on for your fandom.
I love Seventh Sanctum. Seriously! It's got so many great generators which are a kick to laugh at, even if you don't use them. But generators can and ARE useful at times, and with this whole plethora of bad!SM fic, I had this idea... why not make a Sailor Moon generator? No, really. The parameters would be pretty easy to set, it's the fun of mixing and matching EVERYTHING up that could inspire a good idea. But am I biting off more than I can chew? Is it even possible?
Example categories:
ACTORS:
* Sailor Senshi (canon senshi, on the side of good- no original senshi)
* Helpers (the guardian cats, Tuxedo Mask, et. al.)
* Friends (anyone with non-magical powers who is a friend of a Senshi or Helper.)
* Villains (including evil Sailor Senshi, but not the brainwashed ones, or brainwashed!Tux. Would include the "Big Bads" as well as the smaller fry, but not individual youma, etc.)
PLACES:
* Earth places (places in Japan, seen somewhere in some form of the series, i.e. anime, manga, PGSM, video game locations)
* Extraterrestrial places (places on the moon or other planetary bodies, places in other dimensions, the Space-Time Gate)
PROBLEMS:
* Someone turns evil
* Someone turns good
* Someone must go on a quest
* Someone is kidnapped
* Someone is killed and must be ressurrected
* Someone must be protected
* Someone is tinkering with time
* Someone is sucking everyone's energy
* Someone is destroying everything
GENRES:
Romance
Comedy/Humor
Parody
Action/Adventure
Drama
Angst/Tragedy
Fantasy
Horror
Supernatural
Thriller
Can anyone think of any additional categories or subjects to go in the categories? I wouldn't want it to be ridiculously complicated, but I'd love to have the results come out something like this:
One day while at [Tokyo Tower], [Sailor Venus] discovers [a treacherous plot to kidnap] [Sailor Mercury] and [turn her evil]. Genre: [Drama].
It's simple, but you could really run with it, I think. *shrug* I just don't know how to go about it. I don't know if I'd want it to be completely random with little-to-no input, a'la many of the SS generators, or have some input, like a Mad Libs (text fields), or possibly with multiple drop-down menus. It would be even more complicated if I let people choose Japanese names versus dub, so I'd probably be better off with a conversion chart.
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no subject
Date: 2006-06-27 04:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-27 04:21 pm (UTC)...I also have a lot of stories I'd love to write/see written, stashed in an ideas file at home. :D
no subject
Date: 2006-06-27 04:29 pm (UTC)And I can't find Sailor Moon anyway. It's very annoying.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-27 04:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-27 04:46 pm (UTC)But nowhere.
I don't get it. Sailor Moon is right next to Pokemon and Dragonball Z in Big Anime Names in the US.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-27 04:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-28 02:14 am (UTC)