So, I think I've mentioned this before, but it's best to say it here, because it pertains to DURIAN as well as others of its kind:
My biggest beef with memberfiction is the fact that nobody ever writes them properly. We've seen tons of them here on AP, but most of them are, well, doomed from the start. Yes, I write D.U.R.I.A.N.. D.U.R.I.A.N. is the worst offender.
The first problem with memberfiction is the fact that, from the start, you are expected to include anyone and everyone as quickly as possible. Never mind proper setup, everybody just wants to see themselves make a cameo. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with that, except, well, one thing:
The second problem with memberfiction is that everybody just wants to see themselves appear. This is an overgeneralization, yes, but quite often, people will instantly invest themselves to the character associated with them because...
The third problem is that we as authors and readers are naturally inclined to think of our characters as the members themselves, not characters in a fictional universe. This. Right. Here. Is my biggest beef with this. And ultimately why memberfiction is such a difficult medium to write, and to enjoy.
Our characters don't need to be developed because everyone expects the character to embody the user perfectly. Or to act along a set pattern of behaviors. We expect people like Gekko to have a villainous wall street shark personality or for Sai-chan to be sweet and innocent (though this image has no doubt been corrupted
), so there's less incentive to give a character depth in the writing because it's all implied.
That's fine and great, but we're forgetting that these are supposed to be
caricatures based loosely on the personalities of members, not the perfect embodiment of these members. We need to make these characters endure conflict, we need to nurture them, and develop them, and ultimately make them compelling. In my experience, it's easy to give layers to
your character because you know you can lampoon yourself without backlash. But how do you give negative traits to people you're writing about because you
like them? You just do it, but then suddenly the member associated with that character is put off.
I don't want to name names, but someone, someone I am very well acquainted with and have nothing but respect for, who I am still on only the best terms with, sent me a complaint about how they did not like the way their character was portrayed, because it did not mesh with their actual personality.
And that's what really sucks the most. You can't really play with these characters because the people associated think you're criticizing them or putting them down when all you're trying to do is
give the character some fucking depth.
I've kept quiet on these sentiments all this time because it's nothing to get worked up over, it's just a pointless, silly story, but this whole point is the main reason why I'm simply not invested in continuing it.
And I bring this up now because it's more of a rant than an actual review, so it's going here.
Re: D.U.R.I.A.N.
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Originally Posted by Kitsune Inferno
