I really like Rina Dragonaar. It's hard to say exactly why, but if pressed I just sort of like her attitude about things. A lot of people must share my like of Rina, given that she's making a very good showing in the SOS original character popularity poll despite appearing in only a handful of scenes in Courtship.

Now we get to part 5 of SOS, and there's Rina shows up where the reader had no particular reason to even remotely expect to see her (at least everyone else who showed up at that event was at WPI).

So I was wondering if Rina was supposed to show up all along, or if her appearance is a direct result of her apparent popularity? Do you guys ever tweak or even rewrite your storylines due to character popularity? (I thought someone had once mentioned that UF stories are plotted fairly well along - who shows up where and when and what they do while they're there is spelled out in a UF writers' guide?)

Then again, this appearance could just be paving the way for Rina to join the ranks of not-so-minor secondary characters...

Regards,
Jeanne

http://www.jhedge.com
8th Annual Anime Fan Survey, now thru November 21:
http://go.compuserve.com/Anime

Jeanne

Neither; her appearance is a direct result of the fact that I really like her, despite the fact that she barged unexpectedly into a considerably more major role in Courtship than I'd anticipated. Plus she was the perfect cap to the cycle of unexpected appearances in Toronto (all of which have a subtext grounded in some sort of quasi-relationship).

>Do you
>guys ever tweak or even rewrite your storylines due to character
>popularity?

I can't think of an example of my having done it to accommodate external popularity, but I do it all the time with characters that unexpectedly develop in interesting directions and demand more screen time. Hell, Corwin was supposed to be a minor guest character in Wounded Rose and Christmas Rose, and that was supposed to be all for him in the Symphony. Now I dunno if I'll have the time or the inclination to do the series of stories he was supposed to be a major character in...

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

LAST EDITED ON Nov-02-01 AT 07:37 PM (EST)

<please note: MAY CONTAIN RAMPANT SPECULATION>

>So I was wondering if Rina was supposed to show up all along, or if her >appearance is a direct result of her apparent popularity?

God I hope not.

Given the author/editor(s) experiences with their fans and detractors, why would they feel the need to add characters to the brew because they've won a popularity contest?

<please note: WILL CONTAIN PERSONAL OPINION ON HOW FAN FICTION AUTHORS AND GEORGE LUCAS SHOULD ACT>

Now, if they solicit requests for characters showing up in their works (I still want to see the NXE where Jackie Chan guest stars), that's different. Then the authors are trying (for the hell of it) to have fan participation, or to settle and argument, or just to amuse themselves.

That said, the "Jar-Jar Binks" method of fanfiction (or movies) is very...distasteful...to me. I'm interested in what the author thinks/creates, not in having minor characters become major actors in the hopes of attracting or caterring to an audience. While my old college profs say "write to your audience", then didn't say "suck up to your audience".

"Sucking up to your audience" would include:
1. character given major role based on potential for larger fan base (c.f., Jar-Jar)
2. character (despite being irrevelant to plot) continues to play role in story
3. story line develops side plots to show case character (c.f. Seven of Nine)
4. character gets own series which is of low quality (c.f., Kramer, Ewoks)

On the other hand if you want to spin off a character and make something cool with them (say some of the Star Wars books), then that's fine. Your call.

In UF, esp in the early days, all sorts of characters pop up. I think most of us like the in-jokes, the references, the occasional gratutious appearances of original and borrowed characters. It makes it fun.

Part of the reason they're fun is that the UF group either works their characters into the Universe, or doesn't really reference them again. After all, have we seen Londo Molari in a while?

I hope that we do see more of Rina...but if we don't I'll be equally happy because that's they way the authors (and their muses) want it. Not because she beat out G'Kron or Mac.

btw. that might be proof for my speculation. Mac isn't popular on the popularity poll...but we've seen him in more episodes than Rina.

yours,
t.

edited to include material from previous post
edited again because I cannot spell! Damn homonyms...

Trigger Argee
trigger_argee@hotmail.com
Manon, Orado, etc.
Denton, never leave home without it.

Trigger Argee
Manon, Maccadon, Orado, etc.
Denton, never leave home without it.