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Sailor Moon Fanfic Unity :Why it should matter to you.
by T.M. Chiba
I believe that the Sailor Moon Fanfic world should be unified. This is not to say that the Sailor Moon Fanfic World is divisive. It has its moments, but for the most part the Sailor Moon Fanfic World is just spread out all over the web. There are many web communities for Sailor Moon fanficdom, the proverbial Countries in our world. These include "A Sailor Moon Romance" (ASMR, clearly the largest devoted to just Sailor Moon), "Fanfiction.net", the SMRFF Mailing List, the Sailor Moon Fanfiction Club on Yahoo, and many more communities of varying size and purpose.
If you look closely you will see that the Sailor Moon fanfic world is clearly one of the largest fanfiction communities on the web. Perhaps it was the fact that the series kept disappearing from television before the show was complete that stirred so many's imagination. There are thousands if not ten's of thousands of authors, readers and site owners, that make up the Sailor Moon Fanfiction World.
When I speak of Unity, I speak of it as a basic philosophy in approaching fanficdom. It is a simple goal which can be achieved through some realitively simple methods. Before I outline the methods, I want to state the postive results of a Sailor Moon Fanfiction Community;
Internal Support.
The more unified the community, the more writers, readers, and site-owners will feel they are part of something greater. Furthermore, the easier it will be for community members to support each other. As new fanfic sites appear every day, a greater community will allow those new authors and siteowner's to be welcomed and encouraged. A similar situation occurs on a smaller level at ASMR where new members are greated by the community. If that kind of effort can be expanded to the entire internet world of Sailor Moon fanfiction, it will make a major difference to those starting out.
Furthermore, as Sailor Moon Fanfic site owners age, they are exposed to more and more pressures, it's a general trend to see that site owners and authors who started in high school are largely challenged to keep up the work as they move onto college and the real world. The Sailor Moon Fanfic world can do a great service to support our own even as they face pressures that would encourage them to stop writing or give up their sites.
When a site goes down and it's fanfics with it, ideas are lost. Stories disapear that may never reappear. This should be prevented as much as possible. Granted, some people will give up, they will have good reasons to, but if these cases can be minimized the Sailor Moon Fanfiction community will benefit.
As the first wave of Sailor Moon Fanfiction world members faced more and more real world problems, this makes support from the rest of the community that more important.
Greater respect from the owners of the franchise.
Up until now fanfics are largely overlooked by companies, as are most fanworks. The industry is fully prepared to overlook their existence, however, this puts fanfics in the position of always having to be underground publications. However, with effort maybe fanfics can gain official recognition.
This is not wishful thinking either. Star Wars recognizes fan works. George Lucas himself appeared on a special recognizing the best fan made movies featuring his franchise. If George Lucas is willing to allow people to work in his garden even to a limited degree, one would think the enlightened folks that control Sailor Moon might be willing to deal as well.
Star Trek's owners also publishe fan works in book form to a limited degree.
Furthermore, the Sailor Moon franchise has recognized fanfic authors before, namely by giving Lianne Sentar the opportunity to write the official Sailor Moon novelizations.
The more unified Sailor Moon fanficdom is, the easier it is to convince the entities of the Sailor Moon Corporate Universe that we deserve recognition.
Sharing of innovation and information.
The major Sailor Moon fanfiction entities all have their own unique characteristics.
-A Sailor Moon Romance is a massive enterprise constantly working to get even better, they do an excellent job beyond all expectations. The community, and organization of fanfics on their site is excellent.
-The Sailor Moon Fanfiction Club and SMRFF mailing list have a solid community of people who know each other and get along well.
-Fanfiction.net is also a large entity, which serves many fanfic genres, but also features a wide variety of Sailor Moon fanfics.
-Smaller sites also have their own advantages and knowledge to bring to the table. By sharing what works and what doesn't, everyone in our community gains. I've rarely a met a member of the Sailor Moon fanfiction world who does not have a great deal of talent at something in the fanfic realm. Some need work to harness that talent, granted, but in general the Sailor Moon Fanfiction Community is an amazing group. The more connected we all are to one another the better things will be. That may sound sappy, but that's what I believe. If you look at success stories like ASMR and SMRFF where community is absolutely amazing you will understand what I mean.
-Even for those who take a less positive view of some of the communities I describe, or those who have had negative experiences on the web. The Sailor Moon Fanfiction World, is vast, and it is doubtful anyone will keep having negative experiences, there is just too many good people. The more unified we are, the less likely someone will feel left out.
It is also true that Sailor Moon Fanfiction is a place for writer's to grow. Every writer can improve, a more unified climate encourages fanfic world members to work together to make constructive comments and allows writers to grow in a nurturing and not hostile environemnt.
Free Site Decline
Obviously the Free Sites are not once they once were. Geocities has become hard to use, Homestead charges for all their services. Tripod remains stable, but the number of free web space hosts is declining limiting options available to new fanfic site owners. More and more people have turned to purchasing their own domains, but this does become expesive ASMR itself costs 1200 dollars a year to run. This site costs 40 dollars.
If the decline in free sites continue, site owner's may have to look to collaborate more to afford webspace or utilize domains effectively. The more the community is unified, the better we will collectively be able to ride the potential storm.
Now the Challenge: How do we Unify Sailor Moon Fanficdom?
Unity is not that difficult to achieve. It does not mean sacrificing creative independence or for control. It merely means encouraging greater community and linking between the sites that make up the Sailor Moon Fanfic world. Here are the following steps that can be taken.
Starting from the major sites and branching out: The majority of members of the Sailor Moon fanfic community know of at least one of the major Sailor Moon fanfic or Sailor Moon related sites such as the ones outlined on the front page of these sites. Encouraging these sites to link to each other and then from there to outside sites encourages information to flow between the major sites and out to smaller, but just as important sites.
An effort to hold online events to draw the fanfic world together: A Sailor Moon Romance, SMRFF and the Sailor Moon Fanfiction Club have all had various events at one time or another within their communities, a more unified effort will encourage people from all over the Sailor Moon Fanfic world to participate.
And there's more...
I encourage anyone who agrees, disagrees, or isn't sure to email or IM me your viewpoint. Or f you have your own suggestions on how to unify Sailor Moon Fanficdom send them my way. There are groups that have already made efforts, but only if they work together will unity be achieved.
Contact me: email: vpchiba@yahoo.com aim: tmchiba or tmchiba1 yahoomessenger: vpchiba