Hmmm...
Hokay. Have been thinking about my objections to the whole "making this a Haruhi fanfic" plan (and note that having any SOS-dan characters know The Truth About Handwavium - and how to properly exploit it to best effect - would force us to that track rather thoroughly, given the universe as structured.)
My objections are as follows.
- First, it means that their story is simply More Important than anyone else's story. They are more significant, they are more meaningful, and everyone else just Isn't As Cool. Canon Haruhi defines the universe by her very thoughts and emotions. This makes her, inherently, the most important thing in any universe that contains her. The quest of "don't let her get bored" is more significant than every other quest there is - because if that one fails catastrophically, none of the rest will matter. More than that, you're introducing characters around her who can do things that were originally set in the "no one can do this" box. They are cool in ways that no one else is allowed to be cool (Time Travel, psychic powers not dependant on the 'wave, and Full Knowledge of Handwavium are all clearly in this category. Even wave-derivative psionics are suspect at best.) In their light, all other characters are lesser.
- Second, by similar process, it will have a strong tendency towards meaning that They're Right - and, by extension, that if you disagree with them, it's because You're Wrong. No one else gets this. All other morality is subjective.
- Third, tying into the first two, as soon as you have a group of people who are Just Plain Cooler, then the things they involve themselves in are Just Plain More Important. Anything that does not tie into the SOS-dan arc in some way is suddenly a "background flavor" story.
- Fourth, it takes a universe that was original fic and turns it into fanfic, and does so to no real purpose (to my mind, at least). The point of going with fanfic rather than original fiction seems (to me, at least) to be the following: first, to provide inspiration and emotional investment to the authors, helping them to write. It seems to me, by the production so far, that we have plenty of both - and I don't see that turning it into a haruhi fic really adds all that much. Second, it provides a universe and characters for those writers who aren't as good at coming up with their own (hey, we all have shortfalls somewhere) - again, it seems to me that we have the beginnings of a nice, complex, thriving universe, and a bunch of interesting characters to populate it - as well as a veritable mine of inspirations to draw new characters from. third, the ready-made characters that it provides are ones that the readers already know and care about. The need for exposition is reduced, and you've got a bit of emotional investment (sometimes more than a bit) going in. For here - well, we're not really dealing with the SOS-dan as characters in enough focus to bring out the emotional investment (at least, not yet) and I don't see that the prior knowledge aspects are all that helpful, as we have *loads* of unknowing characters to do the learning onscreen with, in appropriately interesting, non-exposition-block ways.
On the disadvantage side, if it *is* fanfic, then you don't own it. Not completely, anyway. Always you are beholden to another. Here, I see we still get the disadvantage, but not the advantage to go with it.
- Fifth, we're just getting started. The world is yet unformed - and already we're into Uberplot. Once you give in to the Uberplot, forever will it dominate your destiny.
Essentially, then, it takes a wide-open, semi-lifelike, everybody bouncing around doing their own thing, building a shared history universe, and turns it into The Story of the SOS-dan, with being told from the POV of support characters of varying levels of importance and connection.
I have said things like this before, but I will reiterate. As I am not actually contributing a character, or actual writing, I do not feel that I have direct influence in my own person here. I do not get a vote. I cannot stand for my words. My words stand for themselves.
Hokay. Have been thinking about my objections to the whole "making this a Haruhi fanfic" plan (and note that having any SOS-dan characters know The Truth About Handwavium - and how to properly exploit it to best effect - would force us to that track rather thoroughly, given the universe as structured.)
My objections are as follows.
- First, it means that their story is simply More Important than anyone else's story. They are more significant, they are more meaningful, and everyone else just Isn't As Cool. Canon Haruhi defines the universe by her very thoughts and emotions. This makes her, inherently, the most important thing in any universe that contains her. The quest of "don't let her get bored" is more significant than every other quest there is - because if that one fails catastrophically, none of the rest will matter. More than that, you're introducing characters around her who can do things that were originally set in the "no one can do this" box. They are cool in ways that no one else is allowed to be cool (Time Travel, psychic powers not dependant on the 'wave, and Full Knowledge of Handwavium are all clearly in this category. Even wave-derivative psionics are suspect at best.) In their light, all other characters are lesser.
- Second, by similar process, it will have a strong tendency towards meaning that They're Right - and, by extension, that if you disagree with them, it's because You're Wrong. No one else gets this. All other morality is subjective.
- Third, tying into the first two, as soon as you have a group of people who are Just Plain Cooler, then the things they involve themselves in are Just Plain More Important. Anything that does not tie into the SOS-dan arc in some way is suddenly a "background flavor" story.
- Fourth, it takes a universe that was original fic and turns it into fanfic, and does so to no real purpose (to my mind, at least). The point of going with fanfic rather than original fiction seems (to me, at least) to be the following: first, to provide inspiration and emotional investment to the authors, helping them to write. It seems to me, by the production so far, that we have plenty of both - and I don't see that turning it into a haruhi fic really adds all that much. Second, it provides a universe and characters for those writers who aren't as good at coming up with their own (hey, we all have shortfalls somewhere) - again, it seems to me that we have the beginnings of a nice, complex, thriving universe, and a bunch of interesting characters to populate it - as well as a veritable mine of inspirations to draw new characters from. third, the ready-made characters that it provides are ones that the readers already know and care about. The need for exposition is reduced, and you've got a bit of emotional investment (sometimes more than a bit) going in. For here - well, we're not really dealing with the SOS-dan as characters in enough focus to bring out the emotional investment (at least, not yet) and I don't see that the prior knowledge aspects are all that helpful, as we have *loads* of unknowing characters to do the learning onscreen with, in appropriately interesting, non-exposition-block ways.
On the disadvantage side, if it *is* fanfic, then you don't own it. Not completely, anyway. Always you are beholden to another. Here, I see we still get the disadvantage, but not the advantage to go with it.
- Fifth, we're just getting started. The world is yet unformed - and already we're into Uberplot. Once you give in to the Uberplot, forever will it dominate your destiny.
Essentially, then, it takes a wide-open, semi-lifelike, everybody bouncing around doing their own thing, building a shared history universe, and turns it into The Story of the SOS-dan, with being told from the POV of support characters of varying levels of importance and connection.
I have said things like this before, but I will reiterate. As I am not actually contributing a character, or actual writing, I do not feel that I have direct influence in my own person here. I do not get a vote. I cannot stand for my words. My words stand for themselves.