[04:15:56 GMT Saturday 30 September 1995]
Future Sailor Cabinet FAQ v1.1
by Jason M. Howe 13 January 1999
Last Updated On: 10 June 1999
(based on FSC Mini FAQ by Tim Borreson)
Q: What is FSC?
A: FSC is an acronym.
Q: What's an acronym?
A: An acronym is a group of letters which form a word, while each letter within the
word represents its own word, like USA or FBI or CIA or NSA or FEMA.
Q: Then what does FSC stand for?
A: FSC stands for Future Sailor Cabinet.
Q: Why is it--
A: --called Future Sailor Cabinet? I knew that was coming next! Honestly, I don't
know why they decided on that name. Maybe they liked the acronym but it's stuck.
I think it was the best out of the names thrown around back in the early pre-FSC
era. See the "Sailor Newbie's FAQ" posts for more on that.
Q: What is it exactly?
A: It's a work of fan-fiction parody based on Sailormoon.
Q: What's fan-fiction?
A: Original stories written by fans of a certain show like Sailormoon.
Q: What's a parody?
A: See the collective works of Mel Brooks, parody master.
Q: What's Sailormoon?
A: I refuse to dignify that with a response, if you made it here you must have some
idea what Sailormoon is and you're just trying to be difficult.
Q: Where is it?
A: http://westwood.fortunecity.com/hermes/490/fsc/ is the URL for this FSC archive,
net.Edo. Then there are a few other archives out there like Neo net.Tokyo, Ikamori
Academy Library, and Tim's Almost Kind Of Semi-Official FSC Site. All those have
links on the main page. New stories are posted to the newsgroup alt.fan.sailor-moon
when finished.
Q: How big is FSC?
A: The collective works of FSC amount to about 3MB of stories which is quite a bit of
writing. I think a good sized hardcover novel runs around 1MB so FSC is about the
size of three large novels.
Q: How many episodes are there?
A: I've never counted but there's quite a few. Stories usually run about three parts
or episodes long. Estimates put the number at over 200, I won't know for sure until
I finish archiving the rest of the specials. These posts are divided into story
arcs, seven of them to date, a movie, an OAV, and several specials.
Q: How many people write for FSC?
A: Hard to say anymore, there's usually about half a dozen actively writing, but the
total number of writers who have contributed to the FSC is around two dozen or so.
Q: Can I write for FSC?
A: No one's stopping you but just because you post a story doesn't mean it will be
accepted into the FSC. There have been a few stories since the FSC was created
that have been ignored. Take this for an example.
I found that on DejaNews awhile ago, I even remember when it was first posted,
back in one of the many FSC dry spells. Now I in no way intend to pick on the
author here but it was obvious they had not read the archives. They also have
no FSC writing skill or a spell-checker, I suspect the author's native language
was one other than english.
Not that non-english natives can't write FSC, Eugeal does quite well and is a
recognized and respected FSC author, she just has an obviously better grasp of
the language. She doesn't speak perfect english, the broken english in her posts
reflect that, but the fact is that's one of the defining points of her stories;
we all love the way she speaks and I hope she doesn't change her writing style.
So, if you're serious about becoming an FSC author here's a few tips on how not
to be ignored:
Pre-requisites
--------------
1.) Know your source: Knowledge of Sailormoon, whether it be the DiC dub or the
original is a definite must. The FSC thrives on good Sailormoon jokes, it
is our source of parody afterall. References to other animes are welcome
too but be sure you don't go overboard.
2.) Know your audience: This is a fan-fiction parody by Sailormoon fans for
Sailormoon fans but there is a self-imposed rating of PG-13 on all FSC. We
like a good joke but try to keep the stories clean, the FSC isn't a lemon.
3.) Know your fellow author: We're all Sailormoon fans and we don't bite (well,
most of us don't) so feel free to contact us, tell us you're out there and
you're interested.
4.) Reading: Make sure you read the entire archive. It may seem like a lot but
in the end it's worth it. You'll get an understanding of the characters,
how they react, and just the general feel of how the FSC works.
5.) Writing: Make sure you have a good solid idea for a story. Good doesn't
mean you are expected to be an accomplished author, but your story should
be somewhat competant and cohesive. While plot holes and other such
anti-continuity phenomena have happened they are usually not intentional,
good or sought for.
Etiquette
---------
1.) Do not continue a post unless the original author specified. In the early
days when FSC was new someone would post a part, then wait for someone else
to pick it up and so on. This lead to problems when posts would show up on
some newsreaders but not others, as a result there are two different endings
to "The Evil New Scouts". Nowadays a whole story is written by the same
author or co-plotted by a couple authors, the only stories which are open to
anyone are the specials which pop up around the holidays.
2.) Do not introduce a dozen new characters. There are plenty to work with
already without adding more. If you're going to introduce characters it is
recommended you keep it to one or two unless the character is a parody of a
Sailormoon enemy like the sisters of the Negaphone.
a.) For one, it should usually be your author avatar and therefore share your
personality traits, it's just easier to write yourself but you don't have
to make it like you.
b.) For two, this is harder to pull off but can be done, successful methods
tend to be in the form of parent/sibling, sibling/sibling, friend/friend,
or a pair of lovers. When new characters are introduced they are usually
either a new senshi or a new enemy.
3.) Do not make your character invincible. Just because you're character isn't
allowed to die doesn't mean they aren't a target. Common citizens are great
for collecting energy or any number of other things. Good guys are always
being kidnapped and turned evil. Bad guys are always being outmaneuvered in
the end; some are turned good, some retreat to fight another day. Nobody's
perfect, make your character human with flaws. That's the main reason it is
recommended that you base your character on you because afterall, you're not
perfect either.
4.) Do not kill characters. This is a big no-no, it applies to your character
as well as all the other characters in the FSC, good or bad. Bad guys as a
general rule never die, and neither do the good guys; if they do they come
back to life via some supernatural means like the silver crystal to Usagi.
"Butterfly Chaos Theory" was the only story to ever kill off characters but
for the sake of continuity it was later rewritten so that they didn't die
afterall, thus making another story fit. This was the exception, not the
rule. Only MotD can die and that as they say is that.
Just follow these simple rules and I'm sure you'll do fine. If you have any
questions feel free to contact me at sapphrite@earthlink.net or track down any of the
other authors. A lot of us are busy with school and/or work so please be patient.
