I haven’t posted in a long time. Frankly I’d be surprised if people actually take the time to read this through.
A thought about an author's original story plan vs. fan appeal. And how the author should know to NEVER choose fan appeal over their own well thought out, original story over the pressure to make fans happy.
For the first example, I am going to compare the story of Steven Universe to Fairy Tail.
In the Steven universe story, is was pointed out to me that Rebecca Sugar was a big fan of well rounded characters. Characters, like people, who have made shitty mistakes and even shittyer choices in their lives that leads to who they are as a person now.
Rose Quartz left spinel on a floating rock for 6,000 years, but he went off to start a rebellion that would give gems the freedom to express themselves as an individual instead of what they were made for.
Rebecca created these characters to reflect human behavior and thus seem like a real person. And did what every author hopes to do. Continued discussion after the course of the story. She left us with a huge debate to decide for OURSELVES if this character is good or bad. Because every artist, author, musician, and actor wants to create, or be a part of, something that lasts for centuries. So more and more people can enjoy what they made.
And the main reasons these people feel such pressure to create, is because the ever changing community you feel like you have to grasp before it’s too late.
So many people feel like they can’t put their work out there because people may not like it. And it’s stupid because they’re scared of a group of people that have no idea what they want.
And they’re so scared of the one or two violent people that they change their entire story to suit everybody's desires.
In Hiro Mashima’s Fairy Tail, he builds a brilliant story of self sacrifice and starting over that drove so many people to tears. He did an excellent job of portraying the sadness and hurt these characters went through to help ensure the safety of their loved ones.
But in the end after everything, every single character woke back up thanks to a character who had already sacrificed enough.
And by his own words, he didn’t want his fans to be sad with the end of the story. He gave into the thoughts of his fans and changed the story to something he thought would make them happy.
But while it made them feel good, it completely destroyed the complexity of emotions he had given us beforehand.
But Rebecca did the opposite, she wanted to build a character in her head and put it on the screen, not caring if her fans hated it or fought over a discussion she had wanted us to think about. And Thus made a great story with elements that hardly any other creator has dared to venture because of their fear of the toxic fandoms they might create.
So in short. Do what you want with your own story you create, and don’t give a fuck about what people think or how they’ll be impacted by the story. Create your hearts desire and your time will come because you put all your soul and effort into your creation and the passion alone will ring out among the crowd.