Subject: The importance of being earnest poking fun.
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Posted on: 2011-11-13 13:44:00 UTC

The important thing about poking fun at badfic is that fun sometimes pokes you back. And that's a good thing. Think about how much more likable your characters would be if they got off a good-natured jibe at themselves once in a while. (If they are constitutionally incapable of doing so, they are really unsuited for being in the PPC.)

There's nothing inherently wrong with an agent being dangerous, but a "You'd better not mess with me or else!" vibe is good for one thing only in the PPC: laughter.

Now, consider how much more interesting a character would be if the author (you) poked fun at the agents. Not to make them totally incapable, but to make them more human (so to speak). For instance: if you wanted to keep the characters essentially the same, you could have the Carver keep her tight leather costume, but have fellow agents in the cafeteria snicker at it, ending with her shouting, "Hey, what's so funny?" Or, if you wanted to have knives strapped to all sorts of weird places on her body, you could have her try to pull one of them out to finish off a Sue, and realize that she would have to take off the piece of clothing that she's concealing the weapon under in order to reach it in a fight. (Oops.)

If Fix has what seems to be werewolf-like powers, you could have him possess the realistic senses of a canine--to the point where his sense of smell means TMI about his partner's personal grooming/eating habits, and strong, sickly-sweet Sue scents make him nauseous. It's not just about having power or not having it, but how you treat that power in your missions.

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