I will again open this with a quote.

Honestly, that quote still holds for my opinion on Soulbonding.  To be very frank, it's rare that I have an SB who is from a video game, or a book, or a television show.  The occasion where I write REAL fanfiction, that is set completely in canon, is rare.  In fact it's only happened twice.  Most of the fanfiction I 'write' is written in my head, and it's usually the sappy, lovey-dovey romantic sort between my favorite male and female characters (oh god, Lyn likes het pairings!  Get the stones!).  They do not get written down.  They are never published on the Internet.  If they are, they will be in a quiet secret place that no one can find, although I think that would defeat the purpose of putting them online, so they'll probably never be put up here.  But I digress.

Look, this really isn't that hard.  What it is, to me, is having an intimacy with a character.  Feeling as though you understand a character so deeply that they are a part of you.  I don't think this is so incredibly psychotic, angsty, or serious, yet people are feeling the need to call it that and twist it into that anyway.  You might think that, as a creator of original characters, this kind of connection is neccessary. I do not think you have to SB to be an excellent writer, though I think many or most writers experience some form of it, unconsciously, especially if they do not write fanfic.

With fanfic it gets tricky.  In terms of a character you didn't create, the basic definition is the same--you feel a connection to the character you met through a game, or a book, or a television show, or a movie, or whatever form of entertainment introduced you to him/her.  Because of this connection you feel as if this character now exists with you, and that you understand him/her when you're writing with or about him/her.  I'll say now that I think the only person who can truly understand a character is the creator, however it is possible for anyone to develop an empathy with a created character.  I definitely don't think every fanfic writer soulbonds.

In general I find this to be an extremely flexible concept, widely open to interpretation.  There are only two major instances that I hesitate to deem soulbonding, both of which are discussed in the 'what it is not' section.  Other than these two instances (and even then, one of them can have cases made for it), I find most ideas and theories work well with my opinion of the core concept.  I think that I am a pretty easygoing (if perhaps easily irritated) person.  It upsets me to see flame wars breaking out over this concept, especially when I know that while I most certainly did not coin the word soulbonding in relation to the idea, many people learned of it at this page.  This page has been in existence for years, starting first at tripod, then moving to saucybard, and finally moving to kurai.  It's been down for almost a year, so while a lot of people know about it and there's still plenty of links to it, it doesn't get many views.  I don't really care how many people see this, I just want anyone who tacks my name and kurai onto soulbonding to see what I think.

This section is a fair bit shorter than the 'not' section because I really think this is a simple, easy to grasp idea.  You connect with a character.  You understand the character.  You have empathy, you have intimacy (and no, I'm not talking sexual intimacy, goddammit).  How is this tough to grasp?  It seems like achieving this kind of connection would be what makes a story great for you as a viewer, and great for you as a writer.  After all, how can you truly enjoy writing something if you don't have empathy for your characters, and how can you truly enjoy someone else's story if you don't feel for those characters as well?