Subject: Re: [FFML] [FF] The Nature of Love
From: "Mike W. Loader" <mloader@scs.unr.edu>
Date: 11/11/1996, 4:33 PM
To: Richard Lawson
CC: Fanfic Mailing List <fanfic@fanfic.com>

I'm of a few minds on this fic.

   On the one hand, it has the Lawson Hallmark - superbly written dialogue
and emotion. Stunning prose. realistic characters.

   On the other hand, there are OOC's and plotholes you could drive the
Shuttle's launch vehicle through.
   The end was the heart of all this. Ranma states that when he kisses
Akane, he gets the image of two women kissing, which repells him. Yet he
also states in this same section that he believes he's a guy, and thinks
of himself that way. And several times he kisses Kentaro (sp?) without
discomfort or indeed anything less than enjoyment.
   First off - I'm not disputing that having Ranma and Kentaro fall in
love is possible. It is, just as Ranma and Akane could fall out of love.
But not in the way you've built his character here. Points:

1 - Ranma, you establish, is so homophobic that the image of two members
of the opposite sex kissing disgusts him.

2 - Ranma views himself as male, and does not want to change this
viewpoint.

3 - Ranma is in love with another man. He feels no discomfort about this,
and thinks nothing (indeed, enjoys) kissing him.

   Sorry, doesn't wash. The ending, to me, seemed rather contrived and
hollow...riddled with contradictions like the above. It was a
disappointment, because the rest of the stoy is excellent. And the
previous one, TOF, was IMHO the best of your works to date.

   Going OOC for the sake of a story is one thing, but going this far OOC
and contradicting yourself is quite another.

- Mike of No Particular Title or Handle
===/\=====+==================================================================
  /  \    l   Mike Loader - Lincolnite, Amberite, Illuminatus, Discordian,
 / () \   l      Journalist, Author, Traveler, Historian, Java Fiend.
/      \  l        Trier - LA - LV - Kiev - Reno - Hong Kong. Fnord.
--------  l                    mloader@scs.unr.edu
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