Well the problem with that is if you are not writing what is plausible, you
are writing what is not plausible.  Of course non-standard couples are
possible and maybe even likely if you shift the circumstances around, but in
any fic that does not solely focus on this 'non-standard' relationship it
could be an unnecessary burden to the story, although it is also possible
that a detailed subplot focusing on the relationship could be interesting,
assuming it was well written.

My first encounter with a desire to write something that didn't obviously
fit into a story was a "Ranma wears girl's clothing to the movies" deal I
wanted to put into A Demon's Delight. I'm already into the final chapter and
because I was unable to devote a significant amount of the story to fleshing
out that particular subplot it seems to linger, and my readers will have to
wait until Crash-Course With Destiny and even The Sin War (part 4 of my
Demon Cycle) to get a well developed subplot that focuses on that aspect of
the story.

However, if you go read Clothes Make The... by Nicholas Leifker (he had two
co-authors, Hitomi and someone whose name escapes me) you will see that it
is an obvious "Ranma does the transgender thing" fanfic, and although many
people disagreed with the way a few scenes played out, it is generally a
good story.  The reason?  The entire story is focused on exploring the
possibility that Ranma could enjoy living some, if not all, of his life as a
female.

It seems to me that it takes a lot of work to make a previously un-plausible
idea work in a way that it is interesting and believable.  There was
recently a post requesting someone to write a Nabiki & Ranma get together
fanfic.  Well, what are the steps that need to be taken to get this to work?

First off, you must get rid of Akane, or at least give Ranma and Akane a
good reason not to get together.  That could take some work in itself, maybe
Akane dies?  That is a possibility that is used in A Duet of Pigtails to
setup a relationship between Ranma and a totally unlikely character, and it
seemed to work there.

Let's see, after that there is Ukyou.  I think it is generally accepted that
if Akane weren't around Ranma would end up with Ukyou.  You'd need a good
reason for them not to marry.  Maybe Ranma decides to honor his father's
promise to unite the Tendo and Saotome families because it might be easier
to clear his debt of honor with Ukyou, which is a material thing and can be
replaced.  There's some work for any author, Ranma doesn't seem to be the
type to choose honoring his father over following his feelings, but anything
can work if it is written well.

Once you've gotten here, yes, Nabiki probably becomes the most likely
partner for Ranma.  However, there is still some work to be done.  First
off, they don't have any sort of obvious affection for each other.  They
never thought of each other in a relationship sense that I am aware of, and
if they did it was short and fizzled quickly.  (I believe at one point
Nabiki tried to claim Ranma as a fianc�, but I'm fuzzy on the memory and it
could be fanfic convention)  This gives the author the task of making them
like each other -- somewhat like the task Rumiko Takahashi faced with Akane
and Ranma throughout the series.  Nabiki must do things that make Ranma
begin to like her, or vice versa, etc.

In short, I don't think authors should write only what is plausible or
obvious, but I believe that in most stories that don't solely focus on the
relationship, it is smoother to use the couple that fits the best, so that
more time can be spent on the topics and issues the characters will face
that isn't relationship related.  In a relationship story, you can pick any
two characters you want and make them a working couple if you can devote a
lot of creative energy to it.  You want Ranma and Ryouga together?  Well,
there is a lot of psychology to overcome there but I am sure that someone,
somewhere has an idea for this that might just work.  The beauty of
characters, and people in general when it comes to stories, is that with
time they can change.  With extreme situations they can change.  With a well
written and well planned story, someone might even read it.

Draxonx@bellsouth.net

-----Original Message-----
From:	ffml-bounce@fanfic.com [mailto:ffml-bounce@fanfic.com] On Behalf Of
Keiichi Masaki
Sent:	Friday, January 08, 1999 3:16 AM
To:	David Johnston
Cc:	Fanfic Mailing List
Subject:	Re: [FFML][Rant] Fanfiction couples

If fanfic writers only wrote what was "plausible," what would the point?
Personally, I think some of these couples might have potential (of course,
this comes from the guy who specializes in Ten-Kiyo fics, but still...).