First, a note or two about Nabiki and the hordes of gaijin.
She is the only Tendo daughter we slavering gaijin have a shot at so get
used to it. No one in his right mind would ever dream of writing a story
in which Tendo Kasumi fell for a gaijin, right? It might be possible to
do the opposite, but Kasumi ain't gonna go for some dumb ass
foreigner--forget it! Your generic Kasumi and the Gaijin yarn will be
pure WAFF or high tragedy but that limits the choice of endings for the
writer. Now that I have mentioned it, I might write one.
Well how about Akane? Gaijin are by no means that durable. Think about
it.
Well how about Ukyo. Yes, it coild be done. It would be a little too far
from the central fires to work well, but it could be done.
Shampoo? See answer to Ukyo.
Kodachi? I don't do pure lemon. I certainly do not indulge in lemon
mixed with S&M. Not that I have anything against sex mind you. I am
rather fond of sex, but I do like to keep my sex separate from my pain.
More importantly, I'm not much on all sex and no story. Sex is a spice
which is best used sparingly in my opinion.
What about a female gaijin falling for Akane? Ah, well...I don't have
the requisite, personal experience to do a proper job with such a
story. It would make for a very intriguing plot if handled with some
sensitivity. Doubtless there is someone out there that could do a first
rate job with this kind of yarn and I for one would love to read it, but
I am not a writer with the skills required to do a proper job with such
a plot.
Okay, how about a female gaijin falling for Ranma? That would just be
more of the same. It could be done, but the writing would have to be
beyond reproach. It would be simpler to write a story wherein a female
gaijin turned Ranma's head. Either way, if you are writer enough to pull
it off, you get lots of fireworks and soap bubbles. I might take a shot
at one of these plot lines. Both are tempting. "Blonde busts" as my wife
refers to them, have their uses.
"But here's tha thing, Kuno baby. You gotta crawl before you can walk."
Nabiki said drily with a self-satisfied smirk, "Guess who gets picked
on first! Not that I mind. I love leading them around by the nose."
Why a Marine? Whenever we Americans have an exceedingly difficult and
dangerous objective which absolutely, positively must be taken without
fail, who do we call? I'll give you a hint. It ain't the 10th Mountain
Division.
NO! I am not a Marine. My apologies to you Marines for any mistakes I
have made in handling a Marine character. If you want to beat me up for
it, have at it. I know for a fact I cannot outrun or out fight any of
you. Well, maybe if you are a very old Marine I can outrun you. Maybe.
Now, about criticism. C&C is necessary and in fact is the express
purpose of this mailing list from what I can see. C&C is good. This is
not the sort of criticism I find worrisome. It is part of the learning
process necessary to an aspiring writer's education. The sort of
criicism I find irksome is the "newspuke" variety. I don't think anyone
on this mailing list needs that sort of stuff. Such "criticism" is aimed
at potential readers, ostensibly to help readers avoid wasting their
time and entertainment dollars on bad material. So long as such
"critics" do a good job, they are useful--to readers.
Robert A. Heinlein once wrote that a writer should not become too
enraged by one of these "critics." They. he wrote, "...hate all creative
people equally." I am forced to lend some credence to Heinlein's theory
because there are a couple of these "critics" that I pay close attention
to. If they pan something, I put it on my "must see" list. They rarely
lead me wrong.
George Bernard Shaw once wrote that the best criticism he ever received
was "...six-hundred words of closely reasoned praise."
Anyone who has ever posted a story in any kind of literary forum will
readily agree with Shaw, at least on an emotional level. Writing a good
yarn takes considerable effort. So, whenever I undertake to offer C&C to
a fellow wannabe writer, I do my absolute best to be polite while
ruthlessly pointing out the flaws in his work. I do my best to accept
C&C as such--assuming it really is C&C.
If I have failed in this regard for anyone whom I have offered C&C , I
apologize. It was my intent to help you out, not put you down.
Regards,
Don Granberry.