On Tue, 24 Oct 1995, Roy Rim wrote:

	What, you didn't like my Arslaan fan-fic?  Or the 
Godzilla/R1/2/Nuku crossover?  Or maybe you just like the two billion BGC 
stories on ftp.std.com?

I like Ranma fanfics a lot, but I have to step in here.  There are 
_at_least_ three times as many Ranma fanfics as BGC on std.  It can be 
downright painful to sift through ./Ranma when MegaZone makes a new drop.

Aesthetically, I think it might be somewhat easier to write a Ranma 
fanfic.  Takahashi provides an amazing sort of outline, in which one can 
fill all sorts of details -- it's the sign of a good writer.  

The other point is, of course, that Ranma is hot right now.  It's still 
in constant release and, as a direct result, the characters and 
situations are fresh in everyone's minds.  I think the rate of release of 
Ranma fanfics has already started to dwindle somewhat (as did BGC a year 
ago, or so).  

Personally, I'm writing a BGC fanfic at the moment -- but it's for 
slightly different reasons than what is probably the norm.  BGC always 
struck me as an attempt, rather than an entire accomplishment.  The 
_characters_ of BGC really weren't all that exceptionally deep, or 
interesting.  They were, in a word, novel -- and highly appropriate.  

	BGC started out by paying homage to BladeRunner, and other Philip 
Dick novels.  The whole point of _Androids_, and the various works that 
follow, more or less, in the genre -- those by William Gibson and Neal 
Stephenson, most notably -- is that the main characters shortly become 
eclipsed by the setting.  The real star of BladeRunner certainly wasn't 
Deckard, it was the city.  If you've read _Snow_Crash_ (and if you 
haven't, I heartily urge you to), the plot and characters tend to dwindle 
in favor of the amazing, and vivid, descriptions of the world, and 
society, of the near future.  
	BGC starts out this way (esp. eps. 1-3), but ends up as yet another 
megalomaniacal bad-guy versus heroic underdog good-guy (person?) battle-royal.
It always struck me that the Artmic/Youmex people sat down half way through 
the series and said "Hey!  Let's imitate American comic books!!  Where did we
put those capes, and cool costumes?"  The attempt at grim, alienated fear 
gave way to plasticene heroics.  The fight in which Sylia kills Mason 
(for the first time...) was not a clear-cut hero vs. villain situation.  
She killed him, in some part, because he saw her face -- that's not 
standard superhero fare.  With the comparitive melodrama of episode 6 
(which, incidentally, I enjoyed) as a lead-in, episodes seven and eight 
ended up as something that felt as though it were written by Marvel, or DC.

(I won't even bother mentioning Crash! -- it's too painful)

	Anyway, I've found that the most consistent framework for 
involved drama, and neat cyberpunk-ish sci-fi, is BGC.  The loose 
definition of the characters and the vast untapped potential of the world 
have proven to be an amazing canvas.  BGC Crusade comes to mind as an 
example of this (and, of course, BGC Zone -- thanks, Bert).  

	Ranma, on the other hand, is a much less gritty, generally 
happier world.  Writing within its confines needn't imply fitting into 
any sort of continuity, nor does it necessarily even imply fitting in 
past events.  There's a massive amount of pre-existing chemistry 
(incredibly difficult to brew independently) and some really great 
formulae to fall back on if plot devices falter.  As a really serious 
bonus, writing a hard-hitting drama (wliia is an amazing example) can tap 
that same chemistry as tension, and also capitolize on a certain amount 
of shock value.

CHL

<Sorry I dragged this out -- the comparitive number of fanfics has always 
been fascinating to me>