But isn't it just as wrong to follow an EXACT set of someone 
else's guidelines?  Is it forbidden to tamper with characters just 
because someone else created them?  If so, then half the stuff written is 
a hideous perversion of the truth and everyone who wrote them should be 
executed.

     If they're guidelines, then there is *MUCH* leeway. And following
someone else's exact guidelines can work, but may not be the best for you. I
didn't say that it was forbidden to tamper with characters, but any changes
you make had *BETTER MAKE SENSE*.

	The point I'm trying to make is that while giving advice is good, 
TOO MUCH advice can weaken an author to the point where it no longer 
becomes that author's work.  And THAT is a bigger sin than any anyone has 
listed, myself included.

     Well, here we differ. If you can't keep characters acting even remotly
like they do in the series, you have no place writing a fanfic. That *DOES NOT*
preclude you from writing other material, where you might excel.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ben Kosse bmk7411@cs.rit.edu
Homepage with anime and other interests. (http://www.rit.edu/~bmk7411)
Biggest BGC otaku on the RIT campus (especially Priss).
Anime, RPG's, computers, poetry (read/write), music (listen/compose).
Author of the Bubblegum Crisis theme pack