On Sun, 19 May 1996, Richard D. Lawson wrote:

I sort of was hoping that the end of the fighting between Akane and 
Ranma would be the obvious reason for her intervention.  "It had the 
desired affect." was the line that I hoped would point this out. I'll 
maybe spell this out a little.

No need; I was just being an airhead ^_^.  Same explanation for why I 
thought Nabiki and Kasumi were both headed to college.  

This is good commentary.  What I was trying to show was, with all of the 
unusual, bizarre things that happen in the Tendo home, Kasumi 
deliberately maintains an air of detachment that the other characters 
draw strength from.  Someone needs to be the anchor to normality, and 

Hmmm...the rest of the family drawing strength from Kasumi acting like a 
ditz?  I don't see how this'd be possible to explain.  

When I do see the family drawing strength from Kasumi, it's from her 
acting as a mother: interrupting R&A, hinting to Nabiki, understanding 
everybody.  However, being a mother is quite different from being a ditz.
 
Also, Kasumi didn't act as Kasumi-ish as normal around Nabiki.  Why not?  
Does Nabiki not need to draw strength from Kasumi?  Does Kasumi need 
somebody to act normal around?  Is it out of necessity, because they need 
to get to business?  Just curious...

I thought this *was* the story I was writing.  Maybe I wasn't so clear 
on this, either.  How did you interperet the timeline of the story?

It was a "day in the life", but it occured over a week of so (from hair 
cut to Dr. Tofu's mom), and with enough flashbacks to seem free-form...

But more than that, it seemed more like a highlights reel of typical 
days...making things a *tiny* bit disjointed, and going a *tiny* bit against 
the day in the life type feel.  I think I'm overstating my personal 
preferences, so I won't continue...

Again, good point.  I'll reduce the hair reference in the beginning. 
I'll work in some other early thought that will let the readers know 
where I'm headed, or maybe I'll wait until the apron.

Yeah...best to leter readers know where it's headed at the beginning.
But a central metaphor for the family would add a lot to the story, 
IMHO.  

Thanks again.  Nabiki's character has degenerated into a stereotype in 
so many fanfics, I wanted to try to hint at deeper things in her.  My 
next fanfic may be about her - she is my favorite character.

Cool.

Jeff

****jdrutsch@ucdavis.edu***********************Jeff Rutsch************* 
"Ranma's not a boy...he's a girl!"
"Akane is MY fiancee!  You TOUCH her, and I'll KILL you!"
"Ranma, change back into a boy while I buy you some time."
"But if I seem to act unkind/it's only me, it's not my mind."
"Ranma [sic],/give your heart to Akane [sic]. /Soon,/right away."
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