Topic 5: Brainstorming, Barnstorming, One Of Those Stormings....
So you've got an idea. But now you've got to develop it. Go wild. Dare to
dream. It is easier to cut things back rather than add it without it being
capricious, especially if you decide to add something after you've started
posting. Since this is one of those hands-on topics, I'll spend the most of
this topic developing the idea and going over the thought processes involved.
[Since I've decided that the fanfic will be on-going and consistent with the
end of the manga, I have to reconcile that with the initial idea. Why would
Ranma be having sex with all these girls, when he doesn't think romantically
about them? I could fall back on the old
"magical-whatsis-that-gets-out-of-hand", but quite frankly, I'm getting a
little tired of those.
So let me throw in an old-cliche and put a twist on it. Let's say that a
bunch of space aliens came down and kidnapped them and forced them to have
sex. Why would they do this? They could be a bunch of hentai space aliens,
but since nearly everyone is a martial artist (with the exception of Kasumi
and Nabiki), how about it being a program to breed soldiers for an army. For
that reason, Cologne and Happosai are also kidnapped for their training. For
convenience's sake we'll put their base on the far side of the moon.
But that still doesn't answer why they would stay together after their return
to Earth, which is one of the results that we want. The logical answer would
be that they all love each other and that they accept (and like) their
situation. But that's not consistent with the end of the manga. So let me
take another cliche and put another twist on it. Since we have to alter their
attitudes, lets have a take off on Star Trek's holodeck, where the aliens
would be able to replay the events until they achieved their desired result,
and where the characters would believe the events are real. Hypnosis, mind
altering drugs, whatever to achieve the desired results.
The question then comes up that with the technology thus displayed, why
didn't the aliens just clone Ranma and Company. The answer might be that they
wanted fighters that they could thoroughly indoctrinate, which would not be
possible with the characters because of the chance that their previous
memories could come to the fore. Another possible solution is that the
competition among sperm to reach the egg results in stronger offspring, and
this is just an application of that.
So what is the scenario that the aliens compel on our characters? It could be
the plot of many a lemon writer, that Ranma is just sleeping around with the
girls and the girls are sleeping around with each other after succumbing
initially to lust. But, lets put a twist to it. I hear on the TV a commercial
for one of those night-time soap operas. Let's make a satire of that where
Ranma does sleep around with everyone, but is never found out, even though he
is discovered in bed with other characters, until he starts to sleep with more
and more of them simultaneously.
Since it will be a satire, we'll set it in a replica of the dojo. Kasumi,
Nabiki, and Akane sleep in their rooms. Ukyou can sleep in Soun's room
(wherever that is...), and Shampoo can sleep in the upstairs room that Ranma
was initially going to stay in. Kodachi will be in Happosai's room. And
Ranma can be assigned to the room he currently sleeps in with his dad.
Since I've come this far, I might as well think of a reason why the aliens are
going through this much trouble. I hear another gloom-and-doom economic news
report on the TV, so lets say that the aliens are in the same trouble. To
financially support the project, they're filming their "alternate reality" and
turning it into a TV series (both comedic and educational - something like an
alien/lower life-form sex practice documentary).
After the characters are impregnated, the fertilized eggs are removed from
their bodies and placed into growth chambers where they grow at ten times the
normal rate. This also prevents the problems of pregnancy interfering with
the TV show. This will also set up the escape. The characters will escape
when Cologne teaches them that "disintegration blast" that she demonstrated in
the "Love Medicine" story. The blast will free the children and they'll start
a revolt that drives the aliens from the moon and wherever else they've
transmitted the genetic code to, then they'll free Ranma and Company and
return them to Earth. Since we don't want to have to deal with the children,
we'll keep them in outer space.
The characters realize that two years have past since they were kidnapped.
They also have to reconcile the fact that they have grown to love each other,
in spite of the fact that it was all programmed by the aliens. They choose to
remain together and have to deal with the consequences of that.
OK. So far we have the following sequence:
Year 1: End of Manga - end of Ranma's sophomore year/beginning junior year.
Just after end of Manga - Ranma, Kasumi, Nabiki, Akane, Shampoo, Ukyou, and
Kodachi kidnapped. Virtual reality programming starts. TV show. First batch
of babies are grown, and a batch each month following.
Year 2: Poor TV ratings cause change in tone of TV series. TV series
cancelled. Children break out of growth tubes. Revolt. Ranma and Girls
returned to Earth. They choose to remain together.
At the present time, there are three storylines that could be chosen for
further development: 1) The TV satire over the two missing years, 2) The
return from captivity, and 3) The space revolt. Since I'd rather deal with
the effects of the initial idea, I'd choose to develop Idea #2. Idea #2 also
allows me the greatest freedom because it can set the stage for side stories
set in Idea #1 or Idea #3.
The point is that while the idea is fleshed out, there is always plenty of
room to develop things at this point, and to focus on things that work while
writing the story.]
Future Topics:
Topic 6: The Consumption of Lemons (sex scenes not included)
Topic 7: The Power of the Dark Side (tone)
Topic 8: I Slept Through High School English (form, basic english)
Topic 9: Pass The Ketchup (the extras you include)
Topic 10: Where There Was No Path (storyboarding)
Topic 11: The Little Engine That Could (writing the thing)
Topic 12: Self-Editing For Fun And Profit
Topic 13: What do YOU know? (outside commentary or lack of same)