On Sun, 23 Jun 1996, Richard D. Lawson wrote:

How to say this.  We are not interested in how Jack suddenly acquires 
the martial arts prowess to challenge Ranma et. al.  Why should we?  Why 
should we care about Jack?

Well, he's the main character. Just how much have you read of it?

We could care even less about Jack making love to Shampoo.  In fact, 
that offends me a little.  It's fine as a private fantasy - heck, I've 
always had a thing for Nabiki myself - but to publicly display the 
fantasy turns people off *in a hurry*.  We like the Shampoo that's madly 
in love with Ranma and will do anything to get him.  We could care less 
about the Shampoo that suddenly falls for Jack.

It was part of the plot, not a private fantasy. Well, not entirely. ^_- 
And I didn't release it publically, only to people who requested it. If 
you read the story, either she marries Jack or she gets banned, stripped 
of her honor and disowned from Cologne and her village.

Part of it is the pure egotism involved.  What makes Jack so special 
that Shampoo would want him?  What makes Jack so special that he gets to 
move in with the Tendo family?  What makes Jack so special that he gets 
to become a powerful martial artist overnight?

Well, if you read the story, you'd find the answers for yourself.

I'm not saying you're a bad person for thinking such things.  Heck, I'll 
publicly admit to fantasizing about finding myself in Nerima and 
becoming deeply involved with the main characters.  It's interesting to 
me.  I don't write about it, though, because I know it's not interesting 
to anyone else.

Well, Brett Handy's Oh My God interested me so I wrote a story myself. 
Same reason you don't write one youself.

Nor am I discouraging you from writing.  The best writing flows from 
your fantasy.  If you're not sure how a character would react in a 
certain situation, ask yourself, "How would I react?" and go from there.

Well, you are discouraging me and so is just about everyone else in this 
ML. I've thought about ending it like "The rest of our trip to Japan was 
fun. We went home without any other really bad problems." I do ask myself 
"How woudl I react and I go from there only to have people say that 
so-and-so is out of character.

But writing about yourself as an all-powerful character in a popular 
anime series - heck, it just don't make people eager to read your stuff.

I know that and that's why I didn't make Jack "all powerful." Well, I 
could have but I thought about it and put a limit to it.

<sigh>  I've pontificated long enough.  This is nothing personal against 
you, Jack.  I would very much encourage you to keep writing.  My only 
advice is, keep yourself out of the story.  :)

Wait, this doesn't make sense. You want me to finish the story but not 
put myself in it? What, you want me to kill off Jack?!
                            
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 Member of the #ShAS#: Shampoo Appreciation Society - Our favorite femaline!
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