I too put myself into my stories.

I was a slightly dented tea kettle in "Winter", an bird that passed by
startling Akane in "Spring", an empty sake bottle in "Summer" and my
favorite roll was Akane's rake in Autumn. ;)

Seriously, I think putting yourself into the story in the form of
taking a persons point of veiw and visualizing the experience 
from that point of view is a great way to come up with
descriptions and dialog. I try to imagine every sense, what do
I see? What is the light like? How warm is it? Do I notice the way
my clothes feel? What can I hear? What can I smell? Does Akane's curry
really taste that bad?

It's also a conduit to allow things that happen in your life to
flow into the story. The sound of a cold house. The moonlight 
on a snowy street. The smell of old varnish. The feel of new sheets.
The smell of rain on cement. 

Putting myself into the character also keeps me from truly harming
or allowing to be harmed any of the  characters.
I tend not to finish reading Fanficts that have a "movie of the week"
violence to them. I can see all of that on any old movie of the week.
It's my choice not to read them, there sure are a lot of them around,
though. I like to keep Ranma as a refuge from the problems of the
near-real world. In a strange way, the "Life" of Ranma is more like
my real life than the movie of the week life. I eat Sushi (A lot) I
cook okonomiyaki. (like Ukyou)  I read Manga. (As Ranma has been seen
to do), I make money. (Not as well as Nabiki), I own a house. (like Soun)
There is an intact domestic life to Ranma that holds the martial arts
and curses together.

Anyway, enough ramblings, and look for me as the well worn test tube
rack in 'Ninja no Himitsu".


--j.

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Joseph Palmer                       Please send BeBox mail to jpalmer@be.com
Director of Hardware Engineering    http://www.be.com - comp.sys.be - #BeBox
Be, Incorporated.                  "Hey Akane, could you hand me that hammer?"
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