At 10:07 PM 9/5/96 +1000, you wrote:

I said (don't ask why it's like this):

As Sebastian staid in his long winded, but correct letter, most people
don't think very highly of otakufics, or their writers for that matter.
It seems, as Sebastian said, that there is just not much interest in
reading someone elses fantasy, and with good reason...

Most of the time these otaku avatar fics tend to follow the same old tired
hackneyed road of the character showing up, bunking at the Tendou-ke, 
fixing up all the relationships and eventually getting it on with Nabiki 
for no other reason than that she's around. This was okay the first time 
around, when (I think) Twister pioneered it. Once was okay. 27 (or 
more) times is just WAY too many!

My concern, however, is that any fic that includes an extra character in 
a significant role is put into the otakufic basket these days, and is, 
as a result, often cast aside without being read. This is a shame really 
because I think it puts people off writing stories if there is an extra 
person they want to put in which is important to the plot. I guess all 
this leads to the question of whether it's possible to write a fic with 
a extra character without stealing the limelight. I've yet to see it 
done, but I think it's possible...

I think we've all written an otakufic (I know I have). But it seems far 
wiser to keep that sort of thing to yourself, unless you plan to poke a 
little fun at the genre (and god knows, it needs it!) as the great  J.W.
Biles did in Lemonade. Too many otakufics have been done that go over all 
the same tired old stuff. People really need to grow up and stop thinking
about themselves and start thinking about what people OTHER actually want to 
read. IMHO, there is nothing quite like a good, pure Ranma 1/2 fic. No 
crossovers, no otaku avatars and no OOC stuff! 

The point is, there's nothing intrinsicly wrong with writing otakufic, just 
don't inflict it on everybody else. If you've written it, good for you.
Just don't spread it around, lest you end up like Jack Ji. ;}

P-word.

- raving hypocrit.

        And you never once mentioned Nabiki-New Horizons.  HeHeHeHeHe :-)
(My 'stealth' otaku-fic still knows all the best places to hide.)


        - Greg