Marisa,
    
I think you're reading things into my responses that I didn't mean, and
that's at least partly my fault.

MD Price wrote:
 

Richard, it seems that you been looking at what I have written lately and
then disregarding all the subject matter except the points which you wish
to address. Here are my thoughts on your response:

<shrug> We all do this, to some extent.  There is a reason I skipped
over all of the rape material and addressed the one point you made that
didn't have a direct bearing on subject of rape as addressed in your
post.  Read on.

On Mon, 28 Oct 1996, Richard Lawson wrote:

I thought about how to respond to it for a long time.  Finally, I
realized that I *couldn't* respond to it, for one simple reason:  Ranma
is a fictional character, put into a hypothetical situation.  What

Yes. However, one of the most important parts of this story and of all
your stories is that you attempt to put the cast from Ranma into real life
situations, and to then disregard how a real person would act in this
situation would be a contradiction, ruining what you were initially trying
to present.

Really?  Why do you say that?  What examples can you give me?

A part of the problem, I think, is that it's all based on *my*
viewpoint.  It's how *I* think the characters would act.  Feel free to
disagree... that's one of the reasons I wrote "Thy Outward Part", to get
discussion like this out in the open.  Tomorrow I'm going to publish an
essay telling everyone the reasons behind writing the story, and why I
called it a "reactionary" fanfic.

But please keep in mind, how *I* think people would act differs from
what *others* think people would act.  That's part of what makes writing
fun; to offer alternative viewpoints.

happened to you is real.  To try and draw comparisons would be to
cheapen your experience, and that I don't wont to do.  To try and argue

In what way? Part of the art of being a writer is to use your personal
experiences and the experiences of others to enhance the realities and
introspection in one's work. Although we may be talking about fictional
characters, their personalities and actions are affected by what we, the
writers, bring to them in our stories.

What I'm saying is, rape is a very sensitive matter.  Very personal,
very tragic.  Very *real*.  If I wanted to argue against some of the
points you made equating rape to what happened to Ranma in my story, I'd
risk taking something as sensitive as real-life rape and using it as a
debating point in a nonsensical irrelevant fanfic.

I do *not* want to do that.  Like I said, I risk offending you.  Not to
mention, it offends my sensibilities.  My story is *make-believe*; to
try to compare it to *real* rape has a tendency to belittle the rape by
comparison.  To repeat, I do *not* want to do that.

Gomen.  You may call me a coward if you wish;  I won't object *too*
vehemently.  :)

Object to what? If you read the essay carefully, you will find that after
a lengthy exploration of the story and possible parallels, I basically
AGREED with what you had done, and COMPLIMENTED your prose. What would you
object to? The fact that I praised you? That puzzles me a great deal.

Marisa, I don't know where you got the idea that I was objecting to what
you wrote.  It affected me deeply and personally, and I appreciate the
words.  I just can't respond to them, at least not in a forum like
this.  If we could meet face-to-face, maybe.

I had a very similar reaction when I wrote "Storm's End", which is about
suicide.  Many people wrote back to me about their real-life experiences
with suicide.  To say I was *not* prepared for that would be to put it
mildly.  I simply didn't know how to respond, so I didn't, at least not
directly.  At least one friendship has grown out of the emails I
exchanged over "Storm's End", but at the same time, I didn't try to help
people out on a subject as serious as that about which I had no real
knowledge.  To act otherwise would be arrogant presumption, I thought. 
I feel the same way about trying to deal with real-life rape.

So *that's* why I'm a coward.  I've always prided myself on writing
realistic stories, even in fanciful worlds such as Ranma 1/2.  However,
when the effects of my writing cross the boundary into serious,
real-life problems I have no direct experience with, I recoil.  You want
to talk about your mother dying when you were a child?  I can do that. 
A lot of the stuff I write about Akane's mother comes from my experience
with the death of my mother from cancer while I was in high school (a
scene in "Brother" was lifted directly from my personal experience). 
You want to talk about abuse?  Some of the stuff I wrote about Kodachi's
childhood in "Thy Inward Love" and "The Dying of the Rose" also comes
from my experiences with my mother.  Broken, dysfunctional
relationships?  The stuff I write about the relationships between Akiko
and Kyusaku, and Genma and Nodoka, are drawn from experiences with my
parent's divorce and a serious, long-term relationship I had which ended
badly.

These topics I can talk about, because I speak from experience.  I, nor
no one I know IRL, has ever been raped.  I have never attempted suicide,
nor has anyone I've known IRL.  Therefore I can't talk about those
subjects when discussing fanfics.  For that, I call myself a coward.

What I was saying was, if you want to call me a coward, it would agree
with my own personal assesment, and therefore I wouldn't object if you
did call me one.

Which brings me to the ONE point that I had in disagreement with your
story, and the only point that you addressed.

One point I do want to address:  It wasn't my intention to have Ranma
become "super-feminine" at the end.  She's merely coming to terms with
the fact that she's a woman now and forever.  In my mind, her
personality is not going to change, which is why she mentioned the
training. In a way, putting on a dress and letting Kentaro kiss her is
shock therapy; a way to force her hindbrain to realize this is
permanent.

And all I was saying was that this was unclear, and that you should
perhaps emphasize the reasoning behind Ranma's sudden transformation.
Other than that, my whole paper was about encouraging you to leave the
rest of the story alone.

Oh, sorry.  This I did misunderstand.  Your point is well-taken, and
something I've been thinking about myself as well.  At the same time, I
hesitate to expand on the scene in that matter for fear it would come
off as preaching (something I do to much of in my fanfics anyway).

 

All I can see with your response is that you either do not like your own
story the way it stands, or that you did not understand my point of view.
Whichever, this was not something that you SHOULD have felt the need to
object to, unless it was to state that you were dissatisfied with the
current and that you were going to rewrite "Thy Outward Love."

I *should* have said I understood your viewpoint, you're right.  Perhaps
that would have avoided a lot of misunderstanding between us.  I should
have said something like, 

"Great essay, Marisa.  It contained points I agree with and points I
don't agree with.  However, I cannot respond to it because of the very
personal nature of your rape, something I don't want to belittle by
comparing it to my fanfic."

Is that a little better?  :)

If necessary, I will sum up what I said in my essay:

 <snip>

If your objections were going to pertain to my commentary on sexual
reactions, that was simply my interpretation of your story, and I would
prefer not to be contradicted on those terms.

Why not?  If I may ask, that is.

Then again, perhaps it's best that you don't answer.  Then we *would*
begin debating subjects my cowardice would prefer we didn't.  :)

Marisa Price

Marisa, I'm sorry if my post came across as antagonistic.  That was
*not* my intention at all.  Your words in your original post shook me
very deeply, to the point where I was thinking about them all day.  I
can't imagine being raped, I just can't.  I can speculate, of course,
but I didn't want to offend you with my weak speculations.  But I did
want to let you know that I had heard your words.  I did it poorly, and
I apologize for that.  Please don't stop criticizing my works; yours in
one of the opinions I respect the most.

If it helps at all, at least one person on the FFML was all over me for
giving you negative C&C over "Lessons in Love".  I get similar reactions
on the DnR mailing list.  All I can say is that I choose to respond to
very few fanfics.  That I do respond to your stories shows how much I
respect your works.  At the same time, I don't pull punches on C&C.  I
am as effusive in my praise as I am harsh in my criticism.  Please
understand, it is nothing personal.  I truly want to help you write
better stories.  I read your C&C to me in the same light, that you are
trying to help me out.  And I appreciate that.

I'm trying to find a way to end this on a light note and I can't.  :) 
Let me just apologize that I wasn't very clear on my subject matter when
I replied to your post, and that I will endeavor to write with greater
clarity when dealing with subject matter like this.

-Richard Lawson