I've been reading the Talswapr awards and other fanfic reviews, and it
seems to me that alot of the critics seem to enjoy the more
serious Ranma stories, a departure from the usual Takahashi mayhem.  My
Ranma/SM fanfic basically sticks to the original formula, and I've only
gotten positive responses to it (no flames), but I was wondering if most
people enjoyed the more serious Ranma stories.  I feel expanding the Ranma
characters or placing them in different situations is fine, (Mark
Latus does a great job of this) but think many people go beyond that and
change the characters.  Do people actually prefer vast differences in the
Ranma characters they know and love?  Or is the original hijinks Takahashi
started prefered? 

        I personally do not know but I think the general preference of
readers lean in the direction of "serious" fics, rather than "original"
flavor MAINLY, IMHO, because absolutely nobody can equal Takahashi-sama at
her wackiness and intelligent story lines and all that.  

        However, I strongly urge you to write however you like, with
whatever theme you choose to infuse the story with (Humor, Drama, Action, or
a combo of all three [which Takahashi-sama does with uncanny ease])

        And as for this IC/OOC thing, it seems as if people generally like
IC stories more than OOC stories 

        But, if those OOC fics JUSTIFY their OOC-ness of the characters with
either 1) Good Reasons or 2) Parodic Entertainment or 3) Erotic
Entertainment, then those fics are on par with, nay, often bettering many IC
fics.  

        Anyways, one parting sentence on this topic. You can't please
everyone, so write what YOU want, not what THEY want, or your fic will fall
apart.  Guaranteed.

One more thing, I'm just wondering what the average response to a fanfic
is.  Ranma/SM was my first work, and I'm wondering if I should be happy
with the decent number of comments I've had or if my writing is such
mindless dribble people most people don't even bother flaming.

        First works are usually rough, except for some notable exceptions
(EXCLUDING myself, of course.).  Your happiness on your comments depends on
the type of comments you receive, be it simple pats-on-back or full blown,
surgically sharp criticisms.

        The average response to a fic is exactly as Bengman had described in
the earlier post.