J.K.Hayashi :

And what good is doing a lot more when that extra bit doesn't mean anything?  

        For descriptive effect.  

Sure, you can describe a scene as "the morning was cold, the windows 

covered 

with a sheen of ice crystals sparkling in the winter sun, as Akane woke in her 
bed." (bleah!) 

        "The morning was cold and the windows covered with a light layer of
frost, sparkling in the light of Winter's sun.  A freezing gust of wind
threw the curtains apart and swept across Akane's sleeping form, stirring
her awake.  She slowly sat up, the remnants of her dream fading into the
back of her mind, and hugged herself, shivering because sometime during the
night she had kicked her blanket off her bed."

but you could also impart the same information by the line 
"Ranma kicked Genma into the block of ice that was the Tendo carp pond.  
Genma's lips froze against the ice and he was forced to carry the carp pond to 
breakfast."

        Depends.  If you're looking for humor, yeah, that paragraph above
will do fine.  (BTW, if the carp pond is frozen how will the carp survive? ^_^)
        

In the first example, you could have replaced it by "Akane woke up.  It was 
cold outside.".  But you implicitly get that from the fact that Genma's head 
was frozen to the carp pond.  Usually, Akane waking up is not that important 
to the story.

        No, but it is nice to use descriptive detail to flesh out the story.
For instance, I could simply say....

        "It was a cold morning.  Akane woke up.  She went to the table and
yawned at the sight of Mr. Saotome with half the frozen carp pond stuck to
his face.  She ate her food and washed her dish.  Then she turned the TV on
and watched an episode of her favorite show."


        How boring, ne?  To-the-point, yes.  But where is the overall mood
and atmosphere of this image?  S-T-E-R-I-L-E.

But how much of that is due to the perception that prose stories are the 
"norm"?  Because we're already indoctrinated that prose stories are the way 
books are written, the assumption becomes that (fan) fiction should 
be done in that way as well.  That isn't necessarily the case.  What matters, 
really, is developing and using a style (whether its one or a combination) 
that the writer is comfortable with.

        What you say is true, but it is a pain in the ass to read script,
IMO of course. 

Writers get paid by the word.  I get paid by the hour (and not for writing 
fanfiction).

        How true.

Writing well in script format is much harder than writing in prose.  The 
script style forces the writer to be specific and descriptive at the same 
time, and not fill the story with information/description/whatever that 
doesn't add much (IMO).  Prose writers can ramble at times and lose focus.  

        On the contrary, much of a story can come from descriptive detail.

And who really cares how many hot dogs Kodachi can eat in an hour, anyway?

        Where did this come from?  :)

Writing in script demands more on the end of editing.  Since the object is to 
tell the story the most effectively, every word increases in importance. 

        In other words, script is 'straight to the point and efficient'.
IMO, that does not *always* constitute a good fic.  

Details that are described carry more implication than they would in prose 
format, since they wouldn't have been mentioned unless they were necessary.

        Again, I subscribe to descriptive detail where necessary.

Dialogue and action that occur at a fast pace (and I would say normally as 
well) definitely work better in script format because you can envision it 
happening.  You can run it through your mind, or even out loud (which some 
writers obviously fail to do at times, in regard to dialog).  That being said, 
emotions and thoughts and motives work better using the prose style.

        Ok.

You want to do lemon scenes?  Do them in prose - you're typically dealing not 
only with action but also emotions.  You want to do snappy dialogue or a 
fight, do it in script - the format doesn't detract from the flow of the 
story, yet it still remains clear exactly what's going on.

        Snappy dialogue in script and in prose is not so much different than
you might think.  Script merely puts an identifying header before the
sentence being spoken.  Prose merely takes it out and presupposes that the
reader knows who is speaking at the moment.  For example....

------------------

Script
-----

(Ranma is running from Akane)

Akane : Ranma!!!  You baka!!!!! C'mere, you!!

Ranma : So you can hit me again!?  No way, Akane!!


Prose 
----

(Ranma is running from Akane)

        "Ranma!!!  You baka!!!!!  C'mere, you!!"  

        "So you can hit me again!?  No way, Akane!!"

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