On Thu, 18 Sep 1997 18:37:31 -0500 (CDT), Scott Jamison
<majks@cyberx.com> wrote:

	This essay is primarily meant for new writers of fanfic, although 
experienced writers may also find it of interest, and will certainly have 
their own points to add.  Once again, I'll be primarily drawing on Ranma 
1/2 for examples, but most of what I'm going to say can apply to any 
series. 

This is a nice informative essay for those new to fanfiction. What can I
add? Well, as a (mad) scientist, I like to analyse things in terms of
their component parts. Here's an analysis by parts of a typical
alternate universe fic, and some discussion of what can go wrong with
them in my experience as reader and writer.

1. THE PREMISE. As Scott said, you start from a basic idea or "what-if".
These can range from simple (e.g. "What if Ranma had been engaged to
Kasumi instead of Akane?") to much more complicated stuff. Generally,
the simpler the basic idea is, the easier the story will be for the
readers to get a handle on; Though I don't doubt that complicated
premises can be done successfully, they take more work.

Consistency in a premise is a good thing IMO. If character X's tendency
to glomp women for comedic effect in the original makes him a sadistic
rapist in your story, and if character Y does the same thing in the
original, then the premise should apply to Y too -- even if Y is your
favorite character.

2. DIVERGENCE. The story proceeds from the premise and shows what
happens next. Things usually start out quite close to the original, then
get father and father from it as the effects of the alteration
accumulate.

3. COMPLICATION. Things that happened or people who appeared in the
original need to show up in your alternate timeline, unless there's
anything in your premise that says they don't. This can be a pain, as
such complications were put into the original for purposes which are
probably different than those of your fic.

Dealing with unwanted complications is a difficult but necessary job. If
you just move certain characters or situations quietly out of the way,
the believability of your story is threatened; wheras if you give them
too much influence they can interfere with the story you're trying to
tell. Sometimes problems can cure each other; e.g. Shampoo marries
Ryoga, and they go off leaving your Ranma/Akane story to proceed
undisturbed.

4. CONCLUSION. The story comes to an answer of sorts to the "what-if"
question. We see how things would have resolved themselves differently
as the long-term results of the premises are known.

	Well, I hope this essay has been useful to you, or at least not 
too boring.

I hope the same for this addition.

Gary Kleppe
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics