On Fri, 26 Sep 1997, Andrew M. Petalik wrote:

So, I ask again... anyone wanna take a shot at this?

You do realize that you've basically told the story already.

To take the time to wrap it in fancy prose would be wasted since 
everyone already knows how it's going to turn out. 

Actually writing a story idea up in fancy prose even though the readers
already know how it's going to turn out is what plenty of us do.  Take
OneShot's "Ranma's Girls" fic.  You _know_ by the end of the second
chapter what's going to happen--at least I did--the question was how long
it was going to take OneShot to get there (this is _not_ a flame to
OneShot, in fact "Ranma's Girls" is one of my favorite fics...I just wish
he could write faster!).  Don't you ever reread stories?  The sense of
suspense and anticipation comes more from the author's skill rather than
the readers lack of knowledge.  This story could be an incredible insight
into Ryoga's life:  why he sleeps with Akane even though he knows it's
dishonorable, why he attacks Ranma for turning him into P-chan when 1) it
was obviously an accident 2) it may not have been Ranma (all we have for
that is Ryoga's word and I don't know about you, but I trust that guy
about as far as I can throw him).  What does Ranma have to do to get Ryoga
to agree?  Telling Akane wouldn't do any good, she wouldn't believe him,
and demonstrating is chancy at best (how would you get Akane and Ryoga in
the same room and beable to hit Ryoga with cold water?).  What would Ranma
have to do to get Akane to believe him?  Remeber the soap incident?
Didn't Akane see Ryoga fall into the pond and _not_ change?  There's all
sorts of possiblities with this story, the end result isn't nearly as
important as the methods used to get there.
 
AJ

whose mind went wandering... and decided to follow Ryoga...