On Friday, October 17, 1997 10:41 AM, Anand Rao wrote:

I think, when people are eagerly awaiting a cross over like this,
they sometimes set their expectations too high...  I fell into this
trap.  I liked the story, but it felt like something was lacking.

!!  I didn't know people were eagerly awaiting this.  :)

Even at over 90k the story felt a bit rushed.  

Well, the reason for this is there came a point where I could have
delved more deeply into the two lives and showed even more details of
each Ranma settling in.  What stopped me was my thought that I had
reached a point of diminishing returns.  That I could have written a lot
more prose to highlight even further the difference between the
universes.  For example, what does the Akane who got married at
seventeen think of the Akane that isn't yet married past thirty?  How
would the TOP Nodoka respond to the son who actually *did* marry Akane
like he was supposed to?  And what's TOP Ukyo been up to all this time,
anyway?  (I keep hoping Zen will produce a story about her.  Ah, what a
lovely tale *that* would be.  ^_^)    And I could have expanded a lot
more on the Nouma/TOPma relationship.

But I kept asking myself, is it worth it?  Is it worth turning this into
a "Bitter End"-length story to explore all of these possibilities?  I
decided to stick to some of the more salient points and then move on to
the resolution.

What do y'all think?  Would you like to see more?  Or is it long enough
as it is?  I really curious as to what your opinions are.

And if you *would* like to see more, which story would intrigue you the
most?  I mean, there are so many things to talk about.  TOP-Ryoga -
where's he at?  Did he ever meet Akari?  Who's TOPkane engaged to?  It
TOPdachi still mentally ill, and what does TILma think of that?  Will
Kentaro and TILma ever sleep in the same bed like TOPma and TILkane do?

Tell me what you think.  :)

More interaction between TOPma and TILma would have been nice...  But I

don't

see how that would have been possible with out putting them both in the same
Universe at the same time.

<nod>  I do think I need to work on this scene a bit.

'Definitions of Hell' is a good title. . .  how about 'I'll See Me In 
Hell?'

Heh.  I like that one.  :)

At any rate, I'm glad you wrote this, the tones of the respective 
stories were merged well, and the fact that each Ranma gained
something from the experience was an added benefit...

Thanks.  That's kind of what I was aiming for.  Along with just having
fun with it.  :)

-Anand

-Richard