Christopher J Angel wrote:

I'm having trouble deciding something about my Sailor Moon fic.  I've got
the first part (the new enemy's arrival) planned out, but I need advice
about what
I should do after that.  I don't want to go into detail about every
Monster-of-the-Day the Senshi have to fight, because if I do, then the story
is highly likely to get too long and boring.  However, if I skip straight to
when an important event happens, then I'm worried that there won't be enough
time to develop the characters.

Skipping over fights can really undermine who a character is,
when the real character is one who gets into fights.  Oh you
can write a quiet moment in the life of Ranma/Sailor Moon/Honey/
Priss, but an extended series of chapters set in the life of
such a person should deal with their frequent encounters with
violence.  It isn't that boring if you describe them vividly
enough, or just make sure to write how it starts and how it
ends, and skip the intervening foolishness for the most part.

Hmmm...tough call.  I tried to do both - have a couple MotDs, but focus
the fiction on major occurences.  But then, I used MotDs as vehicles for
major occurences.  Act 1 of Shieldsman had 3.  #1 introduced Crimson.  #2
revealed Rei's love for him. #3 Killed him.  Act 2 has none, since it's in
Crystal Tokyo, when I assume there aren't MotDs running around.

What I'd do is keep a few MotD fights, just enough to do some character
development, but keep some major revelations/scenes mixed in.  I can't
think of one MotD fight in the original series that didn't reveal
something about the main characters.

I hope that makes sense, it's kind of a ramble.