Subject: Re: Ranma's Declaration of Womanhood II, Ch 2
From: JLMorreale
Date: 12/10/1997, 9:24 AM
To: Fanfic@fanfic.com

I have not read Chapter 1 and hope that it is not critical for reviewing this
 chapter.
 
 First the good stuff: I enjoyed this story and I hope you post chapter 3
 fairly soon. Your transitions are smoothly made, and I mention this mainly
 because so many fanfics I read have poor tansitions. You almost always start
a
 segment with either a place or a character, which helps the reader figure out
 what they're focusing on. Many skip immediately to some kind of action which
 can be jarring. 
      Your portrayal of Genma was right on target. His momentary switch at the
 prospect of becoming affluent through marriage generated the best real laugh
I
 got out of this story.
      Finally, by writing this you have taken away any reason a friend of mine
 would have had for doing so. <grin> He was toying with this idea and he would
 have butchered it.
 
 I'm going to now make some musings about what you've portrayed in order so
see
 if I understood them correctly, mainly because some of them go against what
 has been established or what I prefer to believe :)
 
 Nabiki is attracted to Kuno
 Ryouga, Ukyou and Shampoo attend classes at Furinkan High
 Kuno can drive
 There is a television lurking somewhere in the Tendo Household
 
 None of these are criticisms of your decision to have these elements in your
 story, I'm merely trying to fit my mindset into the environment you're
 portraying. You may get flames from the purists, but not from me.
 
 Okay, time for the rest of the critique: Sometimes it's hard to tell who's
 speaking at times. The conversation at the dinner table is the hardest to
 follow due to this. I'd also speak to the reader a little less, such as when
 you explain the source of Shampoo's Bonbori. Simply calling it "hammerspace"
 should be enough for most readers.
 Finally, I would expand on some of the scenes, such as the dinner with Kuno.
 The run through the classes was fine, since it wasn't really elemental to the
 story, but other time you seem to present a scene more like backstory rather
 than putting us in the moment. That's more of a thing to go by instinct so it
 probably isn't very good advice but it was something I thought about.
 
 Hope all that helps!
 
 J L Morreale