Subject: [FFML] [C&C]Hidden Talents, 9 (Gosunkugi)
From: "Freemage ." <freemage@hotmail.com>
Date: 11/3/1998, 1:26 AM
To: tryoga@juno.com
CC: ffml@fanfic.com


Ok, here is HT 9�. And I know I have kvetched and moaned and been told
that my fic endings are ok and that people like the "slice-of-life" 
feel
that they provide, but as I copied this from my notebook to my computer 
I
noticed this story has a really weak conclusion, not really bad, just a
little, I don't know, incomplete. So please, any help or suggestions 
and
criticisms would be very much appreciated.

Okay, you got it.



Anyway, enjoy the show,
Sweet water and light laughter

Ranma 1/2


Hidden Talents

part, the ninth


fini

Hmmm....  I guess my first and foremost complaint is that you've made 
this talent a wee too useful, and powerful.  If HG is even one-tenth the 
hacker you say he is, he should have had no problems dealing with his 
various attackers through his computer.  Hell, just inserting a notice 
calling for the arrest of a "Saotome, Ranma" into the police computers 
would be an effective way of attacking him.  The same sort of thing 
could apply to the bullies.

Other parts of the series have focussed on talents that had a fairly 
narrow field of application, but this one is so great that it totally 
rewrites the character, rather than just giving him a new facet.  
Kasumi's Zen archery and Genma's sword-forging skills, by contrast, 
simply amplified the characters we already knew--that's what made those 
choices such genius.

I'd strongly suggest toning down his skill level--good enough to slip in 
and out of systems, but not necessarily good enough to risk monkeying 
around without worrying about getting caught.  That way, he's still the 
voyeur;  he's just taken it to a level most people don't really expect.

One other note:  Most computer-sneaks call themselves "crackers", and 
are often disdainful of the term "hacker", which is what the media and 
law-enforcement bodies use to describe them.  While Ranma (being an 
outsider) would probably use the popular term, HG would most likely 
correct him immediately, as a matter of reflex.

As for the ending....  You're right in that it could use some oomph, but 
I'm not sure what else you could do, other than have him give a quick 
demonstration of his actual skills.  Maybe a printout of the Kuno bank 
accounts, so that they can guess how much Tatewaki has been paying 
Nabiki that month?



HT 10 is a big one. Akane Tendo - vroom vroom

Heh.  Looking forward....

Then we follow it up with the elder Kuno sibling and the perverted 
master
Happosai. Going back to my roots, I hope that both 11 and 12 will be 
well
recieved, nice, simple, and (trying to be) beautiful stories. (you'll
never guess their talents... and after you read them, I don't think
you'll be too outraged and dissapointed in them)

Again, I await anxiously.

Hope some of this helps.

--Freemage




Sweet water and light laughter
Ray "The Texas Ryoga"
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/5220

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