Bliss started, as an alarming number of projects have, 
with idle conversation in the Keep of the Four Worlds on 
Kawaiimuck.

	At some point in the conversation, Lara asked us what it 
would take to get Ranma and Kuno together. The result was a 
flurry of 'Ain't gonna happen', 'Hell would freeze over first', 
and 'You're sick, Lara'.

	I, being a smartass, told her at some length that they'd 
have to have their memories wiped, Ranma stuck in female 
form, their personalities open to alteration or building-over, 
and you'd have to lock them in a room with no contact with the 
outside world.

	"Hmm," Lara said.

	Oh shit, I thought.

	Lara actually liked the idea, and, after a moment, so did 
I. But we couldn't really come up with a good reason to have 
them locked in a room.

	Then Lara had the brilliant idea of making it an island.

	I eagerly leaned back and waited to see what would be 
written, and it was only by degrees that I realized Lara 
expected me to co-write the thing.

	Here we go again...

*

	The discerning reader will notice several references or 
inspirations. The most obvious, of course, is the works of H.P. 
Lovecraft; those of you who've read 'The Colour Out of Space' 
will to some extent recognize the plague that devours the 
island. Other small details - the flutes, the home port of the 
Wakizashi Maru, etc - are placed as tribute.

	The wild dogs came largely from the children's book 
Island of the Blue Dolphins. I don't remember very much of it, 
but I do remember that it had people eaten by wild dogs, which 
is very admirable and ought to be in more children's books. At 
any rate, there they are. I'll dedicate em to Alan Harnum, our 
resident wild dog advocate.

	The ants came from an episode of MacGuyver I saw when 
I was a kid, where ants eat most of the cast. They didn't eat 
MacGuyver, because he made an atomic ant-blaster death ray 
projector out of two coconuts, some string, a toaster, common 
household chemicals, a swiss army knife, and duct tape. 
MacGuyver was cool that way.

	The transport is inspired partly by the book 'Dream Park'.

	The log in the transport is as accurate as a certified 
WW2 history loon can make it.

	Bolivia exports tin.

*

	While the work as a whole, IMHO, is of fairly even quality 
throughout, it's the last fourth that I'm expecting to get most 
of the comments on.

	Many of these comment will likely involve hanging the 
authors up by our own intestines.

	So here's the answer to the big question: why did you 
heartless vermin break the two of them up, after all they went 
through together?

	The answer is that it's what we thought would happen in 
that circumstance.

	Ranma has, from all evidence in the manga, a very 
'straight' self-image. He's also rather paranoid and insecure 
about what he views as his 'manhood', check out the dream he 
has about Kuno in Vol 1 for an example.

	When Akane splashes him with the hot water, it's as if he 
woke up one morning with two years worth of memories and 
emotions belonging to someone else. 'Akane' is a very different 
person from Saotome Ranma. 

	'Akane' saw herself as female, Ranma sees himself as a 
straight male. 'Akane's worldview, sense of self, and feelings 
are different than Ranma's.

	It is not, by the bye, a choice between Akane or Kuno. If 
Akane had been dead, or absent, or married, or had never 
existed in the first place, he still would have immediately 
left.

	In the end, it's not a matter of Ranma making the right 
choice or the wrong choice; it was really the only choice he 
could make. Love is not something that pays attention to 
deserves or shoulds; you can't force yourself to be attracted to 
someone. If Ranma had tried, it only would have hurt them both. 
To quote the Bard, "This above all - to thine own self be true."

	So why did we, as authors, engineer this situation?

	I can't speak for Lara, but my personal feelings were 
split along four main lines.

1) Character Promotion Agenda. By this impulse, I would have 
left Ukyo and Akane on the island and not brought Tendo Akane 
into the story at all. She doesn't come off well in Bliss; more 
on this later.

2) Personal Wants. By the time I wrote the final days on the 
raft, I wanted to keep the two together. You can't write a 
blooming relationship like that and not want it. So from an 
emotional point of view, I wanted them together.

3) In Character Accuracy. This is a big point for me personally. 
I expect that characters be portrayed in the bounds of their 
personalities; with the flaws and merits that they've been 
shown to have. Nothing will turn me off a fic quicker than 
seeing a character who is suddenly free of all the negative 
traits they had in the manga - and sorry, fanboys, every single 
one of them had negative traits.

	If you wish to free a character from one of his or her 
hangups - or, conversely, add one - more power to you. But 
there will have to be a clearly shown and explored reason, or 
I'm not buying it.

	I cannot see Ranma becoming, well, Ranma again and 
staying with Kuno. I cannot write that character and feel that 
it is IC.

	So by this, we've either got to leave him as 'Akane' or 
break him up.

4) Plot and Exploration. This one is fairly clear. I can hit more 
emotions, present a stronger end, and explore the characters 
more if I break them up. There are scenes and feelings in this 
that are too good to pass up writing.

	Unfortunately for Ukyo and Akane, I am an artistic 
bastard. I will cheerfully kill, discredit, and put through hell 
my favorite characters if I feel it's in character and offers me 
a chance to write some great scenes and explore some 
characters. 3 and 4 beat the living crap outta 1 and 2.

*

	I'm fairly happy with how the characters turned out.

	Kuno got a chance to grow beyond being an arrogant 
twerp. Pretended nobility gives way to actual nobility.

	Ranma is given a terrible blow to his image of self, one 
that ultimately makes him a lot stronger. He's more willing to 
let down his defenses, more understanding of how people feel, 
and much less defensive about his female side by the end.

	Akane is, unfortunately, placed in a situation almost 
tailor-made to bring out her worst traits. Jealousy, 
stubbornness, anger, and a tendency to rush to judgment have 
always been Akane's fatal flaws, and they all are given ample 
opportunity to emerge. In defense, she works through all of 
them, eventually, and I am uncertain how well I would do in her 
situation.

	Nabiki the Elder doesn't learn any Important Personal 
Lessons, but it's nice to see her caught off guard. Repeatedly.

	Tojiko and Nabiki the Younger are new characters, so 
they don't grow that much. But Nabs2 is darn cute, IMHO. ;)

*

	Thanks, of course, need to go to the Keep Rats, who had 
to suffer through me and Lara ranting and raving and laughing 
maniacally over this here work of fiction. We wouldn't show 
em any of it til we were done, but we'd talk about it 
constantly.

	In particular:

	Rod M, for calling it 'Sex On The Beach' until I wanted to 
strangle him, and for reminding me to hurry up with it so we 
could finish Converging Series, also until I wanted to strangle 
him.

	Alan Harnum (who contrary to rumor IS NOT ME), for 
actually finishing the preread in reasonable time and giving 
helpful comments. And for the wild dog advocate.

	White Wolf, another prompt prereader, who disagreed 
with the end and thus helped perfect our defence. As perfect as 
possible;  WW can launch a spirited attack when he gets into it.

	Trisha Sebastian, because she's always interested.

	Finally, though it's not really my place, thanks to Lara 
for putting up with my often erratic progress and quibbling on 
our second co-write project. It's been a fun write, at least 
when it wasn't a hellish writing abyss that we seemed trapped 
in forever. ;)

-ML




~~~   ~~~   ~~~   ~~~


	I'm writing these notes after having already read Mike's so
maybe I'll address some of the things he did.  Or maybe not.  Never
quite sure...

	I also notice he's a whole lot wordier than I am.

	Let me confirm, yes, it was from idle conversation.  Just
because I happen to like Ranma and Kuno as a couple (hell, m/f or
m/m, either is good) everyone in the Keep takes two steps back.

	Admittedly, I'm not always into close characterization, so
when I asked (if I did; I don't really remember) what it would take
to get Ranma and Kuno together, it was probably an attempt to gauge
what people would accept and what they wouldn't.  Or then again, I
might have just been trying to scare people.

	Mike, being the incredibly skinny smartass with a two dollar
accent that he is, said something about no memory and being locked
in a room.  I think I mentioned no contact with the outside world,
but at this point, it doesn't matter a wit.

	I don't think I said "hmm".  It was probably something more
like "Good idea.  Get writing."  Mike doesn't like that.  He expects
that when I come up with an idea that he likes that I have to help
write it.

	Some nerve.

~  ^_^  ~

	Concerning our Lovecraft inspiration:  He's one of my favorites
and anyone who's read my stuff for Ranma 2096 will notice my liberal
use of his work for my quotes.  It's good stuff, nice and atmospheric,
the origin of the word 'creepy' in my opinion.

	Though I'm not a big monster fan, especially a Lovecraft
monster because the words of mere mortals could never describe the
things he imagined.  'Colour Out of Space' being probably my all-time
favorite, I suggested the plague instead of an island monster.

	I think that probably worked better that way.  *shudder*  I
still get creeped out by that.

  The demon was a bit of an afterthought, needing some reasonable way
to get the two on the island.  And if there is one thing more plausible
than others in Ranma, it's a demon.  Cliche maybe, but better than a
shipwreck or something else similarly inane.  That's why its appearance
is kept very short.

	Wild dogs were entirely Mike's idea.  They worked very well
as an alternate food source and antagonist.  Hats off to that and
the ants.  I never knew ants migrated.

	And go read Dream Park for some good pulp fun.

@

	Mike is a controversy whore.  He loves it.  He wants those
nasty comments and raging and screaming about how unfair the end
is (hey, he put up with mine ^_^).  And no matter how much I did want
to keep them together, I can understand the ending that we engineered
too.

	I can see Ranma, with all this baggage, memories that he
doesn't really consider his, feelings that are so powerful, so true
that he can't accept, running to the only thing that hasn't changed:
Akane.

	I kind of equate Kuno in this to Ukyo in IMBS: hey, someone's
gotta get the shaft.  Of course, we didn't grind Kuno up in some
giant gears (though he did marry, and some people might make
comparisons).  And since Mike absolutely refused to keep Ranma and
Kuno together, and I refused to leave the character hanging, yes, we
tossed in an ANC.  ^_^

	I don't consider Tojiko to be all that annoying or all that new
really.  She's just a regular person, possibly more understanding
than others, but maybe she's just that extra bit desperate too.  The
fact that she's a waitress tells me almost everything I need to know
about her (thinking in an American context here).  She doesn't have
an easy life, she might not be going to college (her exact age is never
determined so who knows), she's looking for someone, and to top it
off, she's feisty.  ^_^

	Richard Lawson is probably saying right now that even though
she's not perfect, her "flaws" actually help her in the situation.
Well, sorry Richard, but I like Tojiko.  After all that happened, I
think Kuno deserved someone with a little fire.  And just because
this is Ranma doesn't mean everyone needs some terrible personality
flaw.

	Unfortunately, I find myself agreeing with Mike on the point
that breaking Ranma and Kuno up (boy doesn't that sound weird) allowed
for more story and character development.  I may not have liked the
reason for the development, but I did like the development itself.
Even Akane (who Mike will tell you I hated) became a decent person
through her development (and Ranma's influence).

	I was a little disappointed we didn't get to play more name
games with Nabiki and Nabiki, but that's just the way the cookie
crumbles sometimes.

!

	Thanks.  I always hate doing this because without fail I will
forget someone.

	Let's see...  Nothing specific really.  Anyone who showed
interest.  ^_^  When you work on a project this large but have
absolutely NO feedback on it until it's done, people who show a
genuine desire to read it are your friends.

	So, um... I'd thank Mike, but he's terrible to work with.
Slow and fussy, always puts his schoolwork ahead of writing...  This
is the last thing I'll ever work with him on.

  Chris Hong and his wife and new daughter for some consultation on
the joys of being pregnant and having a newborn (I also did some
research on this stuff at www.childbirth.org).

	I would definitely like to not thank University of Kansas for
almost killing my co-writer in the middle of this.  I would have been
very upset if that had happened, and so would all the people that had
been waiting for it.

Lara


1/14/99