Subject: Re: [FFML] [Ranma/SM]No title Yet ch.1
From: "Ranma Al'Thor" <ranma@falcon.cc.ukans.edu>
Date: 1/14/1999, 10:42 PM
To: ffml@fanfic.com

On Thu, 14 Jan 1999, The Eternal Lost Lurker wrote:


This particular fic is neither simply bad, nor exceptionally bad...and
under most circumstances, I would probably privately e-mail the author and
then delete the fic. However, there are two things about this fic which
stand out, which I feel the need to point out.


Hello, this is my first fan fiction. I have never watched any Sailor
Moon and I only have a few graphic novels on Ranma � so the bulk of what
I know about the two series comes from other authors fanfics and ideas.


One must wonder what compels a person to write anything about a series they
have never seen or read. When writing fanfiction, it helps to have a
practical working knowledge of the series you are working with. Practical
working knowledge for a manga series, I would call three volumes; for an
anime, I would say at least eight episodes, depending on the length of the
series. With crossovers, using elements of a series you have no first-hand
experience with is almost acceptable, provided you do intensive research
into the series before proceeding and have stellar knowledge of the other
series.

Well, I would not qualify to have written my first Ranma fanfic (Putting
Your Heart in the Right Place) by that standard; I had read 3 issues of
the VIZ manga translation and seen 4 episodes of the anime when I started
it.  And read 12 Ranma fanfics (Which was the entire # of Ranma fanfics on
the net when I started writing)

I did, however, have the advantage of access to a pretty good people,
places, and things guide. (Well, it was good as of Volume 23, which I
believe is where the manga was when I started doing fanfics)


John Walter Biles :  MA-History, Ph.D Wannabe at U. Kansas         
ranma@falcon.cc.ukans.edu       
rhea@tass.org              http://www.tass.org/~rhea/falcon.html
rhea@maison-otaku.net      http://www.maison-otaku.net/~rhea/

If it has passed from the high and the beautiful to darkness and ruin, that
was of old the fate of Arda Marred; and if any change shall come and the
Marring be amended, Manwe and Varda may know; but they have not revealed it,
and it is not declared in the dooms of Mandos.
--Final Line of The Silmarillion