The answer is, of course, that anyone can write a story.  And any story
can have minor points debated.  Most of the people debating such point like
to argue, or the point is especially important to them.  The truth is that
if your story is enough of a combination of well written and interesting,
some inadvertent stretching of the characters is no big deal.  Hitomi wrote
"Alternate Bubble Gum Zone" (the part that's written anyway) without any
knowledge of the series except what she'd read in fanfics, especially
(oddly enough) "Bubble Gum Zone."  It was, of course, good that she
revealed this after she was a few episodes into the widely read (at the
time) story.

	The difference is that other author's ideas and assumptions creep into a
story not based on the original source material.  Akane's food is a good
example.  She is a horrible cook, in that she will add wildly inappropriate
ingredients, mistake one ingredient for another, and chop food with such
force wood from the cutting board ends up constituting half the food.  It
has not, however, come alive, eaten through the floor, or any other such
reaction.  Another example is Nabiki's character.  We've seen her in fics
range from just having a cold exterior to a sadist.  The point isn't that
she can't be interpreted these ways, but without the original material you
can't really judge for yourself.

	My personal advice on writing is:

	Know the series.  This does not mean "have seen all the episodes."  It
does mean you need to know very well all the characters you're going to use
frequently.  I wouldn't think of having Kontasu as a main character for
this reason.  You should also know the plot of the series up to the point
you jump in.  You also should not have to think "what would Ranma do?" but
"which of these three things would he do?"  Often, there is no real choice
as to a character's reaction.  Since we often want a specific reaction, we
have to change the plot and incidents to produce it or alter the character
by experience.

	Know what will happen.  An outline is a good thing, but a general idea
will do, especially for the short pieces.  You don't have to stick to the
plan, but have one.  A corollary of this is to have a plot.  It doesn't
have to be much, but the plot will either be the story (in that we read to
find out what happens) or drive the story (it forces the characters to
interact, and we read to find out what happens to _them_).  Most stories
have a bit of both.

	Make the beginning interesting.  If Ranma's had his usual day, don't tell
us that, and certainly don't lead us through it.  Start the story with the
character's departure from normal life, and end it when life will go on.
Of course, these are just guidelines, but if I open a Ranma fic and I'm not
interested within a page (and it is much easier to do this with an
interesting gimmick or plot than quality of writing) I delete it.

	Don't get too complicated.  It is very difficult to pull off multiple
subplots or lots of characters from many series interacting.  And when it
is done, it takes a very large fic.

	Write interesting teasers.  They don't have to give away much, but
demonstrate your story is interesting.  This gets more important for longer
stories, as people read them less on a whim.

	Don't write Ranma if at all possible.  The list is full of Ranma fics, so
they tend to get the least consideration before one pushes the delete key.
Of course, if you're only familiar with Ranma, or a Ranma idea catches you
and won't let go, then by all means write it.  Just don't expect a
recognizable name to C&C it.  It is much easier to gain attention and
recognition in another series, or with an unusual combination of series
(Like, say my El Hazard - Bubble Gum Crisis fic "The World of Balance and
Ruin"  Of course, I'm sure my wonderful writing style helps  ;-)  )

	And finally, proofread!  If there are numerous misspellings, grammatical
errors, strange symbols littered about, and if the text is choppy because
of a too long word wrap, well, that will make people not want to read your
story.  This means a spell check, proofreaders,  and knowing how to save in
text form with lines of a good length and enters at the end of each line.

	Oh, don't forget to write to your _own_ standards and vision.  People
liking your work is big thrill, but it sucks if you don't like it too.


                              ("`-''-/").___..--''"`-._
      Bastet's Chosen          `6_ 6  )   `-.  (     ).`-.__.`)
   matthew.lewis@Yale.edu      (_Y_.)'  ._   )  `._ `. ``-..-'
                             _..`--'_..-_/  /--'_.' ,'
                           (il).-''  (li).'  ((!.-'

Beware of organizations that proclaim their devotion to the light without
embracing, bowing to the dark; for when they idealize half the world they
must devalue the rest.
                           -Miriam Simos