At 02:23 PM 1/30/99 +0800, Chan Wei Lik wrote:
From: Matthew Lewis
(and even in Antithesis I fudged and used an Interlude, though considering
the nature of that story/path, I deemed it acceptable).
Interlude? The one where Ranma asks Tofu for advice? Or did you discard that
one? In 'Broken', it seems to me that you overlooked some points you made in
that part.
Er, no. You're thinking of H-Packrat's draft of one. I labelled one of the
parts of SoI: A 'Interlude One' in addition to using I-X.
Since it was a different story, different rules apply. Same goes
for differences between Thesis, Antithesis, and Synthesis-- Broken. A
different possibility needs somewhat different rules. Similarities,
yes, but still differences.
I myself did not have Tofu appear at all in the ones I have written.
(had to show that both Happi and Cologne trained him in
equal amounts),
The problem here was that you had Ranma move between them as if he was going
>from one class to another. Remember in 'Thesis' how Colonge took Ranma on a
training trip? Do you think it's reasonable for her to let Ranma off before
she was satisfied that he had learned everything he needed? If that was the
case, he'd go to Happi and finish off there too. No need for hopping around.
In my opinion, training under Colonge then Happi would be the way to go.
It's easier to go from being controlled to wild than the other way around.
Actually, the training sequences I put in had training under Cologne occurring
before training under Happi....
From one class to another? I suppose. Ranma would have (slightly)
different mindsets with each one (which become confused later on). This is
true of anyone though-- we tend to act a certain way with certain people, and
a different way around different people-- fulfilling their expectations of us,
part of it is.
Why did Ranma try to take both at once? Well, perhaps by learning from
both simultaneously, he hoped to be able to integrate what he learned from
each better. Also it wouldn't raise suspicions in the other quite as much,
plus he doesn't know if there is a time limit on their offers or anything
of the sort. There is also the realisation that he is a chip being bandied
about-- a pawn in their war against each other (Cologne has admitted as much
to Ranma to his face, in SoI: Point).
Ultimately though, the reason he did both at once was because I wanted
him to-- that way I got to tear him apart by having him unable to reconcile
both views. Learning strictly from Cologne and then going to Happi once he
was done just wouldn't do that. We'd just get SoI: Thesis, basically, as
Ranma would most likely see no need to learn from Happousai (he would,
most likely, see such an action as diluting his ability and corrupting
him).
But I still remember someone once mentioning that Ranma could 'control the
master of control and flaunt the freedom of the master of freedom' or words
to that effect. Maybe you could use that.
Snapshots, that's all I'm taking of it, really... just the important or
more memorable bits.
And another thing. You mentioned Ranma speculating Happi and Colonge might
be able to know if he took lessons from the other. The way I see it, neither
I do? Not in this one, not to my knowledge. Anything that happens after
Point and Counterpoint and does not happen in this one should not be
regarded as happening, since it has already diverged.
of them seem to realize or care that their no. 1 student was taking lessons
>from their main rival as well. Which most definitely should not have been
the case.
Part of it was the different mindset thing. Another part was that they just
did not conceive that Ranma might be two-timing them, as it were. 'There
are none so blind as those who will not see,' and all that, eh?
Happi and Cologne are so sure of the superiority of their particular
way that they just do not think that Ranma might try another way once he
starts. Any discrepancy with reality will have some alternate explanation,
a totally closed system in which everything is reinterpretted (Knowing
and Being, by Michael Polanyi, notes this effect and has one or two real-life
examples of it-- fascinating book, BTW, if you can find it).
Myself? I think there are many possible ways to handle it though, good
or bad (and good or bad for whom, as well), and not just one path.
Have you thought of the one where Ranma pits the two grandmasters against
each other, resulting in mutual anihilation? That would be litrally killing
2 birds with 1 stone.
Ah, but would they go for that? That's what they want Ranma for, to prove the
other one wrong by 1. snagging Ranma instead of the other one getting him as
a student, and 2. having Ranma do the dirty work (as noted in Thesis).
So actually, no, I never really considered that because it didn't seem
a likely outcome. Again, I wouldn't know how to go about it, not a way to
start it or end it, nevermind the middle stuff (which often comes later. If
I have a beginning and an ending, then I'll start to write something).
Then again, in Broken he doesn't really comprehend anything anymore,
being torn between two extremes, so there's a bit of that in there as well.
Having the champions of 2 opposing forces face off in a duel is an old
story. But this would be the first time where 1 person represented both.
True-- but they're not quite as opposing as one might think. More of a
circle than a bar or a line, really. Many of the same features, many of
the same results. Then again.... ^_^
It's not so much that he represents both so much that he has
elements of both within him, and is trying to find a balance between.
I haven't seen a story (which is not to say that one does not exist,
merely that I have not seen it) in which the main character/protagonist
fails to find this balance he/she is searching for.
I don't know when I'll do it, just that I'll get around to it someday.
Need some more ideas for it, I think. Looking to be a series of different
spamfics, speculating on what might happen....
(in none of them will they do a Broadway play, however, I can guarantee
you that)<<
I have a suggestion. How about a framing story with Ranma consulting a
magical source (person or artifact) about the outcome of choosing 1 master
over the other? That way he can even talk to his alternatives before
deciding. You can even stage the duel there if you like.
I think that the ending of Antithesis could work well enough for a way
to do the spamfic.... Well, it worked for me, didn't it? (See Soul of Ice:
Errata for the spamfic and other stuff).
Beyond that, the framing story thing's been done with alternate
possibilities: Brian's 'Possibilities' series (hey, when're you gonna finish
dat? ^_^ ) and Metroanime's (depending on whom you ask, in)famous 'Bet' merely
being two examples off the top of my head.
Matthew Lewis is:
Matt on IRC
Sojiro_Seta on Kawaiimuck
maybeso@ican.net
prone to exaggeration, 150% of the time
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"Khattam-Shud," he said slowly, "is the Arch-Enemy
of all Stories, even of Language itself. He is the Prince of
Silence and the Foe of Speech. And because everything ends,
because dreams end, stories end, life ends, at the finish
of everything we use his name. 'It's finished,' we tell one
another, 'it's over. Khattam-Shud: The End.'"
-excerpted from Haroun and the Sea of Stories,
by Salman Rushdie
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