Okay, let me reiterate:  This is *not* a story.  It's an SI.
Just so your expectations are in check.

Before I actually review this fiction (which will have to
wait until I get some free time) I would like to make a small
point.

Since when does a work being an SI make it not a story?

Okay, let me preface this all by saying that the following is *my
opinion only*.  It's what I believe, it's *not* what I think you or
anyone else should believe.  You can disagree and I will have no
problem with that whatsoever.

An SI is not a story.  It's a fantasy.  It's the author putting
themself in a situation they like to think of being in, and mucking
about and having things happen to them that they enjoy fantasizing
about.  (And yes, this includes torturing the Avatar character or
having bad things happen to the Avatar.  Because face it, we like to
fantasize ourselves in horrible situations for the pleasure of seeing
ourselves redeemed later, or because we like to think of people's
stunned reactions to our suffering.)  It's stuff that's interesting to
the author, not necessarily anyone else.

Most SI's make high use of melodrama.  I'm no exception (as anyone
who's read "The Sound of Drums" can attest).  I happen to like
melodrama a lot, but it is generally considered the lowest form of
storytelling.  The least common denominator, as it were.  Mind you,
good movies can be made from this LCD; Star Wars is a good example.

And, finally, my basic objection to SI's is the sheer hubris involved.
What makes, say, John Smith so special that he gets to jump into the
Ranma universe and marry Shampoo and beat up on Ranma and tell Ryoga
and Akane that they really love each other?  Why *him* and not, say,
Joan Jones?  And especially, why him and not *me*?  :)  John Smith
should just get himself out of the picture because he's messing with
characters I like.  He's nothing special; how dare he get to have his
dreams come true while I'm stuck here in reality?

There are other reasons why SI's are not enjoyable.  The whole
universe usually revolves around the SI character, and everyone reacts
to the character and everything major that happens must also involve
the Avatar.  Everyone wants to be the Avatar's friend, except the Evil
Overlord who the Avatar gets to beat up on.  And usually there's no
kind of plot whatsoever, just the Avatar coming in and rearranging
things to his or her liking.  I would recommend everyone read
Sebastian Weinberg's "The Fanfic for *You*!" which is a wonderful
parody of these kind of self-inserts.

SI's, in short, are self-serving, a kind of mental masturbation for
the author.  I have no interest in viewing that, thank you very much.

Are my SI stories any different?  Heck no.  I'm as guilty as anyone
else.  My stories are self-serving, melodramatic, and find that I
manage to get involved in one way or another with the major players in
any particular universe.  I've written perhaps a dozen self-insert
fics, some of them quite long and involved (one is hundreds of pages
long and is the largest single piece of work I've ever done).  I've
never published any of them to raaf or the FFML.  You won't find them
on my web page.  The only person who's read them all (besides me) is
Sebastian.

Because I don't consider them *stories*.  They're just my fantasies
put down on paper.  When I write something I consider to be a story,
I'll put it on my web page.  (As a matter of fact, I have come very
close on a number of occasions to removing "The Sound of Drums" from
my web page because I don't think it belongs there.)

Christopher Angel

I've never read any of your stories, Christopher, because they *are*
self-inserts and the genre is not one I like to read.  I'm willing to
be called a hypocrite for writing self-inserts while decrying the
genre.  :)  My only defense is that I never claimed my self-inserts
are stories.  They're just my fantasies, and if anyone is willing to
read them with that in mind, then I'm glad to share them.  But I
myself usually feel very uncomfortable at best peeking in on someone
else's fantasy life.

Again, the above is all just my opinion, and represents my views and
my views alone, and is not an attempt to convert anyone to my way of
thinking.  As the saying goes, your mileage may vary.

-Richard