Gary Kleppe wrote:

TatewkiKno@AOL.COM wrote:

Well, regardless as to whether or not I should wait a while before posting
this, I'm just going to do it.  I'm considering writing a Ranma 1/2 fanfic
series, but I'm not sure what kind of appeal the plot will have.  It's going

Standard procedure is, first ya write yer fic, THEN ya get yer C&C. :)

to take place in Nerima/Furinkan High the year before Ranma shows up.  Kasumi
is a senior, Kuno and Nabiki are sophomores, Akane, Hiroshi, Daisuke, Yuki,
and Sayura are freshmen.  Main characters will be Kuno, Kasumi, Akane, and
Nabiki, roughly in that order as far as importance.  Secondary characters
will include Hiroshi and Daisuke, various members of the Kendo club, and some
characters I need to create.  Kasumi will be the most sought-after girl on
campus as opposed to Akane, Kuno will do some butt-kicking and begin building
himself up into the potential legend he was before Ranma showed up, and Akane
will be a more feminine character, as well.

That's a lot of seemingly arbitrary changes in the characters. 

Not in Kuno.  He obviously has a major rep when Ranma arrives.  Kasumi's
tricky.  If everyone is after her, and not afraid to show it, it's 
surprising that nobody gets her.  However it could be handled by 
assuming that somebody _does_ win her heart but then has to leave as 
happens in one of those music videos (although in that video Kasumi 
looks to be maybe fourteen.).  As for Akane, well, that is a break from 
the main continuity where Kasumi scolds her for being a tomboy well 
before Ranma arrives and Akane decides to grow her hair long in 
response.  But it's the only big change.  

Do these

changes yield enough new story potential to make them worthwhile? Maybe
they do, but offhand I don't see how....

Well, Year One is an environment, not a story, or even a premise.  But 
If it's about the competition for Kasumi, then the real protagonists 
would be her rival suitors, and the story would be how and why none of 
them actually get her.  Kuno could be one of the suitors, of course but 
since he's two years younger than Kasumi, he'd be pretty doomed even if 
we didn't know he won't get her.
And he's probably been an idiot ever since he was humiliated by his 
father, who made him come to school with his head shaved.  

 I'm looking for a fresh new spin
on Ranma 1/2, but I'd like to hear any comments anyone has on the idea.  If
you think it's a totally worthless idea, don't be at all hesitant to say so.

Okay, I think it's totally worthless. Not because it's particularly bad
as ideas go, but because pretty much ALL ideas of this form are totally
worthless. You haven't told us what we need to know in order to see
where the value of it is. Okay, so you have these altered characters.
Now what happens to them? How will they be interacting? Where is the
conflict? Until you can tell us this, all you have is a premise -- NOT a
story -- and premises are a dime a dozen. It's how you develop them into
stories that counts.

Gary Kleppe
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics.html