Ben Walker <benwalkr@udel.edu> wrote:

   I was *not* serious. I was trying to make a point,

that the original challenge was one hundred percent ludicrous.

Errm, forgive me if I'm wrong but isn't fanfic in general and Ranma 1/2 in
specific pretty ludicrous. There's a guy that turns into a girl and there's
people changing into animals and the concept of two people who have nothing in
common getting together is more ludicrous than that?

Ranma 1/2 may be ludicrous, but it's a more or less consistent kind of
ludicrousness. We know that Ranma's curse operates in a certain
predictable way, and we know that Ranma himself reacts in certain
predicatble ways to the situations he finds himself in. Magical effects
and other circumstances can change things, but there's always a reason
for any difference.

(Note that when I say Ranma 1/2, I'm referring to the manga. The anime's
a whole 'nother story which I don't wanna get into. If you haven't read
the manga, I strongly suggest you do so before writing a Ranma fic. Much
of the later stuff is available at <http://ranmascan.dhs.org>.)

Anyhow... personally, I'll happily read non-standard matchup fics if
they're well done. Unfortunately, most of them (even the good ones) tend
to fall into certain traps. First of all, rampant OOCism. It's not
uncommon in this type of story to see a Ranma who chooses a fiancee like
someone would choose a used car, an Akane who is pissed off for no
particular reason anytime she's around Ranma, and so on. Secondly, lack
of conflict. In trying to force a certain ending, authors will often
start the fic at a point where that ending is already pre-determined. X
and Y are already madly in love with each other as this alternate
universe begins, and have no serious rivals.

So, the question is, WHY do you want to write this particular match-up?
If it's because you see good dramatic possibilities in the interactions
between the two characters, then go for it, provided that you can avoid
the problems I mentioned above. I don't see it myself, but maybe I'll be
pleasantly surprised when I read the fic. If it's just that these two
haven't been done before, or that you want to get them out of the way,
then you might want to give the whole idea more thought.


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