----- Original Message -----
From: Werness, Charlie <h17@SJNMA.ORG>
To: 'Thomas Hood' <thood@cs.mun.ca>
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2000 1:59 PM
Subject: RE: [FFML][Ranma][Shortfic][WAFF][Somewhat Dark]The Right Words
Point taken, but the fact still remains that he had STILL been being
trained
in the art since he was what, 6? After about 6 or 7 years of the training
(especially the intense and royally stupid training that Genma puts him
through) he'd still develop good reflexes and senses. I mean, the whole
purpose of the Ranma/Ryoga fight that left Ranma waiting for three days
was
caused by Ranma's taking Ryoga's bread during lunch. Ranma wouldn't have
been able to do that if he hadn't posessed some abilities that Ryoga
didn't
have, implying that he had become at least better than average in the art.
That's the point I'm trying to make. Not that he was as good as he is in
the beginning of the series, but that he was alot better than the author
gives him credit for.
I don't think the author is showing any kind of bias one way or another
towards Ranma's skill. We don't know what the genie looks like, so we can't
tell if it's easily visible. There's no thunderclap or billowing smoke to
signal the genie's arrival, nor is there any description of the genie. There
should be. Even if the genie is a minor character that gets only a few
lines, Jack should have taken the time to flesh it out(literally).
Fanfic authors as a whole tend to neglect description(not all of them, but
enough), and lack of description hurts the story.
Of course, heavy description is equally undesirable. Try to read Jordan's
Wheel of Time and you'll see what I mean. God, what a lot of description!
I end up skipping most of it.
So you see my point? Arguing this is impossible, because the fic doesn't
contain an answer one way or another.
Thomas Hood
thood@cs.mun.ca