As his own explanations for Shampoo's behavior (now that she's been

named in

other posts) bear out.
...
Again, I point out that the story is viewed through the eyes of Tendou
Akane, who is not likely to be giving Shampoo much in the way of

benefit of

the doubt under the circumstances.
...
I'm sorry, but this makes no sense.  ONE incident is NEVER enough to
establish a pattern of behavior for a character.  Just because a

character

does something ONE time in a story does *not* indicate the author

believes

that this is 'normal' behavior for this character.

If she had behaved in his manner repeatedly throughout the story, I

might

see this argument... but as it stands, I don't.

And so on...

As a former and still rehabilitating very poor recipient of harsh
criticism (I'm sure some members of the list remember the debate over
GTP chapter 2), I would like to offer a bit of advice in the form of a
technique which has helped me numerous times in the past to not only
avoid blowing up in the face of criticism, but also to use even
criticism that I disagreed with at first to make my stories better than
I ever thought they could be. <raise egotism shields>

Let's use the case in point as an example. D.B. raised the point that
Shampoo's "villainization" seemed out of character for her. Nick
disagreed. However, I would advise Nick to clarify his point within the
story itself, rather than merely explaining it to his critics after the
fact. For example, expand the wedding scene to include Shampoo's
entrance, with a bit of action that shows more of Shampoo's mindset at
the time and explains why she is taking the action she has chosen. Play
around with the details until you feel satisfied at its inclusion in
your story, and then compare it to the original. If the original still
feels better to you, disregard the criticism entirely. But chances are
that the story will have improved from the extra work, and you will have
trouble believing that you ever considered it "complete" before.

This is just my way of dealing with criticism that I don't agree with:
find my own interpretation of it that works and go with it. I hope it
helps ease this debate a bit, as well as possibly further improving what
was already a very good, emotionally moving piece of fanfiction.

- Nidoking

PROFESSOR ASHFIELD: An easy way to make store clerks cry is to return
gift certificates for store credit.

My not-so-humble webpage of fanfiction and other random junk:
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~katinamp


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