On Sat, 9 Nov 2002, Angus MacSpon wrote:

Glad to see you're still writing!

I can't seem to stop for long.  ^_^;  The time between postings has grown,
but so has the size of each chunk... hopefully it averages out. 
 

Terrific story, superbly written, as always.  And a fascinating, and
all too credible, look at how the whole AMAW situation began.

"Credible"?  Wow.  I was hoping for "conceivable" at best.  It took a lot
of tightrope-walking to make everything come out "right"... glad it worked
for you.

I'm a little disappointed about one thing, I must admit: that your
timeline at the end doesn't include "The Better Part of Valor."  I
always liked that one. :)

I'm fond of it too, but it's not, uh, canonical, if I may be excused the
term...

Odd thing.  After finishing Compromising Situations, I went back and
reread AMAW itself.  It gave me a very different perspective on the whole
scenario, reading the two together like that.  As you say, CS is not a
light-hearted story; but it's not particularly dark or grim either.

I put that warning in for the benefit of those who might be expecting a
romantic comedy after reading my other stuff, since it starts out light.

The bad aspects of the situation are all in the minds of the participants,
and in ours to the extent that we identify with them.  It's not like
anyone's getting killed or maimed here, but that doesn't mean no one's
getting hurt...

It
was only as I reread AMAW that I realised that, in a sense, it's a horror
story.  Ranma's life has been split four or five or six ways (depending
on who you count), and there seems like no possibility of a reconciliation
between them; no possibility of him ever being whole.  Nasty.

Seems like he knows it, too.  Nastier.

Well, Ranma is optimistic and resilient by nature, and the next couple of
stories will show him adapting somewhat.  Still, he's given away pieces of
himself, as he says, and it can't help but weigh on him. 

The thing that makes me able to write these, I think, is the way the
outcome of Taming of the Horse gave Akane everything she wanted and left
three other girls with "You lose. Tough."  That's not comfortable either
if one has any sympathy for the losers, and I do.  AMAW is my penance.  :) 

Perhaps that's what I like about "The Better Part of Valor", though I
agree with your story notes that point out that it's too flippant to
fit the scenario and is nearly a spamfic.  It does bring all the
fragments together and, while the outcome is going to be messy, there's
at least some hope there too.

(Plus, of course, Yokuma was a little sweetie.)

I really want fanart of that scene from BPV.  :)

I find myself liking all of the kids, just as though I hadn't invented
them.  If there's a redeeming virtue in AMAW, it's Taro and Jiro, Lu Fa
and So Pu/Ro Pu, and especially Kurone and Yokuma; can Ranma sincerely
wish for things to have turned out differently if it means erasing these
youngsters?

I recall that next-generation Ranma fics were trendy a few years ago, and
sometimes I wonder if they could be again...

Anyway.  Thanks again for a solid read and an excellent, thought-provoking
story.

I'm glad you enjoyed it.  Thanks for writing back!

Vince Seifert    Fanfic Analyst   FFIRC Frog
Prime:  seifertv@csus.edu
Backup: seifertv@myrealbox.com
Techie: http://webpages.csus.edu/~seifertv/
Fanfic: http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seifertv/toth/
Ideas are worth their weight in gold.


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