Subject: [FFML] Re: [Info] New Fan Fic Idea and Annoucements
From: Gary Kleppe
Date: 8/10/2004, 12:24 PM
To: Michael Haney
CC: ffml@anifics.com


Quoting Michael Haney <zorch@uymail.com>:


Hello, I'm new to this group, but I'm not new to writing fan fiction.  I've
done several and am working on several found at the links below in my
signature.

Now, onto the topic of this post...

Most of the fanfics I write are Ranma 1/2 based.  Many are usually crossovers
with other anime, manga, and non-anime TV shows.  I meditate on new ideas for
these fics and come up with ideas for new stories.  I have two that I need
suggestions on.

I have a few spare moments at work, so we'll see what we can do.

Ranma is hospitalized after a severe injury caused during a fight with Mousse
and Ryoga.  In the hospital, Ranma begins to have dreams of people and places
he has never seen before.  After he gets out of the hospital Ranma has waking
dreams of things he's never seen or experienced, of adventures, monters, and
magic.  These dreams become ingrained within him as memories, and Ranma's
personality begins to change.  He accepts his female form and wears women's
clothes when goes female for a long time.  He is harder to manipulate, as
Nabiki and his iinazuke discover, and he does not put up with people as much

You misspelled "fiancee". Just thought I'd let you know.

as before.  Akane and Cologne become concerned with Ranma's changing behavior
and the two confront Ranma about it.  He tells them about the dreams and how
he can remember what happens in them after he has them.  They take him to Dr.
Tofu who uses hypnosis on him to see what is causing this and discover that
these dreams are resurfacing memories from a past life...Ranma is the
  reincarnation of Lina Inverse!

First of all, equating Ranma and Lina has been done many, many times in
fanfiction. This doesn't mean that your story can't be good, but it is one
strike against it, and it does mean you might want to reconsider whether a
fresher premise might not serve just as well for the story you are trying to
tell.

As for your idea itself, it really depends on how you handle it. If you focus on
Ranma's struggle to remain himself and not let this other personality wipe out
who he is, that could be good. If you just let Lina take him over completely
and spend the story with her blasting all of the Nerima characters you don't
like, then, well, I for one will look for something else to read. The point is
that there has to be some sort of internal conflict for the main character,
something that he is motivated to struggle with on more than just a purely
physical level and has to grow as a character in order to overcome.

Tendo Soun's brother Tendo Akito and his wife Yuri die in a car accident and
he takes in their 16 year old daughter Kikimo.  Kikimo is beautiful,


First suggestion: use a different name. Though Soun's late wife's name was never
given in the manga, "Kimiko" is assigned to her in more fanfics than not, and
the reader of your fic is bound to have seen this.

clinically a genius, as devious as Nabiki, and something of a sex fiend.  She
lost her virginity at 14, and is known at her old school as a girl who will
put out on the first date.  Upon arriving at Tendo-ke the sisters shower her
with attention because of what happened with her parents.  Her attitude
changes when she sees Ranma, whom she thinks is very good looking, and when
she learns about his curese she gets even more interested in him.  Kikimo
watches Ranma's life and how he's treated by Akane and the other girls.  She
is no saint herself, but Kikimo decides that such a nice and really
"delicious" looking guy like him/her should never be treated that way.  So,
Tendo Kikimo set about to make Ranma hers.  Nabiki notices a change in the
girl's behavior around Ranma, she tells Akane, and now its a race between the
two girls to win
 over Ranma.  This is because Kikimo is a Tendo also, and if she succeeeds in
seducing him and sleeping with him he'll have to marry her.

Well, besides what I wrote above about your story needing internal conflict, I'd
say that Kimmy (or whatever you change her name to, if you do) needs some
sort of weakness. That she's beautiful, that she's capable of fulfilling the
marriage contract, and that she actually feels compassion towards Ranma are all
reasons for her to succeed. She needs some reason why she might fail. This
could be as simple as Ranma simply not being interested in her, or her being so
aggressive in her pursuit that he's put off and she doesn't understand why. As
is, it seems like the deck is stacked in favor of this new character (who, as
Hiroshi and Daisuke remind me to say, is also stacked). This is a recipe for
"Annoying New Character." If your character succeeds too easily (and
*especially* if your plan is for her to win out in the end, which I wouldn't
recommend), then your story will lack suspense because it will be clear that
you as author are driving it to a particular outcome.

Hope some of this helps.


Gary

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