Blade and bits of Epsilon wrote:
I'm sure you've heard it before, but (whispers) readers generally
don't like SIs unless it's a Carrot fic. Besides, as an blatantly
SI author, I'm sure you've heard of the age-old argument:
Not only have we heard of it, we pretty much blatently say it in a)
our description of the fic on the website, and b) our author's notes
in the first chapter explicated part of the point of the story.
I don't actually think it's particularly true; for one thing,
Undocumented Features certainly wasn't written by Carrot Glace, and
you'd have a hard time convincing me that it isn't popular. Likewise for
Drunkard's Walk, which although technically not an SI is similar enough
that it sometimes takes me multiple minutes to remember the fact.
It does appear to be largely true of "classic"-style SIs, yes, although
I can think of a couple of examples offhand which might be exceptions
even there
"I see..." Ran trailed off again. "Wait, did you just say 'she'?"
Nitpick: In Japanese, 'she' as a pronoun doesn't exist. Let me
I am aware of this. But we are writing in English, for an English
audience.
Actually, it happens that there *is* a Japanese word which roughly
corresponds to "she" or "her": "kanojo", which taken literally is
approximately "that woman". It isn't precisely a pronoun, but it's
closer to being one than it is to being a noun, so...
It very likely wouldn't have been used in the kind of sentence in
question, however, so though the original objection is incorrect your
response remains perfectly valid. ^_^
Styming is not a word.
Yes it is. A word is used by speakers of the English language, and
thusforth it is a word, and no amounts of complaining about the
properness of said word will change that fact.
Two things. One, I've never so much as heard of "styming" before this,
and I usually pride myself on my English vocabulary; it's also not in my
dictionary, although I don't necessarily trust dictionaries as
linguistic arbiters. Second, from a look at the body of the chapter,
I've managed to figure out that the root verb here is "stymie"; the
correct gerund form would probably be "stymieing". That does look
somewhat ugly, but unlike "styming", I would at least have been able to
tell what it means without having to resort to glarking from context.
(You learn something new every day, or at least you hope to; I had no
idea that "stymie" was actually a term from golf.)
With a final grunt, Ranma flipped clear of the Cthuloid
Monstrosity's reach. She spun elegantly, landing with a flourish
directly in front of Ran. Somehow, she had twisted the two girls
out of their vicelike grips on her
Suggest: vice-like
For fun, I'll note this is the one I agree with you on; that was a
typo on my part. Or Aaron's; I don't really remember.
As a side thing, I'll note that although "vice" is certainly a valid
spelling for the word, according to my own experience the common usage
of the word in this context is spelled "vise". It is also, with that
spelling, commonly written without the hyphen - although writing it with
the hyphen is not incorrect, I just don't think it flows as well.
Also, an even more minor nitpick: the name is spelled "Cthulhu", with
two "H"s. That would produce the adjective "Cthulhoid".
The retort of the roof buckling under their impact caused
Hmmm. You're using retort in a way that's not "to rejoin angrily",
so what does retort mean in this sentence of yours?
Retort = "loud sound". It can also mean to rejoin angrily.
According to both all of my experience and my dictionary, "retort" can
not in fact mean "loud sound". The word you probably want is "report",
which can.
other fiancees despite the way she wrote her character, she at
least peppers conflict in such a way that the reader doesn't
immediately conclude that Akane really going to end up with Ranma
and that Akane has everything go too easily for her. Akane's
frustration with Ranma shows that that couldn't be farther from the
truth.
Takahashi has her red herrings in the form of Ukyo and Shampoo.
Akane's personality clashes with Ranma's most of the time. Ranma
honestly tries his very best to be as vague as possible about who
he loves. Reader interest is piqued and maintained among readers.
Um, no. Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
There is never the slightest iota of doubt that Akane is going to end
up with Ranma. Ever.
There is never the slightest vagueness over who Ranma loves. Ever.
If you think otherwise... then I'll be polite, and say merely that I
believe you are wrong, and see no need to clutter up the FFML with a
debate about Ranma 1/2. If you want to email me
(kumonryuu@hotmail.com), I will be happy to explain it to you in
excruciatingly exhaustive and annotated detail, containing frequent
references to exact panels and dialogues. Ask anyone who's been
around the fanfic/newsgroup scene long enough, and they'll tell you I
can and will do this.
Despite the fact that I do generally agree with you, I'd actually
probably like to read such an explanation; if you have the time to write
one out, whether for the benefit of the C&Cer or for some other reason,
I'd be obliged if you'd send me a copy.