Frank:
> There are probably many reasons why Ranma's become so popular to be
> written about. One is that Ranma 1/2 has a very open ending, as most if
> not all of you know. 

	I don't necessarily think it's the open nature of the ending, but
rather the general nature of the story.

	Even if Ranma and Akane do get married, it honestly wouldn't make that
big of a difference.  It is clearly implied that they're supposed to be
the only real couple in the series, marriage or no marriage.  Most of
the fanfics takes place before the wedding too.

	The structure of Ranma 1/2 is really lose.  The story arcs are not
related in any way whatsoever unless you can count learning new moves as
relationship.  Something that happened in volume 35 could very well have
happened in volume 15.  The romantic stories a little bit different,
since it's actually developed but Ranma 1/2 really isn't about romance.

> My question is: is the sheer number of Ranma 1/2 fanfiction so great to
> the point of hurting the original series and whatever flavor it came in
> from its creator, Takahashi-sensei? I'm really iffy about this question.

	The problem lies in the nature of fanfiction themselves, not the
quantity.

	I've the misfortune to read video game fanfics lately and they are just
horrible.  If you think Ranma 1/2 fanfiction are bad, think again.

	Most fanfics just suck, period.  

	Most fanfics are also too long.  Consider it is very likely that very
few of the fanfiction writers are ever going to write on a professional
level (i.e. authoring), it becomes clear why long = bad.  It is hard for
a professional author to hold a reader's interest for an extended amount
of time.  It's kind of the same reasoning why most people don't read
books like Don Quioxte.  To quote a friend, "I'm not going to read a
book I can't lift." (exaggeration, of course).  Long books are harder to
write because you've to make it interesting for longer period of time. 
The same goes with fanfiction.  More so really because it is clear that
fanfiction writer are far inferior in writing ability compared to books
you can expect to buy in a bookstore.

	It seems like when people are really devoted to something that like to
blabber long about it.  My friend wrote a research paper on Evangelion
and it easily hit the 12 page maximum.  I wrote mine on Utopian versus
Dystopian society and I hit the min (7 page) from my Utopian argument
alone (though I ended up with no tangible Dystopian argument so it turns
out to be a normal lengthed paper).  It is pretty easy to go on and on
on something you enjoy.  Problem is that it can be overdone.  The best
example would be one of the fanfics I read while at tOWS (The
OtherWorlds Shrine).  Forgot the author (SI or AK404, don't remember
which one) which was 30 pages on just Locke's scenario in FF3, from
rescue of Celes to just getting out of South Figaro.  15 pages were on
how Celes were tortured.  It was good writing, but frankly I'm not sure
having 15 pages on the different ways you can torture someone is a good
idea.

	The best fanfiction I've read are no more than 15 pages.  Anymore it
becomes increasing hard to make something coherent and interesting.

	Another issue I see with fanfiction is character development.  Yes the
characters are there for you already... only if you really, really know
the character.  And frankly that is hard.  Takahashi says she doesn't
really understand Kunou or Shampoo when she draws them.  Neither should
you.  A example I can think of offhand is the Thy Inward Love by Richard
Lawson, the part Kunou told Ranma about watching out his sister for
poison... heck Kunou in the entire story struck me as out of character. 
Kunou is not someone you can expect to be rational with... and if he is
to be rational you must spend the effort to develop him that way.  

	The definition of OOC vs IC is kind of tricky.  It is pretty hard to
write it completely IC because it would be really boring since you'll be
essentially reproducing Ranma 1/2.  But people have to think about
justifying the OOC behavior by developing the character the way they
want.  The story is in your voice but you can't justify something just
because you feel that's the way it ought to be.  If you think Ranma is
going to blow up on Shampoo for trying to ruin his wedding, you need to
have some kind of plausible explanation rather than you feel that it
ought to be that way.  Maybe he's had a bad day.  Maybe he is really
serious about his relationship for once.  There has to be some
explanation.

	Having multiple character is bad too.  Ranma 1/2 characters are not
easily understandable.  You can stick with the stereotypes which is
actually pretty accurate of their personality in some ways, but then
you've 2D character which are very boring to read about.  If you try to
make the characters more 3D it is really tough because most of the
information simply isn't there and you've to fill it in yourself.  It
only gets worse when you try to do more than one.

> The information sites on Ranma 1/2 sometimes are also hurt by this
> proliferation of numerous, bad fanfics. Many an information site have I
> seen with info that is justified or taken from a fanfic. While that's not
> usually explicitly stated, it usually shows in the site.

	People will let their opinions affect how they make their page.  It'll
happen, fanfic or no fanfic.  I stopped looking around for Ranma 1/2
info a long long time ago.  Really there isn't a lot to be learned about
the series once you've all the manga, and most of the sources are flawed
at best.

Don
"Destiny lies in my hands."