Subject: Re: [FFML] [fanfic] Chrono Trigger 1/2 Chapter 1
From: "Richard D. Lawson" <sterman@sprynet.com>
Date: 6/15/1996, 6:13 PM
To: fanfic@fanfic.com

Don Wang wrote:

After the light dissipated, Ranma and Akane noticed that 
a strangely looking winged-aircraft simply appeared and 
was hovering above the Tendo dojo!

Don't use exclamation points in your descriptions; let your images do 
the impacting for you.

"Don't ask me!" answered Ranma, "Well, whatever it is, it is coming
down!"

This reminds me of something from Douglas Adams "Hitchhiker" books, in 
which he talks about how stupid British people are because they say 
stupidly obvious things, like "Oh dear, you've just fallen down a 
thirty-foot well.  Are you all right?"  Having Ranma say "It's coming 
down" makes him sound silly; instead, just describe the spaceship 
descending.

<There is... oh... I'll say about three people inside whatever that > thing is,> thought Ranma.   

Same thing.  Instead, write something like, "Ranma thought he could see 
three people inside whatever that thing was."

The only other thing I have a problem with is the premise; let's all 
beat up on each other for no adequately explored reason.  I'm not saying 
you can't write good 'fics based on this, but they had better be *real 
good*, because the concept is an old and tired one.  I'll be interested 
to see where you go with this, but you'd better give us something 
special.  

:)  I hope I don't come across too mean.  Remember, the toughest part of 
writing is creating something that is not just interesting to *you*, but 
interesting to other people as well.  I don't know anything about Chrono 
Trigger, except what you told us in this chapter, but I don't find the 
characters terribly interesting.  It is up to you to make them 
interesting to us.

Good luck!  :)