I agree with Jason's thinking on this.  As far as I know, nobody on this
list is taking orders for basic fanfic ideas, and I mean asking for a
particular combination of characters is extremely basic.  That's the kind of
idea that everyone has access to, but the problem is that you need more than
"Nabiki and Ranma get together" to make it interesting.  If you're going to
suggest a Ranma and Nabiki fic, why not provide some scene ideas that would
make it an original idea?

Most stories really do start off with a simple idea such as that.  The
fanfic that I hold closest to my heart is The Bitter End by Zen, and that
started off as "Akane gets Ranma" but if you've read that particular story
you know that a lot more work went into fleshing out the details and
developing and emotional and interesting plot.

If someone takes your idea and writes it with the complexity you suggested,
you probably wont even like it.

Those who put more into their stories probably either have ideas for their
next projects, or they will skip over a suggestion that is an 'obvious' idea
for a story.

If I'm wrong, and we see a few high quality Nabiki & Ranma fics appear on
the list as a result of your request, I'll apologize for my ranting in
advance, but I doubt this will be the case.  Now, if you want to see a
Nabiki and Ranma fic, and are good at writing outlines but you feel that
maybe your actual storytelling is sub-par for the task or you don't have the
time to write the story, write an outline, include some scenes that would
make this story different, and offer it on the FFML

Three of my own story ideas, Sacrifice of Angels (probably soon to be
retitled because a Star Trek book of the same name came out recently) The
Sin War, and Total Unity sprung from an idea that Rob Barba sent to me in
the form of a well designed outline.  His single idea exploded into three
stories worth of events and character interaction because his idea was
detailed enough to provide for a continuation to wrap up the loose ends in a
manner that would be interesting to the reader (Hopefully, we'll see if that
is the case sometime down the road.)

Anyway, as this email is getting ridiculously long, this is Doug Murphy,
signing off.  I really hope that if you are interested in seeing the type of
fic you desire that you will work to develop that idea, and maybe even write
it yourself if you have the time and patience.

Draxonx@bellsouth.net

-----Original Message-----
From:	ffml-bounce@fanfic.com [mailto:ffml-bounce@fanfic.com] On Behalf Of
Jason Liao
Sent:	Friday, January 08, 1999 1:26 AM
To:	JaPiNoY811@aol.com
Cc:	ffml@fanfic.com
Subject:	Re: [FFML] Nabiki Fanfics

On Fri, 8 Jan 1999 JaPiNoY811@aol.com wrote:

Can anybody out there start on a new Ranma & Nabiki fic?

Yes.  You could.

There's been lots of 'Write using these symbols' or 'Don't write like
this' or 'Write with these couples' spam on the ffml in the past few days.
Instead of continually ranting or pleading, how about setting an example,
people?

-Natsume Ranma Ranma
-------
The sardines weren't worth the trouble.  A few more shots, then
Ryoga-san would overheat and explode.  Ducking around a corner,
I managed to lose him as I entered the ramshackle residence of
my Anime supplier.

One look at his face and I knew that I was betrayed.  "Tell me."
I insisted.  He refused, so I slammed him against the wall.
"Last chance.  Where can Ranma-Ranma find good fanfics?"
"Try Jason Liao." he whispered, before he slumped to the floor.
I heard the sounds of a door splintering as I left through the
window, one step ahead of Tendo Heavy Industries...