UnderF4331@aol.com wrote:

One Fine Spring

	This is on semi-hold.  Right now I'm simply rereading the early Ranma 
1/2, trying to figure out such lovely things as if I should start from the 
beginning of the manga, if not where should I start, where to pull the 
characterizations from (early cannon, general cannon, or general mix of 
cannon and fic-writer's legend), that kind of stuff.
	Any suggestions?

Okay... all remarks are My Opinion Only.

I've no idea what the story in question is about -- if it's been posted,
I must've missed it -- but the best way to figure out a starting point
for a story is to ask yourself what the main conflict in the story is.
Then you should probably start your story right at the time that
conflict comes into being, and end it when the conflict is resolved (or
when it becomes clear that it's never going to be resolved).

For AltUnivs, though, you have to be careful about not repeating too
much straight out of the canon. Events that happen in your continuity
exactly as they happened in the manga should probably be summarized
over, or just omitted. Get quickly to what's different in your version
of things. Otherwise you risk boring your reader, who almost surely
knows what happened in the first few volumes.

As for characterization, go with whatever is logical for the story.
This, I would say, means follow the Takahashi characterizations unless
there's something in the premise of your story that says they'd be
changed.


Gary Kleppe
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics.html