A Fanfiction Guide

Andrew's Little (Ranma) Fanfic Guide

I don't know why I'm doing this. I just feel like it.... I admit, there's going to be some bias in here in the description of types of stories. But hey, this is my guide. ^_^

First, my words of warning:

Ranma fanfiction can be really, really addictive. Believe me, I know.... Also, it can be very confusing. Once you get into it--really get into it--you may get the constructed Ranmaverses confused with each other and with the "real " Ranmaverse. Also, there are some really, really dark stories out there, with characters dying and all that. Not too pleasant, that's for sure.... I myself hate them, in general. Oh, yeah, there are also...uh, "lemons." I don't want to think about those. If you want to know what they are, go somewhere else. Pity, some of them actually have excellent plots, too. Yes, I've read some! But I didn't know until...oh, forget it. Like I said, some have plots good enough to redeem them...it's just that they have to.... But overall, Ranma fanfiction is really cool. There are some really good stories out there...and, in fact, I'm writing a few that're hopefully some of the better ones.

Okay, enough of that...now, to the rest of this stuff. I do not claim to have invented the terms for the major types of fiction named below (except one), or for the subtypes called "darkfics" and "sadfics". Those have been around a while. But my breaking-up the major types into subtypes (where applicable) is my own original idea. :P And some of those subtypes are kinda my invention. The term that I _did_ invent is the "new generation" type.

Types of Fanfiction I'm adding a little of my own commentary to the established guidelines.

Crossovers: This is one of three things: a) either the cast of Ranma interact with the cast of another anime series or fictional reality (like, maybe, Shampoo and Lum trading notes on how to be ruthlessly possessive and such), b) the cast of Ranma is used to replace the cast of another series (say, Ranma and company are the crew and officers of the SDF Macross or something), or c) a story element is taken from another series and put in the Ranmaverse (an example would be GuyverRyouga). In a way, these also qualify as Unusual fics.

New Character Fics (also known as "Ranma and... fics" depending on which existing character the new one interacts with especially): An original character is introduced to the world of Ranma. He/she (although most of these, for some reason, concern a new male character) interacts with the rest of the cast and settle in with them, ofttimes becoming a love interest of one of the regulars. Not to be confused with "villain of the episode" types (those are usually found in original flavor style fics). Beware the Annoying New Character (ANC)....
Unusual: There are several subtypes of this. a) Alterniverse--Before the beginning of the actual series (or just after the beginning, like Tales of Ranma and Nabiki), something's been changed somehow and the already given events of the series are chronicled with these changes in mind; the Elseworlds series is an excellent example. b) Darkfics--Something rather sinister happens involving the cast; often, some of the regulars die at the hands of the others. Another theme is one or some of the cast goes insane. Sometimes, both of them happen. The last type that I consider a darkfic is those where Ranma loses his personality and permanently becomes a female, etc. (I hate just about all darkfics, personally.) c) Sadfics--Someone usually dies here too, but not as a result of murder or something. Usually focuses on some or all of the rest of the cast dealing with the tragedy. (Don't like reading them because of their depressive nature, but they can be good.) d) Odd setting--There are two subtypes within this subtype; one is when the cast is transplanted from their normal Neriman universe into something else, the other is when they start out already in another setting (like "Fall of the Eagle" which happens during World War II). e) Revenge fics--The cast of Ranma visits the author to play around with his/her life as a sort of revenge for messing with theirs. Frequent themes are the authors getting cursed by angry characters with Jusenkyou water or (for some reason) the characters feeling sorry for the author and trying to improve his/her love life (don't know why that's so popular...). Some just have them interacting a bit, which is a nice change of pace. f) Angst-fests--These are really, well, angsty works--depression, anger, and tension laden, but don't qualify sadfics (look at my "Life and Manhood" one as an example, or ones where Ranma is actually badly injured and hospitalized etc. etc.) because no one dies. g) Miscellaneous--This would include parodies, realistic approaches to events in Nerima, purely bizarro things going on, harmless Out Of Character (OOC) pieces--harmless meaning, they don't go homicidal because of their OOCness or whatever.... *There can be mixes of these subtypes.*

Original Flavor: These try to keep the feel of the anime or manga. There are two subtypes, "timeless" (which have storylines that could fit easily into the existing series; not truly timeless, though, some have certain limitations on where they would fit in) or continuations (which resolve things, either starting off at the end of the series or sometimes picking up in the middle and ignoring the rest of it; often both of these do bring in a few characters, but don't focus on them enough to be considered new character fics). Note that the first type is actually somewhat difficult to write, because of the imagination required to a) build some sort of new plot without b) disrupting the fabric of the given Ranmaverse (at least, not too much). Also, certain continuations can mix in elements of the other types, too. (I think "Thy Inward Love" is a trifle dark and far too serious to really be considered original flavor in feel, but it is a continuation.)

New Generation: This is where some long period of time has passed, the original cast has finally settled their relationships, had children, and those children are now telling their own story. (In a way, it's a sort of continuation.) It may focus primarily on the kids, or it may mix them and their parents somewhat equally--but always, it's a lot about the children. Interestingly enough, of the few I've seen, none of them have the new generation with curses....

Lemons: Go find out yourself. >_<

A Note on Darkfics, Sadfics, and Angst-fests

Why don't I like darkfics? Because they just about bust apart the Ranmaverse at the seams. When I read fanfiction, I read it to be entertained, usually. Dark fiction doesn't do that for me. It depresses me, it scares me, if it's bad enough, and I read it late enough in the day, it even gives me nightmares. No joke. Many darkfics have been said to be well written. Maybe, but I don't care. It just ruins my day. Part of the reason, perhaps, is also because the characters go wildly and severely OOC (out-of-character) and I rather dislike that. Sadfics, on the other hand.... They're written frequently to explore the characters further, to deepen them. They're also depressing, but...at least, they have a point. I'll read them, and sometimes even enjoy them--but I won't read them more than once or twice. Darkfics tend not to have a point, other than provide some morbid horror. I admit, there are exceptions; I'll read the Sunrise Chronicles, and maybe others. But "Lies" just--ARGH! I hate it. I really, really hate that one in particular. They say it was written well? I still feel like beating up on the author.

Angst-fests, if done well, I like. (These are the types that approach sadfics but don't make it that far, 'cos no one dies or anything like that.) One prominent type is when Ranma gets hurt badly enough to be sent to the hospital (sometimes the direct effect of Akane's abuse, sometimes not). These deal with the possibilities of Ranma not getting better and what could have been done to avoid all of this and...so on, so forth. These are also usually written as character explorations.

Suicide fics are unpleasant for me. It's just too OOC--even for Ryouga. "Sour Times"? That author (like the author of "Lies", but never mind--for now) is on the List of Infidels at the Church of Ucchan (he was very recently taken off probation for other reasons *ahemseangaffneykoff*). <dark, dark look> Ukyou committing suicide is NOT KOSHER (and I'm not even Jewish). Then again, I did write "Life and Manhood" but that's not quite the same, because although there is an attempt, it doesn't actually happen. (It was just this one sticking point that bothered me one day, and I felt like writing it. Turns out to be one of the better "feel-like-it" things that's happened to me, 'cos, well, people like it....) Okay, had enough?

Formats: Script vs. Prose

I myself will never write in script format. It's not my style. I've done so much prose writing that I need to express things that just can't be written in with a script. This is not to say that scripts just can't do the job. Script format does in fact work for original flavor very, very well. In fact, if you truly want to remain in OF, then you should write in script format.

But if you want to do some real character development, you can only do that with prose. You're not limited to showing action and speech and thoughs. You can insert observations that would be beyond the scope of a character in the series.... That's really all I have to say about this. Darn, thought this bit might be longer....

Some words on out-of-characterness (OOCness)

OOC is generally really bad, if you're trying to write a story that's to be taken seriously. What I mean by what's to be taken seriously means pretty much anything that's not a parody. Whether it's a serious or humorous story, it doesn't matter. When you write about Ranma characters, you try to capture them and write about them. That means, you try to stay in character.

There are exceptions, of course. Darkfics, by their nature, must make some characters OOC. Sadfics, too, since the characters need to deal with something tragic. Angst-fests are allowable--but only if adequate reason is given for doing so. So, too, are pieces where the intent is to make a character OOC--again, only if adequate reason is given.

What do I mean by adequate reason? Well, it seems that I'm fond of writing OOC pieces, like "Mousse, Version 2.0" and "Life and Manhood". For the first one, I was trying to create a Mousse with whom Shampoo could fall in love with, and that requires major attitude adjustment. In the second one I mentioned, I made sure that Ranma had such a bad day that s/he got drunk, and then, since Ranma's never been shown to be drunk, I was free to experiment with how a drunk and depressed Ranma might act like.

So, writing OOC isn't bad in itself. It's whether or not it's intentional, and if so, if there's adequate reason that a character is OOC in your story.

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