On Thu, 30 Apr 1998 22:47:07 -0400 Jonathan Ng <jonathan@worldy.com>
writes:
It took me a few minutes into reading DnR 25 that I realized I was
reading in prose, not script.
It troubles me. And even worse, the prose format made me switch out
of "College Mode" and I thought of Ranma as the default Ranma, the
sixteen year old freshman, the one still coping with the curse and
with Akane. Then I forced myself to think of Ranma as a college
student, hardened with a year's knowledge, the ups and downs of the
curse, and the love of Akane. This is not good.
Actually, I did a few doubletakes myself; I didn't realize it until I was
halfway through the fic. I think something that helped was rereading the
past 24 chapters (yes, I am insane -- it's currently 5am and I've been up
all night. Damn, on a friday night, too!! ARGH!!!). Err, anyway. I
think the main reason for my disorientation was the simple fact that it's
been so long since I've read Daigakusei no Ranma/Ukyou. It's true what
you say, Jon-san. There are precious few really good script format fics
that can be as (or even more) expressive than prose format fics.
Personally, I feel that I had a lot of fun reading DnR/U in script
format, but on the other hand, I can't really see Lawson-san writing
anything in script format, though. So it's pretty much like what
Biles-san or Tai-san said (I can't remember who it was) -- it'll depend
on the content of the story (and the guest author?).
<snip>
The radical change in tone also troubles me. It could be for the
better, but the sudden "darker twist" allows no time for adjustment
(I guess you could argue DnR 24 was similar with Nabiki and Ranma
finally ending their tense feud) It could be that it's still summer
and there's really no "dramatic relief", in Shakespearean terms :)
(Okay, well you could say the whole of DnU 5 was dramatic relief)
Again, I'd personally attribute this to Lawson-san's style of writing;
IMO, not many of his fics are very... casual. (Damn, I'm expecting
flames for this). I can sometimes feel emotionally drained when I read
his fics ("Transitions") or buoyantly happy (too many to list -- Thy
Inward Love comes to mind), but never (or seldom) a WAFF that comes from
something meant only to simply put a smile to readers face. *sigh* I'm
not doing justice to Lawson-san's work. Anyway, hope you all understood
what I'm trying to say.
Another point is that we've never really faced such a situation in DnR
before. This chapter wasn't exactly a light-hearted, amusing chapter,
ne? It got positively angsty at times (hehe, typical Lawson IMHO). I
haven't really seen angst come up too much in DnR -- the closest has been
Ukyou's attempts to deal with her perception of her life (and besides,
that's covered in much greater depth in DnU) and maybe the abusive
boyfriend chapter.
All in all, DnR 25 was good, and Richard Lawson's style definitely
shows in there. But can you convey Nabiki and Tatewaki's feelings in
script form? Probably. Effectively? Hard, but probably too.
Honestly I still don't know why I'm pro-script for DnR. Can anybody
help me?
I'm sure you could figure it out if you spent awhile thinking of it.
Since I've spent the last 5 hours doing so, I'll take a stab at it. I
think a lot of my affection towards DnR/U has to do with is its script
format. A kinda superficial and transient reason is that there's not
enough script-style fics out there. I think the main reason that has
kept me with DnR/U, though, has been its... lightheartedness. I can
click on a chapter and sit there reading it with a smile on my face for
hours (literally). (Hehe, by the time I finished reading all 25, the
smile had grown into a foolish looking grin). It's VERY smooth reading
-- I barely noticed the chapters flow by until I reached the end. In a
way, I feel prose is sometimes taxing on me because it is so much harder
to understand. Seriously. Obviously, this isn't always the case, but
often times it is. The script style that DnR adopts allows a reader to
pass quickly from scene to scene, bypassing sometimes lengthly
descriptions. I think this tends to imply that script format is a much
simpler format than prose. Obviously, it is, but like I said, script can
also express as much as prose. Obviously, some of the comments
proceeding or following a phrase help, but I think the method that helps
express what each character is feeling or thinking is their speech.
Obviously, speech is essential to a script fic to further the dialogue,
but it also helps to also voice a characters thoughts without having to
deal with overdescriptive comments.
Anyway, hopefully I didn't start repeating myself or get too wordy.
That's what I get for staying up 20 hours straight. Ja, ne.
doKuSHInsHA
Member of the #AAS#: Achika Appreciation Society
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