More, Albeit Belated, Questions For You All (Patreon)

Have you ever had a day where you just… want to scream? That was yesterday for me. I was on a role, first went through 9,000 words that I’d written on dragon Naturally speaking? Added all the missing “” comas, periods, changed sentences, all that. Then I went on, writing out more, adding something like six thousand words for Stallion, enough that I should have been finishing the chapter today at around 25,000 words. But when I get back to it later that night, after powering up my laptop, my Microsoft Office 365 opens that document automatically… which it shouldn’t have. And then I see that it didn’t save! Like I had saved before I had begun to write out the new stuff, but none of the automatic saves had gone through for some reason, nor had the last time I had saved myself. I DO NOT GET IT. 

And yes, I used both bold and then caps. Because I am still that annoyed by it. 

I hit save. I saw it say, 'saving please wait' for a brief second, then 'saved to this PC'. It didn’t. Nor did any of the automatic saves. I have it set up to save every five minutes. None of them did. The recovery files folder is empty. I DO NOT GET IT. Nor could I find any tmp files anywhere. I was so fucking frustrated I screamed and just walked away the rest of the night.

So instead of working on a few responses (sorry Beleriond) and separating my questions into spoilers – which I would save with only a few people via email or pm – and public ones and then Grammarlying the fuck out of Stallion, I spent all day today  writing out the same shit I did yesterday. And the problem is, I think the humor is worse this time around, and I just… doing that kills my willpower man. I don’t like it.

Anyway, several days after I had hoped to have some questions up for you all to ponder, here they are. A few of these are really general questions, so I will understand if I don’t get responses to them, but a few are specific.

First the general questions:

1. Romance. What kind of fic do you guys prefer: fics where couples get together and become serious right off the bat, or fics where there’s a lot of flirting, buildup and only near the end do they really get together? I’m honestly curious, since in most of my fics, I am very clear about who will get with who right off the bat, but after that each fic differs in how the romance goes, primarily because I let the romance portion of my fics write themselves. I’ve tried to force it a time or two, but, well, see below. But I am wondering if people like the fast romance version or the slow buildup. Or even not knowing who will get with who right up until the end?

2. Okay, so this one is going to take a bit to explain. So I was rereading Making Waves recently, and I came to the conclusion I kind of… didn’t like some aspects of the fic.

I feel some of the romance was forced, badly. Mira dropping her interest so quickly and Jenny overall. Don’t get me wrong, I like Jenny and the changes I made. Similarly, I like what I did with Bisca, I feel that felt natural, very teen/college age romance type stuff, and it will let me have Azuka show up soon. But I think I could have just made Jenny a great friend and the first fling for Ranma, and then have Mira remain. I just didn’t because I made the decision to not go down the very rehashed Erza/Mira/OC thing.  Similarly, while I like Juvia’s romance, it feels like it was too fast.

There are other examples. Better proofreading from the start. Having Ranma be challenged and maybe lose fights early on. The whole Ranger angle REALLY began to feel forced after a time. Less of the fix-everything feel to it. I kind of want to also change the Gajeel/Levy thing. And, a big one, how I treated Natsu and Grey. Natsu grew on me, but Grey… I horrendously underused that character. More time in the guild, maybe having Ranma join up and leave the rangers after the Tower of Heaven stuff.  Or better yet, have Fairy Tail operating everywhere instead of just in Fiore, and then having Ranma and Wendy meet Erza or Mira or the rest earlier, then having some adventures before canon with them.

So, yeah, lots of things I think I could have done better, or done differently.  So my question is: when Making Waves is done, would anyone like to see me dive into this world again? Maybe just in the form of a story outline?

Note I am not asking if you would want to see that over one of the other fics I have waiting in the wings. I am just wondering in the long term… and if other people see the same issues I do, or if I’m being overly critical of the story.

3. This is not the first time I have asked this question, but with Horse and ATP both so close to being finished, I feel it prudent to bring it up again. Instead of breaking my fics into small and large story polls (large story polls will return after at least one of the above stories are done) should I break them up by fandoms: have 1 HP, 1 Ranma and 1 Patreon only both plus, hopefully, Heroes of the High Seas? I realize then it would put keeping the chapters relatively even would then be up to me, but I still feel like I want to give both my Ranma and Harry fans at least one fic per month without abusing my votes.

4. I haven’t ever gotten into Wattpad for one reason or another. Is it worth it – not in terms of posting my stuff there, but in terms of new stuff being posted there instead of on AO3 or fanfic? Specifically, I would really like some marvel/HP works to read that I haven’t already found to help my floundering muse for ATP. I must push on but the muse is weak…

5. This is a curiosity question: which kind of worlds do you all prefer to read about, sci-fi or fantasy? I have brought Ranma into space twice, and Harry once, but there are several fandoms I could cross them over with or explore in sci-fi that I have had some thoughts on. Similarly, I have had other thoughts about sending Ranma back in time into the time of Warring States or the Three Kingdoms eras

Please note, the above question isn’t asking because I am thinking of introducing new outlines or anything, I am just curious. The only fic this question could have any direct bearing on is my DC/Ranma cross when I get back to it.

And now onto a few fic specific questions:

First, since it’s in my mind, Making Waves.

1. What gender should Erza’s kid be? I’ve asked this question of a few of my beta reader’s but I am still up in the air about it.

2. This is a minor one, but who should replace Makarov as Guild Master? I don’t think it should be Erza – she’ll be far too busy, or Mira, but it can’t be Gildarts either. Laxus is still too much of an ass. So who among those left behind would be able to step up to the plate?

3. What should I do about Sting and the rest of Sabertooth. With the Master dead and Minerva serving Hisui, I am kind of at a loss as to if Sabertooth should even exist.

More minor questions like that for Bhaalson Remodel:

1. While I know I’ve made fun of it several times up to this point, should I have Harry’s Gamer system be able to break class specific restrictions? I don’t mean other characters learning magic or anything, I mean restrictions like what kind of weapons and armor characters can use as well as how good they can get with their various weapons. I have already messed with this a bit in terms of how good characters can get – paladins would normally be restricted to only two proficiency points per weapon class.  So I am wondering if I should extend that, or just remove some of these restrictions as they make no sense.

2. Would having Harry try to pick up rune-craft and smithing be too much on top of everything else? Personally I think it would make this Harry too much like Fate Harry, but I would be interested in what people think.

3. One thing that I absolutely loved with BG2 and Throne of Bhaal was some of the special weapons that you could not only find, but then UPGRADE. Cespenar for the win, baby! I have laid the foundation of at least one upgradeable weapon already, but I am wondering if I should bring in more such things, and if people would be interested in that sort of thing. And if so, how I should introduce it, what character could offer it, etc.  I don't want to just use the Thunderhammer Smithy for that kind of thing. 

And two questions for Stallion of the line:

1. The One Piece Movie Red. I haven’t watched it or Stampede, I was burned badly by Z and Gold, hated them both. But I have heard good things about this, and I know the main antagonist is supposedly the daughter of Shanks. So… should I include her and some of the other characters from it?

2. Similarly, Stampede’s main antagonist is Douglas Bullet, who at this point is imprisoned in Impel Down. Should I introduce him as a future enemy or not? Is he interesting enough?