Author has written 3 stories for Ranma, and Naruto.

Update: 01/16/08

Originally I was planning to close this account forever as part of my desire to remove myself from the fanfiction scene completely. The following were my reasons for the decision:

1) I wish it wasn't so, but I truly believe I have an addiction issue. That issue revolves around escapism, something I accomplish through not only fanfiction, but anime, manga, books, etc. Fanfiction is the worst of the bunch for me though, so eliminating it is my first step in an attempt to recover. Some have called me an idiot and told me that all of these can be good things, and that I should just setup limits and such. I've tried, and they only work for so long. Only by removing myself entirely (specifically from fanfiction since it was causing me problems not only at home but at work as well) and working to fill that time gap with positive things (more time with the wife and kids for example) can I hope to regain some balance in my life. It's obvious to me that the people who gave me grief over this were either being particularly selfish in their desire to have me continue my stories, or have absolutely no idea how addictions truly work. Regardless, this is my decision, and unless my wife, children, and I come to a different consensus, this is the way things will remain.

2) Because of the first one, my family is suffering greatly from my continued hiding. I don't spend enough time with them, and I'm missing too much of my own children's lives (in addition to my wife having to do too much on her own). As I mentioned above, it was also greatly affecting my work performance. It's time for me to stop being so selfish and focus again on what's truly important.

3) Finally, I've used excuse after excuse, but the bottom line is that I believe I've been compromising my own moral standards as a Christian in my reading, writing, and viewing habits. I've constantly justified things (the most specific being my inclusion of a lot of sexual material that simply wasn't required in the story), and I can't bring myself to do it anymore. The bottom line is that I'm not living the values that I believe God has set for me (I said 'us' previously because that's what I believe, but for anyone who knows me, you know I have no intention of browbeating you with my moral code), and I need to change that. For me, the issue became most poignant when my wife asked me a simple question. When your children go online and read your stories (because they will eventually become curious about what is taking up so much of dad's time), will you be proud of what they see? At their age (never mind the fact that they shouldn't be reading most of stories due to the M rating, but you know how kids are), will they be able to see the values we're trying to teach them reflected in my works, or will they think I'm simply being a hypocrite. If I could take the time to explain it to them, I believe they would understand my position, but I shouldn't have to do that. I could've easily written all these stories in such a way that they would've been just as good without all the extraneous junk, stuff I put in the because I was perhaps trying to live vicariously through my characters. The bottom line is that if I ever start writing again, my stories will hopefully be the same quality without the questionable material (my rant will help you understand how I would deal with that stuff, because I won't simply ignore it).

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Those are my reasons for leaving. I had intended to leave my stories up long enough for people to copy them off if they wish, and then remove everything. However, the deluge of requests to let others continue my stories moved me to allow them to be adopted by other authors. Here is the text from my final announcement on each of my open stories:

Due to overwhelming requests, I have decided to allow specific authors to continue each of my open stories (Aijou & Aitou, The Ice Princess of Konoha, and Transcending Time). I went through quite the process of trying to find the correct person for each, and the final decision has been made. In this final posting from me on the topic, I will list who is going to take over this story.

Before I do though, please note that I wanted to mention a few things.

1) I have decided to keep my account open on this site. The purpose is two-fold. First, if I remove the account my RaK C2 will disappear, which would be a disservice to not only the subscribers, but all the Ranma & Kasumi fans out there. There are plenty of staff members to continue adding stories, and people can still PM me with requests. I will simply pass them on to a trusted staff member to handle. Also, by leaving the account open, I can then direct people to the authors that are taking over my open works.

2) Several people expressed the opinion that I was totally correct in my original rant, and didn't understand what I meant by justifying. I have therefore replaced my old rant with a new one. It contains much of what the original did (because I did agree with it for the most part), but also some clarifications that will hopefully help people understand why I took the stance I did. If not, that's okay. It was simply my wish to clear the air a little.

3) In regards to the images I had commissioned, they are still available to the public, but since I have passed on ownership of my stories, the pictures are still considered to be the "official" pictures for those works. Please keep that in mind (links are still located in my profile).

That about covers it. If you visit my profile, you will find that I have added the authors who are taking on my stories under my Favorite Authors section in order to make them easier to find. Once they begin posting the stories again, I will also add the stories under my Favorite Stories list. I sifted through many possible candidates for each, and the finalists have not only demonstrated excellent writing ability, but also their passion for continuing the respective stories. Please be sure to encourage them and give them your full support.

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So, since you are here on my profile, be sure to look under my Favorite Authors and Favorite Stories sections to find links leasing you to the new homes for each story. Also, just to make it clear, these are the people that will be taking over each story:

Aijou & Aitou: Driver Jim Ohki
The Ice Princess of Konoha: DsirinWsdm
Transcending Time: Calamity-Queen of Cordite

FYI, Jim will begin posting revised chapters of A&A very soon and plans to follow my outline closely to finish the story in much the same way I had planned it to go. Calamity-Queen of Cordite, like Jim, kept as close as possible to what I planned for TT. She has already completed the story and posted it under her account. DsirinWsdm will also stay clost to my original plans, while adding a few twists of his own that I think everyone will enjoy. He is revising the existing chapters and will begin posting soon.

That's it. Thanks again to everyone for the great memories and your support of my writing, and also the well wishes from most of you regarding my decision to leave. It truly means more to me than I can say.

Best,
John Garrett (aka JohnnyG)

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Here are the links to the images:

http://www.computersensa.com/images/RanmaSetsuna.jpg
http://www.computersensa.com/images/RankoKasumi.jpg
http://www.computersensa.com/images/NarutoHanabi.jpg

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Updated Rant Corner
This is my updated version of my rant. It contains much of what the original did, but with a few clarifications that will hopefully help people to better understand my views.

Rant on

Writing the Truth

If you've read Stephen King's book 'On Writing', you will probably remember his admonition to "Write the truth". To paraphrase, it means that you are writing your characters in such a way that they are true to how they themselves should act, not how you would act in their place, or how society says they should act.

In fanfiction especially, you're writing about someone else's characters, not your own. They have already been given their own personality, a specific environment to work in, behavior patterns, etc. What we do as fanfiction writers is borrow those characters, give them a situation that doesn't exist in the series, and then write the results (the exception to this is, of course, an Alternate Universe, or AU, where you're free to write them as you wish as long as people know that's what you're doing as they begin the story, and also genres like parodies).

Those who choose to write the characters based on their own moral codes (or lack thereof) are, in effect, merely writing a self-insertion and slapping the characters names over their own. However, if you want to be true to the characters, the series, the readers, and your own story, then you should instead be writing how you honestly think the characters would respond, not how you would in a given situation.

Will their actions always lineup with your own morality? Absolutely not. Does that mean you should shy away from writing how you think they would act? No. That's taking the coward's way out.

One example would be a character smoking in a series. They've smoked all along, but you personally are against smoking. So, without giving any valid reason for why they don't smoke, you simply have them stop because you don't agree with it. On the flipside, say there's a character in a series who strongly believes in saving sex until marriage, a concept you might vehemently disagree with. Does that mean you should, without any reasonable explanation as to why, portray them as promiscuous? No, you shouldn't. You need to stick to the truth.

Problems in this philosophy can arise though. First, what happens if you're writing about the characters years in the future? It's obvious that their personality will have undergone changes due to experiences during those years. If their characteristics have significantly changed, you should provide good reasons for why they've changed through back-story or some other means, and then you should be fine.

But what if you can honestly see a characters reacting one of many different ways? Say you place the character into a situation they've never been in before, and you can easily see them having an extreme reaction one way or the other, or possibly something more moderate in the middle? If any of them could make sense based on your understanding of the character, then it's perfectly fine for you to write whichever you choose, even if it happens to line up more with your own personality. In fact, by doing it that way, you are more likely to be in-tune with the story, feeling a deeper connection to it, meaning it will be more of a joy to write and thus finish.

Another aspect to consider is the concept of simply acknowledging the truth in your story, but not writing it out in detail. For example, say two characters are planning to go off and have sex. Do you really need to write out such a scene for the reader if there is nothing essential taking place during that time regarding the progression of the plot? Or can you simply inform your audience "the two went off to bed together" and move on? Obviously you can do either. They are both true, and thus you are maintaining the integrity of your story. Do what feels right for you.

In the end, it's up to you to write what you believe to be the truth, and let the readers draw their own conclusions. If your prose is full of statements telling the reader your opinions on subjects, then you've done nothing but craft a poorly written self-insertion. If they are, instead, filled with the characters opinions (whether they line up with your own or not), then you have taken the correct path.

If people choose to not read because things aren't happening in ways that they personally agree with, they are free to move on to something else. At least, in the end, you'll be able to hold your head high knowing you did the right thing.

Rant off