Fanfic... fanfic... fanfic...

I didn't call it fanfic at the time, but I started writing fanfic back in the mid to late eighties. I was involved in Elfquest fandom, and I wrote a lot of stories about elves. The less said about that, the better (although, I should probably mention, I published my own Holt fanzine for years: Lone Oak Holt).

Later my friends and I started a sort of shared universe furry space opera fanzine thing called Tales of the Tai-Pan:www.taipanproject.org . At the start we didn't know what "furry" was, we just liked David Brin's Uplift series, CJ Cherryh's Chanur series, and the comic book Fusion (and a few other things like Albeedo and such). I still write and edit for the Tai-Pan, and I guess that qualifies as fanfic too because I don't get paid for it. But at least I'm writing original characters. o_O

As for my anime fanfiction...the first thing I wrote was a piece called Both Halves which I'm still proud of, but which I've never continued (which is why I haven't posted it here, although you can find it on my web page). After that I wrote Monkey Head Butting, which is still my longest "completed" work. A story with a similar title, Bonk On The Head, is a much more recent "completed"story.

Mostly these days I'm working on Girl's School.

Girl's School Divergence fanfic. Ranma and Akane wind up attending school at St. Hebereke's School for Girls. Chapters 1-24 are published (24 will be within the week). These chapters were originally written back in November 2008.

Chapter 25 is about 80 written; I've been working on it this Spring and hope to have it ready to publish in a few weeks or a month, but there may be a slight delay after 24 comes out. Chapters 26 is perhaps 20 written, Chapter 27 is only about 5 written (some bits of dialog and notes on what's supposed to happen). It may take me a few months to get those chapters done.

Chapters 27-31 were written in November 2007 but need major rewriting (for example, I hadn't even created the character of Yoriko back then, and other things have changed), but I'm excited to finally be within a few chapters of actually publishing them.

Chapter 32 is about 75 written. Chapter 33 is about 40 written. Chapter 34 is only about 5 written (a few bits of dialog and notes on what's supposed to happen).

Chapters 35-37 were written in November 2009. They need editing too. Chapter 37 ends about halfway through a very long arc. Chapters 38-42 (estimated) are only partially written or sketched in. Suffice it to say, there's a lot of work I'll have to do to finish off that part of the story, once I get there.

Although I have an overall plot, I'm working on this story with a very long view -- a bit like the manga, in that I'll eventually get to the end but I want to insert a lot of other stuff along the way (maybe a bit more like the Inu-Yasha manga than the Ranma 1/2 manga, as I'm not just doing episodic adventures, I'm trying to advance my main plots too).

I've actually written parts of what will probably be chapters 43 and 44 as well -- stuff that can't happen until I've finished off the large story arc I begin in chapter 35. Working on stuff so far ahead of where I've published does allow me to foreshadow things better. :D I haven't worked on anything further out than that, though!

12/2/10: Just a quick FYI. I participated in Nanowrimo again this year, and managed just about 50,000 words. I've completed new chapters 25-29 and am working on a new chapter 30, which I anticipate sequeing into the already-written next five chapters, which will be 31-35 now I guess. I still need to go back over everything and maybe have someone else read through it too... but I should publish new chapters soon.

Stories that I am theoretically still working on:

A Goddess In Oz This is a fully plotted story with a beginning, middle, and end. I've been working on it for 3-5 years now, and I'm still finishing up chapter 3. We've got a ways to go yet. This is mostly a crossover between Ah! My Goddess and Oz (as in, Wizard of, Land of, etc.) But there are also minor crossovers with several other anime (just a couple of characters each) and a visit to the Sandman (as in, DC/Vertigo/Gaiman's Sandman).

Seven Fiancees I worked on this in Spring of 2006. Hopefully I'll start posting chapters soon. This is an open-ended story of Ranma and Akane and their teenage children, and who will be the next to inherit the dojo... Not one of my top priority projects, but I do have some fun ideas for this and have been working on it a bit.

I Can See Clearly Now. Funny how a five-chapter story can take more than ten years to finish. Mousse encounters a lens crafter who makes very special glasses -- suddenly he can see better than anyone on the planet. Is it enough of an edge to allow him to finally defeat Ranma? I do intend to finish this soon, and post it here.

Muyami Academy Ah. The true monster in the group (well... not any more, Girls School is larger). An open-ended crossover which attempts to combine nearly every high school anime I was ever fond of, and I believe it succeeds on some basic level...I haven't put out a new chapter in a couple of years but I still plan to. Ranma attends school as a girl, alongside so many characters from so many other high school anime/manga series that even I have trouble keeping track of it all. I have finally uploaded chapters 7-14 which is a massive chunk of text... and I'm pretty sure I've never even had a complete chapter 14 or maybe even a complete chapter 13 available to read before, even on my own web site. Chapter 15 is partially written, and I might start working on it. I also need to go back and do some editing and cleaning up of the original chapters but it seemed like a good idea just to get everything posted first.

The thing that most prevents me from writing more is my on-again off-again addiction to mmogs (currently Second Life ~ Mint Rainbow or various characters on City of Heroes, @shinobu, @shinobu valentine). But I can quit any time I want, honest!

Mark A Davis / Miko