Questions and a heartfelt thank you. (Patreon)

Hello all, and welcome to everyone who has joined up this month. November saw the greatest increase in patreon numbers since I first started this site years ago. Because of you and all those who came before you, when my computer finally died on me I was able to not only survive but upgrade. 

My computer, which I have had for fourteen years or so, finally died on me - windows 10 (Oh how I loathe thee, let me count the ways) refused to start up and refused to even boot back to a restart point, even tried a recovery disk, didn’t work. No safe mode, no nothing. Before that, my CPU usage was skyrocketing for no apparent reason, and programs would freeze then the computer would quickly follow. It wouldn’t even shut down properly, and when it booted back up, I had the black screen of nothingness. I tried fighting it for more than a week, but in the end, there was nothing I could do to save it.

Anyway, to make a long story short, this and the fact it was a family holiday, all cost me the entire Thanksgiving weekend - five days of mornings and late nights I could have used! That is why Semblance of Hope was in turn so short this month. I apologize for that, since I did want to at the very least show what went on at Beacon once the kids got back, but just didn’t have the time. 

But thanks to all of you, I was able to buy a new computer and the newest version of Dragon Naturally Speaking! That means I might not make as many DNS type mistakes going forward. So while my writing speed slowed down since I finished work on ATP, I should speed up back to my normal level again going forward.

Anyway, that is what’s been happening on that front, now on to more important matters. I have a few broad questions people’s opinions on once more. Most of them deal with the future of Making Waves. But a few have meaning for the rest of my stories too and a few deal with my approach to writing stories in general.

1. How much harem is too much? LOL. This might seem a silly question since the answer is so obvious - the exact moment the girls start blurring together both physically and in how they act and they simply become a ‘fill in name here’ (cough, Megamatt09, cough). But it is a serious point of contention in a lot of my stories, in light of the fact that in Lion of Light, it’s one of the main reasons why I haven’t been able to get back into it: too many girls to give screen time to. Worst of all, there are two sets of sisters, although Brit isn’t actively with Ranma just yet. 

Some stories I can ignore the whole ‘reason a harem is acceptable’ thing - the Sekirei universe is the most perfect example of this. The world itself has the concept of harems built in. I’ve created much the same thing in Filfy and GDWHOM, much for the same reason - harems are built into the original - though there I’ve cut back on it severely so as to concentrate on making the characters more real. (speaking of, if anyone knows any stories with a kickass Rias or Akeno in them that has been fleshed out into more than a caricurature of the damsel/damaged damsel in distress, I’d love to read them.) 

But there is no such structure in Fairy Tail. This is honestly an important question since at this point it looks like a Ranma/Erza/Bisca/Jenny/Seliah/possibly more including Juvia and the Edolas version of Wendy. 

So in Making Waves is it more interesting to have Ranma get to a certain level of interest/interaction with several girls and then permanently pairing him with just one, or should we go the harem route? Does anyone have a girl they’d like to see at least interact with Ranma at this point? Justlovereadin’ - my source/beta reader for all things FT - has spoken to me about Juvia, and I figure I can do some interaction scenes there at the least, not certain what I’ll do with her in the main. Though I’m not going to let her stay fixated on Gray, he’s even more asexual than Natsu in the original and honestly did not treat her well.  Even if her stalking him was sort of creepy at certain points.

This is honestly an important question since at this point it looks like a Ranma/Erza/Bisca/Jenny/Seliah/possibly more including Juvia and the Edolas version of Wendy. - Yes, she will be interested in him, yes it will freak Wendy and Ranma both out, for very different reasons. I’ve had those scenes written in note form since Ranma took in Wendy LOL. I’ve decided that I like having Knightwalker be a villain too much to have her become one of the love interests. 

A) There’s sort of the same problem with the Vanadis/Ranma crossover. These are strong, independent women, who are powers in a world where women rarely wield power, and even more rarely political/military power. Lim I can sort of get around, since she isn’t actually a Vanadis. Sofy too, since I think she’d be more than willing to just have fun. Elen? - no, just no, hence why I’ve made the decision to keep her with Tigre. Oh and someone mentioned Ludmilla? Erm… no, oil and water. With Lim, their confrontations will be funny, with Ludmilla they would genuinely not like one another. So is my original idea of a Ranma/Sofy/Lim/Alexandra/Valentina too much? Should I instead make Alexandra a fling? Uncertain. And no, Valentina is a lock. I actually like her character, and given the amount of world-building I’ll eventually be doing (going to try to spread it out) especially to do with the demons, she won’t go down the path she did in the light novels. 

B) Likewise in GDWHOM. Ranma/Saeko are essentially a couple, even if they’ve not said those words to one another. Anyone else coming in, it feels like Ranma should not respond on general principle, and that Saeko would react poorly. Added to this is my problems with seeing Ranma/Rias as anything serious in this fic.

C) In Stallion I can sort of get around this - they’re pirates, why the hell’d they care what society thinks is normal. But I am struggling with seeing Nami, who is essentially a greedy individual, being okay with sharing. Also having trouble seeing her as bisexual, though that could just be me having misgivings. 

D) In Semblance it is a different issue. If Ranma gets with Pyrrha I just can’t see her being willing to share, or him being interested in spreading his affection to other girls. Yang could be, but even then, Pyrrha wouldn’t be interested in joining. And Ranma wouldn’t be interested in Blake - the whole cat thing.

E) I guess in general I’d just like to know if people are getting tired of harems and would like to see more specific romance like with Ranma/Shaak, or if everyone thinks I’ve done a good enough job in my living stories in terms of making all the girls being interested in the same guy make sense while maintaining their individuality.

2. Getting back to Making Waves, and I might have asked this one before, but what does everyone think about Zeref in the original? I personally thought he was freaking lame. Not his powers or abilities, but the whole ‘want to die’ thing. You can’t tell me he has tried everything he possibly could to kill himself. I can think of three ways right off the top of my head how he could have offed himself. So I’m leaning towards him being schizophrenic. 

3. Natsu. Does everyone like him enough to want me to make him a main character along with Ranma? I can’t decide, but given the potential he has and his connection to Zeref, I don’t think I can sideline him all the time. 

4. Likewise, are there some canon fights people want me to keep as is? By that I mean, having the same matchup occur - Gajeel Vs Natsu is an example of keeping the same matchup, having Erza beat down three of the Element 4 all at once is the opposite - rather than the same action.

5. Where would be the proper time to end the fic? I am thinking of after Zeref is dealt with, but that may leave Acnologia still out there given how I have the broad scheme of the fic looking. But I don’t want this fic to go on endlessly. Nor will I include the stuff from the Hundred Years quest. Just not happening.

6. Moving on to other stories, has everyone (those who read it anyway LOL) enjoyed the world building I’ve been doing in FILFy? Specifically the Onmyouji and their magic, and the blending of the three magical types together. I have plans there, but if people think those segments have fallen flat, I can change things there.

7. Does anyone have an idea for a Yasaka/Harry romantic type date? I have ideas for family types, but I don’t want to use the whole ‘into the wild’ idea too soon, nor do I want to just go the same old route of heading out to a restaurant unless I can make the setting more interesting.

8. Sekirei question: the winging of Kusano - should this happen, or should I throw a further hilarious wrench into the works. Essentially, what I want to do is make the entire game in it’s current format utterly untenable in the next two chapters. That will force Minaka to change his plans, and that in turn will force further growth and spur on the main plot. I can make Kusano’s winging part of that process, or simply a sideshow.

9. Minato. Is anyone interested in seeing his growth as a character, or just the fights Kazehana and the others get into?

10. It is time for Ryoga to show up once more. Should that in turn remove Musubi from the fic for a while - or at least Tokyo proper LOL - or should he join the rest of the cast full time? Kind of uncertain about this one.

11. And now for what I predict will be a divisive question. ATP, or Magic of the Force? If I started to, say, every other month, switching them out in the large story poll, what would people think of it? Good, bad, “I must have them both!”  Shut up Kuno, you’re not wanted in this thread, go back into your box with Dumbledore. “No, that foul wizard’s twinkling eyes are creepy!” 

12. On a similar thread, what has everyone thought about having stories with HP and Ranma that are crossed into the same second universe? FILFy to GDWHOM and Magic to Horse? I have to say it has been confusing on many levels for me at times, liberating and amusing on others, and I am just wondering if people would be happier to see me choose one of the two stories each and finish it before going on to the next. Or, LOL, would that depend on which story I choose to finish first? Or, conversely, are those stories the only one’s you’re interested in because of the crossed universe?

13. This isn't a question about my stories but the patron page. Can everyone else see that 'community' tab?  - I see overview, posts and community.  I assumed that community is for everyone to use and post their own discussions, but is this the case? 

I have also realized that communication here normally only goes mostly one way LOL, meaning you all just respond to me. So I wanted this post to be for you all going forward, not just to give your opinions on the questions above. I want you to give me your opinions, ask me questions, suggest things you want to see in my stories even if they aren’t connected to the questions above, anything and everything. 

Thank you once again, and I hope you all continue to enjoy my stories.