Happily Married:

…some funfacts. J

v The idea for Happily Married came to me in a dream. Really.

v I wrote each timeline completely separately, planning on ditching the first (16-yr-old Ranma) and keeping the second (23-yr-old Ranma). It was only around the fourth chapter for each of them that I decided to blend and combine.

v Because I have a handful of faithful readers now, I was relying on them to put up with the confusion for a certain amount of time before they became bored. I never, ever would have posted this story without them!

v The story was meant to be a ‘relaxing’ and ‘fun’ break from TSAG and JSF. You can see how well that worked out. ;)

v Ryoga uses his power to pull Ranma forward in time instead of space. For stick-figures and timelines, see the rest of the ‘Extras’.

v If I Pay Thee Not in Gold is an odd little novel by Piers Anthony. It takes place in a matriarchal society, and the main character is a girl Ranma’s age. The ‘inside joke’, though, is that the main character falls for a demon, Ware, who she later finds out changes sex. Ranma ½-esque, to say the least.

v I used to have nightmares about dinosaurs as a small child. That’s where Ranma’s childhood fear comes from. ;)

v The herb that Nodoka gives Ryoga in Ch. 14 is lobelia, and the breathing that Ranma does to calm herself is lamaze.

v Look up perfect crystals in a chemistry book. It’s an honest-to-goodness term.

v A consistent finding by Kirinin: the reader often believes whatever the main character does. I really wouldn’t trust Ranma’s logic if I were you. Ranma is not always right, but many people assume that she is.

v Someone asked, ‘What does Ranma’s side of the room look like?’ So here’s your answer: Ranma’s side of the room is pretty uncluttered. She has weapons stashed under the bed (a bo staff and a dagger, the dagger gathering dust.) There’s a book on maternity, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, stashed between the mattress and the headboard; don’t ask. There is her small bookshelf (two shelves), holding a small number of books that vary wildly in subject matter. Only five of these books are Ryoga’s, and it’s on her side of the room. On the bottom shelf of the bookcase is a folder of her first, (very) clumsy attempt at flyers to attract people to the dojo.

v The fifth-year anniversary gift is a compass, with a very cheesy card hand-written by Ranma.

v Ryoga’s change in attitude in Takahashi’s graphic novels is a transparent plot device, IMO. When people started feeling bad for Ryoga or disliking Ranma because of his attitude towards Ryoga, she realized that she would have to make him both stronger and nastier in order to provide a better rival. When she no longer had use for that aspect of Ryoga, she made him immensely helpful and far friendlier towards Ranma. It just depends on the plot.

v Sachiko means “happy” or “happiness”.

v Most people consider a female-Ranma and Ryoga pairing to be palatable, and a male-Ranma and Ryoga pairing to be strictly yaoi and therefore less so. I wanted to get the readers used to the first idea before broaching the second – thus, the misunderstanding about the soap.

v Did you notice how close Ranma was to figuring out the thing about the soap in her first conversation with Genma in Chapter 13?

v So many stories tell a tale about Ranma losing his masculine side completely, and ending up with a man. Usually, these Ranmas become weak both emotionally and physically, insist on wearing fashionable clothing and styling their hair. While I imagine that a more feminine Ranma might care more for these things, the paragon of femininity that she often becomes always rather unsettles me. I think that Ranma as a girl is a bit more sensitive to things than Ranma as a guy, but other than that is still Ranma. In fact, I have been longing to write a story with a Ranma for whom gender meant very little for a long, long time. It was pure chance it came out in a romantic setting. Though it was tough to write, I really wanted to have her slowly realize what had actually happened: that she, Ranma, had fallen for Ryoga without any dramatic catastrophes involved.

v I was also playing on the supposition that a reader of much fanfiction would assume a disaster or amnesia made Ranma fall for Ryoga, in part because of having read these other stories.

Keep reading, keep writing, everyone!