The origin of this fanfic was no different from any of the other ones that have been written over the years. It all began with an idea...
"What if..."
For those who remember the "old days", I was subscribed to the FanFiction Mailing List and had been getting a lot of great stories to read. One story by Richard Beaubien, called "Ranma 1/2, Be Careful What You Wish For..." caught my attention. I saw a chance to explore an option that had only been touched upon in the original story and decided to write.
and write...
and write...
"Careful Destiny" was originally written as a thought experiment to give an expanded view of how Ranma dealt with the consequences of his wish and the responsibility he had toward both the Saotome and Tendo families. I wanted to give Ranma a chance to reconcile the problems he and his family faced as a result of his wish so they could maintain their honor and progress in the life he'd chosen. After I'd written that far, the story seemed to take on a life of its own, and it quickly mushroomed into several thirty page chapters.
The story is slow in continuing because I take a lot of time to re-write the existing sections Also, I tend to add in new parts for plot points I had not previously considered. Much to the chagrin of some of the fans, the release of new material has been slower than they've wanted. Don't get me wrong, I want to see it continue as much as the next person. However, I'm just making sure that it is continued well instead of haphazardly.
I have to confess that this story's popularity never ceases to amaze me. When I began writing "Careful Destiny," I hadn't ever intended on releasing it to the public. To my great astonishment, and pleasure, this story garnered many compliments from readers back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, including a couple of yearly competitions I hadn't been aware of until I'd been notified that my story had won. ^_^;;

Update - April 17, 2026
"Careful Destiny" took a 20-ish year hiatus because I was worried about backlash casued by the content of the story. I'd been told that some parts were 'cancellable' due to shifting political winds in the US and elsewhere. The things that a 20-something Gen-X anime fan took for granted back then are, for some reason, considered horrifying to certain demographics within the current generation of anime fandom.
Continuing to work on the story in an environment as caustic as that was... not appealing.
Additionally, I got married quite a few years ago and now have a family. So... given that I had bills to pay and a family to support, they became my priority and I was forced to walk away from the story. Frankly, until recently, I'd never even contemplated walking back. Then Netflix decided to partner in the re-release of the Ranma 1/2 anime and new life has been breathed into the franchise and new fans have been born, so-to-speak. I feel good for Rumiko Takahashi. Seeing her work on the screen again warms my heart.
So why the hell did I start writing this story again? Well, the answer may surprise you.
I pulled out my trusty IBM keyboard again mostly as an exercise for my brain. Long-dead members of my family (on both sides) suffered from some form of dementia or Alzheimers and I didn't want to risk brain atrophy due to inactivity. Thus, I figured writing something at a large scale would keep my mind motivated and active enough to delay or, hopefully, ward off mental decline. Keeping track of story threads, future plot developments and story flow has been challenging, yet it's also been fun. Also, POV-based writing and keeping characterization consistent has been quite the ordeal, but I think I've gotten (somewhat) better at it.
I realize some may say that, due to the content of "Careful Destiny", my mind has been in decline for over thirty years. ^_^ But I digress...
I will admit that, due to the lack of pre-readers, I have had to use an AI bot to assist with editing this story. The content itself is mine, however I have found that the bot has been pretty good at ferreting out repeated phrases, punctuation issues and misspellings. The biggest arguments I've had with it surround its preference for using clipped sentences and hyphenated phrases to "tighten prose". Those styles of writing absolutely drive me up a wall...
I experimented with them briefly when editing parts nine and ten and found that I truly disliked the formatting. So I stopped using it after part ten and went back to the more cumbersome form of writing to which I'd become accustomed.
Temporary style choices notwithstanding, you may notice differences in how the story reads. This is because there were year-long gaps between when certain parts were written, so stylistic differences are bound to crop up. The author's notes at the end of each part should give a glimpse into my thought processes at the time.

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