Sing whenever I sing whenever I sing whenever I sing...
Or;
Riff Away!
Part 4 of "How to MST"

	Okay, you have you riffers in the theatre, now to make jokes! It's really 
very simple once you get the hang of it (heck, it's easy in the beginning!). A 
few simple rules of riffing are:


  Don't get OOC (out of character). 
  Don't get too hentai. 
  Bash the author as little as possible. 

	Now, those are just in general rules. There are some specifics that might 
want to be followed.
	Try to keep the grammar/spelling riffs at a minimum. When you're MSTing 
something like Koopa, you should watch out for the nasty habit that some have 
picked up concerning the grammar and spelling jokes. One should only make them 
if it's begging for it, such as the Dr. Thinker quote earlier. Also, there's 
this:

>>After hitting Speedy with a frying pan Polly finishes opening the letter.
>>It just says to come in to the doctors.

	Now, there are many branches that one could take from this particular 
quote. Such as the obvious hentai joke, or the elaborate shortness of the 
letter, or even the fact that "the doctors" is grammatically incrrect. The path 
that I took when posting this was:

>Crow: (laughs like Beavis)
>Mike: (Slaps Crow on the back of his head)
>Ranma: It just says, "Come into the doctors?" That's all?

	I took two of the three routes, and perhaps even the third one 
unknowingly. That was from one of my earlier MSTings, and not one of my better 
ones. (BTW, if you ever find a MSTing that is Meta-MSTing material of mine, then 
go ahead and do it! I don't really mind, as long as it's one of my earlier 
ones.) Anyway, back to it!
	The hentai jokes are a touchy subject, especially with Mike, Joel, and 
other characters. An easy to remember rule is, if the story sinks to that level, 
then use as many as you want (within taste). If the story is original flavor or 
normal crossover, then you should try to keep it to under five hentai jokes per 
MSTing (this is my personal rule, other places can have other rules of their 
own. You can make up your own rules as you get more experience).
	When doing self-insertinon fics, one should try to remember that making a 
riff against the author is asking for a flame. If you're going to make a riff, 
make it about the self-inserted character. A good way to do this is to avoid 
using the terms, "the author", or, "when he was writing this," and the sort. 
Sticking to riffing the content of the story, and the sort is just much easier 
to do. The more absurd the self-inserted character, the easier to riff the story 
will be.
	When doing Meta-MSTings (which are particularly hard, and I should only 
recommend for experienced MSTers), you should try to stay away from the, "why 
are you acting tht way?""It's not me!" riffs. They've become cliches and are 
beginning to stop being funny. If you could just stick with the riffing the fic 
and riffing any OOC comments, that should be just fine.
	When MSTing lemons (which I should stress that no minors, I know you're 
out there, should do), try to remember that you should keep the hentai jokes 
within good taste and within reason. See any random Megane Lemon MSTing for 
further information and examples. Try to associate things that are said that 
could relate to some every-day function, such as brushing your teeth, eating 
breakfast, etc.
	There are some riffs which have become a standard in MSTings. Whenever 
there is a line said, one should try to remember to make these riffs:

>>"What?"
>All: HE/SHE SAID...
>>sat on/in a piece of furniture.
>All: TOGG!!!
>>She rolled her eyes...
>Random: He then cleaned them off and rolled them back.

	People, after going over a lot of fics and doing a lot of MSTings, come 
across parts that they like to use as jokes. Such as the "Togg!" joke above. 
This was started in Megane's MSTing of the War by M. Llave, and he has kinda' made it a running gag throughout his whole series. Then, other people picked up 
on it and began using it for their own. When one author picks up on a joke from 
another of his own MSTings, it's called an "inside joke". When other people pick 
up on it, it's then called a "running gag". Another inside joke is Megane's 
"Nuku-nuku School of Smiling". It started in his MSTing of "Transitions", a 
Nuku-nuku fic. Not many people have picked up on this one yet, so it's still an 
inside joke.
	Notes on Tom's head exploding: Tom Servo's head someties explodes during 
the course of a MSTing. This happens when he and the others come across a lemon 
that is particularly disgusting (his head exploded twice during the MSTing of 
Artemis's Lover) or when he comes to an incredbly stupid part of a fic (his head 
exploded during A Ranma Fanfic when the story stated about three times that 
Ranma left in the same sentence). Although funny, one should use this tool 
sparingly for the repairs take time away from the others' riffing time.
	Notes on Editing: One should edit only when absolutely necessary, such as 
when a lemon gets too, uuhh... "kinky" for normal readers (see "Artemis's Lover" 
once again, or the MSTing of "Artemis" for good examples of that. Same premise, 
different writers) Also, it should be used when a story comes to a part where no 
riffing can be done, or if the story gets so long and tedious that no one will 
have read it for that long!
	Well, that handles the riffing. Once you get to the end, have someone say, 
"Let's get out of here." They exit, you write down, "reverse door sequence", and 
you're ready to make the final touches!