Tomcat171's Random Message(s) of News:

1. If any of you who are either long time or large fans of my work and have some art skills, I'm opening up a window to those who may be interested in voluntarily making some new display pictures/posters of my fics. If you can draw (physically or digitally with things like Photoshop), I'd be very interested to see if anybody would be willing to make some new material. Sadly, I don't have the money for a commission right now, but I have a [small and uninteresting] deviantart account under this same name. If anybody is willing to negotiate with me, I'd be very happy to talk with you by PM on here or on deviantart.

2. After I end this current poll and write each of the updates listed in said poll, I'll put up another one asking you how you think I should go about updating fics in the future. Would you guys want me to put a number of these fics on hold and only focus on one or two at a time, or should I stay as I am and try writing for all these fics equally? The question's out there, so you now have time to think about it before I put a poll up.

Next Instalment on the agenda:

Chapter 4 of 'Face The Music'

(May 7th Update - There we go, the 10th chapter of the Black Lagoon fic has been completed and uploaded as was promised. Even I'm amazed that I actually managed to do it XD. Anyway, now that that update has been posted, the poll that has sat here for probably over a year is now closed. Based on reader votes, my other stories, both current and newly planned, will be uploaded in the following order:

1st: Chapter 4 of 'Face The Music' (31%)

2nd: Chapter 2 of 'She Made Him Wait' (18%)

3rd: Chapter 1 of 'Sun and Ice' (13%)

4th: Chapter 1 of 'Kirigakure no Ha' (10%)

5th: Chapter 2 of 'Shattered Masks and Broken Hearts' (9%)

6th: 'Just Reward: Voluptuous Violet' (8%)

7th: 'Just Reward: Carnal Carnation' (7%)

That's the plan for now. Stay tuned, because I'll be opening a new poll after the next chapter of 'Face The Music' has been uploaded!)

List of Fan Fictions:

(Written in the form of 'Series - Title - Rating - Pairing (if any) - Notes (if any))

Complete:

Naruto - 'Just Reward' - 'M' - Naruto, Ino & Sakura - Three-shot; Lemon in Chapter 2 (Why on Earth did I write this? OH GOD MY EYES THEY BURN XD)

Naruto - 'Post Training Relief' - 'M' - Naruto & Sakura - One-shot; Implied Lemon

Works In Progress:

Naruto - 'Face The Music' - 'M' - Naruto & Ino - High School AU with music emphasis - 3 Chapters Thus Far

Naruto - 'Shattered Masks and Broken Hearts' - 'T' (Subject to change in future chapters) - Naruto & Sakura - 1 Chapter Thus Far

Naruto - 'She Made Him Wait' - 'M' - Naruto & Ino - 2 Chapters Thus Far

Black Lagoon - 'The Diary of an Ex Businessman' - 'M' - 10 Chapters Thus Far

Planned:

Ace Combat - 'The Unsung War: Life Behind The Fight' - ['T' for majority, may be some 'M' moments for language and violence] - Takes place across the events of Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War/Squadron Leader, and looks at the lives of the pilots of Wardog Squadron outside of missions during the Circum-Pacific War of 2010. NOTE: THIS FIC, WHEN WRITTEN, WILL BE PUBLISHED ON MY ALTERNATE ACCOUNT.

Yeah, I should just let you know that I am probably the world's biggest Ace Combat fan/fag/fanfag. Excluding the arcade cabinets of the early 90s, I have every game (1, 2, 3 (both the English & Japanese Versions), 04, 5, 6, X, Xi, Zero, Joint Assault, Advance, Assault Horizon, 3D/Assault Horizon Legacy), tons of the soundtracks in their official disc forms, shitloads of merchandise, have logged God-knows-how-much of my life on my individual saves and know almost all there is to know about the series. Hell, I even have the Executive Producer of the Project Aces team as a friend on Facebook.

Naruto - 'Just Reward: Voluptuous Violet' (NaruIno) & 'Just Reward: Carnal Carnation' (NaruSaku) - 'M' - Naruto, Sakura & Ino - 'Just Reward' Spinoffs x 2; one is a NaruSaku lemon one-shot, the other is a NaruIno lemon one-shot. (Nothing physically written as of yet)

Naruto - 'Kirigakure no Ha' - 'T' to start with, but will likely be upped to 'M' in time - Naruto & Mei T. - Basic Summary: A simple diplomatic visit from the Godaime Hokage has the Godaime Mizukage taking an interest in the Fire Shadow's combat escort and future successor, Uzumaki Naruto. As an act of good faith, Naruto is left in Kirigakure to act as Konoha's ambassador as a means of diplomatic training. The events thereafter could have the potential to shift the balance of power between the Mist and Leaf villages. 'Kirigakure no Ha' can be loosely translated as 'A Leaf Hidden in the Mist'. (Just over 2000 words written)

Naruto - 'Sun and Ice' - 'M' - Naruto & Samui - Basic Summary: When a mission to assassinate a nuke-nin goes horribly awry, Samui, the busty jounin of Kumogakure, finds herself exiled from the village she calls home. Somehow, fate may have something better than a life of lone venturing in store for the kunoichi, all thanks to a run in with an estranged wanderer. (About 100 words written)

Naruto - [Title To Be Confirmed] - 'M' - Naruto, Ino, Sakura & Temari - 'Just Reward' Extension/Sequel. Temari is the third woman by result of reader poll.

Concepts:

Naruto - 'Post Training Disbelief' - 'M' - Naruto & Sakura - One-shot told from Naruto's point of view. Takes place partially during and immediately after 'Post Training Relief', and will show just what actually happened when Sakura found Naruto at the training ground.

Naruto - 'Once The Woman; Twice The Model' - 'T' - Naruto & Ino - Namikaze Naruto, a freelance 3D artist in his late 20s, is struggling to make ends meet in the house he once shared with his now ex-wife. Working late one night, he plays the good samaritan for a pretty woman in need. Discovering a certain fact after the event, Naruto acts after becoming compelled by a feeling he long thought lost, and he inadvertently creates a path for himself into a world that many desire to join but few make a reality. How is the woman in need linked with all of this? (Hint: The title is a massive giveaway XD)

Naruto & Need for Speed Crossover - [No title as of yet] - Probably 'T' - My ideas for this are simply inspired by the 2010 version of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. I simply thought it would be interesting to put the Naruto characters into the world of Seacrest County, splitting them up between the police force and the underground racers. I already had a small idea for a plot, but I'll see if demand for it is big enough before starting anything. I keep thinking back on this one and I'm not sure if I should keep it as a crossover or just write it as a normal NFS:HP fic that can go on my alternate account with my planned Ace Combat fic.

Tomcat171's User Shout Out: "A big thanks goes to MillerIce, who has agreed to become my Beta Reader."

INFO

Age: 23

Gender: Male

Hi there, I'm the username mentioned above. I'm a massive anime and video game fan, and yet it never occured to me to write a fan fiction. As a result I created my first fan fiction for Black Lagoon, called "The Diary of an Ex Businessman", please don't hesitate to check it out. It's still a work in progress, but I'll keep updating it in time.

I'm from the UK, and I'm currently in my second year of University, studying a BSc Hons in Computer Games Design.

I enjoy doing the occasional bit of creative writing on the side when I'm not working, watching anime or playing games (which is why I registered here).

I have a YouTube account for gaming, but I'd prefer to keep my gaming internet alter ego separate from my fan fiction alter ego.

I ship in a lot of fandoms, mostly in favour of the protagonist, because I'm some simpering and conventionalist git. I can't really mention much else other than my love (read: obsession) with Naruto x Ino. I love NaruIno, it's so underrated, hence why many of my fics revolve around it. Come on, even you guys have to admit that the sex (outside of what I've personally written for it) between them would be hot as hell. But I'm not that superficial, I see a lot of things that make the pairing very possible from their personalites.

I will mention one other thing that people need to realise, and that's that I'm English, thus I spell some things differently than what the audience (which is majority American) would expect. I get many reviews saying I spell words like 'marvellous' (two 'l's), 'centre' ('r' before the 'e') and the common 'honour'/'colour'/'humour' (additional 'u') wrongly. But if one were to simply see where I come from, I am merely writing in the manner of which I was educated. So in all likelihood, if someone reviews pointing out things like this, I will laugh and place myself on a superior pedestal, because I'm an arsehole like that XD.

There used to be a massive rant in this space, but I feel it's kind of outdated and immature. So all I'll say in this space is the following: I'm a Grammar Nazi. Yup yup.

Tomcat171's Rules of Fan Fiction:

Let me make something clear. Because of the content of the old rant above, I shall tell you that I expect to see proper attempts at grammar in any fiction I read.

Scenario: You, as an author, have the desire to show your skill to the wider community. Great! Good on you. However, because you are letting your stuff get publicly viewed, it means you should have some respect for your target audience by making your fic READABLE. If there's one thing I hate, it's people who never proof read their work, or those who find it okay to ignore their spell checkers and write grammatically incorrect pieces.

Things I like to see in a fic:

1. SPELLING, SPELLING, SPELLING!!!
2. PARAGRAPHING!! I am fed up with seeing great 'Wall O' Text' fics. You had enough education with language to write, so why can't you make simple paragraphs when necessary?
3. PUNCTUATION!! Speaks for itself. I respect writers who have the intelligence to put full stops, commas, colons, semi-colons, speech marks and even BASIC CAPITALISATION in sentences at the correct points.

Follow these rules, and I shall be a reader who enjoys your work.

Random Milestones of Potential Interest (2013):

January 10th - 'She Made Him Wait' reaches 200 alerts
January 23rd - 'The Diary of an Ex Businessman' reaches 200 alerts
February 5th - 'Just Reward' reaches 400 favourites
April 10th - 'She Made Him Wait' reaches 200 favourites