5 October 2009

I just recently received a review on One Week asking me to let readers know that there's still hope for it. I am and will continue to say until it's finished - YES. There is hope for it. I'm not going to discontinue it, even if it does continue to drive me crazier and crazier with every single rewrite that just doesn't work. However, whether readers get this message or not, I can't help you. I despise posting author's notes in new entries because that's just giving everyone false hope that I've finally finished the hiatus when I haven't. The most I can do is post notes here to let you know that, yes, I'm still thinking about the story, yes, there's still hope for it, and yes, it will one day get done. It's just not this day.

Have patience. It'll work when it works, and I can't do anything until then.

Currently working on 6 stories:

1. Boy of Courage, Boy of Cunning. Harry Potter. AR/AT. Rewrite & What-if fic. First year under different circumstances. Main characters: Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom, Lily Evans, Sirius Black, Severus Snape, Draco Malfoy, Voldemort. Largely a gen fic (because, after all, the most focal characters are only 11 years old). Genre TBA. Rated T.
On a stormy October night, Voldemort makes a decision that will affect the Wizarding world in its entirety.

2. Beautiful. Naruto. AU/AT. Naruto UE fic. Genderbender. University fic. Main characters: Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Karin, Houzuki Suigetsu, Tenpin Juugo, Namikaze Naruto, Haruno Sakura. A handful of different pairings. Romance/Humor. Rated T.
Teenage freedom-induced fun occurs once Karin, Sasuke, and their friends (most importantly Suigetsu and Juugo) leave home to attend university and inevitably meet the force of nature that goes by the name of Namikaze Naruto.

3. For the Sun and the Moon. Naruto. AR/AT. Naruto UE fic. Rewrite & What-if fic. Main characters: Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Mikoto, Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Naruto, Jiraiya, Uchiha Madara, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, Hatake Kakashi. Mostly a gen fic. (Tentatively) Drama/Family. Rated T.
After the sacrificial death of the Fourth, the Council hands the Kyuubi jinchuuriki to the Uchiha clan; it's just that much easier to kill two birds with one stone.

4. One Week. Naruto. AU. Naruto UE fic. High school romance fic. Introspective on the difficult side of Sasuke and Naruto's relationship. Main characters: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto. NaruSasu. Angst/Romance. Rated T.
Sakura doesn't pretend to understand Naruto and Sasuke's tumultuous relationship, but even against her better judgment she'll help them fix the mess they've made of it. But only this one last time.

5. X PROJECT. Death Note/Naruto/Kingdom Hearts/Others not as focal. AU/AT. Crossover fic. Cyberpunk fic. Main characters: L Lawliet, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, SORA, DiZ, Axel, Yagami Kira, Uchiha Madara, Uchiha Itachi, Orochimaru, XEHANORT, DANZOU, Yagami Light, Uchiha Sasuke, RIKU, SILENCE (SAI), etc. Many pairings. (Tentatively) Crime/Horror/Drama. Rated T/M.
The year is 3013 and nothing is as it was; crime and poverty wage war on society and only those with a hand in big business and skills in advanced technology hold any sort of power. There is no such thing as 'purity' or 'goodness;' there is only greed, selfishness, and the primal instincts.

6. Shadows in the Mirror. Kingdom Hearts. AR. Future fic. Main characters: Riku, Ansem (Xehanort's Heartless), Sora, Kairi, Donald, Goofy. SoKai, SoRiku main pairings. (Tentatively) Adventure/Supernatural/Horror. Rated T/M.
Two years after the last adventure that finally brought Sora and Riku back to Destiny Islands, Sora and Kairi work at a relationship as strange mental blackouts begin to unravel all of the progress that Riku has made.

Distinction between my AU and AR:

AU - completely different universe and completely unrelated events from that of canon

AR - takes place in the same universe as canon, but the events that transpire make it a separate reality from that of canon

(AT - subset of AR and/or AU where the normal timeline of events is jumbled up; for example, Lucius Malfoy being born in 1960 - same year as MWPP - or Hatake Kakashi somehow being born after Naruto's generation)

As of this moment in time, I currently have 162 stories on my backlog of fanfiction ideas to write. And that, kids, is what taking a writing hiatus does to you. (dies a little, slowly)

Naruto UE - my personal solution to the lack of time tell-ability within canon; of course, the universe is a lot more complex than that. UE, so that you're aware, stands for "Universal Era."

Right now, the story that will take place earliest within the UE is For the Sun and the Moon, wherein canon diverges into AR most visibly after the sealing of Kyuubi into the newborn Naruto. For the Sun and the Moon begins in the UE's UY 1840 - when the Rookie Nine are 5 years old. UY means "Universal Year" and it operates much like the term "AD" or "BC" in the real life Gregorian calendar; you can also think of the term as being akin to saying "(this is) the year -insert year here-."

As I do not view the Naruto-verse as being an early Japan (at all; the very thought is actually very repugnant to me), all of the stories within the UE exist exclusively on the Godai continent. The Godai continent is this one (the link takes you to the map of the canon Naruto-verse at leafninja.com). Over time, the names of the continents will change (just as, I believe, the name of every country has changed at some point), but the world map itself will remain relatively the same, no matter what setting the story is in or what developmental changes are made to the "universe" to extinguish the modern-esque "era" from the "eras" closer to canon (or what resembles canon).

I've been working on an extensive history for the UE - both for the future of the universe and the past. The "future," so to speak, will definitely feature in many of my Naruto stories; the past, however, is, at this point, iffy. I don't know if I'll dedicate separate stories to the years prior to the existence of the canon characters (e.g., anything before the birth of Hashirama, Tobirama, Madara, and/or Izuna). As of the current moment, I've got an outline of history up to UY 2474, but I expect that more will soon make itself known.

The UE also has its own mythology (I've crafted something that, at its core resembles some Japanese mythology but isn't actually Japanese mythology at all) and with that, the peoples within the UE have their own beliefs and forms of religion (much like Hidan and Jashin), even if the religions and mythological stories don't feature prominently within the stories themselves.

The way the UE works is in a reincarnation cycle where certain people are born into certain times to experience certain things that may or may not be similar to their past life. However, for the most part, those who are reincarnated do not remember any of their past lives. There are certain cases where this is untrue (possibly as in Paper Flowers), but those are few and far between.

Those are just a few things to be aware of when I say that a certain Naruto story of mine falls within my Naruto UE. I also ask that you don't try to take my UE; it's taken a lot of time and effort for me to craft it the way that I want it and as much as people say that imitation is the highest form of flattery, I will not be pleased if other people try to adopt any aspects of my UE (especially without permission).

My writing credo is as follows:

I don't believe in uploading anything that hasn't already been edited at least three times and completed. No professional author presents his/her readers with the manuscript of the story saying, "Here's the story; sorry about the grammatical errors, incompleteness, and HUGE PLOT HOLES! :D :D :D" No. Just - no.

I write my stories bits at a time. It'll take time but I'll get through all of them eventually.

I don't believe in know-it-all characters. Any character who knows all there is to know about something, anything, or everything or who is so utterly powerful as to be essentially indestructible is a lame character. As in real life, characters like this are annoying - even when they're supposed to be charity cases.

I don't believe in the seme/uke syndrome. Any character whose intrinsic personality is traded in for the stereotypes to fit the typical "seme" or "uke" roles is a lame character and, in my opinion, a cop-out. I don't believe that the position one takes in the act of intercourse defines the way they behave outside of the act itself. I don't believe that the person who dominates in the bedroom necessarily dominates in the emotional aspect of a relationship.

I don't believe in fangirls or fanclubs outside of the realm of reacting to some sort of actual fame. I've never heard of anybody in real life erecting a fanclub of any sort for a fellow peer in high school. To me, the very assumption that anyone would actually do such a thing is ridiculous.

I don't believe in bitchifying female characters for no good reason; I also don't believe in doing so and not giving them valid reason to behave spitefully.

I don't believe in making characters constantly go through the same trials over and over again. I don't rehash canon if I can help it. To me, the point of writing fanfiction is to examine how each character involved in a story will react to things that they've never had to face in canon. If you're looking for a story similar to canon or that follows canon, my stories are not going to be your cup of tea.

I believe in conflict within and between characters; don't expect all fluffy bunnies in my writing.

I don't believe in bashing; I think it's stupid, spiteful, and pitiful.

I don't believe in overuse of "dobe/teme."

I don't believe that love solves all problems. Love won't heal a deadly disease, solve world hunger and poverty, or bring world-wide peace. It's a lovely dream, but it's not that useful.

I don't believe in writing a story starring a gay couple where every other couple is also a homosexual one.

I also don't believe in a story where everyone is after one particular character. (Such as Everyone/Naruto or Everyone/Sasuke.) Those stories are extremely annoying.

I don't believe that any fanfiction author could ever write perfectly in character. I believe that characterization is based and influenced by personal perception and that the traits that I interpret in a character are different than the traits other people observe in the same character. Only the original creator of any work can write a character perfectly in character.

I like pairings a lot. My pairings are here.

I think that the inability to spell "ghetto" is ghetto. :)

My number one pet peeve in writing is when people get "definitely" confused with "defiantly." They don't sound the same, they aren't spelled the same, and their meanings have nothing in common. "Definitely" means known for certain; decidedly: without question and beyond doubt; precise; explicit and clearly defined. "Defiantly" means rebelliously: in a rebellious manner.