Ino
Shika
Choji
Hey everyone, Ino Yamanka here! Tsunade-sama assigned a mission to team 10 telling us we had to come out here today and explain some of the basics about writing a good fanfic.
Well, for starters, let's talk about A/N's. A/N stands for Author's Note. An A/N is usually found at the top and/or bottom of a chapter/oneshot/etc. A request most readers would like to give to aspiring writers - Don't make the A/Ns extremely large if your chapter's aren't that long. It's just not recomended. Also, please refrain from putting large A/Ns in the middle of your chap. It's just frustrating.
Now, A/U fics. For those who don't know, A/U means Alternate Universe. When a writer says the fic is A/U, this means that they have taken characters out of a book, show, cartoon, etc. and placed them somewhere else. An example being an A/U Naruto fic. Instead of the Naruto characters living in Konoha, the characters might be placed somewhere like the United States or current day Japan. There is no problem with this at all. Authors have the power to change the stories setting as much as they want.
Besides for setting, not all A/U fics are bad. Some come out really good. The only problem with A/U fics is that sometimes authors tend to make characters OOC without realizing it. OOC meaning Out Of Character, can be really annoying to some readers. For an example, let's use Sasuke. Sasuke is usually a quiet and independent person. As we can see in the beginning of the series, Sasuke hadn't really opened up to many people. At the most, he had opened up only to his teammates and sensei. If you're going to write a fic with Sasuke being the complete opposite (ex. Happy all the time, friendly, interactive with other people), namely a social butterfly, then he is OOC.
You just had to bring him up, huh?
It's for the sake of explanation!
Whatever...
Ugh, anyway...
Most people don't like reading OOC characters because it's basically putting the personality of some OC into an already existing character. OC is translated as Original Character. When using an OC, it's most likely a character a writer creates for their own purposes of the story. When you pair up an already existing character with an OC, people tend to get annoyed. Not many people enjoy reading a fic where the main character of the story ends up falling in love with some OC of whom it makes either no sense or no point to the reader. Please try and keep pairings between main characters or already existing characters.
Whew, well. I think I finished my part, Shikamaru, you're up. And don't screw it up!
Ugh, this is so troublesome...
Alright, Ino basically explained A/U's, OOC's, and OC's. I guess I'll explain Mary Sue's. A Mary Sue (which can also be reerred to as a Bobby Joe if talking about a male character) is a character created by the writer, not to be confused with OC, and basically is the 'perfect person'. When saying perfect, I mean no flaws, they're made up of all strengths and have no weaknesses, there is nothing that can beat them in attitude, character, strength, or any of that junk.
Yes, we all wish for the perfect person but to put one in a story basically makes it a boring story. If everyone was perfect, it would make for a very imperfect life seeing as nothing eventful would happen and it would become very dull. Same goes for a story. That is why it is advised to please, refrain from using Mary Sue's. Yes, OC's are manageable but Mary Sue's don't help.
Another thing, when writing a story, please check it for spelling issues. When a reader is reading a story and can barely understand it because of how bad the grammar or spelling is, it just makes it ten times more troublesome and usually calls for the reader x'ing it out because it gets to the point where it's annoying to read. Grammar and spelling are important in stories. It helps things run smoother and makes the reading process far more easier for the readers to enjoy.
It's be a waste if someone had a great plot but the only thing holding them back is grammar or spelling.
...Am I done?...
Ugh, fine. Choji, will you continue?
Fine by me.
Okay, most of the things have been pointed out. I guess just one thing is left really...
Crack pairings. The name is pretty self explanatory but just in case, a crack pairing is basically a pairing that makes no sense whatsoever. An example would be...Kankuro and Ino.
...What did you just say?
It's true! There's actually a page of KankuroXIno romance fics.
...What?
No lie, there's also InoXAsuma, InoXLee, InoXSakura-
THEY THINK I'M A LESBIAN?!?
...Um...
They have you with Asuma... -
Well, there is one pairing that probably has every other pairing beat. There's 29 pages of it.
What pairing?!?
ShikaXIno.
Well, it got quiet real fast. Anyway, back on track. Crack pairings are basically pairings that in the Naruto world, will most likely never happen. An example being AsumaXIno. I mean come on, he's our sensei for pete's sake! He's also with Kurenai later on in the manga, she's pregnant with his kid! Another one, InoXLee. They have barely talked, EVER. Oh, and as we I mentioned before, KankuroXIno, seriosuly, they haven't even spoken a single word to each other, EVER. Yeah, you may LIKE pairing. And yeah, we'd also like to say that if you support a pairing like InoXLee -
-glare-
- we're not here tody to turn you against it, we're just saying that not everyone may agree. Oh, SakuraXIno-
WE'RE STRAIGHT! I mean HELLO! Sakura and I were Sasuke fangirls growing up, since when did we EVER show even the slightest hint of affection other than friendship?!?
... -still in shock- ...
...Okay...anyway...where was I... OH, Felicia-chan had missed this point before but thanks to Niami94, she was able to inform us. There ARE some acceptable times or crack pairings. Crack pairings can be used of course, along with a crack type plot. Everyone can always enjoy a crack plot, it's always an option for some humor. But, crack pairings can ALSO be used in A/U fics. This can happen seeing as yes, it IS an A/U and that being, circumtances can change where yes, maybe Itachi would fall in lov with Hinata somehow or Shikamaru could end up with Karen. It's as simple as that.
Besides for crack pairings, I just remembered. Some terms used in summaries to describe what happens in stories are slightly different. There are three main terms used for T and M rated fics. Those would be fluff, lime, and lemon.
Fluff is when you have a lot of cute romantic moments between two characters. This could involve -flashbacks- the writer creates that has sentimental moments. Basically, fluff is when the writer writes out a moment in time that the characters that are in love shared a meaningful moment between them -together- during their relationship.
A lime is...basically when two characters that are in love (or not because as we know, rape is sometimes used in the plot of the story) involve each other in -the mild term- 'making love' without...COMPLETE detail...
A lemon is the same except with...fuller details diving deeper into the 'love making' by describing the 'moment' between the two.
Ha, Shikamaru and Choji are blushing!
Hey, you got the mildest term out've the three.
True.
Well, anyway, I think that's just about everything.
Yeah, it's pretty much all the basic details.
No it's not, you forgot some other things.
Like?
Well, a few. Yaoi, yuri, P.O.V's, fla-
Alright, alright. We get it...Ugh, troublesome women...
Excuse me?
Nevermind. Alright, Yaoi and yuri. Yaoi...
Go on.
Ugh. Yaoi is the term for a male-male relationship. Felicia-chan hadn't filled us in that much because she wasn't so sure of the terms but from what she has, the more feminine male of the relationship is called the uke while the more masculine or 'dominant' male in the relationship is called the seme.
Yuri is the term for a female-female relationship. Felicia-chan wasn't so sure on this. She hadn't really known if they use the same terms for the more masculine or 'dominant' female in the relationship or the more feminine female so this being, we only know that it is referred to as 'Yuri'. We're sorry for any inconvenience. Please contact Felicia-chan if you happen to know.
Okay. Well, I guess I'll explain P.O.V's
Of course you get the easier- OW, DAMMIT Ino!
-glares- Anyway...
P.O.V translates to Point of View. When someone says 'Ino's P.O.V' it would mean that the story is currently being told from my perspective. Same for 'Shikamaru's P.O.V' or 'Choji's P.O.V' Sometimes the author won't say who's P.O.V it's currently being told from because they either want you to guess or they drop enough 'hints' so that it is easy to figure out.
Alright, ready Choji?
Alright. Flames. The term is used often and it was brought to our attention that some people did not know what the term 'flame' actually meant. We're sorry, it had just slipped over our heads that people wouldn't know.
A flame is basically a review just stating something along the lines of "YOUR STORY SUCKS, YOU SUCK, AND EVERYTHING YOU'VE EVER WRITTEN SUCKS."It doesn't involve any type of criticism that could help the writer become better with their writing skills or the style they write in. It just proves that the reader didn't take the time or didn't have the patience to try and help a fellow person/writer out.This being, flames also don't have to be exactly in this form.
Flames canalso be written similar to "Your story is horrible and you have no writing skills."This could be considered a flame seeing as it 'insults' the story but it's also a bad move on the reviewer because instead of helping the writer, they just told them what was bad instead of telling them what they could've/should've fixed.
...I think we're done...
Maybe...Well, Felicia-chan has edited this story and hoped to fix anything that was unclear before.
So, a final note before we go.
To anyone who enjoys yaoi/yuri, has written an A/U fic, has used an OC character, or has made characters OOC in their story for the purpose of the story, this -tutorial- if you will, has NOT been written to criticize any writers or their writing style. It's just pointing out some basic facts and yes, does include some opinions but does not mean they have to be true.
This also included some bashing to different topics/pairings. Our intentions were not to offend anyone, gomen if anyone/anything had been.
We would highly recommend reviews if any of these pointers did not satisfy you in any way, please contact Felicia-chan (x0x) so she may revise anything that was crucial and yet not mentioned.
Arigato!
