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I'm issuing a challenge for Gaara fans, that sometimes like the high school AU stories.
The challenge will be to put the Naruto characters in a high school setting. But keeping their personalities as close to in character as possible.
It is possible to keep characters in character while having them in relationships you don't see in the show. I've read a few very well thought out fics where you'd swear it was part of the manga.
If you're asking yourself, why don't you just write it Yume? I'm in the middle of a project right now, but I do like reading what others write and am curious if a good story would come out of this.
So basically these are the things I want to see if people are able to do:
1. Keep characters In Character as much as possible.
2. High School, College or Boarding School setting.
3. Maximum of Any number of Chapters if you write more than 1 chapter, an minimum of 1k words per chapter.
4. One shot, minimum and maximum are up to you.
5. No Mary-Sues, or Original Characters.
6. Crossovers and AU are allowed.
7. Any rating.
8. Anything I didn't think of mentioning is allowed.
9. Have fun.
Expanded Character Guidelines and Suggestions
Gaara
The number 1 rule. If you make Gaara a crybaby emoth for no reason you automatically fail at the challenge. It's a huge pet peeve of mine, to see him as an underfed weak shy blushing crying doormat. And one of the main reasons for writing this. His personality wasn't like that in the series, and seeing it pop up that much is well, getting old and frustrating. Did you watch the show or read the manga at all people? I can understand wanting to bend a character to your exact dreams or if you just want to torment them, but why change the personality so much it's only the same character in name alone? It's like reading Gundam fics about Quatre all over again.
Blushing, crying, stuttering? No, no and no. If he does any of these there better be some fantastic bullshitting going on in that story for me to believe Gaara would do any of that.
Cutting...he tried it once in the series and realized he couldn't hurt himself. Now what do you do where he's in a setting where he could do that. Should he? Would he again after the first time since it was a curiosity of what it felt like?
(/rant) Why underfed and boney? Where did this come from? He was sort of short, but basically the same size as Naruto and Shikamaru. Carrying a full layering of sand all the time, you'd have to be pretty strong to tote that and the gourd carrying more sand. (/end rant).
Deidara
Poor Deidara, falling under the same AU high school curse as Gaara. I'm not going to restate myself, just don't do anything to him mentioned above without amazingly good story telling skills.
Haku
There isn't a whole lot I can say about him, other than, careful with how bubbly you make him. Because he was friendly, but cold at the same time. He saw himself as a tool. He wouldn't jump up and down hollering for Zabuza to score at whatever random sport he happened to be playing.
Neji
Yes Neji is pretty, but he doesn't look nearly as womanly as Haku. So please don't make him hyper flamingly gay.
Naruto
Naruto seems to be all over the place in these sort of fics. Again, Naruto may cry but it's generally out of frustration of the unfair treatment over someone else. Not for himself, at least publicly. And I do believe it even said he stopped crying for himself long ago.
Itachi
Here's a tricky one. Probably one of the most disturbed characters in the whole series. Killing an entire clan just to see how far he'd go? That's messed up on many levels. Now, since this is an AU he probably wouldn't be written in as a big brother going to high school and living at home if he murdered a small town. Or would he? That could be something fun to toy with. My only gripe with how he's usually written, is that he shows too much emotion towards Sasuke.
Even post the killings in the show he rarely actively showed affection for him. The flick on the head and subtly trying to get his father to go see Sasuke graduate rather than show up whatever function he had to do, being the prodigy, were really the only times you see their relationship, or lack of.
Sasuke
Now, for Sasuke...I really dislike him on so many levels. But, he really hasn't been written in a way that I feel keep him in character very well. Since with high school fics he is generally the love interest or either Gaara or Naruto, I feel I should say something. Sasuke gets often written as spazzy, much like Naruto he's all over the place in these sort of stories. Sasuke tries to act older than he really is and strives to be the best, he pretends to act emotionless and distant, and lashes out when he's not the one to save the day or look heroic. Fumes and sulks alone.
Almost done with the ranting and explaining of guidelines.
Next we have the issue of relationships. This is more for people that have multiple chapters, not one shot writers. Slow down, no need to rush. If your pairings weren't together post story, then let them build up to something. Not have them dating randomly after 2 short chapters. Remember, if you are actually keeping them in character, these people are head cases, mostly all dealing with neglect or trying to define who they are, they'd be a little wary of someone openly expressing interest in them romantically.
I know I haven't gone over any of the females in the series but, the majority of high school fics are yaoi. And honestly, Temari/Shikamaru, Ino/Choji are the only het pairings I can really see. But I'm also biased since I hardly like any of the female characters and I'd rather have the guys be gay then have them with a girl I find annoying. But in the end Pairings are up to you I don't really care if they seem right or not. I'd just like to see it explained.
Also something to keep in mind if you go the yaoi route. Semi and Uke doesn't mean strong and weak. You can have a dominant uke, one doesn't have to be the 'obvious man' or 'obvious woman' in the relationship. Two fully dominating fellas might be in a relationship and it may get a little rocky, but it's not impossible. Just like how you can have a powerful woman dating a powerful man, they may butt heads but it doesn't mean they won't ever let up every now and then.
The only, and I mean only type of fic that voids out all these rules, except the word count, is if you're spoofing how they get written out in a lot of stories. If you ever read, "Not Another YuGiOh Fanfiction" by pandoraz-box on that's a good example of a fic making fun of fandom clichés.