Introduction

Welcome to my new and improved profile. I've decided to overhaul it, getting rid of many of the old sections and adding a few new ones. It's still a collection of semi-random ideas, though. Anyway, introductions. My real name is Jeremiah. I used to have this thing about not wanting to have my real name on the internet, but I've long since outgrown that, and it was about time that my profile reflected it. Also, it's nice to get some real credit for my work, even if my update schedule is pretty miserable at times. Going from that absolutely perfect segue, I am not the most motivated writer on the planet. So, I tend to drop off the face of the earth from time to time, sometimes for months. I always seem to come back though, so hope is not completely gone for some of my more ambitious projects.

The Origin of my Fanfiction Career

Fun fact, I started this account as a result of collaboration work with another author, Ronnybravo the Breadghost (my best friend in real life). He was writing a Kid Icarus story called Mystery of the Somewhat staff. I read his first chapter and liked it, and thought that he should continue to work on it. However, an idea of his that really caught my eye was a story he called "The Dark Triad." It involved Dark Pit, Magnus, and Gaol becoming a mercenary team. I strongly recommended that he write that idea out, but he didn't know where to take it. Finally, I offered to write it for him, and he agreed. Then, at some point, one of us (I can't remember who it was) had the brilliant idea of having Mystery of the Somewhat Staff and The Dark Triad take place in the same universe, at the same time. After that, the stories became parallel, and heavily interwoven. At first, I would write the chapters for the story, and he would post it using his account. Finally, though, I started my account so that I could post it myself. And now, here I am. Looking back, I would say that Triad isn't my best work, but I still have fond memories of writing it. I have finished Dark Triad, and have two major projects underway (which are both currently in hiatus) as well as two smaller projects (though one of them is basically dead).

Advice for Newer Authors

Now, this is advice, and, therefore my own opinion. These are not rules to live by when writing fanfiction. However, I like to think that they're well-reasoned enough to be worth a little consideration. Without further ado, here we go.

Updates and Readership: In my experience, as someone who's off and on with fanfiction in general, I've noticed that if you want readers, updating will help draw attention to your story. My readership spikes always occur with updates. This is because of the way the site handles basic browsing. When a potential reader clicks to browse a category, the first page is the most recently published/updated stories. Basically, updating puts your story on the front page for all the world to see. Consistent updates will keep it there. It's worth noting that potential readers who are looking for something a little more specific might apply filters that greatly alter which stories are presented to them. Also, M rated stories do not appear in the basic browsing feature, and can only be viewed if potential readers adjust their filters to allow M rated stories through. That's not to say that M rated stories can't get popular, because they can and do, it just means that they have an extra barrier to overcome in order to get there.

Editors/Betas: There are many, many, many stories on the site with extremely broken grammar, bad spelling, or otherwise unpolished content. Some readers may like a story enough to keep reading despite such errors, but it does diminish your chances of retaining readers. Generally, the more mistakes there are, the less comprehensible the writing is, and the more the author's original intent is lost. Getting someone to help you beta a story is a great way to counter this. My own beta, my best friend RonnyBravo the Breadghost, has saved my bacon countless times by editing my work. It's thanks to him that my writing is as clean as it is.

Romance/Paring Stories: I feel like this deserves a section of its own. Frankly, the site is OVER-SATURATED with stories that are specifically about the author's favorite pairings. There's nothing inherently wrong with writing a story about your favorite pairing, but if you don't add something unique to it, you're going to be buried under the sea of other, similar stories. Essentially, you stand a better chance of getting your story noticed if you have something to offer, such as an uncommon pairing, non-romantic story-lines in addition to the romantic ones, or a story that isn't romance at all.

Summaries: You would not believe the number of times I have passed on a story because of the summary. The two biggest turn-offs are "I suck at summaries" and "summary inside." The former tells potential readers that the author has no confidence in their work. In high school, I was a stage actor, and one of the biggest pieces of advice was to roll with your mistakes. If you make a mistake, then call attention to it, the audience WILL notice. However, if you make a mistake, and then go on as if nothing is wrong, the audience will never know that there was a mistake in the first place. A similar principle applies to summaries. If you aren't confident in your summary, and admit to it, then your potential readers WILL notice, and many will pass. However, if you don't admit to your lack of confidence, then people are far less likely to turn away as a result. The second turn-off, "summary inside," is a problem for different reasons. For one, it sounds very click-baity. Click-bait will cause your readers to drop off very fast if they don't like what they see. What's the point of click-bait on FanFiction, anyway? It's not like any of us get paid for doing this. It also shows that you, as an author, don't have the ability to sell your story to the reader within the space that the site allows. The summary is your chance to distill the essence of your story into a single paragraph and present it to potential readers, with the hope that what you have to offer will interest them. If you feel that you must say more than the summary will allow, include the most pertinent points in the summary, and save the rest for an author's note at the beginning or end of chapter 1. Trust me, it's something I have had to do. Just take one look at the first author's note in Unconditional and you'll see what I mean.

Author's Notes: Author's notes are a great tool to help you communicate with your readers. They can be used to supplement the story, share anecdotes about the writing process, respond to guest/unsigned reviews, explain why you made certain choices (if you feel the need to justify a decision), or to apologize for a long absence (I've done this more often than I care to admit). However, your story should be able to stand on it's own. What I mean is that work should be coherent without the author's notes. Many, many people will skip the author's notes in favor of just reading the story. So, if you include critical plot or character information in an author's note, but don't include it within the body of the story, the note skippers will be left in the dark as to what's going on.

Accept Criticism: Not all the reviews you get are going to be positive. Some of them are going to be quite harsh. It's the reality of writing, and art in general. It's subjective. What one person loves another may hate. Despite this, though, when someone criticizes you, listen. See if there's anything you can learn from the criticism. And if there is something to be learned, apply it. If not, then at least you considered someone else's point of view. Really, the only reviews that aren't helpful are reviews of baseless hate, otherwise known as flames. Feel free to ignore those.

Enjoy What You Do: FanFiction is a non-profit site, so none of us get paid for what we're writing. That means that if you don't like writing, you're probably not going to finish your stories. To be perfectly honest, this is a trap that I've fallen into far too often. I have two major stories at the moment that are unfinished, and haven't been touched in months. This is because I lost my fire for them. One method to get out of it is to try and take on something a little smaller; a shorter project that can be finished in a much smaller span of time. Another is to go back to the source material to find out what you loved so much about it in the first place. Keep that fire going. And, if you've tried to get the fire back, and didn't, don't be afraid to give up. There's no shame in it. There may be reader disappointment, but not shame. If you can't write out of passion, then don't, as your lack of passion will be reflected in your work. Be realistic if the need presents itself. The whole point of any of this is to have fun. Yes, you can use fanfiction as a means to practice writing techniques, or to tell a story that would never be told with the canon material, but the ultimate goal is to have fun. Don't force yourself if you're not having fun.

My Favorite Stories and Why

Before I begin, I totally copied the idea for this section from RonnyBravo the Breadghost. Just saying.

LOL:A Zelda story that examines moments in the Zelda series that don't add up and makes a joke out of them. Why do I like this? It's funny, I need no better reason.

Mystery of the Somewhat Staff:A Kid Icarus: Uprising story that tells of the disappearance of the gods and Pit's journey to get them back. Why do I like this? This story is the other side of my story, The Dark Triad. If I don't like Somewhat Staff, then why would I have written Dark Triad? (2018 Update: I'm not nearly as proud of this now as I was back when I wrote it, and the author of Somewhat Staff feels the same way.)

Tales of a Hero and a Half Dragon:A Fire Emblem fanfiction that crosses over the worlds of FE7 and FE Radiant Dawn. Why do I like it? It's awesome. The story is well written and the characterization is amazing. If you like Fire Emblem, go read this.

The Sea's Whisper: A Zelda: Windwaker AU fanfiction that details the story of Link as he seeks adventure by running away from his home island of Outset. It's masterfully written, bar a few errors, and is extremely interesting. I highly recommend it to any Windwaker fans. Unfortunately, it hasn't been updated in so long that I'm starting to consider it dead.

Hero of Wolves: A post-Twilight Princess fanfiction that shows Link helping to aid in Hyrule's reconstruction while dealing with the wolf inside of him. I like this story because it has an interesting concept to draw you in, and is well written to hold your attention. The pace is sedate and the style is heavily detailed, but not so detailed as to be tedious. However, its ending isn't the best, and the sequel lost the magic. Still, this is a very good read right up until that final chapter.

Fire Emblem Awakening: Invisible Ties: This fanfiction is a novelization of the FEA story. It, like most of my other favorites, is well written, bar a few grammatical errors. I really like it because it goes very, very deep into the characterization. Everything about the story feels alive and real, like this Fire Emblem story was meant to be written as story, not a game. When it was still ongoing, there would be many moments where I would genuinely wonder what was next, despite knowing the overall plot of Awakening very well.

Mario and Luigi: Magic of Mirrors: This is RonnyBravo's current Mario project. It has an intriguing story, well-written characters and the perfect balance of seriousness and humor. If you're a Mario fan, go check it out this instant.

Two Angels: A Fire Emblem 7 fanfiction that focuses on the relationship between Jaffar and Nino. Despite the dark assassin theme, the story has enough fluff to make anyone go, "Aaaaaawwwww." It's so cute and fluffy that I want to die! (kudos to those who get that reference).

How to be a Parent: A Fire Emblem Awakening story that focuses on Lucina learning to be a mother to Morgan. Obviously it's a LucinaxMaleAvatar/Robin story, but it's nice. It's very well written apart from a few distracting errors, and it's nice to see these warriors preparing to adapt to everyday life as the end of the war draws ever closer. Also, it's kind of fluffy. I think I might have a fluff problem. Which might seem weird for a guy. You know what, screw that noise, guys can like fluff, too.

Fire Emblem Awakening: Future's End: This story is Metallover's sequel to his insanely popular (and very good) Fire Emblem Awakening: Invisible Ties. It has everything that made the first story great, but it still does what any good sequel should and takes the characters in new directions, not seen in the previous story. If you read Invisible Ties and loved it, then absolutely read this. If you haven't read Invisible Ties, read it first, as it's awesome.

Metroid IV: Alone in the Stars: This is an older story on the sight, but it's still pretty good. It's a novelization of Metroid: Fusion. What impresses me about this story is how the author made it work. He was faithful to story presented in-game, but he added a lot of extra layers to it that made it very interesting read. If not for those extra layers, the story would have been a bore to read. The characters have strong personalities and are interesting, and the writing is mostly clean (grammar-wise, not content-wise). Overall, considering that adapting Fusion isn't the easiest thing to do, it's a very good story, especially for Metroid fans like me.

Fairy Without Wings: This a crossover between the universes of Code Geass and Fairy Tail. Essentially, it takes the Code Geass cast and drops them into Fairy Tail's world, and then explores what would happen as a result. It's not without flaws (excessive backstory in early chapters, slightly meandering focus in later ones) but it's well-written and very entertaining. It's also huge. If you're looking for something to keep you occupied for awhile, you've found it. And, the best part, the author updates pretty regularly. I haven't ever had to wait more than two weeks for a chapter since I caught up, and they're often posted within days of each other. And when hiatuses do come, they are clearly announced ahead of time.

Girl Days: This is a Ranma 1/2 fanfiction that focuses on Ranma's mother forcing him to adapt to his girl-form. There are a lot of stories like it, but this one exists solely for the purpose of humor. And it is hilarious. The jokes and set-ups are right in line with the source material and the characters go through some real development. Also, the narrator loves breaking the fourth wall at just the perfect moment, and often employs a touch of snark.

Unspoiled: This is an InuYasha fanfiction about the well malfunctioning and sending Kagome much further back in time than usual, causing her to meet a very young Sesshomaru. She then has to deal with the young youkai's whims all while thinking about a way to get back to where she's supposed to be. It's well written, has just the right amount of humor and drama, and is an overall strong take on the SessKag pairing. Truth be told, I'm not the biggest fan of that pairing, but I can appreciate it being done well.

Siren Song: Another InuYasha fanfiction. This one is a comedy about InuYasha and Sesshomaru having to deal with a curse that switches their bodies. Because they decide to try and keep it to themselves, hilarity ensues as they try to interact believably with each others' companions.

Hand-me-Down-Ranma: A Good Fit?: Does anybody remember that one Ranma 1/2 story line where Nabiki took Ranma's engagement for a little while? I do, as it was one of the more interesting ideas the series gave us. This story uses that idea to explore what Nabiki is really like as a person. The story is told with an interesting, in-your-face style that conveys plot, character and emotion quite beautifully. It has many twists and turns and is a consistently fascinating read. It's not for everyone, but it does offer a lot to people who are looking for something a little different.

Metallover's Self-Insert Adventure: Metallover, the author of Invisible Ties, decided to write a self-insert for Awakening. In it, he decides to take the zany comedy route, with just enough serious drama to keep the story grounded. The biggest plus is that it's hysterical. Genuinely one of the funnies stories I've read on the site. The jokes are constantly on point, the clash between Metallover's modern personality and the FE:A cast's more medieval mindsets creates many fascinating, and often hilarious scenarious, and he's put a lot of thought into making this take on Ylisse feel like a living, breathing world. Also, I'm kind of the editor on this story, so I have a personal stake in recommending it. Full disclosure.

My Stories:

(Note: You may notice that a few of the stories here are marked as canceled. These stories never made it to the site, but I kept the ideas there. Partly for my own benefit (I like to look back (parenthesis inside parenthesis inside parenthesis (parenthesis-ception))), but also because those ideas are up for adoption for anyone interested in writing them. If you decide to adopt one, PM me so I can give you a shoutout.)

The Dark Triad: This is a post-Kid Icarus Uprising fanfiction that follows the story of Dark Pit as he struggles with his memories and a quest that throws death at him from every corner. But he is not alone, as he has Magnus and Gaol at his side, as well as a girl he meets over the course of the quest.

Status: Complete, requires editing (more like a ground-up overhaul).

The Legend of Zelda: Nightfall: Link has lived the life of a blacksmith sheltered by his father. During a festival at Hyrule Castle, an ancient evil by the name of Ghirahim attacks the palace, making off when the Triforce of Power. Link takes up the Master Sword and follows him. When Link at last confronts the demon, Ghirahim breaks the master sword and uses the dark power that has lurked hidden within it, as well as a merging of the three Zelda timelines, to resurrect Ganondorf with more power than ever before.

Status: In hiatus (most likely dead).

Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade: This is a novelization of Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade (Fire Emblem in the US). It follows the story of the tactician Nidan, when he wakes up with no memory and a bad head wound. But he has Lyn to help him get through. However, he has no idea what he's getting himself into when he allows Lyn to accompany him on his journey.

Status: In hiatus (also probably dead).

King of Monsters: This is a Godzilla fanfiction that is post G2014. It follows Ford as he deals with the emotional torment of losing his father only just after learning that Joe wasn't crazy. Not only does he have to deal with the pain, but he's also head of an elite-monster hunting squad; which means that he'll be in the crossfire when all hell breaks loose.

Status: Canceled, partially completed

Godzilla vs. Grima: A crossover that pits the King of the Monsters against the Grimleal's god. It will be a short story, possibly a one-shot.

Status: Canceled

Unconditional: This is an InuYasha fanfiction that focuses on the nature of the relationship between Sesshomaru and Rin. Because I view the relationship as father-daughter, that's the direction I intend to take it. The main catalyst for this exploration of their relationship is a youkai attack that turns Rin into a hanyou.

Status: In hiatus.

20 Question Survey of RonnyBravo the Breadghost's design for Fanfiction authors:

First story you ever wrote: It was Dark Triad with RonnyBravo the Breadghost. At first, I wrote the chapters and he published them, but that has since changed, as I started my own account to post the story myself.

A story on which you have been flamed: I am happy to say that I have not yet been flamed.

Your favorite story that you have written or are writing: I'd have to say Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade. Don't get me wrong, I love Dark Triad and Zelda: Nightfall, but Blazing Blade is based on the first Fire Emblem I ever played. It has a special place in my heart. Even if I haven't worked on it in while.

Favorite story on the site: Fire Emblem Awakening: Invisible Ties by far. The story is masterfully written (a literature major in Australian college, who has since dropped out, and then dropped in and finished, is writing it) and tells a wonderful story with loveable characters. If you have not read this story and you love Fire Emblem, go read it immediately. It even improves on many of Awakening's narrative flaws.

Why you became a fanfiction writer: I have an entire section dedicated to this higher in my profile.

Favorite media to write for (i.e. Pokémon, Naruto, etc.): Zelda and Fire Emblem.

Story you've reviewed the most: Fairy Without Wings

Your most popular story among readers: The Legend of Zelda: Nightfall.

A story on which you have/had writer's block: The Legend of Zelda: Nightfall.

A story you deleted and then resurrected later: None, and I hopefully will never do that.

Number of polls you've created: 1.

Longest private messaging conversation and with whom: 47 messages with Maikou.

Favorite genre (i.e. fantasy, adventure, crime, etc.): Fantasy and adventure.

Your own original pairing that no one else seems to have thought of: Dark PitxOC (spoilers for Dark Triad, she happens to be Palutena's demigod daughter)

Your biggest qualm when reading fanfiction: Uninteresting stories.

Your biggest qualm when writing fanfiction: Sudden loss of motivation.

Favorite OC: Nasc from The Legend of Zelda: Nightfall. I like his hardened attitude, as well as giving him little moments of dry humor.

A story you didn't expect to get popular: None, yet.

Your Favorite Reviewer: RonnyBravo the Breadghost, as he's my best friend and reviews my work with regularity. When he's not helping me edit it, which doesn't happen often anymore, as he's a great editor.

Your Favorite Author: Metallover because he wrote Fire Emblem Awakening: Invisible Ties. He's also done a hilarious self-insert for Fire Emblem Awakening. It's quite funny, but it does have some adult content (very foul language and VERY suggestive themes).