Edited: 12/12/14

Name: Pete / FlamingEye / Incandescence

Age: 28

Location: UK

Languages: English

Writing?

It was a while now that I tried my hand at Fanfiction, I've left my writings here but I'm not going to be updating them.

I do a lot of daydreaming / thinking about stories and such, I had a whole world of possibilities for Youkai gone Astray but I don't have the motivation to finish it.

Added to that I've taken up attempting to write purely original fiction so any of the original ideas I had for Fanfictions I'd rather use them for completely original fiction instead. Which is another reason I won't be updating any of my Fictions.

For example I had an idea of an afterlife system to use with YGA that could reasonably be fit into and adapted for any fantasy fiction and the implications of it used in many ways, so I'd rather hang onto that.

Reading?

At the moment I still read Fanfiction because I enjoy it. It provides two things for me:

A way to continue experiencing a good story or experience through someone elses works which use the base Canon that I enjoyed so much. (Example: Legend of Zelda - Fantastic games / Stories and a rich enough world for FFs)

A way to get satisfaction after being disappointed by a Canon story, often endings that suck or plot holes or failed possibilities. (Example: Naruto - Epic world created and wasted, it became just a bad DBZ ripoff)

Reviewing?

I kinda see FF.net as a place to practice writing, or to get ideas / creative impulses out of your system (but why not improve your writing as you do that too, right?)

So I only tend to review if I've got something useful to say, I try to not come off as just demeaning or insulting but I AM critical.

I'm intensely self-critical, I think you have to be to become excellent at anything and that's what I strive for, though I've no delusions of being there yet.

If you've not that philosophy that's fine just ignore me.

If you don't agree with me that's fine, it's just my opinion and I hope at least it may have made you think and if you have and you come to your own conclusions, great!

If you feel insulted, that was not my aim, please accept my apology and I hope you might re-read my review and glean something useful from it.

Advice?

My overall philosophy is the more effort you put into writing the better it will be. This may be thought effort, literal effort or talent. Because Talent is often related to things you put effort into for fun anyway. (I won't go into philosophy on that.)

In my opinion Immersion is the most important thing in a story. If you break the immersion the reader's enjoyment of the story is lessened. So if a character dies they won't care as much, etc.

I hate coincidences. Coincidences are essentially lazy writing. If the coincidence is the basis for the story then fine, that's the exception but that could still probably be re-worked to not be a coincidence. Coincidences are Deus Ex Machina, God coming in to save the day because the writer didn't put in the effort to make a working solution to the problem they wrote in.

Fiction has to be believable, reality just has to happen.

Following on from that, if you're writing fantasy or sci-fi. Set a bunch of reality-defying rules and stick to them. People will accept that. If you make a rule and then break it people will not accept that.

If you make limitations more concrete that adds depth and believability to it. For example Chakra, if you make the limits of Chakra more consistent between moves and stick to it and have characters strategize how to best use theirs, it adds great depth. But if your hero has enough Chakra somehow to do the thing they need then it's Deus Ex Machina. (Naruto somehow summoning Gamabunta vs Gaara with his own power alone after being spent. Pathetic writing, either he is spent or he isn't. Inconsistent, hate it.