640 replies to this topic

[Wilson]

LOl, vespar, unnecssary jap, that i have to disagree. XD

There are moments in fics that I really enjoy a sentence of Jap or two, of course, only certain parts. Too much will destroy the moment.

Hmm, must be because I watch Animes in jap with subtitles, XD

[Shouri no Hana]

Good Kyuubi:

Alright I have to admit, I like Good Kyuubi, but that only if there is no reason behind it whatsoever, its just there. I made that mistake in my first fanfiction, and in my second, Kyuubi is a runaway space alien, what more can I do?

But the whole watching the memories thing, that bull, Kyuubi was there from day one, he doesn't need to watch the memories if he saw them happen. Chakra thing? Urgh, there is always a price to pay for using the chakra, I don't know why people forget that all the time.

[Wilson]

Yeah, well, gd Kyuubi is common nowadays. I mean, even mine is leaning towards the gd side a bit, XD

Evil Kyuubi is fun as well, i dun mind really.

[Vespar]

Picking up on pet-peeves again, I just realised Kyuubi talking in bold has me automatically closing tabs when I spot it. I admit, it's one of the best ways his dialogue can be portrayed, but it's been so over-used, coupled with the same cliches, I can't help but not read those anymore.

[True]

My Ultimate Pet peeve:

Making Naruto into a complete and utter B!TCH

I HATE it when authors make Naruto super weak as he!! and make him fall into a deep depression.

People make him way too weak. A lot of them hate over powered Naruto fics because they say he becomes cold. But, I rather have him be ruthless than have him sulking around.

I'd rather have him be his normal personality, but not take any sh!t from anybody! when they piss him off!

Another dislike is betrayal fics. When you have someone in a relationship cheating on them with their friends. Like Sakura sleeping with Sasuke while she's dating Naruto and then she says she's sorry and realizes its a mistake. I know Naruto is forgiving, but even he wouldn't give her a second chance after she betrayed him. I've seen a lot of these around and they are just horrible.


P.S. - Kyuubi talking in bold is the standard and I see no problem with it at all, unless you have large thick blocks of words. Other wise it's fine.

I feel so much better now

[Leney]

People are just kinda stupid about the bold Kyuubi thing. Also it's lazy writing. You don't see published writers doing this. The only time I've seen bold used, there wasn't a little guide in the beginning of the book saying "This is demon"

If it's not obvious then the writer's doing it wrong.

I know Naruto is forgiving, but even he wouldn't give her a second chance after she betrayed him. I've seen a lot of these around and they are just horrible.

Sasuke tried to kill Naruto. Twice. I would figure Naruto could take infidelity.
On this note may I direct people to askerian's rant on Naruto?

Here's a snippet:

Of course, while, technically, a good writer should be able to write many kinds of characters well, for a beginning writer, it's often easier to write people you can identify with. Sadly, quite a few new writers push the identification a little farther than it should go, and sorely need to be reminded that "honey, just because YOU would hate being treated like X by Y, doesn't mean that Z hates it."

A particular example of this situation is more commonly referred to as "AAAAHHHHH NARUTO DOESN'T HATE SASUKE AND SAKURA WHAT MANGA ARE YOU READING IS IT THE RETARD EDITION OR WHAT."

[True]

People are just kinda stupid about the bold Kyuubi thing. Also it's lazy writing. You don't see published writers doing this. The only time I've seen bold used, there wasn't a little guide in the beginning of the book saying "This is demon"

If it's not obvious then the writer's doing it wrong.
Sasuke tried to kill Naruto. Twice. I would figure Naruto could take infidelity.

Well I don't have a beta nor a publisher so i see no problem with bolding Kyuubi/Inner Sakura speaking. Plus no one complains so I'm cool about it

I dislike betrayal fics.....

what if Naruto betrayed on Sakura with Hinata? would she be so forgiving as him? ADULTERY I hate it how writers overuse this plot in stories. It's not drama/agnst it's just stupid!

[Leney]

I feel it's basically a fanon law so I don't understand the need for every.single.fic. to have a little section telling the readers that "This is Inner-Sakura/Kyuubi". We all know already!

Maybe it's to pad word counts? XD

As for cheating fics, I think it's cheap drama too, but it can be done right. Geno Calamari wrote a story where Sakura was cheating on Sasuke with Naruto and it was good.

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

(And it's the only Sasuke-bashing fic I can tolerate because I'm twelve at heart and I think "Sasuke's mean and has a small kitten" is hilarious)

more offtopic-ness:

Spoiler! --Click here to view--

Oh man and I read this story where Naruto cheated on Sasuke with Hinata. One of the few NaruHina that didn't make me cringe. Probably because Hinata was kickass if not typical telenovella villian-ish. But then again Sasuke was acting a fool and I like Hinata more than him on the best of days. But SasuHina ftw, go figure...

[Leney]

okay I went on a fanfic marathon (cause now I have time to waste time!) and I see 23421 versions of this:

Sakura pressed her lips against Naruto's own. Naruto's eyes widened in disbelief and surprise. After a second, he figured that if this was a bizarre dream, the worst that would happen would be he'd need to change his sheets. He closed his eyes, wrapped an arm around Sakura's small waist and pulled her against his chest. 'They were due for the laundromat anyways,' he thought as he returned the kiss.

Sakura drew out her tongue and Naruto rose to the challenge brandishing his own. Their tongues clashed, exchanging rapid blows, spit flying back and forth. It was a war of epic and devastating proportions. However Sakura would not be bested. She let her tongue lead the battle into a passionate dance that Naruto's tongue fell into as if he was an innocent bystander caught in a musical.

This is not only limited to NaruSaku, this seems to be every single fic out there these days. Can fandom please find a different extended metaphor when they write kissing scenes? I've read enough of tongues dancing and fighting and doing gymnastics to last me a life time. And really, one can right a passionate and sexy scene without having to go into the details of spit swapping and tongue mashing. If anything focus on the emotions or something, I dunno...just not that.

(Yes, I had a bit too much fun writing that passage.)

[Nick Soapdish]

What if they do cartwheels?

Trepidations and Detestations is good because it doesn't describe the sex, but just focuses on the emotion. Before reading that, I hadn't even noticed how many other fics don't.

[Jwolf0]

Hmm... I'll have to pay attention to that, not sure I've seen many fics either that focus more on the emotional part of sex rather than the physical.

And Leney, if I read any fics with "love" scenes like that I'm sure my eyes glazed over and I either hit 'Back' or 'Page Down.' That passage was definitely lawl-worthy though.

Regarding Bold Kyuubi-speak, I confess I've been guilty of that too (well, bolded italics, but still) but I look at it more as a restriction of FFN than anything. Really, what options are there? I'm not sure about using normal text for Kyuubi, and I personally reserve italics for thought or stressing something.

[Denim88]

Well, I have a open mind in most cases for Naruto fanfiction. I don't read yaoi though, just my preference. I also can't read a high school Naruto fic for the life of me. I'm sorry, but making our young ninja into students is just...gah...I won't go there.

While I'm in rant mode, I'm not a big fan of Naruto gaining an uber-pwn all others bloodline. One of the many reasons why I like Naruto so much is because he really doesn't have a bloodline. I've read a few where he's had enhanced healing that didn't include the Kyuubi, and that's okay I guess. It's the ones where he can use a bloodline to slow time, become the Kyuubi, or learn amazing god-like jutsu that just irk me so. I'm sorry, but even Minato Namikaze, who was the greatest ninja of all time in many cases, was mortal, and he died because of sealing the Kyuubi. Maybe Naruto could learn somethings from Kyuubi, but learning all these 'ancient techniques' just doesn't sit well in most cases. Ofcourse, if someone makes Naruto good, but also shows a drawback of his abilities, than I guess that's fine.

So, to sum it all up, I don't like high school Naruto fics, or God-mode Naruto fics... Okay, rant mode done now.

[True]

learn amazing god-like jutsu that just irk me so. I'm sorry, but even Minato Namikaze, who was the greatest ninja of all time in many cases, was mortal, and he died because of sealing the Kyuubi. Maybe Naruto could learn somethings from Kyuubi, but learning all these 'ancient techniques' just doesn't sit well in most cases. So, to sum it all up, I don't like God-mode Naruto fics... Okay, rant mode done now.

I hate you...............>_>

[Vespar]

I've done that in my fic, although I don't have Kyuubi talk very often.

Oh, and Houkou. He won't shut up.

Do you have a better idea of how we should portray biju talking? This is not an attack, I'm just asking you in light of this what you think would be best.

For Kyuubi talking in bold, I'm not saying don't do it, as I do recognise it's possibly the best way to portray his exchange on a whole different level (at least by ff.net standard where you can't change the font). What I mean is that when I open a fic, and that's the first thing I see, I know I can already expect other cliches like, 'Kit' or a nice Kyuubi, friendly banter, or whatever else.

Though I don't think I need to say that if the opening lines prove the author's wit, I will be giving the benefit of the doubt.


Btw, back on bold speech patterns in general usage, the only published author I know that changes type face for when a character speaks is Terry Pratchett, and he does so for his character; Death. I've never seen (small) caps employed so well in a manner of speaking.


Edit: And Wilson; I'm not against Jutsu names, but when someone uses 'hai' for a yes, or starts counting off in Japanese, then I just got to ask what was the point in doing that, you know?

[canis]

Hmm, I can deal with most stuff, if it is remotely plausible, because sometimes you get a new interesting point of view...
There are a few things I like less than others:

+) Overabundance of angst...
Honestly, I read the angstiest of stories, but when people pile up one bad event after another, I tend to lose track... It's a steady downward spiral, which gets boring. Besides to me the angst is more like a parameter.
I'm more interested in the reactions of the characters and how the pull themselves or other characters out of the pinch than seeing them suffer.

+) Depression and suicide...
It's really a part of the the above topic. Up until now, I've only read very few fics, which could portray Naruto's or Sakura's suicide believably.
Let's face it, both are really tough, Naruto especially is a survivor. He has been alone for a long time and always found a way out. Now he has friends, a dream, and what-not... Sakura dies/cheats on him/chooses another guy? He'll find a way to deal with it. He'd probably never completely recover, but he'd find a reason to live on...
Sakura is similar now in my opinion.

+) Cheating...
I cringe but still read it ... Hard on the characters and realistic (happens often enough)... But there aren't many fics that could give a believable reason for the adultery...
Drunk mistakes are overused in my opinion. So what would Naruto for instance need to cheat on say Sakura? Or Sakura on Naruto? (and not by falling into her 12 year old personality)
Another often used thing is the cheating in the line of duty... Why would a mission require you to do that?
Most fics gloss over the mission, just giving a small footnote about Akatsuki or similar dangers.
Even if it's stupid there's always a reason...

+) Super Naruto...
I could read it... but very often Naruto changes into a genius, which turns his character 180°...
That's really a pity because there are insecurities, flaws and hidden strengths waiting to be explored and I prefer those to new jutsu.

+) Character changes...
I don't ship Naru/Hina but the mechanics would be very interesting, because Hinata is a very real character.
Her insecurities, the pressure from her father and her shyness is very basic and something met very frequently in real life. How would the bubbly, extroverted Naruto work with her?
Most fics I've read had her change to quickly, having hr suddenly kiss him (or waiting in his appartment clad in sexy lingerie). How would they interact on missions, would Hinata turn professional when faced with danger?

+) Killing Sasuke...
Sometimes paired with bashing... I think it's just a pity, because even with his flaws Naruto and Sakura want him back, he also makes an interesting character that can do more than just be depressed and hateful.

+) Bashing...
Hmm, bashing to me is always paired with dislike of the character...
Criticize Naruto/Sakura/Sasuke all you want, put them into tough situations but don't turn them into mindless beings, guided by their clichés and stereotypes.
In my opinion the best critiques come from authors that in reality like the characters they focus on (and spread some on all the characters).

+) Kyuubi...
Yeah, several posters have mentioned it already... Turning Kyuubi into a sexy grrrl, a fuzzy and lovably pet with superpowers or a lonely attention seeking mischievous fox is something I really can't get into.
Just can't take it seriously.
It doesn't fit the image that always comes to my mind.. When Naruto met him first when shoved into the canyon by Jiraiya, and Kyuubi beckoned him to come closer and tried to maul him...
I don't think that can be explained with PMSing or bad mood...

Most points I've listed don't keep me from reading though, because occasionally I find an interesting approach or an explanation I've not encountered before...

[Vespar]

I was just discussing it on msn, but I'd suddenly realised that NaruHina is fast becoming a petpeeve for the sole reason that most of those fics usually butcher Hinata's character. Honestly, you could replace her with another girl and there'd be no difference (or sadly, it'd be more in-character for that other girl).

[Keyes]

I hate it when People cant talk in complete sentences and add no detail. The story moves along so fast that i was begging the stroy and now Naruto is fighting in suna against super-power baddy in under 3 paragraphs.
Another thing is when people write there stories like they would orally tell it to you. It makes for an uninteresting read.
Ill explain later when i have more time.

[Vyse]

I find more and more fics where the author "forgets" to indicate who's saying what at all times.

"Hey"
"Hey, what's up?"
"Not much, oh.. hey Ino"
"Hello Naruto, where's Sakura"
"I'm here!"
"I forgot which one of us I am!"

That's my biggest problem with getting through fics now... people just can't write proper dialogue. Is it really that hard to add three or four words indicating which character it was at all times?