6 replies to this topic

[InvaderSpax]

Ok folks, it's time for another one of Spax's Weird-Ass Questions!™

Anyhoo, I had some ideas floating around the ol' brain cage and I've actually been thinking about dipping my toes in the ocean known as fanfiction.

However, I don't really trust my own insane self, so I figured I'd put up a general flare here and see the response it generates, if any.

I've heard, read and participated in many debates about original characters in fanfics. I've seen everything from the incidental shop owner who's there to be the butt of a joke, to the Super-God-Mary-Sue-Type-Awesome plot killers. Now, I usually don't like reading stories where you'll have the main cast from whatever the fic is based on, along with one OC who, however over, under, or appropriately powered, is added to the main players for whatever reason (if that made any sense to anyone, i congratulate you). Now, every once in a while I'll find one I like, but when I read fanfics, I usually like to read about the established characters.

That being said, there is another style of fics involving OC's that I really like. That is when the author takes an established world, and writes their own story, with their own characters. For example, a few years ago some friends and I wrote a Harry Potter RPG (think D&D style) that we played for about 6 months. We took the general world that existed from the books and wrote our own characters, each unique and with their own strengths, weaknesses, merits and flaws. The catch? Harry and his friends do not exist. Voldemort was defeated years ago. End of story, move on. We used most of the teachers but made up our own heroes and villains.

I think Naruto is a great universe for this. Because of the setup of the world, it's really simple to just create a new ninja village and have an entire saga set there (can we say "Star Village"?). Or for that matter, set it in Konoha but the main characters don't exist. The Kyuubi never attacked, there's no Hyuuga Hinata or Uchiha Sasuke, whatever. You write the people.

The point of this somewhat senseless babble here is that I had an idea for something like this. A story set in the Naruto universe but not involving any of the main characters. I don't want to have to worry about whether or not my main character's bloodline would completely and utterly crush the Sharingan or the Byakugan (which it wouldn't, totally different and has a pretty major weakness) or whatever (and incidentally, his bloodline is ripped straight out of another manga, but it just works really well). Also, I don't want to have to worry about whether or not Naruto is suddenly too smart or too stupid or whether Ino wouldn't suddenly fall head over heels in love with a certain ramen loving shinobi.

Baically, I'm not overly confident in my writing skills. I have a tendency to love what i write when I'm writing it, then read it a month later and go "What the hell was I thinking?" I want to write a good story that does justice to the man characters. And before I try to tackle someone else's creation, I kinda want to try my own.

So, this entire rant here basically comes down to this question:

Would people be interested in reading something set in the Naruto Universe, but completely devoid of the main cast of the manga (and by this I mean the Rookie 9 and Gai's team. I still want to use some of the others)?

Just curious.

S

[Nes Mikel]

Would people be interested in reading something set in the Naruto Universe, but completely devoid of the main cast of the manga (and by this I mean the Rookie 9 and Gai's team. I still want to use some of the others)?

Just curious.

S

The simple answer:

Not really.


The long answer:

The brutal truth is, people will generally not be interested in reading such types of fanfiction where the Narutoverse is completely or almost completely devoid of Naruto characters.

There are a number of different types of fics that use OC's as main characters out there, such as fics that replace a main character with an OC (typically used for self-insert type fics), or fics that tries to introduce the OC into the main cast so they would be 'accepted'. Of the latter, there are many variants, such as the typical mary-sue introduction of "Once upon a rainy day Naruto and crew found a unconscious girl by the river with no memory who harbors a dark secret but eventually joins the group" to OC characters that are introduced for the sake of an important plot element (such as Princesses that need to be protected in an escort mission)... er, kinda drifted off from the main topic, but anyway, the thing to remember is that OCs can be used in many ways, but the thing you should avoid doing is introducing too many of them IF – and I say IF – you want a lot of people to read your stories.

The reason?

Generally speaking, within the world of fanfiction, the majority of the people who read fanficion are young teenagers. In other words, this means that a majority of those teenagers are, generally speaking, are only interested in reading fanficions about their favorite character. What their future is like, how their romance developed, what adventures they undertake. From my observations, those types of fanfiction gathers the most attention, popularity, and readerbase among the fanfiction community.

A lot of authors out there in the world of fanfction write for the sake of gathering reviews. Just look at some of those fictions out there in ff.net – summaries with "PLZ R&R!" or Author's Notes which say "I won't update until I get X amount of reviews!" (that one in particular just makes me want to slap them) and so on and so forth. I have to admit, for me, a major reason why I’m writing fanfiction is for the sake of reviews as well. Although I still do write for the sake of my own enjoyment so I can work my creativity, I still try to write stories that appeal to a wider audience, implement suspense and occasional cliffhangers to keep my readers interested and satisfied throughout, try to use the least amount of OCs as possible so my readers won’t have to remember so many characters to understand the story, and so on.

That last reason I just mentioned – readers having a hard time remember who the OCs are - that’s the other reason why OC-centric stories or stories with too many OCs don’t gain too much popularity. Next-generation type stories, where the Naruto cast have kids and we watch them grow up to become adults is probably the only sole exception to this because the readers still have characters they can relate to – the parents. But in stories where there are many OCs which have no relations to the Naruto cast whatsoever aside from the fact that they reside in the same universe, people just don’t give a damn.

Don’t get discouraged. No one can stop you from writing stories. It is your decision only. But since your question was about whether or not people be generally interested in reading such stories, perhaps for the sake of reviews or perhaps the simple wanting to share your stories with others, but the answer, unfortunately, is that those types of stories appeal to a smaller audience in the world of fanficion.

But please do remember – nobody is stopping you from writing it. You may be disappointed with the lack of attention your fanfic is getting, and I know how frustrating that can be, but really, who knows? There are endless possibilities left out there in the vast world of writing, and someone may perhaps, one day, write a story that will prove me wrong.

[InvaderSpax]

and that's basically what I wanted to know. That's pretty much how I figured this would go over, so I'm not discouraged or whatever. In truth, I really wanted to work this as a game, but unfortunately, due to me having moved across the country, I am currently lacking a gaming group. Hence having the idea to writ it up as a fic. I'll still probably write it and to be honest, I could give a rat's ass if one person reads it or 1000 people. I had an idea, I thought it might be fun. I'm not writing for reviews. I read to be entertained, and I write to give others the same opportunity.

But seriously, thanks for the feedback, Nes. That's what I wanted to know.

S

[MonkeysTotallyRock]

Nes tells the truth for the most part. However, there are fics which I personally like myself that are completely devoid of most naruto characters except for naruto himself, or may be one or two. and they can be well-written. just depends on the way the author writes. but yeah, mostly, if there's absolutely NOONE from naruto, then... chances are not too many people are gonna like it.

[Vespar]

It's good to hear that you'd first write for yourself, InvaderSpax. What's the point of writing, if you yourself can't enjoy it first, eh? (Which is, of course, reversed if you're writing for a paycheck, haha)

...
Baically, I'm not overly confident in my writing skills. I have a tendency to love what i write when I'm writing it, then read it a month later and go "What the hell was I thinking?" I want to write a good story that does justice to the man characters. And before I try to tackle someone else's creation, I kinda want to try my own.
...

Heh. They say hindsight's 20/20. That definitely happens to me too.
Though, I'm taking experience from tackling someone else's creation before tackling my own...

Anyway, what I want to say is, write for both if you want to!
Don't get discouraged because you don't think you can do someone else's creation justice. I mean, how can we really do someone else's work justice if it isn't from them anyway? Then there are still times where we think even the creator didn't do their own work justice either!
Seriously, just get into the game and as long as you're willing to improve, you'll get better with each word you pen, with all the sentences you type and with every paragraph you revise.

Don't hold back.

And for the record --
I still want to write a well-hidden Mary-Sue fic. Hehe.

[InvaderSpax]

Thanks for the encouragement, Vespar. Like I said, I'll probably still write it up (and maybe draw some stuff for it too), but whether or not I post it is up for grabs. I'll have to see if I even like it.

=D

oh, and that sig if freakin hilarious man.

[Vespar]

No probs! Hey, if your fic is as well-written as your post, I'll be sure to take a look at it! So let us know if you go through with it, kay? :thumbs:

And my sig does have a follow up, but I never got around to looking for the chapter that Sai does his smile...