"Undertow," "Secrets," and a short rant on character bashing

[edenfalling]

1. "Undertow" is at 350 words. Kind of pathetic, but if darkfic doesn't eat my brain, it takes time. This also requires some careful plot construction and tinkering, so progress will likely continue to be slow.

2. Meanwhile, back in my other fandom, I sent my bad poetry attempts to Vicky for her critique and input. Presumably this will improve "Secrets." In the meantime, I shall ponder what Sir Vladislav's first lines of actual dialogue should be. (Yes, folks, three months after their first meeting, Ginny has finally remembered to bring paper and writing implements when she goes to ask the advice of the enchanted suit of armor. *sigh* Characters.)

3. A note to various reviewers on ff.net: I don't care if you don't like Sakura or Sasuke. I am not going to bash them in "The Guardian in Spite of Herself." For one thing, Sasuke and Sakura will be eight years old. They have not yet done whatever you dislike them for doing. For another, I happen to like both characters despite their flaws (and trust me, I am aware of their flaws). And for a third, even if I dislike characters, I don't bash them; it's bad characterization and I try hard to avoid that. You can go read any of my stories for evidence on that point -- the closest I've come is gently mocking Ron Weasley and Harry Potter, and I trust I made it clear that I don't think they're insensitive idiots... at least no more so than any other teenage boys. All disparraging comments directed at other characters are not in my voice as author, but in the voices and thoughts of various POV characters, whose views I do not necessarily share.

This has been a public service announcement. Thank you.

Comments

[yuki-buffy.livejournal.com]

heh... good rant... you should join the fanficrants community

[arkeus.livejournal.com]

nice alucard pics :-)
Good rant too, one thing that makes me stop readin is character bashing. of course, i include lots of weird things in character bashing: a sasuke that goes good witout explanation is character bashing for me. hum.... and i am glad you included sakura in this, i want ot see her in the guardian in spite of herself :-). this way, team 7 will be strong (in spirit) from the start.
Good work
oh, and what is undertow?

[edenfalling]

Yeah, if Sasuke returns to Konoha/Team 7/being a decent person, it needs some explanation!

"Undertow" is... either the first sequel to "Tides" or a one-shot occuring between "Tides" and its sequel, "Leaves." ("Tides" is a story in which I did rehabilitate Sasuke. Sort of. At the cost of turning Naruto and Sakura into something like missing-nin, except that they have Tsunade and Kakashi's blessings, so they should probably be able to get reinstated at some point. They hope.)

[arkeus.livejournal.com]

ah, yes, i read tides sometimes ago. it was a fun read though i remember sasuke being stronger than both of sakura and naruto together- don't like that :/ the rest was good though, the explanation was tolerable as sasuke wasn't really good, just friendly, and so on. glad to hear you may do a one shot before the sequel, but please stay on the guardian in spite of herself track. i am glad you are not into eigth years old frolicking though :pppp hum, i would have to say that i would like Sakura to have an important role already, but we'll see :-) i kind of expect sasuke to have too big a role, but that is expected from a woman writer :pp

[edenfalling]

Hmph. I'll have you know that I like Sakura better than Sasuke, thankyouverymuch. She doesn't have any special advantages and she's a kickass ninja anyway, once she gets past her "must be girly for Sasuke-kun" phase. The thing is that there's no real reason for Sakura to be involved in Yukiko's life, whereas there is a reason for Sasuke to suddenly become her responsibility.

(Sasuke wasn't stronger in "Tides." He got knocked out and kidnapped from Hidden Sound, which is why the storyline existed in the first place. And then he got his ass kicked again during chapter 8 -- the only reason he might have won was if he had started thinking 'kill' while they were still thinking 'spar.' And even if he had used the advantage of surprise to kill either Naruto or Sakura, the other would have given him a run for his money afterward.)

[arkeus.livejournal.com]

Hey hey!! i was teasing you - and, ok, provoking you in order ot have a response too. i like having someone responding :p
yeah i know, it's hard to put sakura like that, but like in desaix's fic, i think naruto got his crush for sakura earlier on... or maybe not, but you can do it like this, with naruto seeing her getting bullied and jumping to the rescue.......no?
yeah, and sakura kick ass. Seriously. ah sorry, i got the impression in tide that if naruto one it was only because of the kyubbi, surprise, and that sakura and kakshi were there. maybe i was wrong! Sakura powaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

anotehr reaso nwhy iquit writing for arhcives. i'dn eed to cutthat last sentence adn putit ineveyr disclaimer, algo nwit halogn lsit of whom icoudl posibl yfofendadn whom counter-offend with mentioning the other grou pand...*sigh* boo.
this is in the ame vein as reaig nstory adn yamerign about how much you disliked it. fi i tsomehow didn't suit yoru tases youcan jsut leave and find something else.
good luck withthe stories.

[valles-uf.livejournal.com]

And for a third, even if I dislike characters, I don't bash them; it's bad characterization and I try hard to avoid that.

Amen t'-that-. I'll grant that there are some characters that it's almost inherently impossible to insult (Snakeface and Genma Saotome come to mind, along with, say, the Hiruma bros. from Ruroken), but if someone can't at least -pretend- to be fair, then they've got no business pretending to be an author, either.

*/opinionated rant mode*

Ja, -n
(who tends to err in the other direction)

[edenfalling]

Preach it, brother! :-)