In which I talk about the stuff I've written, and by "talk" I actually mean "wank." No, seriously- talking about writing is to actually writing what wanking is to having actual sex.
I think I need to work on my analogies. But I digress.
December's Impossible Project was just another one of those goals I set for myself that I didn't think I'd keep, and I technically didn't reach it, so whee, chalk another one up for my low self esteem. I'm digressing again. On to the notes!
1. Sight. This was just a bit of pointlessness to get the whole mess started; I like Hinata but don't particularly relate to her. Her angst is very easy to get a feel for, however, since she kind of oozes it. It's discreet oozing (unlike Neji's), but it oozes nonetheless. I wasn't really thinking when I wrote this.
2. Homicide. Every time Light and L get into fistfights over things, it's the sexiest thing since sex. Seriously. When Light hits L for suggesting that he's the sort of person who would be capable of being Kira, it's deliciously ironic- and L is right, because Light is the sort of person who would kill to get people out of his way, even if his post-Death Note self is disgustingly vanilla. It would only be a matter of time before Light snapped, and L has forced himself into the most dangerous position of all in that sort of situation. And, okay, mostly I just really, really like the idea of Light loosing his grip on reality and killing people the dirty way.
3. Blindness. Heh. I don't like Neji all that much, and I'm only mostly tolerant of Lee, and I don't particularly think Neji/Lee is a very good pairing. So I can't really say why I wrote this, since it's derivative and pointless and representative of a lot of things that are boring and stultifying about the Naruto fandom. This was one of the many examples of "I need to write something, and thankfully it doesn't matter how bad it is." Did a lot of those, actually.
4. Enough. This one's worse than Blindness in terms of pointless cliche. I needed to write something, and, unfortunately, this was it. I adore Shino, but I don't actually think he angsts.
5. Like the Sun. Sasuke is just too easy to write. If Neji oozes angst, Sasuke gushes it, and the constant hard on he has for Naruto makes him easy like Sin, which is to say, like a cheap hooker. I dislike Sasuke and his endless fountain of angst, but that doesn't mean I won't take advantage of it. (Also, Naruto as a series is too full of overly obvious symbolism and parallelisms; the Sasuke/dark/bad and Naruto/bright/good one is too painfully obvious to not be used.)
6. Sorrows and Rejoicings. This was going to be a quickie, and then Naruto refused to die after the first night. One of the things that I like about the series is how well fleshed out the world is; Kishimoto's explanation of chakra use demanded a fanfic, and this is what happened.
It was interesting to examine Naruto's relationship to the people around him, and to see how they would react to something so completely shattering; Naruto is the last person in the series who should ever be backed into a corner he can't get out of. I was very tempted to extend the second section and do everyone's reaction to Naruto having a terminal disease, but that would have been excessive and overly depressing. (Konohamaru visited him once a week and yelled at him for an hour in the beginning, but Naruto hasn't seen him in a month.) I can see Naruto becoming incredibly jaded and bitter when he gets older, but I imagine he'll grow even more stubborn in relation to certain aspects of his idealism. Unfortunately, the whole story ended up being more about Sasuke than Naruto, as things tend to. (Poor Naruto, doesn't get a break even when he's dying and Sasuke's dead.)
I was getting tired of reading fics where Sasuke got something resembling a happy ending, because he doesn't actually deserve that. He gets points for not killing Naruto, but in the end he loses for leaving in the first place. He's rejected salvation too many times to survive his time with Orochimaru, and I think Jiraiya and Tsunade are right about him. He's an intrinsically flawed character, which I like, (and it's part of that endless fountain of angst that makes him easy to write) but his flaws will get him killed. (I actually really hope that won't be the case, because that would be too depressing for words.)
I think Orochimaru is one of Kishimoto's weaker characters- both he and Itachi are very flimsy compared to most of the others, but Orochimaru's past makes up for his weak motivations. He was lying when he said he could kill Naruto- he sees too much of Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Sarutobi in him to actually land the killing blow. He's not sentimental, (that's Sasuke's job) but he recognizes the need to leave a legacy for his once-precious people out of simple respect for them.
I'm immensely proud of this story, but I can't for the life of me figure out whether or not it's finished, and if not, how it should be finished. It also needs editing like whoa, but nevermind that.
7. Spirals. Blah blah blah sannin blah blah team 7 blah blah fucking parallels blah blah team Kakashi was cute blah blah all of 'em are dysfunctional blah Tsunade is cool blah blah Yondaime is hawt blah blah blah. (Also: Look at me, I'm vaguely artsy!)
8. Rock the Vote. Did I mention that Shino is one of my favorite characters? And that Kiba is growing on me like a particularly virulent tumor, and Hinata is cute? Consider it mentioned. Kiba's grousing about Shino's leadership skills during the chuunin exam are responsible for this. (Of all the gennin teams, I like 8 best, with 10 coming in very close second.)
9. Hunger. I discovered I had an Ino in my head, and was disturbed in a good way. You could interpret this as G rated threesome fic, and I wouldn't discourage that, as I like Team 10 as a threesome- but they work amazingly well as simple friends. Team 10 is the one most naturally inclined to fit together; Shikamaru and Chouji's friendship, combined with Shikamaru and Ino's battle compatibility make their team the only real functional team. The only problem is the tenuous connection between Ino and Chouji; Ino appeared in my head and told me she was hungry but on a diet, and the rest followed naturally. (This is probably the best piece of writing in the entire lot; it's certainly one of my favorites.)
Next set in next entry.
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