Agent's Spiel

Status Update September '11

2011-09-07T20:31:00.003-05:00

I've deleted Yuusen which was pretty much discontinued years ago anyways.
I also deleted No Good Deed and 21.
However, there is still a possibility that either one will be reposted. NGD is pretty much irrelevant to Ro7 at this point and I don't feel like rewriting the chapters that were lost. If this changes at some point in the future I'll repost.
21 is still pretty much dead. I haven't been able to pick up any new inspiration from more recent chapters - if anything they've killed what few ideas I still had for its future. I'll hold onto the old chapters but it's more likely that I'll just pick and choose little things I liked from it and incorporate them into the other stories.
I hope to have updates for Juniper and Ro7 within a week or two but like usual no promises on exact update dates.

Status Update August '11

2011-08-07T22:41:00.002-05:00

Quick apology for the second disappearance. My 'temporary' replacement laptop wound up being a lot more temporary than I had hoped and hasn't been agreeing with me lately. It doesn't like to run more than one thing at once and was freezing up frequently. At the moment it's sitting by serving more as a spare harddrive while I await the arrival of a new computer. I'm still hoping to finish new chapters for Juniper and Role of Seven within the next few weeks but I can't promise anything.
For the few people who read this independent of chapter notes, you're the first to hear that 21 probably won't be continued. I was already losing where I wanted to go with it and losing my notes on it kind of sounded its death knell. I'll make a final decision by the end of August. If it disappears certain things from it that I did enjoy writing will probably show up in the other fics.

Role of Seven - Chapter ?

2011-05-16T22:54:00.005-05:00

I think I'll just go with the website's numbering so that makes this chapter 17.
Notes for Chapter 17:

I've read about filler that suggests Mizuki was working for Orochimaru or something but even if that's canon, Naruto wouldn't know that at this point.

It's been a while sinceI've looked at a map of the village but I always imagine the Academy building being close to the Administration building/ Hokage tower. Don't correct me if I'm wrong, I like this image.

Sakura's holding his 'official' file, not a classified one. I'd compare this library to the one Naruto broke into in the first chapter. Access is definitely restricted, but even if Sakura wasn't Tsunade's apprentice, she might be able to get in anyways. I'm sure she'll eventually realize this.

Second note, the random ANBU isn't a stranger to you guys. And I only really threw him in here to give you guys an 'excuse' to reread older parts of the story. I know updates take me forever and that makes it harder to keep up with what's going on.

Role of Seven Update

2011-02-15T20:29:00.003-06:00

New Chapter up for Role of Seven.
This was supposed to be up yesterday as a Valentine's Day gift just to let you all know that I am still here and actually working on updates. The files were unfortunately lost so I'm working from scratch here, which means things will take more time than I had originally hoped.
This chapter is short and ...rough. And kind of boring. But it helps me launch back into the action so hopefully things will be smoother from here on out.
Notes for this chapter:

Was Kakashi in jail? Was he not? You might never know, this is one of those completely non-canon parts of the back story. If they ever get the nerve to ask Kakashi he will likely not answer them. (I think 21 is the only story in which I leave Kakashi's back story untouched).

Timeline is a bit wild (I had it cemented in my notes but now I'm recreating it...) The first chapter took place 6 months after Tsunade became Hokage. I'd add another 7-8 months for the stuff before that, and we've gone through almost 5 months story wise so that makes it more like a year and half but Rishito's rounding anyways.

And lastly, Naruto never told Sakura when he found out about Kyuubi. He mentioned Mizuki explaining it but no timeline. This just pretty much cements the anti-authoritarian thing she's been focusing on for the past week in lieu of thinking about her parents' deaths.

Last Status Update

2011-01-19T07:52:00.002-06:00

I promise the next post here will announce a chapter update instead of this stuff. The basic explanation is that once I finally managed to look through the files recovered from my old computer I discovered that my fanfiction files weren't among them. It's possible that they are still salvageable and that I just had them on my desktop or in another folder but I won't know for sure for another day or two.
If they aren't recoverable here's the plan:
Role of Seven, Juniper, and 21 will all continue. Working without my notes will slow me down on picking them back up and I might change things so that they end sooner than originally, but they will go on.
See-Saw was pretty much just started because I wasn't in the mood to work on anything else, so if I lose my notes...I'll probably just delete it.
The same goes for Yuusen, I kept it up in case I ever finished a full chapter but without the notes and chapters in progress...I'd rather not deal with it.
No Good Deed will also probably be discontinued. I wrote it originally to help me organize what led up to 'Role of Seven' and was just posting it for fun. I don't feel like re-writing it and it isn't really necessary to 'Role of Seven'. I'll leave it up but won't add to it.

Again that's just if the files aren't recoverable. No matter what I'm still aiming to have updates ready late January, early February.

Belated Status Update

2010-12-17T22:51:00.006-06:00

Okay, good news and ...so-so news.
Good news - I have acquired a replacement for my broken computer.
So-so news - We're in the middle of the holiday season and I am swamped. I am also currently waiting to learn how much (if anything) can be retrieved off of my old computer. It sounds like everything should be recovered just fine, but I don't know for sure and the individual looking into this is doing it as a favor so real work comes first.

In other words, I am hoping that by the start of the new year I will know for certain if/when I will have my files back. If I won't be getting them back at all, I'll just start working on rebuilding what I had (outlines, jutsu notes, etc.) and get to work on writing new chapters. If I will be getting them back within a reasonable amount of time it means a lot less 'rebuilding' and a lot more work on writing new chapters. So keep an eye out for new stuff sometime in January.

1/1

Sometime this week I should be getting an external hard drive containing what was salvaged off my old computer. It sounds like he was able to save everything but it'll take me a bit to sort through it so I hope to have more solid news for you... next weekend? And hopefully an update for more than one story by the end of January. Thanks for putting up with me this year...it kind of sucked.

No Computer

2010-06-24T16:45:00.000-05:00

As the title said I'm currently without regular computer access. Hopefully this'll end soon but I'm not sure. I'll let you know when it does.

Juniper Note

2010-04-16T22:47:00.002-05:00

You guys are confusing me. That's the only way I can come up with to explain my reaction to Juniper's reviews lately. Every time I think I've managed to explain something, another reviewer comes along and manages to confuse me again.
With all the other fics I've written people seem to get that this is fanfiction and when I change canon they don't get particularly...contentious (?) about it. It should be obvious simply by the fact that I went all the way back to Chapter 1 to let Juniper jump off that things are different from canon.
I think part of the problem is that I update slowly. It means I know what's coming and I work towards it when writing and in the meantime you people are just reading the updates as they come but I can't really change that.
So instead I'm going to ignore reviews for a while. I'll probably wind up with even more confused readers but at least this way it won't make me write, rewrite, and re-rewrite every chapter.

Juniper - Snakes 2

2010-04-14T17:03:00.005-05:00

Actually, I meant to post this like 3 days after the April Fool's joke, but then I got caught up in the whole 'knitting hermit' thing and decided to knit myself a sweater and that distracted me from posting this. Then 53raph1m act-alike mentioned his/her birthday was today so I figured I would go ahead and get this posted to prove that I am writing the Forest of Death.

Notes – I just realized that Gaara and Gorou’s names are a bit similar. I don’t think it’s so close that you guys will have trouble but if you do I apologize.

Also, this is the first time we’ve really heard from Kyuubi. He’s been making random comments to Naruto for a while now but they’re going to be more frequent from here on out. Would it make more sense if I put Kyuubi’s thoughts in bold? I think I’m going to. Their voices are fairly different but that doesn’t make it any less confusing, let me know and I’ll change it in this chapter too.

I considered making Shino or Kiba the slowest, but honestly at this point in the manga, most of what we’re shown suggests that that isn’t the case. She was probably faster than Sakura in canon, but not at this point in this fic. She'll get her 'redemption' so to speak. It would be fair to say that in general, Team 7 is a bit out of touch with what their peers are capable of.

And I know some people are going to think Naruto got caught way too easily, but when you’re expecting some seriously nasty jutsu, a rag over the mouth isn’t something you’re watching out for. I’ll write more explicit fights in the future, this first one just wasn’t important enough and as is pointed out, one on one the Cloud team isn’t impressive; their skills lie in stealth and ambush. Once they lost the element of surprise, they lost the upper hand. Exactly what this Cloud team did will be explained, but not for a bit (as in not during this exam or the finals…sorry).

If you remember (and I know most of you won’t) Anko mentioned at the end Snakes I that Kakashi was monitoring his students communication through Amarante code. Now you know why he was so drunk; I mean, can you imagine getting just those few warnings and not even knowing who they were going up against (and when he found out the next day…).

I’m sure this new code is going to really annoy people but it’s too much fun to write to take out of something like this.

Reviewers' Answers:

Yes, Naruto's mother in canon is Uzumaki Kushina. I started writing this fanfic before they came out and I came up with a non canon replacement who's identity was actually important to the fic. For this reason, when Kushina was revealed in canon I decided to just keep going with the original character, so here his mother is a woman named Mitarashi Anmitsu who happens to be Anko's aunt and one of Jiraiya's student (along with Morino Ibiki and Namikaze Minato).

Seriously though, I'm like dying to know why so many people decided to tell me this now. Please? Someone?

April Fool's?

2010-04-04T00:09:00.003-05:00

Okay maybe the joke was on me this year. Overall, there was a good response to Seesaw.
People liked the 21 interlude...except those who couldn't figure out who was talking.
And Juniper...I can't win with those guys. I only had a few people actually complain about it which was good. But apparently this was the chapter in which they decided to defend Kushina. I don't know why people suddenly decided that I was an idiot and didn't know Naruto's mother's canon name and character...but they did. I responded as politely as possible to each of them that I started this before Kishimoto introduced her character (at least I'm pretty sure I did) or at least before I read the introduction. Now the original character in her place is ingrained in the plot of Juniper and there's no point in changing her name to Kushina because it isn't Kushina from canon and that would just be dumb. I still don't know why people decided to tell me this now of all times...but oh well.
Maybe next year...no I take that back. Hopefully next year I have finished all of my fanfiction.

Juniper - Not an Interlude

2010-04-01T03:40:00.000-05:00

April Fool's!
I hope at least some of you figured that out ahead a time based on the obnoxious note at the beginning. I'm not normally that weird during the spiels...am I?
Anyways, I really only did because I was working on the rest of Snakes (I really am going to write the Forest of Death, I promise) and I got a review from Elfsong asking about a flashback to Kakashi burning down his house. It was just a week or so ago and I realized April Fool's was approaching and that it might be fun to mess with you a bit. At the same time I figured I could use to...not really clear anything up but pretend I was. I don't actually expect anyone to read it and feel that things make more sense, but maybe some of you will. As a bonus, I'll now know who is and isn't reading the blog, because reviews that don't know this is a joke will just be directed here!

Thanks again to all my reviewers. As annoyed as I some time get - and as easy as it is to take it out on the anonymous people I know online instead of those in my real life - it's a lot of fun to hear people enjoy this, even if it sometimes annoys the crap out of them.
A few quick notes that reviewers brought up:
I'm sorry not everyone 'got' or 'likes' the fact that Anko and Naruto are cousins. Here's the thing, I don't write 'speculation' fics. Instead, I pick things from canon and I pick things from the back of my brain and I throw them together and see where it takes me. I remember thinking that Anko looked a bit like one of the people in Jiraiya's genin team picture (other's had fun writing that she was the same person, I'm writing that she's the person's niece) and that led to one of the main canon differences for this fic. I'm sorry you don't like it, but it's fun for me to write.

Another reviewer (who may have been trying to flame me, I'm not really sure what people are on about when they don't leave emails) said the level of secrecy around the auto pass was confusing him. The auto pass itself isn't shrouded in secrecy. It's a public decision, the Hokage even says so, what is a secret is Naruto's injuries. That's why he asks Sakura not to talk about her team very much. I hope that clears it up a bit, I thought it would be obvious when she openly admits to Neji and the others that she passed with an auto pass but then won't name Naruto, but I guess not.

Naruto's identity is another thing that is confusing people, probably because I've had so much trouble moving on with the story - it would have been cleared up much faster by my original outline, but writer's block has pushed it back. In this fic at least, I figure if the Hokage and his teammate (Anmitsu/Anko's aunt have been clearly stated as his teammate) were having a kid not everyone would know. Mostly just higher ranked individuals. The same individuals who would not be involved in child welfare. Therefore, I really don't see why it would be so hard for the Hokage to hide Naruto. By the time he's in the Academy even with the amount of trouble he's causing, it's mostly going to be grunts doing the cleanup so I don't think they would have run into him. Maybe that's just me over thinking it, but that is the way it gets explained in this fic.

21 - Chapter 4 1/2

2010-04-01T03:35:00.001-05:00

April Fool's!
Not the chapter, just the note about me going off to be a knitting hermit. Though really I think that would be my ideal job. I'm also curious to see how many people who also read 'Juniper' review cursing me for starting 'interludes' on another story (I promise I'm not).
Anyways, I'm sorry some were disappointed with last chapter, I had a lot of fun writing it, but oh well, you can't win all of them.
I actually didn't think Naruto was too out of character for this fic. I've shown him to be hyper sensitive to things said about his father, so it shouldn't have been too weird for this fic, meh.
To those of you who did enjoy it, yeah!
I honestly can't say when the next update will come, but as always, it will come; the only real question is whether or not you guys will feel like sticking around to read it.

Seesaw: Chapter 1

2010-04-01T00:35:00.013-05:00

April Fool's!

Well, sort of. Like I said, this was a plot bunny that his been whirling around in my head since about the time that I started writing 21, note I said writing not posting and I was writing it for at least a year and a half before I started posting. Over the past few weeks, I actually came up with a minor break through about how it should be written and so I've been tinkering with it a bit more. I don't actually know if I'm going to go through with it, just like I don't really know if I'll ever get back to Yuusen but I figured posting the first chapter would be a fun way to poke at people on April Fool's.
Just one or two quick notes. Because of the crossover (which I'm not detailing now) I'm drawing on more purposeful parallels between medieval Japan and the Elemental Countries. Therefore we get more than one Daimyo in just Fire Country (which is based around an alliance). I'm also obviously deviating from history since I've already introduced a female Daimyo.
Kagemusha is a term I'm taking from the movie of the same name (it's not what the crossover is with). I just thought it was fitting. Historically within the fic the Kagemusha precedes the Kage of the Five main countries. I don't know if I'll ever delve into his history (I came up with it because I was bored) but before the five nations solidified all the other ninja were mostly small clan based and not in the hidden village system. The Kagemusha was the head of the only thing close to hidden village to survive from that period. He is not related to the Nara clan. He is also mostly a figure head - the current one is barely a ninja, which is why most of the Daimyo like him. He's kind of like a Shogun, but in reality though his territory is relatively large - not fire country large, but large for a Daimyo - he no longer heads a large group of ninja so the main five Kage have been known to ignore him.(I haven't actually decided where that territory is, it keeps changing...).
That's all I know right now.

Oh! The names. In a lot of cultures, people are reassigned names for 'adulthood'. That's essentially what they're referring to here. In this fic, it's traditional for those not from Clans to adopt a name specifically for them once they've reached a certain point.

Also, I'm really mean to Naruto as a fanfiction writer. He's the title character, so changing him is the easiest way to change the story. Besides, Kishimoto does a damn fine job with the Naruto he's created, I can't compete with it so I have fun changing it instead. Don't bother complaining to me about it.

If I work on this in the future I'll answer questions about it (and possibly have to rewrite the prologue), but right now...probably won't get back to you simply because I probably don't have the answer.

Juniper - Interludes 9 & 10

2010-03-02T22:25:00.006-06:00

Interludes 9 & 10 are up. These are the last two interludes so the next thing that will be posted will be the rest of Snakes, it might take a few months but that's what you'll get.

I also figured I would just address the lack of 'quality' here and get it over with. I think I've said this before, but I'm not really editing these anymore. It's not meant to be disrespectful to you guys or anything and I know the drop in quality will make some of you stop reading, but I've been working on these for years now. It isn't even a matter of lack of interest...okay it is but more because I can't write as fast as I come up with ideas so the chapters (when I can write) never seem to tell the story I want to tell when I'm ready to work on the next chapter...does that make sense? Basically I need to hurry up and finish them so that I stop getting urges to rewrite entire parts of them and editing...it just isn't my strong suit.
Sorry, it's the truth.
A lot of you have been helpful in pointing out things like missed words, misspelled words, and other grammar errors, but I haven't gone back and edited a thing...it's laziness but oh well.

As for updates... I ask you guys to remember one thing. I'm doing this in my free time for myself. I'm sharing it with you because I like getting compliments. But in the end this is fanfiction I cannot make money off of it and I do not intend to spend so much time on it that it looks professional, I hate to say it but it isn't worth my time to do that. I write when I can and I share it with you, please remember that in the future. I'm very, very happy with the fact that people like this and I don't want to sound flippant, but it's the truth. If I'm going to spend that much time polishing something I'd honestly want it to be an original story and not fanfiction.

This is of course the main reason that the interludes even existed. I didn't care that not all of you liked them, I was trying to figure out where most of the other characters were at this point so that the main action of the chapter would make sense to me. I liked most of them, some of them didn't come out the way I wanted but they still helped me make sense of the plot I had in my head. I can't tell you how annoying it was to read that people wanted to cut to the chase when I couldn't figure out what that chase was even going to be.
It was kind of insulting to hear (repeatedly) how alienating the interludes could be because to me they were the only thing keeping me interested in the story at the moment. I could delete the whole fic off the web and just play with it in my free time (and I have seriously considered this), but I like the fact that others enjoy it so I haven't done that. Hearing that I'm ruining my fic for other people...makes that a lot less fun...just letting you know. And if you can't remember what happened...reread it. I do it all the time with fics I like before telling the author that I can't remember what's going on.

That said...I do pay a lot of attention to constructive criticism. I may not always implement on the fics because they're comparable to a 1st or 2nd draft for me, but I do pay attention.

Juniper - Interlude 8

2010-01-12T02:17:00.002-06:00

New interlude is up.

So...

2010-01-05T16:09:00.002-06:00

Okay, the holidays are over and I'm just about as destressed as I'm gonna get. I'm starting to work on getting back to people who left reviews and I'm trying to work on new chapters and stuff so hopefully there will be updates within the next month or so.
I'll let you know how it's going in the next week or so.
Thanks again for putting up with me.

Meh

2009-11-30T15:20:00.002-06:00

'pologies folks.
I think the holidays have eaten my brains.
Or maybe just killed my muse.
I'll get working on it when I can.
I'll also get back to people who have commented and reviewed when I can. Sorry about that.

Apologies

2009-11-14T14:52:00.003-06:00

My apologies for the delays. I did manage to sign into fanfiction.net but then I decided I hated the interlude I had ready. Since then I haven't had the time to rewrite it (or check my email, sorry).
If I haven't been able to rewrite it by like next weekend or something, I'll probably just post it as is.
Sorry again for not saying anything earlier.

Site trouble?

2009-10-25T19:24:00.002-05:00

I'm having a bit of trouble logging into Fanfiction.net. I was trying to respond to a few reviews and it wouldn't let log in. I'm gonna wait til tomorrow and try again. Hopefully I'll be able to respond to reviews and post the next chapter then.

Juniper - Interlude 7

2009-10-19T00:44:00.003-05:00

Before I get to the notes for 'Interlude 7' (if I can think of any), I wanted to address a running trend in last chapter's reviews. Namely that some of you were very confused by the 'Anko's cousin' thing.

I try not to just spell everything out in my fics. I like leaving people guessing a bit.
...Apparently I did that way too well this time.
I tried over the past chapters to make people wonder just why Anko was involved. I had Kakashi and Sasuke question it, one of them directly to her.
I made multiple notes of similarities between Naruto and Anko.
I had her talk to him more than anyone else about her family...namely her Aunt.
I had her teach him a family style of taijutsu.
Obviously I didn't spell out that Naruto was Anko's cousin until this past interlude, but I'm kind of surprised that no one at least guessed that it was a possibility.
I don't know if this is because Naruto's heritage has been officially revealed in canon, or if I'm just bad at getting readers to consider possibilities.
It could be either. And I apologize to those who were very confused by it.

As for the interlude...not much to say right now. Maybe I'll come up with something later.

Oh one last thing, unless I get another sudden burst of motivation, there will only be 3 more interludes. Unfortunately, unless I get another sudden burst of motivation, there may be a gap before the main chapter is posted because I'm still not making a lot of headway on it. I'll keep you posted on progress but let's just say that right now I've mostly managed to throw out the majority of what I had planned previously and rewrite the summary for the chapter. That's a good start, but obviously isn't much.

Juniper - Interlude 6

2009-10-14T15:47:00.003-05:00

Okay I'm gonna use these notes to talk about my characterizations for a bit.
But that's in a minute.
First off, Interlude 6 is up. This is the direct follow up of Interlude 4. Chronologically, this takes place before Interlude 5 but I wanted to break 4 & 6 up a bit. If you were wondering why the Hokage was so...abrupt in last chapter, this is why.
Originally, I was gonna hold off fully clearing up Naruto and Minato's (4th Hokage) relationship until the chapter after 'Snakes', but it just didn't make sense to do that once I sat down to write this. Hopefully the original 'reveal' scene will just be funny now since you know exactly who Naruto's father is - namely that it's the same as canon.

So now onto characterizations!
I tend mention trying to keep characters 'in character' with canon, but I'll be completely honest, if I want a character to be different, they're gonna be different.
I don't label my fanfiction's as 'AU' but I treat them that way just by default. I'm not writing 'speculative' fanfiction here. I'm writing for fun and I'm playing with another person's long developed characters. I let Kishimoto handle the canon stuff. I let my fanfiction handle the 'I'm bored and wanna write weird shit' stuff.
Most of the time when I come up with a story, at least some part of canon is completely dumped so that I can run with a plot bunny. That changes characters by essentially removing a whole chunk of experiences and I try to take that into consideration.
Clearly this story's Kakashi is an example of this. He's possibly insane - though that's up to debate and he's not gonna clear it up any time soon.
Another example: Sarutobi.
I tend to be really, really mean to Sarutobi when I write fanfiction. I like his character in canon. But to mess with these characters, someone in power takes the fall. Sarutobi is an easy target. He'll probably never be a full on villain, but sometimes he is surprisingly pragmatic. And sometimes he is senile. He does care for the characters as he says he does, but he also has a village to run. Sacrifices get made.

I think that's all that needs to be said.

Insert Laughter Here

2009-10-14T15:27:00.002-05:00

*Snicker*
I'm reading the reviews right now.
*Snort*
The answers on 21 were funny.
These are too.

Just for clarity's sake, my bio on fanfiction.net does say that I'm a chick.

As for the nick name - which seems to be throwing a lot of people - it came from college and the age Matrix and Lord of the Rings.
I had really long, really straight dark hair - which my friends immediately connected to the elves in Lord of the Rings.
The not so obvious cross over, on bad days it took after Elrond who played Agent Smith in Matrix.
"Spielplatz" as far as I was told is the german word for playground. My friends and I would joke that when we took over the world - as all college students think they will do - we could call it "Operation Spielplatz" because we would be turning the world into our playground.
Basically the two jokes got combined along with a few about exactly what my roll would be in our grand plan - let's just say it involved bodies and gutters - and I became 'Agent Spielplatz'.
I'm actually surprised by how many people just assume that it's male but oh well, such is the world.

Juniper - Interlude 5

2009-10-14T05:25:00.003-05:00

So next interlude is up. I think I know exactly how many more there are going to be. But I'm still open to suggestions.
TenTen and Chouji will both have one.
Anko, Gai, Kakashi, Iruka, and Asuma will all be seen in some.
And there's one more that I'll leave as a surprise for now.

Anyways, onto the notes.
I promise that Kirigakure is right this time but it isn't actually important to the story anyways since they won't be going there.
Also, this chapter contains some of the most straight forward information - if you can pick it out of all the double talk on the Hokage's part.
Lastly, just for fun, Iruka's teammate who joined ANBU...you've met her. Can you guess who she is canon wise? (It isn't actually hard)
If someone guesses in a comment here, I'll post the next interlude as soon as I read it (within 24 hours or so).

I thinks that's all.
I'm going to sleep, see you in a bit, maybe tomorrow if someone guesses.

Juniper Question

2009-10-14T01:00:00.002-05:00

I know not a lot of readers read this blog if there aren't chapter notes to go over...okay so I know not a lot of readers read it then either, but I'm going to ask it here first and see if I get any early response. I'll mention it next time I update Juniper as well.
Basically, my original frame for Juniper included a rather small cross over. It isn't really connected to the main plot but it would drift in and out for a while (no it's not Harry Potter, though that might be really fun to play with some day).
Without revealing too much right now, I'd just like to sound out how readers feel about cross overs in general.
The first chapter that would include the cross over is 'approaching' - really, really slowly, but still approaching. And I'd just like to start feeling out whether or not I should take it off the board.
I'll probably give more details later if I'm still undecided, but any opinions now would help.

I suck...I mean "Juniper - Interlude 4"

2009-10-12T20:12:00.003-05:00

Yes I know I said two weeks, clearly by now you should know not to expect much from me when I set deadlines.
Anyhow, the latest Interlude is up. I cut this one in half because I think it's going to make more sense chronologically if two other interludes go up before the last part of this one.
It is, however, still unedited. I'll go over it again in a few days so the chapter may get replaced if I change my mind and decide that the interlude I cut in half should be recombined into one interlude.
I'll also put up a post here in a few days explaining why two weeks became longer. If you've emailed, commented, reviewed, or pm'd me in that time and I didn't get back to you, I probably haven't read what you sent so just wait another week or so and I'll get back to you.

Mini Hiatus

2009-09-24T01:07:00.002-05:00

I promise it'll only last like 2 weeks at the most and I'll probably still write that whole time so might have some new chapters then.
I'm trying to finish up a present for my mother and it'll go fastest if I just focus on it for now.
The only story that might get updated in the meantime would be Juniper. The next interlude is written but I haven't really looked over it yet, so if I feel the need to take a break from knitting I'll do that and post the next interlude. Otherwise I can promise some updates the 1st week of October.

Webcomic Recommendations

2009-09-20T18:34:00.006-05:00

I asked readers of Juniper to send me at least one webcomic that they recommend so that I would have something to distract myself with.
Sadly only about a third actually did, but I decided I would share the ones they recommended with everyone.
Note: If it's in bold then I already read it and definitely recommend it as well! As some reviewers learned I can be a bit of a fangirl.
I tried to get links to them, but for the most part the ones with links are the ones where I already read them.
Volunteer Blueberry recommends:
Gunnerkrig Court (I adore this one. It's like a slightly smarter, more sci-fish Harry Potter...except not really anything like Harry Potter except that it takes place at a boarding school. I really, really recommend it)
Scary Go Round
Ugly Hill
Goodbye Chains (I read this one too! This one is a bit bizarre, kind of like historical fiction with bank robberies and explosions. Though if you're one of the readers who complained about 'slash' don't go here as at least one character is gay and I don't want to send someone who might be bratty and complain to the author)

Therhoda recommends:
Girl Genius (One of the coolest steampunkish comics out there. Done completely without the need to make things 'gritty' - which typically means the characters just curse a lot. The art is fun, the story is fun - you really can't beat mad scientists)
Sinfest

November 5th recommends:
Erfworld
Grim Tales from Down Below
and a Naruto fan comic on the same site as GTDB called 'Naruto: Heroes Path'

PS recommends:
Least I Could Do

GreyGryph recommends:
XKCD

NaylorFan90 recommends:
Better Days

Azamiko recommends:
El Goonish Shive

AnimeOtaku31821 recommends:
Lackadaisy (A totally awesome comic set in St. Louis during prohibition. It's got gangsters, speakeasies, and my hometown, how could it possibly get better than that?)

Lady Mazikeen recommends:
Questionable Content
Yu+Me Dream (Very awesome story about a teenaged girl. It gets a bit surreal as the story goes on, but it remains at the top of my list of favorites - though the same goes with this as with GC, the main character is a lesbian and I don't want people to go there and then complain like brats)
I was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space (This is by the same person as Yu+Me and it is equally awesome but completely different. It's basically a hilarious satire of a lot of the pulp novels from the 60s.)

JoriWinter recommends:
Order of the Stick

Serbii recommends:
Wasted Talent

Nantukoprime recommends:
Penny Arcade
Applegeeks
PvP
XKCD
VG Cats
Questionable Content

Veritas in Sanguine recommends:
Goblins
Looking for Group (I don't even know hot to describe this one except that it's full of enough out of place pop culture references that I end up giggling madly even if I can't remember what's going on)
Order of the Stick
VG Cats

53r4phim act-alike recommends:
MegaTokyo

Sandy11-1990 recommends:
Vampirates (Another one I read, though this one hasn't updated in a few months it is a good story. I think there is a book by the same or a similar name but they don't seem to have anything in common. This is basically a story about Vampires in Canada, at least some of whom are also pirates. It's a really interesting story so far)

A couple of people tried to send links to webcomics but the links didn't go through, if you want, just leave the links in a comment here.

Hope I didn't miss any.

Interludes...

2009-09-20T00:09:00.002-05:00

Nothing tells me that people aren't reading the blog more than their reviews.
It's kind of sad really. I've said on all my comments about the Juniper interludes that they would be continuing for a while. I've even mentioned who future ones will focus on.
But I keep getting reviews that are just dripping in disappointment about the appearance of another Interlude.
I am trying to work on the proper chapter for Juniper. My mind is not working properly right now and refuses to let me express in words the scenes that are running through my head - my definition of writer's block. Until then, I'm trying to give you something in return for being very nice readers and it'd make me feel a bit less guilty if people stopped using reviews to up my anxiety level when it comes to a hobby of mine.
I mean, I don't really mean to complain but it's still frustrating.
Oh well.
There will be more interludes. Probably four or five more at least. Hopefully I'll have a 'real' chapter ready by the time I run out of these so there won't be another really long wait, but I really can't promise anything.
Until then, please be patient.

Juniper - Interlude 3

2009-09-19T00:51:00.003-05:00

Alright the next chapter is up. The one after this is already written, so I'll put it up early next week.
I still don't really know what happened last weekend, fanfiction.net never got back to me. However, it does seem to be working and I never noticed any problems when I updated 21 a few days ago. Hopefully we won't have problems this time, but if we do, stay tuned here.
Also, I'm still open to suggestions about who to focus an interlude on.
Right now, I know I'll be writing ones for TenTen, Chouji, and more Anko. I might do one specifically focusing on Gai as well, although he did appear in this one we didn't really get much out of him.
And maybe Sakura's father.
Team 8 is not likely to appear in the interludes because they'll be in the chapter, but as I get further in the chapter itself, I might decide that I can work one of them in as like the last interlude or something.

Also, because of the problems I don't think I got back to some of you but it was really interesting to read the different takes on Ino's interlude. Thanks again for all the feedback.

21 - Chapter 4 C

2009-09-16T00:48:00.004-05:00

Part 3 is finally up. Sorry for the delay.
This chapter originally had a slightly different ending, but I though the subdued ending worked well. I will say that even with this ending, Sakura's last line was originally something along the lines of "You're so not hot!" but I thought that came out a bit too valley girlish.

Sorry if all the 'relationship' stuff threw people, I didn't think there was a lot of it but I guess compared to the first few posts it was. This isn't a romance story or anything, but the rookies are growing up so you can expect some pairings, they just won't be central to the story (or based on anyone's whims but my own)...'cept one, but it's not important yet. The Kiba/TenTen thing came about when I looked back at earlier stuff and realized that I was writing a bit of interaction between them and really liking it. I threw TenTen into a few other scenes that she wouldn't normally have appeared in and liked it, so I decided to just go with it.

Also, I know some people have been really annoyed with Sakura lately. I hope this chapter have begun to redeem her a bit. She's felt as out of the loop as Naruto so she's been just as touchy about things as he has. It didn't really lead to great communication between them. I'm actually really happ with her train of thought in this chapter. It probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense (this is Sakura we're talking about) but at this point, she has the pieces she just hasn't really bothered to put them together.
I was also trying to bring out the fact that Naruto's well, a bit of a hypocrite. He doesn't really mean to do it, but he's not very good at socializing outside of the present...that made no sense did it?
I mean, he's fine in the moment at one on one interaction, but he rarely gets to a deeper level. I read a lot of fics where Naruto seems to know everything about everyone, that isn't the Naruto in this fic. He knows about as much about his friends as they know about him, which is one of the reasons that Jiraiya's bet was so unfair.

Going back and rereading the stuff at the tournament, I realized that this chapter might add some confusion about Naruto and elemental training. During the tournament, some shinobi jumped to conclusions about his training based on the jutsu he was displaying. They understood that Kyuubi seemed to be involved with Naruto's ability to create the jutsu but most were still assuming that the jutsu were still based in elemental chakra. However, up to this point, Naruto had not been tested like he was in the manga.
I did consider writing out more of their training with Kakashi...but I decided it wasn't really necessary. If you want me to expand more on it in the future just let me know and I guess I can have them talk about it. It's more likely that you'll get the chance to really see what they learned during another training session.
Also...I was a bit lazy this time and didn't feel like searching for the exact chapter where Kakashi and Yamato/Tenzo test Naruto. Therefore, I couldn't quite remember exactly what reactions the paper had for different elements. I know this was really lazy, but oh well. If I remembered any of them really incorrectly and it like totally ruins the story for you, just let me know preferably with the correction so that I still don't have to look it up.

Site Problems

2009-09-13T16:59:00.002-05:00

I really have no clue what's going on with fanfiction.net. Or if it isn't really that site that's having problems and there's something wrong with my account. Like I said below, I have sent an email to them but I don't really expect to hear back from them within the next 24 hours so it if I hear from them at all it'll be a while.
I will say that I've found that if I clear my browser's history and then click on the link in here and in my homepage it takes me to the correct page. If you're still having trouble you can try that but I don't honestly know if it'll work.
If/when I hear from them I'll let you know. Hopefully this'll be sorted out soon.
Until then, I'm gonna put a hold on updating. I don't really want to have to keep track of multiple malfunctioning updates.
I can say that when this is sorted out (hopefully by midweek) I'll have both another interlude chapter for Juniper and the 3rd part of 21 Chapter 4. I'm also gonna try and finish off the next chapter of Role of Seven so maybe I'll manage to update all 3 of them this week.

Juniper - Interlude 2

2009-09-11T23:21:00.008-05:00

Alright, 'Snakes: Interlude 2' is up.
No real notes this time but like I said in the chapter, if you have any suggestions for who should be featured in these interludes, just let me know. If I can include them then I will.

Edit ( a few hours later): There seems to be something wrong with the update. The story shows that it's been updated in my account but not on my regular profile and the link to it doesn't work. Therefore I have temporarily taken it down. I'm gonna wait a bit and try again.

Edit 2: Sorry for the extra delay. I didn't have a chance to reupload the chapter last night before I went to sleep and then I've been away from my computer til now.

Edit 3: Okay, the link came in email again, but it still isn't working. I'm gonna leave it up for a bit longer and if the story update still isn't working I'm gonna email, fanfiction.net

Edit 4: I emailed fanfiction.net this afternoon but I read that it can take a while to hear back from them so I'm not really expecting anything for at least a few days. Since reloading the chapter didn't fix the problem the first time I'm going to give it until the middle of this week until I try again. Hopefully by then I'll have heard from the site.

Edit 5: Apparently it's up now. I still don't know what caused the problem, maybe the site was just backlogged. If for some reason your link isn't working, try this one "Interlude 2".

Edit 6: I have no clue what's going on right now. The chapter stopped working a bit this afternoon, though right now the link above seems to work so I really don't know what's wrong with it.

Juniper - Snakes: Interlude I

2009-09-08T00:03:00.002-05:00

Interlude I is up.
Okay, here's the deal. Because I was having so much trouble writing out the exam, I wrote these interludes. They'll be posted sporadically for a while as I work on the real chapter. None of them are as long as a normal chapter so I'm sorry if it seems like so little after so long without an update, but hopefully it'll tide some of you over until the real chapter is finished.
First up is Anko, who is not happy with herself right now. We'll probably meet up with her in another interlude later on as well, but this one focuses on her the evening after the Trio went into the Forest.
This one probably raised a few questions for some of you. For others it may have finally answered some. If it did absolutely nothing for you, then I apologize.

A quick note, while I do seem to be back to working on this (knock on wood), I'm not really back to editing heavily. I pretty much ran spell check and left it so if you spot any mistakes, just comment here and I'll fix them when I post the next interlude chapter.
That should be some time within the next week. I can tell you that it'll be from Ino's point of view, but that's all you get right now.

Juniper - Deleted Chapter

2009-09-07T23:48:00.006-05:00

I know that it has now been nearly a year since I last updated Juniper. I do sincerely apologize for the long wait, but sometimes, life happens and I can't manage to keep up with a hobby no matter how much I want to.
If you have been reading Juniper for a long while, then I thank you very much for continuing to do so. If you're new to it, then I thank you for picking it up and hope that you enjoy it enough to stick with me until I finish.
For some of you who have been with it for a while, you may be confused by the story line right now for a lot of reasons, one of those reasons is the reason for this post. This past June/July I deleted the most recent chapter of Juniper. It would have been listed as Chapter 18 (Snakes II). The reasons were many. Among those was the fact that I thought it ended up being more confusing than it was supposed to be. It included several flashbacks that weren't integrated very well. I tried to hint at several things that you guys were supposed to pick up on, but that wasn't done well either and I've decided that some of them just need to be spelled out.
Trying to work forward from that chapter proved impossible when I was already facing difficulty with the story and with writer's block, so I decided to just delete it and work forward from a better point, namely the ending of Snakes I.

This note might confuse you a bit more and I'm sorry about that but for those of you who remember Snakes II shouldn't be left in the dark about the changes that will come up in the future. The events in the exam itself are being completely rewritten so I'll deal with them when that chapter comes out. The events in those flashbacks, are being changed a bit as well and I can deal with them now.

Here are the big changes:

Snakes II revealed in a flashback that the fishnet the trio was wearing had a jutsu on it to act as a weight training device. That still stands; however, in the current rewrite, the trio doesn't know this. They'll learn it a bit later. Also, the rules of that have changed a bit as well, so I'll make sure to spell it out in a later chapter for you.

Also, Houkou will not be going into the Forest with them. It still stands that Kakashi had Houkou with him before the exam, but he did not send the dog in with them. Houkou just doesn't have the training for it and Kakashi felt the dog would be a distraction.

The Amarante code is going to be explained more before we catch up with Team 7. I'm going to explain it in one of the upcoming interludes in more detail because it was too confusing to just drop it in the way I did.

Lastly, Kyuubi. I'm going to explain this in more detail as well. Some people caught on that Naruto seemed to communicating with it. Some didn't. So I'm going to use an interlude for that as well.
Since I'm sure I'm forgetting something or just didn't think to touch on something you guys were confused by, feel free to ask any questions you want. Just please do it here in the comments so that I can make sure I get back to you.
Thanks again,
Agent Spielplatz

Juniper

2009-09-03T04:24:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the complete silence here for the past month or so. I was a busy little bee for a while.
Anyways, back to fanfiction now. Because Juniper is still causing trouble I'm trying something a little different from what I had originally planned. So far (knock on wood) it's going well. If it keeps going well (knock on wood) I might be able to get something up this weekend. 21 is also being worked on so those will probably be the first ones I update this month.

21 - Chapter 4 B

2009-08-10T02:27:00.003-05:00

Part B of 'Chapter 4' is now up. I'll post the rest of Part B whenever I get to it.

Sorry about the slight delay. I started this chapter back in April and then managed to forget how Sakura and Naruto were supposed to lose the bet. I came up with this back in July but I didn't have the time to start writing it until recently. And before I did that I decided to edit the existing chapters a bit. I personally found this funny but I don't know if you peoples do.

I had more to say to it but blogger deleted it and now I can't remember what all I had to say. So instead, I'm going to go work on finishing a baby blanket. See you peoples later.

Updates

2009-08-10T02:01:00.002-05:00

All the edits for 21 are done and I'm working on the next chapter of that right now. After that I'm gonna work on the other fics more. I really really need to work on Juniper but I might get Role of Seven up to a better stopping point before I jump into that.
Sorry for disappearing during July. If you want to know why I was ignoring you, go see the pretty stuff I made here.

21 - Chapter 4

2009-08-10T01:02:00.005-05:00

This is the last of the edited chapters (except I didn't really edit it at all). Originally the last part of 'Chapter 3' it is now 'Chapter 4 A'.

A few quick notes about the chapter:
There's just something sweet about the legendary prankster being too legendary for his own good. Tsunade's just started to reap the benefits of not believing Naruto. Also yes, Udon and Moegi were both promoted, so were Naruto's temporary teammates (who probably will not appear again). Akemi was, his teammates were not, no real reason for that but I might touch on it again.
And Sakura is giving Konohamaru and his friends way to much credit here.

I swear I've planning that Neji/Temari thing since the beginning. I mean I obviously plan pairings at the start...okay so I really had just decided after writing after mentioning them together in 'Chapter 1 A' that they wouldn't actually be together but I wanted something funny to replace that. Temari/Neji makes them a bit of an odd couple and I figured it would seem funny enough to Naruto to distract him.

Also I don't remember the manga really addressing Hyuuga Hanabi's age and I tend to switch it around in different fics. In this case she's supposed to be about ten and in her last year at the Academy (Naruto just doesn't know so he misstates).

The scene at the barbeque was the weirdest thing I have ever written. I had originally planned on Naruto being the one to meet with them so it was just supposed to be him poking fun at them and trying to embarras them until they turned it around on him, but apparently I couldn't write that so I switched it - which makes sense because I really don't know why I wanted Sakura going into Iruk'a apartment in the first place. Anyways, they all ended up weird but I didn't feel like re-writing it; just don't worry if Iruka and Kakashi's excuse doesn't make any sense, they aren't being remotely honest at this point.
Also, while Naruto may not care that they're together, he does not like the fact that they hid it from him. This will become a bit more obvious in the next part of the chapter.

Naruto and Sakura's training regiment goes something like this:
Every morning and every evening, they meet for a spar. For the first 2 weeks it was unsupervised but from this point out Sakura will be getting friends to supervise. Next chapter will explain exactly what they're doing but I'm sure som people can guess. It has to do with the whole increased dodging and no clones thing that Sakura was talking about at the Academy. They are not regularly destroying their normal training clothes, just very cheap pants and tank tops.

The next part of this chapter will hopefully be up in a week or so. Before that though I have a few notes about the story.

Okay basically after writing through what is now Chapters 1-3, I decided that my original outline was going to take too long and had too much 'down time' where nothing was really happening.
The first thing I did was bring in Kakashi and Iruka's relationship several chapters before I had intended (hence it feeling like it was just dropped out of nowhere). Originally that wouldn't come out until after another big event happened that Naruto would pick up on it himself. Putting it in early was also meant to save me from readers who are homophobic and might've yelled at me for throwing it at them out of the blue. This way I get rid of them faster.

After that I went through the old outline and started throwing out a few subplots and condensing it a bit. The 'focus' of the 3 original segments have been kind of blurred so the fic as a whole will flow together a bit better but the overall plot hasn't changed at all.
I will say that I decided to bring in Uchiha Madara, but not how much of the canon that comes with him will actually be included, you'll just have to wait for the rest of the fic to figure that out.
If you have any questions just let me know.

21 - Chapter 3

2009-08-07T19:15:00.006-05:00

Parts A & B of 'Chapter 3' are now up.
Originally these were part 2 of 'Chapter 2' and part 1 of 'Chapter 3'.
They have only had minor grammar editing done to them so if you spot any mistakes just let me know.

A few notes:
I had a few people ask about the reasoning behind what was and wasn't taught at the Academy in regards to Namikaze Minato/Fourth Hokage and the War against Stone/Kyuubi. The Academy thing is pretty typical of school curriculum after disastrous events even in real life. In order to uphold public order, the Third had them teach the basics: the Fourth killed Kyuubi. As for the war, it was more a matter of not focusin on a hero who was already being mourned in hopes that it might ease any negative reaction that could come up if/when Naruto's connection to Kyuubi was revealed.
The reason it was revealed os early was just as Kiba and Sakura say in this chapter. The records from the war were essentially unsealed because enough time had lapsed. Kyuubi's sealing was realeased out of Tsunade's hopes that more information would lead to more understanding when Naruto's connection surfaced.
Also, yes, Naruto is the son of the Fourth in this fic (it's already been heavily hinted at). Also, Kakashi's little whit lie wouldn't sound all that off to the teens. Namikaze Minato was just a veteran of one of the Great Wars who did some really cool shit during battles. The Fourth was not named in their texts.

I decided no to write any more of the prelims (Naruto's was planned that way but I was originally going to put in more fights) because I was already working on the fights for the actual tournament and just didn't feel like putting more in here.

Also, Naruto isn't exactly correct about Team assignmen ts since in this fic, both Teams 8 and 10 are technically the same as his own. He wasn't really paying enough attention when that was being explained to him. His is right (in this fic's world) about the mission assignments though.

In this fic, Uzuki Yuugao (random puple haired ANBU) is the older sister of Uzuki Wata (an OC) and Ami (former classmate) and apparently another purple haired girl who is sitting next to her, but now I can't remember if she was supposed to be based off someone in Konohamaru's class or not so I also can't remember if she was supposed to show up again or not.

The manga (at least as far as I've read - I'm not current) hasn't really told us what - if anything - happened to Uzu no Kuni, so in this story it was taken over.

Jutsu:
Original -
Hiya no Jutsu - Fire Arrow Technique
San Teiru: Amekaze no jutsu - 3rd Tail: Driving Rain Technique
Yon Teiru: Chokkagatahishin no jutsu - 4th Tail: Epicenter Technique (It really means 'earthquake hitting above the epicenter' so it's basically the area that would have the most damage after an earthquake)
Sanseiu Juugan no Jutsu - Acid Rain Bullet Technique
Canon -
Suiton: Suigadan - Water Fang Projectile Technique

21 - Chapter 2

2009-08-06T03:40:00.003-05:00

Parts A & B of 'Chapter 2' are now up.
This was originally the 3rd part of chapter 1 and the 1st part of chapter 2 but thanks to me changing my outline a bit they now make up the entirety of 'Chapter 2'.
Again, no real edits to the content itself, just checked really quickly for grammar mistakes but if you still catch any just let me know where they are (preferably here so I can keep track of them).

Few quick chapter notes:
'Coming of Age' in this fic is the celebrants 16th birthday.

When I originally posted this I was told that Akemi was a huge jerk. He wasn't actually supposed to be so hopefully he redeems himself a bit as the fic goes on.

See really quick, I can't even think of anything else to say, so if you have any questions or notes about mistakes in the chapter just let me know.

21 - Chapter 1

2009-08-04T03:50:00.003-05:00

Parts A and B of 'Chapter 1' have been reposted with a few minor edits.
There's no longer a part C of 'Chapter 1' instead that's part of 'Chapter 2' now.
If you notice any grammar problems, or anything else that still needs to be edited just let me know.

Here are the notes for these Chapters:
Part A:
I was too lazy to write out Naruto's entrance into Konoha so if you haven't read the chapter/ seen the episode at the start of Shippuden, you should. It went the same way.
Also assume that the mission to save Gaara occured and happened the same way.
After that mission the fic diverges from canon. That means that not everything that has been revealed in canon applies to this fic; however, I will be choosing to include some things that pop up in the manga after that arc so expect spoilers if you haven't gotten beyond it.
Canon wise this refers mostly to the manga; however, as things move along, there will be occasional references to anime filler and movie characters - mostly taken out of context from their original appearances. They won't be important so just assume fillers haven't happened until a character shows up.
For those of you who don't know much about ear piercings, or ears for that matter, a cartilage piercing is on the top rim of the ear.
Also, if anybody wore opal nail polish to get around dress codes in school, you'll understand what Naruto did. Basically the pain he used for everything but the diamond was designed to only show up when the light hits it very specifically. Any other time you look at it the paint won't show up very well.

Jutsu:
Souzou Saisei - Creation Rebirth: it's the jutsu Tsunade uses to heal herself when fighting Orochimaru.

Part B:
This time around I realized I hadn't made this clear in the original version, but Tusnade had already heard from Kakashi and Gai before they even left Suna for Konoha. That's why she knows there's news about Orochimaru.
Back when I started this fic Naruto and Jiraiya's bet made a lot more sense. Now I'm not so sure. It ends relatively quickly, but if you're still confused in a few more chapters, just let me know.

Again, the edits for these chapters are really minor and I'm honestly not focused enough to pick up on grammar so if you notice anything that I've missed in these chapters, or future ones let me know - preferably on the blog because I can keep better track of corrections that way.

Back

2009-08-03T22:01:00.002-05:00

...sort of.
Things are calming down a bit right now (we had family in for a while), but now we're getting ready for an upcoming wedding, baby shower, and graduation party (he first of which is out of town). Until this stuff passes (end of August) I can't guarantee any new chapters.
However, I am working on doing some minor editing for 21 so you can expect to see that over the next few weeks.

Busy, Busy, Busy

2009-07-09T07:00:00.002-05:00

Just a warning. Things are gonna be busy for me for a while. If I don't manage to get an update up sometime in the next week or so, then there probably won't be one until the middle of August or so.

Ro7 - When You're Sleeping

2009-06-29T04:07:00.006-05:00

Okay I lied. There's still another segment after this one, but this one is longer than most of them have been so I decided it was a good sized update. I'm starting to think I shouldn't even worry about how many segments the chapters are broken up into. I know it makes it kind of drag on but oh well.
'When You're Sleeping' part 5 is up.
Okay, so maybe it was just because I managed to write like 15 pages and refer to Naruto a bunch of times without actually showing him and I found it funny. He will be in the next segment of this chapter, and in most of the ones after this, I promise.

So here's the notes:
The actions of the Akatsuki in this fic are based on very little from the manga/anime. Like what we knew before time skip. So Sasori here isn't really based on what we know of him from the Sand arc, it's just his character and abilities, not so much his motivations and stuff.

Also, sorry if some of the convo's seem like overkill. Not everyone is on the same page right now so there was repetition. I hope there was enough difference in each of them that you got something new from each one.

I don't know Inuzuka Hana's age from the manga. She's meant to be 20/21 here. And yes, if you remember what I said a few updates ago about Jiro being Itachi's teammate, you now know that Hana was as well. I like tying characters together, but if it seems like too much just let me know. Some people think it's too much to remember, so sorry if it does seem that way.

Lastly, I really need to work on balancing conversation with other stuff. Now it's just coming across as chunks of dialogue interrupte occasionally by an internal monologue and I don't like it. I also need to work on my dialogue itself. Most people all talk the same and it gets boring when the characters' voices don't come through.
Bleh,
I'm out til next time, I totally need a cigarette.

Oh, one last thing. Apparently my already not so great editing skills are slipping. Now I've thought this over a lot, and I don't want to go back to beta reader in the normal sense. At least not before I update. Because I update randomly I don't want to have to work around someone else's schedule (or try to find someone who can work around mine); I like being able to update when I finish a chapter.
However, I've been thinking that if anyone is interested in editing a chapter after I've posted it, I would be willing to send them the file so that they can look at the source (and write in about corrections) rather than just trying to make a note of mistakes in a review. If you ever notice something bad in a chapter and you decide you want to do this, just let me know (along with an email adress and whether or not you can accept attachments). I might not take you up on it right away if I'm being lazy, but I probably will. You can also request older chapters if you really want to. I will update edited chapters if I get them - maybe not right away (again kinda lazy) - maybe something like once a month make any corrections I've been told about or something like that.
Just let me know if you're interested.

21 and other stories

2009-06-24T00:03:00.003-05:00

Just a heads up if you read my fic 21.
I'm doing pretty much the same thing with it that I just did with Ro7. So over the next few days, before I put up a new chapter, you may see some of the old chapter numberings change.
The basic explanation is that I'm trying to...consolidate? Okay maybe not consolidate but reorganize my stories without having to do a full rewrite on any of them.
In the case of 21, I'm throwing out a subplot or two and restructuring it so that the story happens over a shorter amount of time.
All you'll notice on the site is chapter titles changing a bit.
As I get the same done on Juniper I'll let you know if any changes are going to be made to it.

That time of year again...

2009-06-22T01:16:00.002-05:00

By which I mean summer and hot temperatures and my computer over heating for some reason. I'm not really sure what exactly is wrong with it, but it doesn't like being used for long periods of time before it starts freezing up. This shouldn't be a big deal since I can still work with it, but it may mean things take a bit longer to put together. If it starts getting really bad, I'm going to print off my outline and extras and just write the chapters by hand before updating.
Again, this shouldn't be a big deal and I can deal with it. I'm just warning you that updating may take a bit longer.

Ro7 - When You're Sleeping

2009-06-20T23:47:00.003-05:00

Okay, it's a short segment, but I hope it will tide you over for a bit.
Part 4 of 'When You're Sleeping'.
Just some quick general notes. A few people noted that they're already confused by original characters. I think some of the confusion will be cleared up as some of them appear more and others fade away but I'd like to know how bad the confusion is. Once I've finished this chapter, I'll probably put together a post on the blog about original characters with small bios and such. If there's anything you really want me to put in this post, let me know here.

Also, in hopes of getting up a bit more of a discussion here, I figured I'd put up some more in depth posts about Ro7. If there's anything you want to hear/talk about, let me know and I'll get started on that.

Finally, as soon as this is posted, I'm going back to work on cleaning up my outlines/timelines (there are sadly multiple). Once that is cleared up I shouldn't have any more delays. Sorry about this, I'm not normally this disorganized. That's the main reason this chapter is so short as I already managed to confuse myself a bit, so I stopped this segment here (after the funeral) and I'll pick it up again as soon as I've done my revisions. I'm not updating again until 'When You're Sleeping' is over because I really don't want to be splitting chapters up into this many segments; it makes the story seem like it's dragging on far more than it's meant to.

No real chapter notes this time - nothing much to talk about - I will say that I'm not thrilled with the ending of the funeral as I think it makes the chapter seem unfinished and (even though it technically is) I'm normally pretty good about cutting these segments off in better places.

Oh well, I hope it won't be long before I update again, but like I said above, it won't be until this chapter is completely finished.

Update...Maybe?

2009-06-19T03:44:00.001-05:00

Okay, I think I might be able to finish an update for 'Role of Seven' some time this weekend. No guarantees, and if it comes it won't be very long but I figure it's better than nothing.

Kill Me Please

2009-06-14T22:02:00.002-05:00

...actually I think I've used that title before...like the first time I started After the Dream...*snicker*
Okay but seriously, you guys are probably really going to kill me considering the amount of backsliding I've been doing over the past few weeks. The sickness was a legitimate excuse but it's been 2 weeks since I've been better and I'm gonna be completely honest with you...I've gotten nothing done.
I've tried.
Multiple tries actually.
On multiple stories.
But apparently the only things I've been able to write are original snippets that I'll probably never be able to really work with because they are just that vague.
Who knows. If I come up with something good maybe I'll post it somewhere so that you'll at least have something to look at.
Sorry again, I really am trying but my mind just isn't cooperating with me at the moment.

Oops

2009-06-06T19:07:00.001-05:00

Sorry about that. I technically haven't been sick all week so I should have gotten an update up. I'm not really sure what happened, maybe I just lost track of time. I'd like to say that I'd have the promised Ro7 update for you folks some time tomorrow but I honestly don't know if that'll happen so I'm not saying anything for sure.
I also haven't gotten as much done on Juniper as I had hoped. I did decide to take down 'Snakes II' so I have to rewrite that as well. Here's to getting more stuff done this coming week.
Sorry again for missing updates.
Agent Spielplatz

Juniper Again

2009-05-29T17:18:00.001-05:00

I haven't really worked on Juniper since last weekend because I've been sick all week but I'm looking over it again and I'm still thinking that I'm going to delete at least 'Snakes II' and rewrite it into the next update. I'd do the same with 'Snakes I' but it's long and it isn't as confusing as the second part of the chapter. I'm gonna re-read it again and then decide.

Sick as a Dog

2009-05-29T09:44:00.002-05:00

Obviously there hasn't been an update yet this week and I'm not sure when I'll get it out next week, but it will come out then. I've been sick all week and while that would normally be a great excuse to sit in front of the computer and write I just haven't felt up to it so I'm a bit behind.
See you next week.

Juniper

2009-05-23T18:31:00.000-05:00

So I spent saturday morning re-reading Juniper and then I worked on the story's outline for a bit. I'm getting ready to work on the next chapter but I'm kind of hesitating a bit - not because of writer's block this time.
While re-reading it, I was looking over the first 2 parts of the chapter 'Snakes' and I'm not happy.
Part 1 is technically okay and I don't think I'd mind leaving it as is, though I think I might edit it a bit. Part 2 though was just bad. I can still remember writing it and I was pretty much just hurrying it to get it done. I think it's confusing and I think trying to continue the chapter from that base is going to be a problem for me.
I'm gonna let it sit for right now and then go back and re-read it and go over my outline for the rest of that chapter and then I'm going to decide whether or not to take down 'Snakes II'. If I decide to take it down I'll wait until I'm ready to post the next chapter and just work the old stuff into the new one.

Ro7 - When You're Sleeping

2009-05-23T06:05:00.005-05:00

New Chapter again for Role of Seven, 'When You're Sleeping Pt 3'.
I mentioned this in a post earlier this week but I miscalculated a bit. I had hoped to keep this chapter to just 2 segments but it's going to be 5 instead. The next two will be up sometime over the next 2 or 3 weeks but there might be a few delays since I'm working on Juniper for a bit.

Here's the notes for the chapter:
Hifukidake is my name for the capitol so that I don't have to keep calling it the capitol. For a ninja going fast they could probably make it from Konoha to Hifukidake in six or seven hours (like the run Rin and Kakashi made before chapter 1); average pace for civilians, especially a large group would be two or three days.

I used the name Kokushi for AtD. She's one of Hana's personal dogs; if I remember correctly, the name means 'beauty mark'.

And Takara's back from AtD, sort of. I hope you weren't too attached to her original form because I wasn't. I changed her a bit so that I could get rid of two other characters and decided to change her name as well since I was sick of typing 'Takara'. Meet Kushoku (Koushoku means yellow/amber, but her mother dropped the first o); it's an awkward name and she hates it.
Kato, Daiki, and Suzu are back as well; there won't be any really noticeable changes for any of them but they will be in a bit more to pick up the slack of said missing characters.

Anraku is made up place. For those of you new to this, it's the home city of the Nami family and it will be in this story more than it was in AtD.

Rishito's parentage wasn't always popular in AtD so I'll say pretty much the same thing here. Kakashi and Rin can hardly be called more than friends, even with a kid. This'll be explained later (though some of you might remember the joke). I normally only ship Kakashi as a joke anyways - and that's normally just to piss off homophobes - so there you go.

I'm trying to keep Rin's sarcasm to a minimum. Anko and Kakashi are probably the only ones who will bring it out much since she strikes me as being more long suffering. Especially around Tsunade and people like that I'm going to really try and keep it in check - it got out of hand in AtD and made no sense.

And the Akatsuki. They've shown up more here than in AtD as well. I kind of floundered with them for a while and then just stopped talking about them in AtD so I'm trying to do better with them this time. It still won't mesh with canon Akatsuki but hopefully it'll be better this time.

I'm also working to get more into the characters with more than just conversation. I think I've mentioned this before, but the conversations were getting out of hand and I keep feeling like I'm either leaving stuff out or just repeating it too much. It doesn't show in this segment but hopefully in the next two segments and then the next few chapters we'll be spending more time on individual characters - like inner monologues and stuff. I just don't want to get as angsty as I did when writing AtD; I thought it was funny at the time but I just don't think I could handle trying to write like that again.

I think that's all for now. See you in a week or so. Less time if I get anything done with Juniper.

Just a Quick Note

2009-05-21T06:08:00.004-05:00

Okay here's the deal. I know I said I was hoping that this chapter 'While You're Sleeping' would be short but I was obviously wrong. I've posted two parts but I'm currently writing the fourth and fifth.
So my current plan is this. Sometime this weekend or early next week I'm going to post the third part. Over the next two/three weeks the fourth and fifth will go up.
In the meantime, rather than jump straight into chapter six I'm gonna try and do a bit more planning. I've had an outline done since before I started posting Ro7 but I want to try and fill it out a bit more.
Once I'm happy with that, I really need to try and write at least a chapter for my other fics, especially Juniper. Evil Genus suggested a technique to try and break my writer's block on that fic so I'm gonna give it a try. I honestly doubt I'll be able to stop working on Ro7 while doing this, I just don't expect to get quite as much written as usual, hence the whole rationing of posts that I've already written.

Edit 5/22 - Yeah, next chapter of Ro7 will definitely be up to tomorrow. I'm working on Juniper now but I'm also sort of switching over and re-reading the manga every once and a while. The manga might distract me a bit so there might be a few delays.

My mistake

2009-05-20T00:00:00.002-05:00

Evil Genus just reminded me that I was spelling Kushina wrong so I'm going to go back and fix it in No Good Deed as soon as I get the chance. I was spelling it Kuchina because I was used to typing Kachuu so the 'ch' was stuck in my mind.
If anyone catches something like that again, please mention it so that I can fix it.
Thanks,
Agent Spielplatz

Update: Okay that's been fixed. Again, if you notice anything else like that let me know.

No Good Deed - Chapter 2

2009-05-19T01:50:00.006-05:00

There's finally a new chapter up at No Good Deed.
'3 and 1/2 Years to Kyuubi's Sealing'
Here's the notes:
If you don't remember Kachuu from the first chapter of it, he's meant to be Minato's teammate from when they trained under Jiraiya. In this fic, I decided that he was also Kuchina's older brother. People seemed to really like her from the manga, so I decided to give her a cameo in this chapter. Uchiha Eriko is made up, she's Kuchina's former teammate.
We've also met Taji, briefly, in Chapter 1 & 2 of Ro7.
Ibara is not technically original. She's one of the b****es who makes fun of Naruto after he fails the genin exam - I don't remember which off the top of my head but this was the name one of the fan sites gave her.
Suzu has been mentioned within Ro7 as well.
There is a second part to this chapter but I don't think I'm going to put it up until after Chapter like 12 of Ro7 (by my numbering not fanfiction's).

Because it's been so long since the last update and the first since I started this blog I figured I'd explain it a bit. Basically No Good Deed is meant to house the back story of Role of Seven.
My plan is to update it as needed so that you don't get too many spoilers and instead NGD complements Ro7 in its 'revelations'. This means that NGD won't always be updated chronologically (although the first two chapters have been). To help you with this, the chapters are nicely titled with their time line.
If you have any questions, just let me know.

Role of Seven - When You're Sleeping Pt 2

2009-05-18T19:07:00.000-05:00

New update for this week. Chapter 5, "When You're Sleeping Pt. 2", for your reading pleasure. Sorry for the slight delay, I decided to add the funeral scene kinda last minute and then I decided ,to take it out again. So it's still kind of short but the next part should be longer.

Okay, here's the end notes:
I'm gonna be kind of honest and admit that both of these scenes got away from me. I had three scenes that I had planned on writing for this part of the chapter and I ended up cutting one of them because it sucked (it was the dinner with the Daimyo if you were wondering. That meant I couldn't really cut either of these scenes without losing the information in them, which would make part 3 of this chapter really confusing.
I mean, I know what I'm trying to say in them, but reading them back I just don't like them and I don't know if they're actually conveying what they're supposed to but I re-reading them multiple times hasn't really given me any ideas on how to fix them so you get the update instead.

Also, you might have noticed above but I'm changing the 'translation' of shunshin to body flicker within the story because of something I read on the tv tropes wiki. I don't know if the explanation they gave for 'flash step' was accurate, but I can't get it out of my head so I'll stick with body flicker so that I can type it without giggling - I would use shunshin more frequently, but I always spell it wrong.

Lastly a question: Do I avoid using 'said' too frequently?
I was reading this blog about writing a few weeks ago and the guy/gal writing it suggested that all the replacements are actually more distracting. I try to use them to convey more about how something is being said, but is it ineffecitve?

Update? What Update?

2009-05-18T17:03:00.002-05:00

Yeah, I changed my mind; though, I might still manage some time tonight. I want the next post to be a bit longer so I'm adding another scene to it. It's almost done already, which is why I might still manage tonight, but if I don't finish it early, it'll go up tomorrow instead.

Hmmm

2009-05-17T02:40:00.002-05:00

Next update might be tomorrow if I take time to edit it soon. Otherwise, later this week.
We'll see.

Role of Seven - When You're Sleeping Pt 1

2009-05-11T05:07:00.005-05:00

Yeah, I made up my mind. Mainly because I found an okay stopping point. So this chapter will come in pieces as well. Probably 3, maybe 4, not sure just yet. I was gonna wait until like Wednesday anyways, but I don't actually like sitting on chapters for so long.
Anyways, we are now officially on Chapter 5, 'When You're Sleeping'.

And here are the notes:
My spell checker totally hates me because I always end sentences with prepositions. I know it's technically bad grammar, but it's the way I talk and I can't really break the habit in writing without things seeming awkward. Also according to spell checker, you can't be angry 'at' someone just 'with', screw that.

Is it silly to have all the guest quarters in the administration building?
Probably.
Did it make it a lot easier since they were all in one building?
Yes.

Also, I don't think 'cloak' is really the right word (I tend to imagine cloaks as being sleeveless), but jacket doesn't work for me either when I look at the ones worn by both the Forth Hokage and the Akatsuki. I guess they're more like trench coats, but that's a long phrase and I don't feel like typing it a lot so you get 'cloak' instead.

Characterizations are still off. It's technically for in story reasons, but it actually bothered me a bit because it feels forced. When I was writing the first version I found this funny, and I still do find it kind of funny because at least I recognize how forced it is, but that doesn't actually help raise the quality.

I think that's it for now. Next update will probably be end of this week or early next week.
Spielplatz out!

Next Chapter?

2009-05-11T02:45:00.003-05:00

I'm debating when to post the next chapter of Ro7. I've gotten pretty much done, but I don't know if I want to post in a bunch of smaller parts like I have been, or if I should try and finish the whole thing first. If I take the first option, I could technically post a section now. If I take the second option, it might be another week or two.
I'm definitely leaning towards the first option - I'm a bit of an attention whore and I thrive on reviews.
Oh well, if I give an and take the first option, expect an update by Wednesday or Thursday. If not, it'll probably be a week or two.
It mainly depends on how distracted I get over the next few weeks since I'm determined to re-read the manga. Right after posting the last chapter I got lost on the tv tropes wiki and I treated myself to a few spoilers from the recent manga chapters. Since I haven't actually read the manga since last fall (oops) I decided to just start from the beginning (yes I am insane). Expect a few delays while I'm doing this.

Role of Seven - 2000 Years Pt. 4

2009-05-07T05:43:00.003-05:00

Okay, new update.

I'll be honest, I wanted to write more of a fight scene, but I just didn't feel like it in the end. I've gone back over it a few times to try and put more in, like after Anko and Sakura left, but I finally just decided to leave it as it is.

Also, if you've read anything else I've written on this site, then you know I am not capable of treating Ibiki with respect. He ends up ridiculous in everything I write because he's just such an easy target.
Naruto's eyes actually shifted last chapter (Tsunade noticed it). Just like Kakashi told Ibiki, it doesn't mean anything for the seal, Naruto's just really pissed of at the attack on top of being on edge because of pretty much the entire day. You can draw any other conclusions you want for the time being.

There was a hint in this chapter about what might become a spoiler later in the story. If you don't know enough about Asuma's history canon-wise to know where that belt thing comes from, then it'll be a spoiler when it gets explained here, but that won't be for a while. (I've also seen his belt called a loincloth, it just doesn't look like one to me so I'll keep calling it a belt)

And yes, Kakashi is another character who is almost never in character when I write him. He seems to be becoming more hot-headed in this fic (as opposed to insane which is how I normally end up writing him). I'll work on him a bit more in the future but I really don't want to break the stride too much; so as long as he isn't horrible, I'll probably just keep going with whatever comes out of my head at the time (if you want an example of something coming out of nowhere - that fight with Ibiki was totally not planned but I ended up liking it).
Feel free to tell me if he's horrible.

Tsuande on the other hand shouldn't normally come across like this. Hopefully it'll be more understandable once I get the next chapter up.

I also decided to give the poor ANBU a name since I was picking on him so much. He also got a back story. Jiro was one of Itachi's teammates, but he's several years older than Itachi. He might never ever show up again (after a brief scene next chapter) but I felt he deserved this much.

The next chapter will be up some time next week and it will actually be the start of a new chapter!

After the Dream vs Role of Seven

2009-05-06T11:09:00.002-05:00

This post will contain spoilers if you haven't already read 'After the Dream'.

So lately in reviews I've had a few people note the rather large differences between Role of Seven (Ro7) and its former version After the Dream (AtD). I figured I'd take a small break in my normal ramblings to try to explain things. If you never read AtD then don't worry about this, if you have, enjoy.

Basically, I know Ro7 seems completely different from AtD. When I started the first version of this story, I did so on a whim. I was bored and procrastinating during exam time. I didn't plan it out at all and instead just eagerly wrote up the first few chapters more or less out of desire to write an angsty Naruto. I don't really know why but I'm guessing that I was reading other angsty fanfics at the time and wanted to try my hand at it.
After, oh I don't know, chapter 5 or so, I decided on the next big move - namely Naruto and Sakura leaving Konoha. I was already bored with writing angst and wanted to get them out of there as fast as possible. Once that was done, say by chapter 10 or 11, I was stuck again.

Essentially, I had written out 10 or 11 chapters without placing any foundation for a longer plot.

I paused for a bit and tried to plot out the rest of the story. Having done so, like I said, it was more or less without foundation, just lucky randomness that I had dropped into the early chapters that I decided I could use later on.
I didn't really like that.

Most of what's been changed in early chapters this time, is stuff that I would have wanted in place had I continued AtD because we'll get to a point (probably around chapter 15) where the similarities will become much more obvious and we'll start falling back in with AtD.

That doesn't mean that from chapter 15 (or so) onward I'm just going to be reposting old AtD chapters, that would be silly. I didn't restart this just rewrite the early stuff. As I had went over the old version a lot of things stood out to me as being really annoying, too random, or too cliche.
Some of the changes are purely out of spite towards my own characters (I got sick of a few of them and decided to get rid of them, you'll notice this later).
Does this make sense so far?

Anyways, another way to look at what makes this seem so different is the length so far. Technically we'll still on chapter 4. The Chuunin exam (which I admit was a last minute addition) ended up taking a long time to get up because of computer problems and writers block. Since then, I've pretty much gotten back on track.
If you read AtD, we're actually right on target with what's about to come next.

If there are any questions (especially if I've confused you more) just let me know in comments. I'll either respond to them in the comments themselves, or I'll put up another post later to respond to all of them if there are a lot.

Oh yeah! I know I put up the link to AtD somewhere, but I figured I'd put it here too.
After the Dream
Role of Seven

No Good Deed

2009-05-05T05:32:00.002-05:00

So, I'm taking a short break from Role of Seven to work on one of the chapters of the side story No Good Deed. It's included in this brief bit of inspiration because it's the back story for Ro7.
Since I haven't worked on it in forever I was going back through the outline, and posting schedule (chapters are posted out of chronological order to compliment Ro7), and I realized I totally didn't want to give away everything that would happen in the next chapter, but that some of it was really meant to go along with stuff you learned in various parts of '2000 Years' (chapter 4, Ro7).
After thinking for a while, I decided it would be alright to completely confuse readers by splitting Chapter 2 into 2 parts. You'll get one of them some time after the final part of '2000 Years' goes up and the other will come way in the future.
Yay me for confusing you people more!

Role of Seven (again)

2009-05-05T03:04:00.003-05:00

Yep I was right there will be an update for Role of Seven this week. Probably thursday or friday. After that, I can't say for sure, but it is going well. I'd like to keep the next chapter in no more than two parts but it might be more if I end up with some good places to stop off. We'll see.
Still no word on the other fics yet but I promise I'll get to them eventually.
In the meantime, I'm knitting!
Yeah it's spring but I figure my sense of time is bad enough already that I can just pretend it's fall instead.
Anyways that had nothing to do with fanfic so I'll stop now. See you later this week.

Role of Seven

2009-05-03T02:46:00.002-05:00

I don't want to jinx myself so I'll be brief. I think I've actually hit my stride again with Role of Seven. I have no clue why or how but I've doing really well with it . For the next few weeks or so, I'm going to try and just focus on it instead of trying to bounce between fics. I have no clue if this will mean anything for Role of Seven but it does mean that I probably won't get an update for any other fics done for a while. I'll try to keep you guys up to date with how I'm doing and I can safely say that the next update for Role of Seven will be later this week (like I said, I really think I've hit my stride right now).
That's it for now,
Spiels

Role of Seven Update

2009-05-01T08:18:00.006-05:00

Yep I was right, update today.

Part 3 of Chapter 4 this time. Technically, I really should have just waited to post until I could post this and part 2 together, but I was having a lot of trouble getting this part done so I decided to go ahead with it earlier this week. I realize my chapter system is kinda weird since I keep uploading the chapters in part, sorry if that confuses people.

I do have a bit of a question before I get into my general ramblings about stuff. Did the pacing work in this chapter? Like seriously. I was trying to build up anticipation near the end that's why the scenes started getting shorter and then I started flipping between the main two ones a lot, but I'm not sure it worked.
I mean when I thought of it and when I read it, it worked. I'm just not sure it'll read the same way for anyone else, because I think part of the reason it worked is because I know what's supposed to be going on so I can visualize it in my head.
Was it just annoying to try and juggle the two conversations at once? Or did it actually seem to like build up the pace?

And now on to random ramblings.

I'm not really sure why, but I have a tendency to pick on Hanabi. She's one of those side characters you can do soooo much with but I almost always start her out as a brat. How much she actually knows is up to you to decide. I think she's just trying to sound smart and toss around big words that she wasn't supposed to hear in the first place.

Oh, and those bickering women with Sakura's mother?
I have a confession to make: I've been re-reading Anne of Green Gables. The gossip in it is ridiculous and I just couldn't stop myself from throwing in some gossiping women.

And Sakura probably comes off as really odd in those scenes. I hope it seems natural in the sense that she's digesting a lot (if you don't know what she's digesting...I really messed up and I promise it will be made much clearer within the next to updates).

Also, 'performance' is the most annoying word ever. For starters, I can't frikkin' spell it. It's also dumb. Just really, really dumb but I don't know what else to call it because for some reason, dance looks really dumb too, and it's not technically a play. Bleh.

Lastly...Draaaammmaaaa!
Okay not really, but I don't know what else to call this part of the chapter but my attempt at the dramatics. As in, heaveily staged, I don't think this is going to seem even remotely natural drama - does what I'm writing even make sense? I doubt it, I'm kinda loopy right now.
You'll eventually start noticing that when I post in the morning, I sound loopy, this is because when I post in the morning, I've probably been up all night. But hey, it get's you updates, right?

....
No wait, okay I think this will be the last bit. Is it worth it to just keep updating whenever I finish a chapter, or would you rather I try to set some schedule?
I think I like it this way better - especially since schedules haven't worked so well in the past.
Okay I think that's it.

No wait, one last thing, promise.
You guys know what's coming right? :P
Prepare for angst!!

Role of Seven

2009-05-01T08:01:00.001-05:00

Speaking of Role of Seven, there will probably be another update some time today or tomorrow. I'd like to go over it a bit more, but I think I have a good size section and good stopping point. It means separating this chapter a bit more than I had planned, but I think it'll be worth it.

Juniper

2009-05-01T02:22:00.003-05:00

It's sad; I'd really like to be working on Juniper right now, but I just can't. It's not like I'm super absorbed in anything else right now, though I am doing ok working on Role of Seven, so at least something is getting done, but not working on Juniper is really bother me because it's been so long since I've updated it (not to mention Yuusen, but I have a bad track record with that story anyways).

Hopefully, the bug will bite soon. I've tried re-reading it a few times, but that almost seems to make it worse. I think by this point it's anxiety that's getting to me. I've been anticipating the chapter that I'm working on now for a long time. I feel like I know exactly what needs to happen in this chapter, but I just can't seem to write it. The transitions especially, but that happens a lot too. I might try just writing one or two sequences that I feel like I know by heart in my head (you know like I have them completely visualized already). Maybe if I can write one of those, the transition will write itself.

It's just that people seem to complain a bit that I'm leaving parts out but that's not what I'm trying to do. I'm just trying to write the important stuff and then when I can't write the more boring transitions the chapter feels disjointed and I have to place larger time jumps into chapters.

Bleh, anyways, I'll keep trying and hopefully an update for Juniper will come sometime in May.

Role of Seven

2009-04-27T06:14:00.003-05:00

New chapter up, part 2 of Chapter 4 to be exact. I decided to work on cutting my author notes shorter by just putting the end of chapter notes up here. So here we go:
For starters, I don't think I'll ever be able to write a Naruto fan-fic without mentioning Tora. I don't know why such a basic scene caught my interest, but I really can't get that poor cat out of my head.
I also think I need to stop starting conversations in these fics. Whenever I do, they end up going on for pages with useless information but then I don't feel like deleting them because they make the posts look longer.
I also think I need to stop trying to be vague, like that conversation between the Daimyo and Tsunade. That does not come across as properly vague, it just makes them sound stupid.

As for the whole performance thing, I came up with that for AtD (including the one in this chapter) when I was really into dance. It's more acrobatics than anything (which makes sense once you have more context about the characters). It's kinda hard to write from a spectators point of view when you're not used to writing movement or much detail so I doubt I really got across what I was trying to get across, but it was actually fun so I'm not at all sorry if you didn't enjoy it (yeah I'm in a childish mood at the moment).
And no, Sakura isn't nervous because she's grabbing Naruto's arm. She's grabbing his arm to comfort herself over her realization and is nervous because she tried to talk to Kakashi when he's obviously out of it.

Lastly, I'm trying to make Tsunade seem a little more aware this time around since in AtD and in earlier chapters of this she didn't really seem to get that the villagers can be nasty. It's still kinda lumped into one place because of time skips, but hopefully it helps a bit.

Also, the Mizukage is now quite as random as she seems. She was supposed to have more lines in this part of the chapter, but then I didn't feel like writing them right now so they'll go in the next part of the chapter.

I can't really think of anything else right now, but feel free to ask any (well not any) questions that you have. I'm not always prompt in getting back to you, but I've been doing better lately.

And now, this little agent is going to bed because she's been up all night and is freaking tired.

The Blahs

2009-04-27T01:21:00.003-05:00

I don't think I really have writers block but whatever it is writing is just not really happening. Especially with Juniper. Juniper hates me right now and I think it's because there are supposed to be fight scenes in this chapter and I just really don't want to write fight scenes after being away from the fic for so long.
Instead I'm working on Role of Seven again. It has a fight scene in it too so I doubt I'll much of an easier time with it but since it's kinda drama-ish I figure I'll be able to get further with it than I would with 21 because I am not in a good enough mood to write humor (hence the blahs).
Anyways, just a mini-update thing for those of you following this.
Also I had someone ask if After the Dream was posted any where so I figured I'd add the link here:
http://www.mediaminer.org/fanfic/view_ch.php?cid=532228&submit=View+Chapter&id=152619

21

2009-04-12T17:30:00.002-05:00

Since I'm in a good mood I decided to go ahead and update the next chapter of 21. The general quality of my writing is still pretty low since I haven't really felt like editing much (and my characterization just plain sucks right now), but I giggled when I was re-reading it so hopefully that counts for something.
Also, I wanted to hurry up and reveal that Kakashi and Iruka are gay in this fic. I couldn't care less what actual pairings/sexual orientation (if any) show up in the actual manga, but in fanfic this is one of my favorite pairings. It doesn't necessarily make sense, but that's what makes it fun. Anyways, I knew a lot of people would probably stop reading because of slash so I decided to get it up fairly early so that they don't get too invested in the story (the hate mail seems to be worse when that happens).
I kind of wish I was a bit cleverer so that I could come up with better pranks for Naruto to play so hopefully I can work on that in the future. The pranks I write just end up seeming so tame.

'Role of Seven' Question

2009-04-05T21:58:00.000-05:00

I'm getting ready to post the next chapter of 'Role of Seven' so I figured I'd put a post up here including the question at the end of it.
When I first started this fic (under the name 'After the Dream') the manga had not yet confirmed that Naruto's father was the Fourth Hokage. Because so many people were using that 'theory' at the time I decided to come up with a different heritage for Naruto in this particular fic. Now though, the manga has confirmed it and I've gotten annoyed by the alternate one that I created for the fic. It hasn't come up yet in 'Role of Seven' so I've been thinking about changing his heritage in the story to the official one, at least in terms of who his father is (I don't think I'll be able to work Kushina into it).
My question is whether any readers really want one or the other. His heritage isn't that important in the fic, and it certainly won't change the overall story regardless of which one I decide to go with. So the options are:
Keep going with the alternate heritage (though I won't explain it yet because that would take the fun out of revealing it in the fan fic)
or
Go with his father being the Fourth Hokage

I will say that no matter what Naruto was supposed to be related to the Fourth Hokage, so like I said before no major changes will come about just because the Fourth is named as his father.
Any opinions?

2009-04-04T03:37:00.000-05:00

Hmm, I'll put a link to here in my fan fiction account in a few days. I'm really just starting this to vent when I start getting frustrated with my writing. If readers start showing up maybe they can help boost my desire to write or something.