More replies to questions, comments and criticisms from reviews:
Q: Shouldn't Naruto have more cool stuff? So far all we've seen is a super-henge!
A: Plus jounin-level taijutsu, ninjutsu techniques from all five elements, and at least one SS-rank ninjutsu (that breath weapon he used on the Shukaku was about as big as the one the canon Kyuubi!Naruto uses in four-tail mode). But still a valid point. Naruto hasn't gotten many chances to show his stuff in this fic, but I hope to have a few good scenes for him between now and the end.
Q: Was this fic's name inspired by the video game Braid?
A: Nope. Never heard of the game, actually.
Q: Why hasn't Sakura tried using her transformation skills to give herself the Byakugan?
A: Because she's discovered that Hinata's visual cortex is really, radically non-human. When she inhabits a copy of Hinata's body she can't make any sense at all of the visual input, and she doesn't feel safe trying to re-wire her own brian to cope. Not to mention the hints that there's actually something different about Hinata's soul (she can use Byakugan in a mindscape even when she doesn't have a physical body at all, for example).
Q: Could Sakura make a real resurrection technique if she learned the Edo Tensai?
A: Yes. If there’s a recent body she can restore it to life, and if there’s even a tissue sample she can make a new one. But ripping a soul out of the afterlife doesn’t sound like something she’d be eager to do, especially if there are indications that it actually does some kind of harm to them.
Q: How do you come up all the technical stuff about seals/jutsus/etc?
A: I’ve always been fascinated with attempts to build internally-consistent magic systems, and after 30 years of doing it constantly in RPGs it’s pretty much second nature by now.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Time Braid Q & A
Responses to some of the questions I've seen in reviews:
Q: If even chakra reinforcement cannot help against lave heat, how can Sakura hold her lava weapons?
A: She’s using a heat-resistance technique, the one she "burned her arms off a few times" developing. Of course, even if she only makes her hands resistant this is still a major chakra drain.
Q: Will your Naruto soon awaken the Rinnegan?
A: I plotted this story out not long after the Pein Invasion Arc, so major plot twists that were introduced after that in cannon probably won’t be included. Besides, looping!Naruto really doesn’t need any more powerups.
Q: How does this new body / flesh clone thing work?
A: Just like the first one. It’s a perfectly normal, completely real human body, just like the original.
Q: Ok, but what does that do to her mind / chakra / training / etc?
A: Essentially Sakura splits her soul in half and gives each piece a body. Her aspects share chakra, they can trade memories without merging, and there’s no particular limit on how long they can stay split.
Q: Wait, splitting her soul? That sounds really, really, insanely dangerous.
A: That’s why it’s a bloodline ability, and people like the Yamanaka can’t duplicate it. When Sakura splits her aspects still share a psychic connection, and she can merge and re-split at will. But yes, there’s clearly a risk of damaging her own mind if she’s careless about it, and the wrong kind of damage could make her too crazy to fix herself.
Q: How many copies can she make?
A: She can only split herself into two aspects at a time, so that’s how many bodies she can inhabit. She could make extra bodies at a rate of several per day, but since they’re mindless and won’t live long without the kind of care you’d give a comatose person there isn’t much point.
Q: I’m confused about how the loops work.
A: So is Sakura. So far she’s discovered three things that cause her to reset: her own death, Konoha getting devastated in the invasion, and anything that prevents her from getting promoted during the chuunin exam. So she was able to get a long loop by avoiding the first two triggers, but she’s pretty sure dying will still cause a reset.
Q: Will we see looping!Sasuke and looping!Hinata again?
A: Definitely. They both have major parts to play before we reach the end of the story.
Q: Is anyone else going to loop?
A: Since we’re halfway through the story now, the odds of another major character being introduced are low.
Q: If even chakra reinforcement cannot help against lave heat, how can Sakura hold her lava weapons?
A: She’s using a heat-resistance technique, the one she "burned her arms off a few times" developing. Of course, even if she only makes her hands resistant this is still a major chakra drain.
Q: Will your Naruto soon awaken the Rinnegan?
A: I plotted this story out not long after the Pein Invasion Arc, so major plot twists that were introduced after that in cannon probably won’t be included. Besides, looping!Naruto really doesn’t need any more powerups.
Q: How does this new body / flesh clone thing work?
A: Just like the first one. It’s a perfectly normal, completely real human body, just like the original.
Q: Ok, but what does that do to her mind / chakra / training / etc?
A: Essentially Sakura splits her soul in half and gives each piece a body. Her aspects share chakra, they can trade memories without merging, and there’s no particular limit on how long they can stay split.
Q: Wait, splitting her soul? That sounds really, really, insanely dangerous.
A: That’s why it’s a bloodline ability, and people like the Yamanaka can’t duplicate it. When Sakura splits her aspects still share a psychic connection, and she can merge and re-split at will. But yes, there’s clearly a risk of damaging her own mind if she’s careless about it, and the wrong kind of damage could make her too crazy to fix herself.
Q: How many copies can she make?
A: She can only split herself into two aspects at a time, so that’s how many bodies she can inhabit. She could make extra bodies at a rate of several per day, but since they’re mindless and won’t live long without the kind of care you’d give a comatose person there isn’t much point.
Q: I’m confused about how the loops work.
A: So is Sakura. So far she’s discovered three things that cause her to reset: her own death, Konoha getting devastated in the invasion, and anything that prevents her from getting promoted during the chuunin exam. So she was able to get a long loop by avoiding the first two triggers, but she’s pretty sure dying will still cause a reset.
Q: Will we see looping!Sasuke and looping!Hinata again?
A: Definitely. They both have major parts to play before we reach the end of the story.
Q: Is anyone else going to loop?
A: Since we’re halfway through the story now, the odds of another major character being introduced are low.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Sex and Relationships in Time Braid
It seems that about every thirty or forty reviews I get a complaint that there's too much sex in Time Braid, which I admit has me a little puzzled. Indomitable has a lot more explicit sex going on, but it hardly gets any complaints at all on that score. Maybe it's just that Time Braid starts with everyone being twelve, and it doesn't spend enough time describing their process of growing up? Or maybe the way they get dumped back in their younger bodies every loop generates some squick factor? Or maybe this is really just a request for more action and less touchy-feely relationship stuff? If anyone has an idea I'd be interested to hear it.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Back in Business
Well, I'm finally writing again. I've finished a first draft of the next Time Braid chapter, and hopefully more will be coming soon. I've noticed that switching fics every chapter was starting to seriously slow me down as my stories get longer, so I'll probably be doing the next several chapters of Time Braid in one stretch before I go back to another story. Who knows, I might even finish the thing :).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)