Old Pen name: NarutoYuriQueen
Location: Real Life
Horoscope: Sagittarius, Ox (Fire)
Myself: A 22 year old Black American who has interests in anime, astronomy, writing, and language learning. My DMs are always open and I'm always down for a good time talking about the actual novels I'm working irl and any fanfiction and headcanons I may develop for series that I love. Currently learning Spanish, next target language is going to be German. I aspire to be an ESL teacher in the future and really want to help kids out in Latin America learn a skill that will be quite useful to them in the future.

On tumblr and AO3 my username is: themultifandomnerd.

Fun Facts:
- I'm a multishipper
- Sakura is my favorite female character, Hinata coming in as a close second
- SakuHina is my favorite pairing in Naruto. Period. And I plan on crossposting those stories onto here
- INTJ female
- Catch me out here one day making OC stories because I honestly didn't get to make enough or finish enough as a kid and no lie OC stories can be really good and I like reading ones made my people.
- I changed my old pen name since I want to write more than just Naruto fanfiction.

A piece of advice I have for young anime fans and writers: If you want to make a self insert or OC story, go write ahead. You should definitely be open to any constructive criticisms your readers and more experienced writers may give you, but don't be ashamed of your stories and characters you may create and add for your own artistic purposes. Your writing is probably going to start off choppy and on the rough side. You're probably going to make some OCs that people might not be a fan of or call a Mary Sue. But don't let anyone shame you and make writing something you no longer find fun in doing and finish the stories you started.

You will grow over time in your skill just like everyone else has. Don't stop yourself from growing because some immature assholes thought it'd be fun to tell you to die because they don't like a ship you also happen to like or don't like your creative liberties in the story YOU'RE writing for FREE.

Get out there and rock out, kids.

On OCs and FMA fanfiction: I feel like during the hype of ‘FMA Another World’ fics on FFN, one major problem developing writers had was inserting their OC into scenes that maaaybe they shouldn’t have been in unless the story actually required it. Like, an OC with zero fighting ability being shoved into moments like the Fifth Lab if there really is no reason for the character to be there (which I admittedly did with Ivy in the og AFD, I am not guiltless of this). Ivy may be a physical character but from how I write her, there was no reason I had to justify her actually being there if I felt that Edward and Alphonse would stop her immediately. And in the original incarnation of Ivy, she was just a couch potato so her going there would have made even less sense.

Then, of course, another thing would likely be the overflooding of alchemist type characters. If an OC from another world comes along, especially usually a fangirl type, they usually become Edward’s apprentice or somehow gets looped into learning alchemy through Izumi. However they did it, they learned alchemy. Which admittedly, I also did with OG Ivy. And if there was romance involved in the story, ‘cause let’s be real it usually is (and is even part of this one), the love interests were normally the same. Typically Edward (Ivy’s OG love interest lol) and second most likely was Alphonse and then you’d get the sprinkle of other characters here and there. So if you’ve been on this section of FFN for a long time, you might be a bit overwhelmed with those tropes especially when it’s all mixed together. It can feel like originality has gone a bit thin and it can be hard to come up with ideas that can set you apart from the rest since wanting people to read and review your story is something all us fic writers want and appreciate.

But to an extent, I think there’s nothing wrong with those tropes that are overused. You just should use them tactfully. You want your OC to be in the action scenes? See how you can organically incorporate them into the scene if they’re not an active fighter character. Do they decide to wait a while then go seek Edward and Alphonse themself? Your character is an alchemist or becomes an alchemist? What do you think based off their history and interests would be the most realistic sort of alchemy they would go with? Did your OC ever commit atrocities such as human transmutation? If so, how are they coping with their mistake in a way that isn’t a ‘I must get my original body’ a la the Elrics quest? Do they try attoning for their sins through alchemy? Did they renounce alchemy and by way of plot are forced to use their alchemical abilities again? Or maybe you want to go the post!series route and your characters get involved that way now that Amestris is safe and sound? What are they doing? Is this very fresh, Amestris is a bit in shambles? Or it’s been a few years and people have mostly settled after the mayhem their military caused. What’s their occupation? Nurse? Doctor? Automail engineer? Alchemist? What’s their goal? To still become a State Alchemist and change the military from the inside? Action doesn't necessarily have to be canon fight scenes, it can be other things that just pique your readers' interests through dialogue and the decisions the characters are making in your story.

Also... don't forget to do research. It can be a big part of writing a story, especially if it is a field you have no experience in but your character does. Some readers might not notice or care, in all honesty, that your alchemist-related scenes don't any sort of detail. But some will and may desire more descriptive scenes regarding your characters abilities. Research can be fun and a bit daunting, but it is also great practice doing in fanfiction for any of you fic writers who hope to be writers of published novels. Start developing them good habits now. (Speaking of which, try having a clear vision of the beginning, middle, and end of your fanfiction. It makes writing chapters a whole lot easier and faster when you have a clear vision of where your story is heading versus winging it and constructing plot as you go! This is especially useful if your story isn't following the main storyline strongly.)

With romance in OC-related fanfiction, it can be hard to be a bit less tropey considering the more popular options to have your characters paired with and I feel like that is something a writer just has to practice to get well at. If you want an OC that falls in love with Edward at some point in the story, that’s no problem. Go for it! I would just say to really pay attention to the pacing and chemistry of your OC and intended love interest. Also, sometimes go in with no love interest in mind. For AFD 2.0, I originally went in with the decision just to not give Ivy a love interest. I personally felt like since I changed so much of the original story so much what with the paths Ivy and Akasha would be taking, that I didn’t really need romance. Then I got a few chapters in and thought ‘lowkey, Ivy and Winry got some chemistry….. Imma write this out tho’. If you go in with no specific love interest, you can find that certain characters have much better potential for romantic chemistry with your OC. For instance, let’s say you decided to do the EdxOC thing but through writing you discover that Alphonse and your OC have WAY better chemistry but you’ve already tagged the story EdxOC and you’ve been pushing it for a while now. You might feel obligated to keep up the EdxOC thing. So try giving no specifics a whirl if you wanna write a story involved with romance.

And that’s Monika’s Writing Tip of the Day.

Fanfiction of the Month: More Than Human by sbj [Summary: There is no way I can make this sound original, ever. An attempt to write a believable RrB/PpG in high school fic. Rated M because teenagers use terrible language. "Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal."] Status: In-Progress
Last Updated: June 2019

An in depth piece taking place after the main Powerpuff Girls story where the cast are attending high school that almost feels as if its a character study about the characters we know and love and have gotten to know since our childhood. Without going in depth into spoiling the story, it's written at an expert level with little grammatical errors and have great and realistic depictions of the PPG and RRB hobbies as older teens that you can realistically imagine them pursuing. The mysteries surrounding the boys are so tantalizing that you wish you had the ability to see into casts' mind in order to see what it is that they're hiding, the relationship dynamics between the two central sibling groups feels so vividly depicted through dialogue and character action that you feel like exposition as to their past is unnecessary. Chapters are very lengthy and usually in the 20k range each so it may take you some time to finish but it's well worth the time to dedicate to reading with a nice cup of a drink you enjoy. The witty banter is hilarious, the emotions you feel are definitely real, and the action makes you feel as if you're there yourself as an all seeing, hidden force who gets to be on the journey with the girls and the boys as they learn more about each other and about themselves.