I like reading and this site gives me many options to choose from without buying new books. I'm trying my hand at writing my own stories right now.

Things that get on my nerve:

Writers who make a crap load of spelling errors (and I'm not talking one or two here or there or for writers who English isn't their first language. I'm talking about the ones who obviously didn't use spell check at all).

Also a pet peeve of mine are writers who mix up certain words (wearily and warily. wearily means tired, warily means cautious. you'd be surprised how often it happens.) Another example is threw and through. Threw-he threw the grenade. Through- to go through something. Past and passed, past-something happened in the past, passed- she passed him in the hall. Council and counsel. The first would be "the council of Konoha" while the second is "the wise man offered his counsel on the matter" or advice. Etc.

Plot holes, and I'm not talking about tiny little details that could slip by anyone, but ones that are so huge and make so little sense that you could drive a tank through them.

Writers whose answer to plot holes is "because I felt like it".

Writers who start their stories sometime after the actual start of the series, and then have their characters act as though what happened previously never happened, without explanation of any kind.

Challenge to readers: I might try my own hand at these at a later date.

Son of Battles challenge

This is a Naruto story with a slight Wheel of Time crossover.

In the Wheel of Time series, the character named Mat Cauthon lost large portions of his memories early in the series. He remembers his family, his name, etc., yet loses most of his child hood and a large chunk of recent events. Then, while dealing with the Eilfinn, he inadvertently gets them to fill in the gaps of his memory. However, instead of getting his own memories, Mat suddenly receives memories from an unknown number of men, perhaps as many as hundreds or more. These memories consist of battles, festivals, fighting styles, just about anything other than the childhood of those men, with the oldest memory being about three thousand years old and the youngest being just over one thousand years old. The most common memory is death, and the one thing all of these men have in common is that they are dead, though he doesn‘t possess memories of all of them. At first, these memories blatantly stand out in his mind, but over time, it becomes harder and harder for him to discern “his” memories from the others. From these memories, he gains great skill in strategy and tactics as well as some not insignificant martial skills. You might have to look him up if you need/want more information/clarification.

Now, here is the challenge.

1) At some point, Naruto loses a large amount of his memory and then later gains the memories of various others.

If I write this story, I plan to use when Orochimaru seals off Naruto’s chakra in the Forest of Death. That would be when he lost his memories, then when Jiraiya unsealed him, he would receive the new ones. However, you can decide how you want it to come about. You don’t even need to use the Eilfinn if you don’t want to. I’ve considered using some kind connection with the Yamanaka’s to accomplish this as well.

2) The memories must start out easily noticeable at first, and then slowly integrate until Naruto can’t even tell the difference. He does not hear voices in his head, nor do the memories try to take over his body. They are just memories, nothing more. However, that doesn't mean he doesn't have some problems, especially once the memories are integrated. I've been tossing around the idea of giving him some of Dan's memories, particularly about Tsunade and his death, then having problems remembering that he doesn't know Tsunade, despite remembering loving her and dying in her arms.

3) How old the memories are, is up to you though I would prefer you not use anything older than just after when the Sage of the Six Paths died. While we’re at it, you can’t use the Sage’s or his sons’ memories, or Minato Namikaze’s. So let’s say from just after the Sage died to just before the Third Great Ninja War ended. No Hiraishin.

4) There is one requirement for the memories. Naruto only gets memories once, and they have to belong to people who are already dead at that point. You can give him all of the memories of one man, or fragments of as many people as you want. You cannot give him all of the memories of hundreds of people. Nor should you give him the childhoods of others either. The memories can come from all sorts of countries/hidden villages/clans/wars/battles etc.

5) Now, I would like to see a story where Naruto puts those new memories/skills to use in some sort of conflict, however, what he does with them is up to you.

6) Pairings are up to you, although I won’t read yaoi.

7) I’d like you to let me know if you take up this challenge. If you have any questions that I didn't address, please feel free to ask me.

Son of a Hero, Son of a Traitor

This is something that's been bouncing in my head for a while. It's a very simple concept, one that I haven't had a chance to flesh out yet. Basically, Naruto is the result of a one night stand between Orochimaru and Tsunade (no love involved between the two). Orochimaru still goes crazy and leaves the village, and Naruto still gets the Kyuubi sealed in him. Beyond that, it's free game. How you have Orochimaru reacting to the fact that Naruto is his son is completely up to you. Whether or not Tsunade and Naruto stay in the village or not is also up to you. Go wild.

I don't have a name for this one yet

Tenten is supposedly such a huge fan of Tsunade, looks up to her, wants to be just like her, etc. Yet I've never seen a fanfic where she attempts to get close to Tsunade or asks to be her apprentice or anything. I know there was an anime episode that touched on it, but that was more of a younger Tenten trying to turn herself into a clone of Tsunade with only Gai to help her. And while I'm sure Gai would have done his best to help her, he's not perfect, and he's not Tsunade. And Tenten is a kunoichi, and when Tsunade comes back, Tenten knows someone who's a young, inexperienced in the ways of the world, and a lonely boy with a close relationship with Tsunade. Someone who being nice to could get you in Tsunade's good graces. Which to be honest, strikes me as the only logical explanation for how easily Sakura gets to be Tsunade's apprentice, apparently completely ignoring the fact that Tsunade already had an apprentice at the time. Does anyone seriously believe that pre-shippuden Sakura was a better kunoichi than pre-shippudden Tenten?

So what I'd like to see is a fic where:

1)Tenten finds out about Tsunade and Naruto’s relationship, and decides to befriend/date/seduce him (whichever you prefer) in order to improve her chances of gaining Tsunade’s notice.

2)Her plan works, she gets apprenticed by Tsunade instead of Sakura

3)She grows closer to Naruto as she learns more and more about him and his life.

4)Everything else is up in the air. Tenten doesn't have to become a less impressive version of Tsunade coughSakuracough, nor does she have to be a great Medic. Hell she could be average at the things Tsunade is most famous for -medical techniques and super strength taijutsu- and still become an excellent kunoichi through the apprenticeship. Or she could be just as great at them, but it takes her a lot of time and effort to do so.

5)In fact, I encourage you to have Tenten learn something other than those two things -though she can still learn them if you want- like ninjustu or genjutsu, or fuuinjutsu, or any of the other things Tsunade has to know about being a kage level ninja with decades of training, knowledge, and experience.

List of people who've taken up one of my challenges:

Syroc wrote a one-shot called "The Seal of Legion" based off my Son of Battles challenge. I thoroughly enjoyed this, and I encourage people to check it out.

Erasmus. Locke has started "The Great Shinobi War" based off my Great Shinobi War challenge.

Here's a question: These are real questions, and I'd be more than happy to hear any answers or theories anyone may have on them.

Whatever happened to the Senju Clan? How did the clan that was seen as one of the two strongest clans, with only the Uchiha as their rivals, die out while their rivals lived on? It can't be just that the Sharingan let them persevere where the Senju died because the Senju rivaled the Uchiha on their own, with no bloodlines. So what happened there?

Speaking of clans, anyone else notice that despite Konoha and Uzushio being such close friends, all of the refugees seemed to have gone anywhere but Konoha? Nagato and his family went to Ame, Karin and her family apparently went to Kusa, but no one went to their "great friends" Konoha. Yeah, that's not suspicious at all.

How the hell does medical chakra/jutsu work? It always sounds like they are used to speed up/completely heal someone, yet ninety percent of the time we see its effects in canon, the person still ends up with bandages on them. A prime example is Naruto being wrapped up like a mummy after the Sasuke Retrieval arc.

Technology in the Narutoverse. Advanced enough for surveilance cameras, but the only camera we ever see wouldn't look out of place in the late 1800s. Enough said.

If anyone is interested, I'm always on the look out for people to help me write fight scenes. They're an odd thing with me, sometimes I can write them no problem, and other times I know the jist of what I want, but I just can't seem to write it.

Also, for anyone who chooses to review any of my stories, please remember: if you criticize something, but don't offer at least one suggestion for fixing it, then you're just bitching and moaning. So, if there's anything about my stories you hate, or just don't like, please, tell me why that is. I can't improve anything if I don't know what's wrong in the first place. And for the love of God, if you have a negative criticism or review, leave me a way to get in contact with you so I can get specific details or clarification if needed.

Figured I'd go ahead and add this too.

My stance on reviewing/receiving reviews

First off, don't be thin skinned. If someone says you've done something wrong or that doesn't make sense, don't take it as an insult. Actually look into the complaint/criticisim and check to see if they have a point. If you can logically defend what you did with something other than, "I felt like it", then do so.

Second, please remember that there is no tone in a review or PM. In the real world, when someone calls you an old son of a bitch in a light or chuckling tone, they're not meaning the same thing as they would if they were shaking you back and forth while screaming that you're an old son of a bitch. Same words, but completely different meaning. But in reviews and PMs, words are all that's there. So don't immediately assume you're being insulted, and if you think you are, clarify that with the other person before you starting insulting them back. And even then, is it really worth it to get into an internet screaming match?

Third, if you do have actual criticism to give, sign in first and have your PM enabled so the person you reviewed can get the details/clarification. If all you want to say is good job or update soon, then go ahead and be anonymous.

Fourth, don't assume that because you gave criticism means the writer has to comply with your statement. You could be wrong, or they might disagree with you. Don't take that as an insult or arrogance, it's just either a difference of opinion or your explanation for why they should change something wasn't sufficient to convince them. A personal example from one of my stories, I used an oxymoron at one point, and a reviewer told me that it was terrible english. I disagreed, because my proof reader on my laptop didn't have a problem with it, and in all of the literature/language classes I've taken in my life, none of them ever said oxymorons were never to be used. Even to be sure, I asked for the opinion of half a dozen different people who had never read any of my works, two of whom used English as their second and third language, and none of them saw anything wrong with using it the way I did. I explained this to the reviewer, and they responded by accusing me of being "yet another would-be author that ignores any constructive criticism against his story".

Fifth, and this ties in with things I've already said above. If someone says something doesn't make sense, and you think it does, explain to them what your reasoning and thinking was. Sometime, authors don't write things the right way because in their heads, it makes perfect sense because they know what they intended. So sometimes, what you thought makes sense, didn't. And sometimes, after explaining your thought process, the reviewer will go, "oh, I see where you were coming from, that makes sense now".

Sixth, if someone has actual criticism for your story, never reply with "don't like it, don't read it". That just means that you only want sycophants who will do nothing but praise you, instead of fans who will give you an honest critique. The only exception to this rule is if the reviewer is doing nothing but telling you, literally, that you fucking suck at writing and should go die. Because that's not a review, it's hate mail, and you might as well just erase said review.

Finally, please remember whether you're giving a review or receiving it, that it's just a story. Whether you're reading or writing a story, remember that it's supposed to be fun and enjoyable.