-----Original Message-----
From: ffml-bounce@anifics.com [mailto:ffml-bounce@anifics.com] On Behalf
Of Raye Johnsen
Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2004 1:51 AM
To: ffml@anifics.com
Subject: [FFML] Mass reply to comments on [Fic][Naruto] Harmonia, part 1


First, I'd like to say THANK YOU to everyone for
reading my fic.  This is a new fandom for me, and I
was trying to present a new idea for everyone.  The
fact that people liked it makes me very happy.  Thank
you!

No, thank YOU, for making an effort to please your readers - not only by
writing your story, but for addressing our complaints and comments.

Now, I'd like to address the two issues that everyone
has been commenting on.

On the subject of honourifics, I am sorry if some
people felt my usage choices were jarring.  I think
the main problem is that there is no 'right way' to
deal with the issue.  A fic that leaves the
honourifics off annoys readers who feel they are
important, a fic that leaves them untranslated annoys
readers who don't always follow them, and someone
always seems to get upset when they're translated in a
way that they disagree with.  My solution is my own
and while I regret any distress it causes, I don't
feel it  is a bad one and I stand by it.

We've seen worse go by without comment - it's just that we had to find
*something* to complain about... :-)
 

On the subject of my made-up 'marriage law', I have
two things to say:
   1. To me, it makes sense that there would be
something stopping the active ninja from stopping
being active before their most flexible/skillful time
was up.  In a village where the major industry is
being able to run around and beat people up, you don't
want half or more of the most effective personnel
unable to do that for years at a time (because a woman
can't fight as effectively when she's pregnant, you
can't leave a child in early infancy alone for an
extended period of time, and fathers care for and
about their kids too).

You know, for some reason this feels wrong, but I can't for the life of me
think up a better solution. Maybe instead of making it a law, you could make
it a contractual term - the village pays for academy kids, but they'll have
to serve for ten or fifteen years on the active duty roster, which precludes
starting a family, after which you're allowed to step down to "reserve". 

   and 2. Fire Country, like the Jungle in 'Guu', is
clearly a fantasy country that borrows many elements
very heavily from modern Japan.  So while part of it
is drawn from Japan, it's clearly not meant to *be*
Japan, and I don't think viewing it through the modern
Japanese template is really appropriate.

Given.

So much for a setup explanation for
- why Hinata wasn't living in the Hyuuga compound
anymore
- why Hinata wasn't talking to her family
- why Sakura hadn't been invited back to Konoha for
any weddings
- why there's going to be a lot of future scenes in
bachelor apartments rather than family homes (Naruto
and Hinata are the only members of the Rookie Nine
Plus Three who are officially 'living together';
everybody else, however, has moved out of their
parents' places)
- and, of course, why there aren't any married
twentysomethings around Konoha.

It does work - it just doesn't sit right for some reason...

I honestly didn't think it was *that* important!  Just
something that it would be good to have explained in
advance.

I'm glad, though, that everyone liked it enough to
miss the glaring mistake
(coughcoughTsunade'sassistant'snamecoughcough) and I
hope you'll all like the next chapter.

Didn't miss it - I just couldn't remember the correct spelling, so I ignored
it rather than compounding the error.


SP






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