Hatake Riku 'verse: REVISIONS

[heraldaros]

So now that I have, for the first time in my life, finished a multi-chapter fic, I am now a) working on the sequel and b) thinking about revising the original. Becoming Ninja was very much a work-in-progress at all points, not just because I hadn't finished writing it, but also because I hadn't really thought through and polished all of the ideas. Also, some of the writing was...less polished. I haven't looked at the earliest chapters yet, but the only word processor I was using up until, god, halfway through? Was Google Docs. Which. Uh. Yeah. I read through the chapters, of course, but the story is unbeta'd and I didn't have the ending nailed down until about chapter 11-12.

Basically, this is the point where I'm looking at the story and thinking about Big Picture Revisions, in addition to little things like cleaning up the prose.

This post is intended to be a masterpost for things that I plan to/do change, so that I can link back so previous readers don't hit a line and go "wtf???" For the most part, I'm going to break revisions down into 3 categories: Clean-Up, which means I've gone through the chapter and fixed any errors -- there might be minor adjustments to lines, up to paragraphs added or taken out, but nothing major; Plot-Relevant Changes, which would encompass things like adding, removing, or moving around scenes, making adjustments to characters' backstories, motivations, or actions, changing who knows what when, etc.; and Pacing, which is basically my catch-all for "I combined/added/eliminated these scenes or chapters in order to build/maintain momentum."

Ultimately, Clean-up revisions will almost certainly be posted to AO3 as soon as the chapter is complete, with Plot-Relevant Changes made along the way; Pacing changes are potentially large enough that I'll probably hold off on putting them on AO3 until I'm done, because if I wind up doing something like taking out a chapter, I don't want to lose or mess up the comments posted on it. If I wind up doing a LOT of that, I think I might just post the whole, revised story as a separate work, and preserve the comments on the original as a separate piece.

Clean-Up

Planned: Revise all posted chapters
Implemented: No relevant changes (yet!)

Plot-Relevant Changes

Planned:

• Swap Riku's parents
  
  • Specifically, Keiko from the Islands --> Hatake Keiko, Hatake Sho --> Sho from the Islands
  • This would primarily impact Chapter 1, with the following ripple effects:
    
    1. Hatake Keiko logically can speak/understand/read/write Japanese. Therefore, Riku wouldn't notice the weirdness until he and Kakashi get to his grandparents. If Kakashi didn't say anything (I need to think about whether he would), then Riku might not notice at all.
    2. Hatake Keiko could very well have tried to teach her son to read/write a language only his mom used, but if none of his friends or teachers used it, well. He'd probably recognize it much faster, so that means a tweaked scene where he figures out what to do with it and a revised scene where Sakura's laying out how the tutoring will go.
    3. Form 3046 in the best people needs to be adjusted slightly; for that matter, any/all Kakashi scenes where Sho is discussed need adjustment (pronouns/names, but also...I think it plays differently, if the parent in question is not the one who ditched years ago.)
    4. While I'm thinking about it, the conversation with the Hokage and Riku's thought process would go differently. I may even want to adjust those first and then go back to Chapter 1, because now both of Riku's parents have walked away from commitments, and there needs to be setup for why Riku decides not to emulate that. Something his mom says, for example, to tip him one way.
    5. The scene with the kidnappers plays out differently if Keiko is the Hatake relative. Riku would absolutely not want to bring her up. Not sure if he'll be pressured to anyway, or if he tries to lie (might be successful, might not), or if he manages to get away with not telling. That may have some consequences later down the line, but nothing immediate that I need to worry about.
  • This change is relevant to a planned side-story (between BN and KH1/GWaK), so my current timeline on when I'd like to have it fixed is before that goes up.

Implemented: No relevant changes (yet!)

Pacing

Planned: Nothing yet
Implemented: No relevant changes (yet!)