Dreaming of Sunshine

Dreaming of Sunshine is a Naruto fanfic by Silver Queen, an Alternate Universe Self-Insert OC where Nara Shikamaru has a twin sister, Nara Shikako, who is the reincarnation of a Naruto fan. The fanfic started as a self-insert where Shikako was based on Silver Queen, but character growth and time have made her into more of an original character.Silver Queen, reply to an AMA question Posted 02 April 2016. (Accessed 11 July 2018.)
The story has many fans and inspired a lot of fannish activity. As of June 2019 there are 93 known recursive fics on fanfiction.netHeliocentrism on Fanfiction.net, a collection of recursive fanfiction for Dreaming of Sunshine. (Accessed 3 June 2019.) and over 200 works on Archive of Our Own,on archiveofourown.org, a collection of recursive fanfiction for Dreaming of Sunshine. (Accessed 03 June 2019.) and several communities based around discussion and writing.
The fic was declared "Likely Dead" by the author in late 2019.
==Contents==
===Summary===
The summary on fanfiction.net reads:
Shikako Nara is born the younger twin sister to Shikamaru Nara and remembers her previous life in our world, where she was a Naruto fan. Shikako must navigate the ninja world and try desperately to prepare for the canonical threats she knows will be coming for her team, her family, and her village, including dangerous international criminals, dangerous domestic criminals, and a zombie ninja apocalypse. Silver Queen writes in first person, from Shikako's point of view, and starts from Shikako's birth. Shikako joins Team 7, learns sealing, and generally struggles not to die.
===Related works===
Sunshine Sidestories is also by Silver Queen, featuring stories in the same universe from the POV of other characters. Reincarnation Roulette is a collection of AU one-shots about what would have happened if Shikako was born elsewhere in the Naruto 'verse. For fanfiction not by Silver Queen, go to the recursive section down below.
There is also a podfic read by jacksgreyson.
===Chapters and Arcs===
Silver Queen has split the fic up into arcs to help people navigate the nearly 150 chapters she's written since 2011. Because of the prologue,Fanfiction.net's numbers are always one higher than Silver Queen's count, sometimes leading chapter numbers to be written with both the fanfiction.net count and Silver Queen's count to avoid confusion. For example, the prologue would be "Chapter 1/0" while "Chapter 57/56" would indicate the Land of Tea Arc chapter (which is just one chapter) rather than end of the Hidden Waterfall Arc (Chapter 56/55) or the beginning of the Sound Four Arc (Chapter 58/57).
The chapter numbers are one off from fanfiction.net's count, but below Silver Queen's count has been used to indicate the span of chapters that the arc covers.
Name of Arc (Chapters)
* Prologue (0)
* Academy Arc (1–4)
* Graduation Arc (5–8)
* Land of Waves Arc (9–15)
* Chunin Exams Arc (16–17)
* Chunin Exams Arc - First (18–19)
* Chunin Exams Arc - Second (20–24)
* Chunin Exams Arc - Break (25–30)
* Chunin Exams Arc - Third (31–33)
* Chunin Exams Arc - Invasion (34–39)
* Tsukuyomi Arc (40–43)
* Search & Rescue Arc (44–45)
* Land of Snow Arc (46–52)
* Hidden Waterfall Arc (53–55)
* Land of Tea Arc (56)
* Sound Four Arc (57–65)
* Stones of Gelel Arc (66–71)
* Yakumo Arc (72–75)
* Trap Master Arc (76–77)
* Sealing Arc (78–79)
* Land of Stone Arc (80–81)
* Haunted House Arc (82–83)
* Land of Birds Arc (84–87)
* Grass Chunin Exam Arc (88–90)
* Grass Chunin Exam Arc - 1st (91)
* Grass Chunin Exam Arc - 2nd (92)
* Grass Chunin Exam Arc - 3rd (93–97)
* Grass Chunin Exam Arc (98)
* Sensory Squad Arc (99–103)
* Storage Scroll Arc (104–105)
* Intelligence Division Arc (106–110)
* Land of Moon Arc (111–118)
* Lost Child Arc (119–120)
* Fire Temple Arc (121)
* Hospital Arc (122–127)
* Land of Hot Springs Arc (128–137)
* Hidden Mist Arc (138–142)
* ANBU Arc (143–144)
* Police Arc (145–149)
* Rice Fields Arc (150–ongoing)
===Minor Canon Characters===
In addition to the usual popular Naruto characters who featured heavily in the show, Dreaming of Sunshine has included a number of minor characters and expanded on their personalities and backstories, some of them even playing major roles in several arcs.
Most notable is probably Yamashiro Aoba in the Sensory Squad Arc, the Storage Scroll Arc, the Intelligence Division Arc, the Lost Child Arc and the Land of Hot Springs Arc. He mentors Shikako in the Intel division, goes on several missions with Shikako, helps her integrate with other special jounin after her promotion, and teaches her how to make the complex, bureaucratic, gossipy village systems work for her.
Dreaming of Sunshine has introduced (and killed) several characters earlier than the anime, often leading to large amounts of canon divergence. The Sound genin team, Karin, and Hidan all died earlier in the series than in canon. Shimura Danzou, Tenzou and Sai have all appeared years earlier in Dreaming of Sunshine than they did in canon. Some characters are alive when they were supposed to have died, particularly fan-favorites Momochi Zabuza and Haku.
Nara Shikaku and Yoshino, Shikamaru and Shikako's parents, get a lot of focus in domestic scenes and early on tend to appear at the beginning and end of each arc. Shikako's whole team bonds with them; especially Sasuke, who joins Shikamaru and Shikako for lessons about how to run a clan that Sasuke will need if he wants to revive the Uchiha.
Mitarashi Anko first appears in the second round of the Chuunin Exams, like in canon, but Shikako crosses paths with her several more times, including the Yakumo Arc, the Sensory Squad Arc, the Hospital Arc, and the Mist Arc. Shikako accidentally sets Anko on the path to making jounin, later allows Anko to take over running the Kunoichi Club as her jounin project, and gets to see Anko's genin team compete at the Mist Exams. Two of Anko's genin are characters from the anime filler arcs: Kurama Yakumo and Isaribi.
Other minor characters are used for comedic effect and callbacks, such as the way Shikako keeps running into the genin team from Rain who were at the Konoha chuunin exams. Team 7 defeats them in the Forest of Death, and then again in Land of Tea (as per Naruto anime filler canon) and then Shikako runs into them again at the Grass chuunin exam.
The Police Arc seems ready to explore three minor characters. Ebisu has gained a backstory. Yuuhi Shinku (Yuuhi Kurenai's father) seems set to be the main antagonist, although in Naruto canon he appeared on only one page of the manga. Manabu Akado, a one-off middle-aged character who was seen in the first part of the Konoha chuunin exam also features.
===Original characters===
Although Silver Queen pulls most of her minor characters from canon, reusing anime arcs and improving on them by using them to explain how the Narutoverse works, there's pretty much no getting around the need for *some* recurring original characters, especially because there are only a few Nara clan members in canon but Shikako of course would be expected to be at least acquaintances with the entire clan. For example:
* Nara Kofuku, the Head of Nara R&D
* Nara Kasuga, an older Nara man who helps the twins train when Shikaku is busy—who's not to be confused by the *canon* Nara Kasuga, who's younger and may very well have come up in the series long after Dreaming of Sunshine was published.
* Nara Takatori, several years older than Shikako and does a lot of research in R&D
Some OCs have been created to fill in the ranks of other canon families (for example, Aburame Chiyako, Aburame Shino's younger sister) or gaps in Konoha's military or civilian structure that logically much exist (for example, Heihou, a higher-up in the non-canon Logistics Division who motivates Shikako's activities in the Sealing Arc). Many technically canon characters have so little information about them in canon that they end up being OCs, what TV Tropes calls an O.C. Stand-in.
==Inspiration, process, and development==
Silver Queen has said that she likes the "core of [Naruto] and the themes and ideas it sets out in the first part."Silver Queen, reply to an anonymous ask on dosbysilverqueen Posted 14 July 2017. (Accessed 11 July 2018.)
At the year mark of writing, she also said in one author's note:
Only A Moron (link) by swabloo, and A Cage of Blood and Circumstance (link) by shadowsdeep are two SI fic which have since stopped updating; Silver Queen was reading them when she started writing Dreaming of Sunshine.Silver Queen, reply to an ask from firefairy28 on dosbysilverqueen Posted 09 January 2016. (Accessed 11 July 2018.) and likes the way fanfiction with peggy-sue time travel elements leads to characters who 'know better' than they did at the start of canon and struggle through all their obstacles in new and improved ways."Silver Queen, reply to an ask from from tsuna-13 on dosbysilverqueen Posted 11 September 2017. (Accessed 11 July 2018.)
Her goal for the fic was to explore the world of Naruto and everything implied by canon. In an answer on tumblr, Silver Queen said,
Silver Queen thought the reincarnation self-insert trope was best for her purposes because "the Naruto-verse is not very friendly to other kinds. Teleported in, wake-up-as-character-x, random omnipotent being gives you a magical quest… they’re going to be difficult. To put it less politely, you’re kinda screwed."Silver Queen, reply to an anonymous ask on dosbysilverqueen Posted 04 July 2017. (Accessed 11 July 2018.) However, she doesn't view the reincarnation itself as a plot point or mystery to be resolved, "It's just... a conceit that allows the story to take place at all."Silver Queen, reply to an AMA question Posted 02 April 2016. (Accessed 11 July 2018.)
She's also discussed how long it took her to even write anything for the fic: she spent months sitting on the idea for the fic before writing anything and several weeks more before writing a prologue that would allow her to post and even then only posted it because it was becoming too long to email back and forth with her sister.Sarasa2016, Interview with Silver Queen. Posted 23 Aug 2015. (Accessed 11 July 2018.)Silver Queen, reply to an ask from ramrikai on dosbysilverqueen Posted 19 February 2017. (Accessed 11 July 2018.) When she was still in school she would keep notebooks full of drafts with her. She's since switched to writing each chapter in a new document and pasting the completed chapter into a master doc when it's complete.Silver Queen, reply to an AMA question Posted 02 April 2016. (Accessed 11 July 2018.) Arcs aren't planned out ahead of time; instead, arc titles were added to help readers navigate the drop-down menu of chapters which previously had only had numbers.Silver Queen, reply to an anonymous ask on dosbysilverqueen Posted 05 April 2017. (Accessed 11 July 2018.) Sometimes arc names aren't put on chapters until Silver Queen has decided if they should be with the last arc or start a new one.Silver Queen, reply to an anonymous ask on dosbysilverqueen Posted 05 July 2017. (Accessed 11 July 2018.)
Regarding how much Shikako remembers about Naruto canon, Silver Queen thought that "Shikako should have the same ‘amount’ of knowledge that I had regarding canon" with wiggle room for anything that might happen between when Dreaming of Sunshine was posted and when Naruto ended.Silver Queen, reply to an ask from hbkmzk on dosbysilverqueen Posted 05 July 2017. (Accessed 11 July 2018.) She later decided to throw out most of the canon ending, but did keep some later world building, like the Akimichi memorial and vows.Dreaming of Sunshine Chapter 7/Chapter 8.(Accessed 11 July 2018.) Shikako has a good grasp of major characters and plot points, like most fans would, but Silver Queen hadn't seen all of the anime (or found all of the episodes she'd seen worthy of remembering) so smaller plot points, especially filler, tend to take Shikako by surprise. She's also often surprised by the timing of events. Silver Queen has then of course had to rewatch episodes to make sure that the narrative of the story matches up with canon even though Shikako's memories don't, which she says is "a little tricky." Silver Queen first planned to do all of the anime episodes, but complaints about pacing made her focus on just the ones she thought she could "take in an interesting direction, like the Gelel and Moon movies."Silver Queen, reply to an anonymous ask on dosbysilverqueen Posted 02 March 2017. (Accessed 11 July 2018.)
===Self-insert or original character?===
On several occasions, Silver Queen has said that although Shikako started as a self-insert, she's now more like an original character.Silver Queen, reply to an anonymous ask on dosbysilverqueen Posted 26 February 2017. (Accessed 11 July 2018.)Silver Queen, reply to an AMA question Posted 02 April 2016. (Accessed 11 July 2018.)
In an interview in 2015, Silver Queen addressed this in-depth:
When asked if Shikako's status as a reincarnate would ever come out, Silver Queen has said it won't happen. Not just because she's not interested in writing it, but also because Shikako has very good motivations for keeping it secret.Silver Queen, reply to an anonymous ask on dosbysilverqueen Posted 15 August 2017. (Accessed 11 July 2018.)Silver Queen, reply to an ask from hunterthehuntress on dosbysilverqueen Posted 15 August 2017. (Accessed 11 July 2018.)
On what she'd do if she met another reincarnate, Silver Queen has said,
===Worldbuilding and extrapolating from canon===
Worldbuilding (which Silver Queen describes as "Why is this thing where it is, why is it what it is?") is a driving force behind Dreaming of Sunshine. Much of Silver Queen's worldbuilding and characterization comes from attempting to "explain the irregularities we see on the screen" and follow canon information to its logical conclusion. She doesn't seek to dismiss Kishimoto's hodge-podge and at times silly choices, but instead contextualize them in a way that makes everything line up and be canon compliant. In her 2015 AMA on Reddit, Silver Queen agreed that the lack of jounin available to go after Uchiha Sasuke in the canon Sasuke Retrieval Arc was a plot hole she sought to explain, which is why most of the jounin around Shikako are called away to a border conflict with Kumo in Dreaming of Sunshine's Land of Waterfall arc. Silver Queen was then able to explore the escalation of tension between ninja villages and how Konoha prepares and reacts to war outside the context of the canon Fourth War.Silver Queen, reply to an AMA question Posted 02 April 2016. (Accessed 11 July 2018.)
When it comes to characterization, Silver Queen has explained her process for deciding that Tenten was a pacifist as such:
She's also influenced by meta on tumblr and elsewhere, specifically referencing the NarutoForums essay Before Hokage and After: A Tsunade Analysis (link to essay)Dreaming of Sunshine Chapter 45/Chapter 44. (Accessed 11 July 2018.)
Chapter 21 of Sunshine Sidestories was originally in the outline for chapter 135/chapter 134 of Dreaming of Sunshine but was cut for length... and then Silver Queen found she really wanted to write it anyway. The chapter is about Shikako's work as joint clan head (with Shikamaru) while their father is out of the village at the warfront, told from the POV of an out-clan man who's looking to let his male lover, a Nara, share custody of his young daughter so that she'll be in good hands if he dies.Sunshine Sidestories Chapter 21. (Accessed 11 July 2018.) About her goals for this chapter, Silver Queen said:
==Fan reactions and impact on Naruto fandom==
===Influence and popularity===
Dreaming of Sunshine inspired a big upswing in self insert fanfiction, especially in the Naruto fandom.Mook91, Naruto Story Idea #5 Posted 16 April 2013.catavatar, Pet Peeves in Fanfiction part 2 Posted 26 May 2013Oracle Mask, SI Brainstorming thread Posted 31 December 2013half0pain, Your Naruto Fanfic Pet Peeves Posted 25 May 2015Hubrius Plus, Dreaming of Sunshine by Silver Queen - Review for chapter 65 Posted 03 February 2013 It's common for fans to note that Dreaming of Sunshine is the first (or only) SI/OC fic they've enjoyed, that it's much better than other SI fics they've read, or that it's changed their opinion on the genre.DreamofStories, Dreaming of Sunshine by Silver Queen - Review for chapter 9 Posted: 28 November 2011Zashire, Dreaming of Sunshine by Silver Queen - Review for chapter 20 Posted 04 January 2012Morpheme, Dreaming of Sunshine by Silver Queen - Review for chapter 23 Posted 09 January 2012tati1, DoS reviews on fanfiction.net Posted 05 February 2012. Many readers have only started reading Naruto fanfiction in general because of Dreaming of Sunshine.Dartz, Self-Insert Recommendation Thread Posted 26 Feb 2012.Derpmind, PoptartProdigy Reads the Entire tvtropes Fanfic Recs List For Naruto Posted 17 June 2018 Rereading the fic is common.PpJt, comment on DoS general thread on the DoS forum Posted 18 June 2018. (Accessed 19 July 2018.)Fell's Apprentice, General DoS thread on DoS forum, page 1 post #29 Posted Jul 18, 2015drago123, Dreaming of Sunshine by Silver Queen - Review for chapter 65 Posted 13 January 2013flagship, Dreaming of Sunshine by Silver Queen - Review for chapter 67 Posted 28 May 2013Dawnation, Dreaming of Sunshine by Silver Queen - Review for chapter 68 Posted 21 Jun 2013
Dreaming of Sunshine was the 8th most reviewed Naruto fic on fanfiction.net as of mid-August 2015. According to on DoS forum user, the ranking on August 16, 2015 was:
Chapter 95 was released and DoS jumped to 6th most reviewed by August 26, 200 reviews short of being #5.ByeByeBriar, General DoS thread on DoS forum, page 9 post #253 Posted Aug 26, 2015. On September 9, 2015, it hit 9k reviews, putting it in 5th placeMercy Of Baal, General DoS thread on DoS forum, page 11 post #311 Posted Sep 8, 2015. and by October 14 it was up to 10,000 reviews.Silver Queen, General DoS thread on DoS forum, page 15 post #435 Posted Oct 14, 2015. Mid-november, Dreaming of Sunshine became the 3rd most-reviewed.ByeByeBriar, General DoS thread on DoS forum, page 20 post #575 Posted Nov 11, 2015.
As of mid-2018, Dreaming of Sunshine has 21k reviews and is the most reviewed Naruto story on fanfiction.net. #2 is Chūnin Exam Day, which ran from 2007 to 2010. #3 is Team 8, which ran from 2006 to 2015 and has 14k.
===Plot, pacing, and inclusion of anime filler===
Because Silver Queen started writing Dreaming of Sunshine with the intent to fill in plot holes and explore the world, many readers became frustrated with how closely the fic stuck to canon events in earlier yearsjacobk, Naruto Recommendation Thread #9 Posted 27 April 2013 as the first large, obvious upset to canon events was Sasuke's choice not to defect to Orochimaru. On a SpaceBattles.com forum discussion in 2015, one fan wrote:
For other people the slice of life parts are the entire point of the ficAngryDesu, Naruto Recommendation Thread #9 Posted 27 April 2013 or at least the part they like best:
Silver Queen also chose to include a good deal of anime filler, to a great deal of complaint and support. Often people who don't mind the fillers just didn’t see the fillers in the first place,Cytokenesis, Naruto Fic Ideas, Discussions, & Recommendations #7 Posted: 27 Aug 27 2015. but others find that Silver Queen has brought an interesting slant to the filler.
Some fans have also credited Dreaming of Sunshine with renewing their interest in the series, or making them seek out new canon material. In a comment on the last chapter of the Stones of Gelel Arc, an arc based on the movie Legend of the Stone of Gelel, one fan noted:
This was a fairly common sentiment in the reactions to Chapter 71/70. Another fan said:
==Fandom and fan communities==
The popularity, length, and persistence of DoS over the years has created its own fan community as a subset of the larger Naruto fandom. The Dreaming of Sunshine forum started in 2015 but fans now congregate on several other platforms, including Discord, reddit, and tumblr. Much of the fannish activity is focused on recursive fanfiction and although for years it was almost entirely archived on fanfiction.net or posted to the forum, fans have started trying to use Archive of Our Own as well.
===Vids===
* Broken Arrows - DoS (link) by N. Hamilton
===Fanfiction===
* The Many Gardens of Shikabane-hime by wafflelate
* what's behind (and what's before) by jacksgreysays
* The Perpetrator by Pepperdoken
* Five Times Shikako got Re-Reborn into the Narutoverse by MathIsMagic
===Fanart===
* Fanarts for Queenie! by Unorganized_Shelf
===Elsewhere===
* Heliocentric, a Discord run by wafflelate
* We're all just Dreaming of Sunshine (Discord server)
* /r/DreamingofSunshine where Silver Queen did an AMA.
* dosbysilverqueen on tumblr, run by jacksgreyson with occasional answers from Silver Queen
* Silver Queen's DeviantArt where she has a collection of fanart by herself and others.
* The Dreaming of Sunshine TVTropes page.
==References==
Category:Naruto Fanfiction
*Dreaming of Sunshine
Category:2010s Fanfiction