A thread for the creation and discussion of fan fiction and other fanworks - anything that involves a story and/or reading. What've you been reading? What've you been writing? What would you like to see more of?>Thread question:What's a trope you enjoy even if it is a bit trashy?>Previous thread:>>58681104
>>58700832>Wait, I may be confused.the Pokemon wears the Mega Stone (the “Ite” ore) and the Trainer wears the Key Stone.>A belly button piercing can be written highlighting the sensuality and warmth of the body, the raw crudeness of one willing to pierce their skin to express themselves, or the unashamed freedom of not hiding a vulnerable part of oneself.Right, but I haven't even started writing the character yet, I am mostly just asking if people think that a Key Stone navel piercing is a good idea or not and how both readers and other characters may perceive it.>the mega evolution accessory is a key part of expressing a person's power, the form it takes really says a lot about their personality. Having it on the belly button is quite a statement. It is practically screaming 'look at my body, I'm proud of it'I consider it an expression of femininity and sexuality like a typical crop top and/or navel piercing would be, but more emphasized. >depending on the type of belly, implies something specific. For a soft belly it would be something like 'even vulnerable I am unafraid' while for a hard belly with abs it would be 'I am strong to my core'.you might want to be more specific. most girls stomachs are soft and is also a lot of variation in how hard abs are.>straight hips or chubby: “I’m not the most beautiful, but I want to show off anyway”>slim hourglass/toned abs: “My beauty is/has power”>hard abs: “Witness the core of my strength”>This could all apply similarly for an Odd Keystone, but that is less an object of power. Normally it would be similar to a Pokeball belly ring. Its such an unusual accessory that its going to grab even more attention, but it won't be as clear about what it means.Pretty much. It would just be like a normal accessory. An Odd Keystone as a navel piercing would be just a miniature decoration, since the real thing would be way too large for it. Maybe the cracks can light up. I once saw a Griseous Orb piercing.
>>58706607>What's a trope you enjoy even if it is a bit trashy?Underdogs that start from nothing, some disagree but Ash was one despite all the aura bullshit and Pikachu since they used to get stomped a lot and Pikachu only reached his abnormal power after losing a lot until DP where he still lost.And happy endings or anything with a MC that isn't a sarcastic piece of shit with a wicked sense of humor, there's nothing wrong with a goody two shoes MC
>>58706607>What's a trope you enjoy even if it is a bit trashy?Darkest hour final stands. I blame the trashy HP/Naruto stories I used to read.
>>58706607>What’s a trope you enjoy even if it is a bit trashy?Femme fatales, especially if they wear a crop top.
>>58706691Ehhhh... The Hogwarts final battle had more tension than Naruto's to be fair
>>58706733Deathly Hollows probably has a higher percentage of deaths on the heroes side than your average shonen these days.
>>58706733I don’t mean the actual stories, I mean like actual fanfics. They tended to have a lot of trashy slop people here reference.
What do you call it when you plagiarise (sometimes word for word) a bajillion of scenes and concepts you liked from other works and string them together where only a fraction of the final product was your original ideas you came up on your own?
>>58706879It's called being a prompstitute who was definitely 1997's smartest baby.>Rotomphone, what should I do next?
>>58706607>What's a trope you enjoy even if it is a bit trashy?Found family. Especially with Pokemon.
>>58706879I feel like the premises of most of my stories are taken from other works, but then I take that combination of things and follow it where they’d go from there, and thus it becomes unrecognizable. Also known as “your own.”
>>58706879A mixture, a chimera, the pieces of a puzzle whose whole never had and never will exist, dare I say, A Crazed Creation.
>>58706879>What do you call it when you plagiarise a bajillion of scenes and concepts you liked from other works and string them together where only a fraction of the final product was your original ideas you came up on your own?art>(sometimes word for word)don't do this
>>58707165>don't do thisIf it's cool enough it becomes an homage
>>58707165>>(sometimes word for word)>don't do thisI didn't mention in my first post for the sake of brevity (so that it sparks a discussion more easily), but what I mainly meant was dialogue. Sometimes I see a certain scenario that I like for its drama, imagine using it in my work in its own context, but cannot come up with better lines because I feel the execution of the original was very well done. It's "word for word" only when I simply can't find a way to improve it, even for my unique context.
>>58707243That's fucking embarrassing. Write your own dialogue.
>>58707254How can I come up with good dialogue in fiction when I can't even come up with good dialogue irl
>>58707264I have autism and no social life but none of my readers have ever questioned my dialogue. If I can do it so can you.Although I fear for the generation that's growing up on GPT. 676767
>>58707264just wing it
>>58707405I always love this image so much, every element here just seems to work perfectly.
>>58707264Each character has their own “voice,” their own way of speaking. Words they end up using a lot, a way they react to people critiquing them or complimenting them, what they poke fun at, etc. Once you’ve fleshed out the vibe/tone of the character, the voice should come pretty naturally.The only way to get better at writing dialogue is to write it. I’d even say if you’re just trying to improve, write the scene as a script for a play/show. It’s easy to get bogged down in the prose, but prose isn’t why you’d be doing the exercise. If you’re scared of that, read/watch shows with large casts and notice how each character, however similar they may be with their backgrounds, speak differently.
>>58707663To break it down Barney-style, I’ll go back into theatre class notes. The foundation of a scene between two or more characters is “what the is each character trying to get accomplish?” What is that character’s objective?Hypothetically, Character A is going to try to get a certain thing from Character B (could be anything, could be advice, could be a physical object, information, whatever). But Character B has a reason to not give it up. That sparks conflict. Now Character A is going to have to re-shape their argument, they’re going to have to change their approach to get what they want. How will Character B react to that? Will they yield? Will they give in? Will they keep Character A from accomplishing their objective?All this to say, if you’re having trouble writing dialogue, you may be having issues with characterization, and most likely, the character’s objective. Dressing up a character’s style of speech comes with time, the more varied you write your characters, the better you’ll get at it going forward. The critic in you may note that a lot of your dialogue will sound the same. If you’re writing a large cast with lots of characters, that’s gonna happen. Just make sure to have your main characters be different enough from each other. A good exercise is to write a scene with a very vibrant character (let’s say the rival from RBY). Then redo that scene, but with Nemona instead. How will they speak differently? How will they go about accomplishing their objective differently? They’re very different characters, even if they hav the same objective.
>>58707243I do this too, anon. I have a big notepad full of cool quotes and snappy insults that I whip out when I think they're appropriate in the writing. This has the unfortunate side effect of me taking too much fucking time looking through my cool notes and getting distracted. Workflow is raped to death, so don't do what I do and get some help. Like this guy >>58707696Practice that theory of mind and listen to how people talk. Fictional people are thankfully much simpler/more predictable than real life people, so you don't need to map out their entire lives to give the impression of a human being with their dialogue.
>>58707264Read a lot so you have a subconscious idea on how to tailor specific character types.
Fic idea: magical girls
>>58707823desu you should read a lot if you want to write better anyway
>>58708179There's a manga about that iirc
>>58707264It's like how you get better at posting, lurk moar and think before you post.For writing is read moar and picture the scene in you mind before you write it.
>>58708179How would magical girls fare against Aura?
>>58708806Fairy beats Fighting
>>58708814So that means they lose to guns?
>>58708835yes, and trucks too
>>58708846You fool do not invoke her wrath.
>>58708806Magical Girls were banned for warcrimes due to their bombing runs in the Great Poké-War.Aura jobs to the relentless march of time because Aurafags are highly secretive and do not spread their teachings or the inclination to have it is just extremely rare. The rest are talentless scammers selling bullshido martial arts like in parts of china.Psychics prosper as a uncommon trainer class in most regions because they don't hide their existence and actively teach people with psychic potential.
>>58708179The question becomes 'how and why in pokemon?' There is a lot of flexibility, but what level of pokemon being involved with the magical girl stuff would probably be the first question you'd want to answer. Off the top of my head you got...Magical Girls who use pokemon to fight.Magical Girls who can use pokemon powers.Magical girls who fight pokemon.Magical girls who are pokemon.
>>58709220Magical girls who become Pokemon
>>58708179Pretty sure the old threads had Mimiga doing a fic about the Lake Trio of Sinnoh doing a Magical Girls’ fic. Thinking it was “Scarlet Guardians” but it’s been a while”
>>58708179Magical Girls fused with their Pokémon
>>58709220what about this: >>58709883
>>58709220a mix of magic and pokemon battling
>>58709220Pokemon who are magical girls
>>58710684What'd be good for that? So far I'm thinking Kirlia, Ditto, Zoroark and Braixen.
>>58706607>TQSpecifically for Pokémon I like when a trainer isn’t unlocking their Pokémon’s full potential, but once traded/given to another trainer, the Pokémon starts doing better/ evolves.
How much meta humor is too much? Because MC pointing out the Pokemon games' oddities all the time can get easily annoying for me
>>58711109More than a few times per story gets annoying very quickly for me
>>58710923I mean, any pokemon with the slightest pit of femininity to them is eligible. Melloetta, Latias, Roselia, Gothorita.Even then, if it exists, there's a gijinka for it.
>>58711515>vtuber magical girl porygonThis is how we take it back from rotomkeks, gentlemen.
>>58706607How would you "write" this place? As in, characterize, visually describe, depict, write lore and background for, etc.
>>58712009are you the cuck who likes spamming this image on the board
>>58711109>How much meta humor is too much? Because MC pointing out the Pokemon games' oddities all the time can get easily annoying for meDo you not know what the word humor is?Do you have an example?What's an "oddity" because you're reading pokemon fanfictions.Do you have anything other than "I'm bumping the thread " or "I find pokemon in a pokemon fic annoying"What are you even reading?
>>58712090No. I was going to attach “serious answers only” to that post in order stop people from giving stupid “blacked” responsesnlike that but felt that doing so would just have the opposite effect. Something something telling people not to do something makes them more likely to do it.
>>58712109Should’ve started with White Forest desu
>>58712009How does it compare to Castelia in terms of economic importance?
>>58712009Actually saw a youtube video about somebody theorizing the lore around this place. Their idea was that since the tower is pretty much a high tech battle facility that some rich benefactor was using the place to collect data on high level pokemon combat.
>>58712882>Their idea was that since the tower is pretty much a high tech battle facility that some rich benefactor was using the place to collect data on high level pokemon combat.I think I'm wrong but wasn't that what MewTwo did in the movie to get his clone army?
>>58706607>TQRivals/enemies genuinely starting to respect each other through constant battles with one another.
>>58713127Why would you respect your enemy instead of refining them into a pill and erasing their lineage 7 generations back?
>>58712102Shit like complaining that Charizard isn't a dragon type or that you can't jump over a little bush without cutting it
>>58713409First one might depend on context. It feels like in universe that'd be a serious line of scientific inquiry, so I could imagine a joke about it landing. The second one would piss me off, no way would anyone ever have to use Cut like you do in the games.
>>58713422A gag that comes to mind is a someone deliberately fucking with you by moving a fake tree into your path whenever you aren't looking, until you use Cut to slice it down.
>>58713127On a semi-related note, what makes the "enemies that fall in love with each other" trope so appealing? Seriously though, Zangoose x Seviper thing comes to my mind. It's not like only a bunch of mindbroken people liking it either. There are more fanworks about these two being lovey-dovey with each other than actually being mortal enemies. Is it the taboo? Is it that people like the idea of "love conquers all" or something? What is it?
>>58713326Because a good enemy helps you grow.It's hard to find good enemies these days..
>>58712882Could see a ZA royale buts it's called something like BW royale happening here but it's 24/7 instead of just at night.
>>58706607I'm trying to think of trashy tropes I like but I'm bad at judging what is trashy. I don't know if its trashy, but Earthbound's 'everybody' sort of ending has gone from originally being pretty original to almost a starndard type of ending over the years. Where the final battle either involves or calls back to all the people the heroes have met on their adventure. Its kind of corny, but I live for that 'Everybody is rooting' for you kind of shit.
>>58713973>everybody reading at home, give your energy to Lucario so he can do an aura Spirit Bomb to defeat Giratina!!Cringe or kino?
>>58708179I like magical girls because they can have pretty interesting character designs, but the temptation to sexualize them is too real.
>>58711109It really depends on the context of the fic and how its handled. Too often things like meta and referential humor is a cheap shortcut to attempt to appeal to the audience without any real substance to it. Thats why it has such a bad reputation. But if its something that actually adds to the work instead of just being a sticker slapped onto it then it can work pretty well. Easier said than done of course. I know I probably fail more than I succeed with PokeNormal.
>>58714068Thats a bit too in your face. But it gave me a great idea how to do it properly. I may just have come up with a climax for one of my fics with this.
>>58713490The second one and because people think it would be funny.
>>58714068In a non-participatory medium I don’t think you can do a “clap your hands if you believe.” This would be a little kino at a stage show, though.(And then the Spirit Bomb missed because Fighting can’t damage Ghost types)
>>58714520Your not wrong. Eathbound did it masterfully because it was a video game where you interact with it. But I don't think its impossible. You just need to think more creatively about what interaction means.
>>58714551This is really dumb, but you could argue the Flip-o-Rama pages from Captain Underpants are like this. You’d flip the pages back and forth to make it look like he was punching the bad guy over and over again. You’d know you were coming up on one because the page would already be destroyed by the million kids that checked it out of the library before you.
>>58714620Lmao I remember that. Something along the lines of that was what I had in mind. Its meta in a way, a part of the story telling that works only because of the medium its being told in.
>>58714520>if you want to give your strength to MC go to page 58, if not, go to page 124
>>58714068>The next chapter will only come out if this chapter gets X kudos, likes, reviews.>Otherwise we will get the bad ending chapter>( ` - ´ )ᵐᵘʰᵃʰᵃ
>>58715670This shit is just annoying. Holding chapters hostage is retarded and I wish pain and agony upon authors who do that.
>>58715670>>58715705a fiction I read (not pokemon) had the author recently tell his readers that low view count/patreon bucks is his own fault because he knows his niche story won't reach a wider audience, so he was going to slow down a bit to focus on other things since he knew he wasn't going to strike it rich with writing. It was a genuinely surprising take
>>58714551An idea I've floated before is the narrator being directly aware of the reader, and using the story as a means to ask them questions and learn about them.
>>58715757There is actually one character in one of my stories who is aware that there are 'entities we cannot know who watch us', though its more a mystical thing where even they do not realize they are talking about the audience.
>Here's a question for the thread:Name a pokemon fanfiction with AURA that's good. Whether it's used lightly or heavily, as long as the characters are using it regularly in some manner.
Just finished chp 8 of IMO. Just want to let you know IMOanon. FUCK YOU, don't you dare! Not her you monstosity!
>>58716192Fell to my knees in the walmart parking lot.
>>58716241As you should, you irredeemable scourge.
>>58716192Ain't I a stinker?
>>58716303Oh you are a sonuvabitch DEVIL alright!
>>58715670Holy kino, I want to see a story turn into progressively more blatant suffering porn the more bitter the author gets at its lack of popularity
>>58716502I prefer cocky authors that make complete trash heaps and engage in drawn out arguments with literal who reviewers defending them.
>>58716524For me, it’s authors who add chapters that are entirely passive-aggressive remarks towards reviewers.
>>58716502Personally I want to see Bleach Quest but with Pokemon.
>REF DO SOMETHING
>>58718799>they made the emo pokemon full crawling in my skin 'death is a mercy'Finally, a good fucking mega.
>>58718799Very glad I planned to give one of my MCs an Absol now
>>58718799Fucking finally, a good edgemon
>>58716303IMOanon, I forgot to put this in my most recent comment since it's borderline cracktheory but something I thought was really cool and I thought was being foreshadowed in the Shugorei chapter:Vi's spirit was going to end up bonded to Crest (cuz reasons, idk), evolving it into Ceruledge and enabling Vi to protect Kuzey from beyond the grave. Would also excuse Ceruldege being broken AF if you were going that route. Although she'd probably be less vengeful so Armarouge would fit her "loving protector" vibe more. At least to me, that's your call. I guess Armarouge could work with this cracktheory too (ghosts seem to fit better). Regardless, looking forward to what you've got in store for our favorite amazon.
Anyone else find it easier to write direct trainer battle scenes? The scope is just so much more focused so I can get through the stuff easier.
>>58718799If they hadn't given that fucking tumor wing it'd look good
>>58720067Tch, you don't get it... they used to have half angle half demon wings, but they lost the wing of light when they fully embraced the darkness... but even still a small spark of light remains hidden deep within their black heart, and the light from that spark expresses itself by bringing a swift and merciful end to all who get in their way...zanzibart... the timbers doth timb gingerly.... forgive me...
>>58716630QRD?
Pidgey-sama could never
>Diantha has a kidIMOfag, are you gonna use that?
What would Diantha do to (You) if she found out you did untoward things with her daughter?
>>58721891She's a fucking jobber so what can she do against a child of destiny guided by Arceus? What can anyone do in that world to my common and memeta knowledge?
>>58721891Join you two next time you try something funny again
>>58721891Oyakodon
>>58721891She'd do exactly what she did in the XY games: not give a fuck and hope someone else steps in.
>>58721891>Diantha is now a milfNow I'm imagining Cynthia asking Diantha if she sleeps with a 'most powerful champion' trophy.
>>58721891She's my daughter too
>>58721858As it happens I actually had no real plan for Diantha. If in the process of writing there's a spot it makes sense to run across her I might throw it in, but on the other hand I might not since I'd need to do some degen shit to explain why my headcanon upper crust girlkisser has a daughter.>>58719696Ooh, that's an interesting theory. Not to give too much away, but Crest's got an arc of his own in the wings, including his evolution.
>>58722969Loneliness and the wall are one hell of a drug, lesbians tend to get kids because they feel lonely
>>58721858People would have to use Diantha first to begin with. I genuinely cannot think of a single fic I've read or heard about where Diantha is a relevant and recurring character.Giving Diantha a daughter feels kind of shallow imo. It's like some sort of weird attempt to try to "revitalize" the character by giving her something new or something like that?Though, in all honesty, I think they fucked up already by not having Diantha appear and having interactions with Ansha and genuinely see their parent/children bond on-screen.And they're not retarded either, there's a reason why they made Diantha a child rather than Steven or Cynthia. Hell, they kind of tried with Cynthia already with that one movie and they had to backpedal. She's an extremely safe bet to pull off a experiment like this. It really annoys me when GF does this sort moves that show they actually self-awareness because it shows that they actually have, well, self-awareness, and could actually do things properly but they'd rather pretend to be retarded and pull boneheaded moves 99% of the time instead.
>>58723000Diantha looks like an old woman, no one wants to fuck grannies. Giving her a daughter fixes that.
>>58722989A friend of mine went with a sperm donor in her late 30s when she and her wife wanted kids. Wound up with triplets out of the deal. People's real life experiences are one thing but I'm not a fan of the "gay girl makes an exception" erotic trope. I've never seen it not come off as a creepy fetish.>>58723000I just kind of didn't have a space for her where she's necessary, since Calem is the sitting Kalos Champion. She was already pretty uninvolved with a Champion's more serious duties so I didn't see her slotting into my plot barring really severe circumstances.
>>58723080This won't make anyone want to fuck Diantha. People want to fuck Ansha instead.Frankly, mom, parent characters in general, only truly work when that's a part of them from the beginning. See: Lusamine.It's really rare when a character turned into parent truly hits the mark.
>>58723103>This won't make anyone want to fuck Diantha. People want to fuck Ansha instead.I know, that's what I said
>>58723158Seems I misunderstood you then.I thought you meant that giving daughter would meant people would now want to fuck Diantha since she's now a milf. That that was the "fix" for Diantha.
>Lida is from HoennTruly, that region produces the best girls of this franchise.
>7K words>Haven't even gotten to the Sawsbuck vs Feraligatr part of the battleDammit. May have to split this chapter up.
>>58721719>giant steel snake only weighs 880lbsless than half of a mere cara human could lift that
>>58723000Diantha is a more interesting character as a famous actress rather than a Champion
>>58723549Yes but can a human fly while doing that?I didn't think so.
>>58723627Leverage would be an issue but a competition strongman can yoke walk 800 lb I think.
>>58723584Diantha's barely even a character either as an actress or a Champion.Only the XY anime has ever (barely) explored Diantha's character as an actress in any meaningful way whatsoever. Oh, and Mastersex too. Mastersex has broken back from carrying Diantha.
>>58723549My headcanon is steelix uses magnetism to lessen its own actual weight. Based on its Mega form clearly doing some shit like that.
>>58723363Simply mega evolve the Feraligatr and have everyone laugh so hard that it withdraws itself out of shame.
>>58724061Pokemon just aren't weighted right. The only one that barely does iirc is Mudsdale because they just copied an actual draft horse's weight of 1 ton. Because of that, it ends up being top 7 in weight out of all Pokemon. Even then, it still towers over the tallest recorded horse, so it should weigh even more.There's enough mass in a steel coil the size of a human to make like over a dozen mega steelixs.
>>58723286What? Is Tierno also from Hoenn?
>>58724175Hes hollow. Think about what they are trying to hell you about the steel EARTH type with a FLAT head.
>>58724184Apparently they're half-siblings from different moms, but I haven't seen what anons are using to determine this so I don't know if it's true.
>>58721891She's K*losian which makes her a disgusting freak so she'd probably sigh something about 'jeune amour' and remember the things her and her manager did at around that age
>>58724191Yeah,the Metal Coat is just an outer shell of metal.
>>58724066I likely will have Ian think of how badass it’d look only to be told it doesnt quite live up to the hype (to put it lightly).Kinda funny I had to give a disclaimer on QQ explaining Pyroar wouldn’t be Ian’s Mega-evolver. If he gets one.
>>58721891>Silver eyesSI-lver bros, don't look...
>>58725318The author adressed this at several points. I can't remember the words he used, but other people's silver eyes aren't silver enough to be as silver as Silver's, who has mewtwo genes enhancing his silver eyes which also turn red for satan when he's angry.
>>58725375https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_mercury
>>58725914Fitting theory if the author didn't also confirm his eyes turn the color of whatever legendary he's channeling at the moment. Silver when he's default, purple for mewtwo, red when he's channeling giratina.
Anyone written a battle with one of the adversary’s Pokémon being so fun to write it made you want to include it in a future MC’s team?
>>58726223>implying I write
Despite legendaries being canonical jobbers in both the games and the animes, there's an odd lack of fics that actually feature them being crammed into pokeballs like they deserve. Why is that? They're only pokemon in the end, and pokemon go in pokeballs.
>>58726894Legendaries would be a pain in the ass to haul around, they'd probably nag you and lecture you all day
>>58726223I didn't quite do that, but for my first big setpiece fight I altered the roster of the enemy's Pokemon to not repeat mons that are eventually going to be added to the main cast. I also really wanted a Krookodile for one MC's team but it just worked too well with one of my goons.
>>58727174This sucksMy OC, Va Lee Bestu, would chop his head off and use the corpse as a cultivation cauldron!
>>58727174Just put them back into their balls if they start being too much
>>58726894Because people still think they have some otherworldy aura instead of the joke they are nowadays, like Diantha's kid has a Hoopa.Legendaries are FRAUDS
>>58727269>picrel>"i thought i balled you">"i am a god"
>>58727284Switch to a master ball
>>58727284spam pokeballs until its captured
>>58726894they escalated and stole Ghetsis magic stick
>>58727284Box it
>>58727295What if I have a gun as a contingency plan? Are Pokémon faster than bullets? I don't think so! So go ahead faggot, let's take turns ESCALATING the situation, your tech vs my lead
New Prince of Po Town just dropped.https://archiveofourown.org/works/66210784/chapters/197712591This time with more Feraligatr
>>58726894Because we all know legendaries get fraud checked in the games and anime so in fanfics its more interesting to read them being actually lengedary.
>>58727687Guns are faster or slower than a Sonic Boom depending on the kind of round. I guess using anime logic you could train a Yanma's Sonic Boom to surpass modern firearms too and fly-by smash someones head like a grape.>>58727174Is this the Zirca artist?
>>58726894>crammed into pokeballs like they deserve. Why is that? They're only pokemon in the end, and pokemon go in pokeballscalm down arceus
>>58726894soon the tides will turn
>>58726894Nooo~ pokemon don't deserve to be stuffed in small balls~~ it's abuuuuse! Pokemon trainers are le baaad!!!
>>58728131Human Balls already exist, I have two of them myself.
Dude, Feraligatr is so cool.
>>58728758You will regret this Ian.
>>58728067>is this the Zirca artistYes, lowkenuinely one of the better OC pokemon artists thoughenuinely btw thoughever
>>58728734>he hasn't unlocked the third ball
>>58728758This >>58726223 was a Feraligatr post
>>58728131I would NEVER submit to a filthy p*kemon, I would simply resist the Human Ball's effects and tell them in a stern voice to cut that shit out and that they follow my orders now. Their submissive pokemon genes would immediately make them subordinate to me btw.
>>58728758My favorite Pokemon tbhwyfam
Just gonna post a reminder: if you want fat engagement numbers, you gotta post consistently. Damn near weekly desu
>>58729720first impressions matter too. I'm almost certain Pofag would have at least 5x the numbers on SB if he axed the prologue for them specifically. They saw that prologue humiliation ritual and noped the fuck out before they got to the kino
>>58729720>Damn near weekly desu;(
>>58729739Unfortunately I’m seeing way less engagement doing every two weeks (not by choice). Just a brutal fact of life.>>58729720As literally Pofag, you’re not wrong. I had no idea the one time NTR would be so cataclysmic for so many readers. The most brutal irony peeps will lose it (in a good way) when Ian has his Suzy-Marie re-match in arc 7. Just too far away right now
>>58729732Also humbled you called my writing kino.
>>58729732that's silly. like reading a first chapter where somebody gets hit by the isekai truck and dropping it because you didn't want to read a story about roadkill
>>58729764It was honestly ridiculous to me too, but I’ve seen enough sperging out to realize it’s a real thing I gotta acknowledge.
>>58729720>>58729732I'd like to say "thank you captain obvious" but sadly these things despite being common sense for anyone with more than two brainells are borderline esoteric knowledge in the fanfiction community.
>>58729764Truck-kun isn't offensive is the thing. It happens instantly and there's no shame in losing against several tons of metal moving at murder speeds. If anything it's pretty cool to go out that way.
>>58729817Also.>WeeklyYou mean bi-weekly at minimum.Three per week if you're a monster.>>58729764That's a very bad false equivalence, anon.
>>58729764it's an indicator of a poor story. There's no "it's topical" excuse because it's legitimately over used by retards and no one wants to bother with another pile of shit.
>>58729828It’s a damn near 50% drop off from once a week to once every two weeks. Three weeks might as well be engagement suicide.
>>58729720>fat engagement numbersToo much effort. I'll settle for impressing people who find my fic.
I guess immediately judging a story off vibes makes sense. Like if you started When I Win The World Ends and thought>oh, it's the disability lesbians Tumblr autogynephiles are so fond of>does this mean the story going to fall apart and end with "heck those white males" and Undertale references?you'd be spot on
>>58729855Did it really? I dropped it the instant I found out it used smogon rules.
Desire... to know my first chapter's vibes... rising...
>>58729847Respectable. The people who cry about not getting numbers and engagement but never get up their asses to do shit really are the worst.>>58729855Going off vibes has never been more important than now. If nothing else because there's so much stuff out there and time is limited.We're all grown-asses here, and we've all, I assume, plenty of experience in this sort of media and general related media in general. We can make educated guesses at first glance. Sure, there's diamonds in the rough, but wallowing through the ocean of shit to find them is not worth it most of the time.
>>58729857I haven't played a PvP Pokemon battle since I was 10 so I'm definitely not the target audience but I thought the high stakes battle autism was actually cool as shit. But yes, it does both those things
>>58729764As gay as it sounds there's a lot that gives readers an ick on the first chapter. There's just way too much shit out there and too little time to give all of its a fair shake so you try to clock whether you'll lucky it or not early. But people will be more patient with fic's that have established numbers and more chapters.The isekai death on its own isn't as complained about but I've seen a lot of other readers bitch about the "ROB" convos that usually follow because it really is meaningless and cheapens things.
>>58729877I just can't into turn based stories when the combatants are living beings. Even litrpgs don't take video game mechanics that far. Oddly enough, I have no problem with Yugioh.
>>58729857>>58729877Having competitive knowledge to draw upon for writing the battles and perhaps even for lore applications sounds like a good thing to me. Not everything has to be Ashnime-lite.Doing it literally is ass though. That's why that one fic that had the Geetaboner was absolute ass. That and that the fucker clearly didn't know shit about competitive.
>when your Pokémon has to stand by and watch you get shot because it's not their turn yet.Hate it when this happens.
>>58729888Always start isekai with something meaty, just jump into the character actually doing stuff without explanation, then you can fill in the details later. Like having a character walking around somewhere important to the story looking for something unserious like 'a well with water' to help them, and then later on in a different chapter explaining that they ended up there somehow or don't know.No one wants to wade through 2 chapters of pussy footing around social issues about sucking tits, body snatching, or a bunch of random details that the author knows will play no role in the story whenever some random smuck decides to write "my super op fantasy isekai"
>>58729913There's a reason why so many isekai have those ridiculous extra long names. A crazy big hook is 100 times more important in isekai than a hook is in everything else.
>>58729916No, that's just some japenese meme that autists sometimes takes seriously.Huge meme titles are an instant indication of shit. If you can't take your own title seriously, how are you supposed to write something decent?
>>58729924>Japanese memeYou have zero knowledge of the narou genre.Please do not speak of things you have no idea about. And don't go look up what narou means before replying to me just to go and spout more ignorant drivel.
>>58729888>"ROB"Had to look up the abbreviation, but yes, it sucks. It's like a deus ex machina for the beginning of your story instead of the end. The obligatory isekai exposition where the protagonist has to accept they're not dreaming often sucks too and it's usually cooler to start in medias res.Potown guy did pretty well sidelining it, though. Just put the guy in a situation where being a little bitch will get him killed so he can't
>>58729930>Just put the guy in a situation where being a little bitch will get him killedThis also destroys any possibility of therapy sessions.
>>58729937>I didn't eat my nutrition bar today!>wo wo calm down, I have an ABCXYZ mind lock so you're super duper safe here and no one will know your confession, therapy is such a good thing and is normal!
Looking for a story where a human turns into a Pokemon and gets adopted into a Pokemon family. Something like This Wasn’t Expected or Super Mystery Dungeon
>>58729720Don't forget to post on weekends so more people can read it
>>58730123In the early days of a fic, yes, that does matter. More established fics (think 15-20 chapters at least) will have a passive trickle of readers/views that will keep bumping the numbers up as long as the story is active.
>>58730123>>58730287There's only so much you can min-max. Plus, you won't be the only one doing these things.Keep those things into consideration but don't become obsessed with them. You'll end up spending more time trying to exploit the algo than actually writing.
>>58729720Doesn't engagement just mostly boost popularity on forums where discussion and posts will keep the thread bumped near the front pages?Ao3 and FFnet has no way of keeping fics near the first couple of pages other than near daily posting. I have no idea how many people often filter by kudo/favs + updated within 1 week/month to see what's generally trending.Seems like the next step to boost numbers on those two platforms would be to shill your fic on reddit or other sites.
>>58730297>Don’t become obsessed with them100% right. Even if you post regularly, if no one gives a fuck about what you’re writing, you won’t get the engagement you desire.Forums definitely end up farming larger engagement as there are more ways to interact with the story (so far in my experience), and there are ways to game the system, but other writers are often in on those games as well. For QQ’s NSFW it’s a miracle if my fic lasts 10 minutes on the front page (even less for SB). The end all, be all of engagement imo, is post with decent consistency, and have a good story to tell. Not gonna lie, my vain ass has a proud smile when I see 200+ readers in the thread after an update, with only a few I recognize (I recognize a lot of the names cuz I’m vain and autistic).Ao3 and FFN definitely require some shilling to get off the ground, but once you’ve got good reviews and decent ratios of likes/faves to chapters, there’s a passive resume will start working for you (hence the passive trickle of views overall).
>>58730353>Not gonna lie, my vain ass has a proud smile when I see 200+ readers in the thread after an update, with only a few I recognize (I recognize a lot of the names cuz I’m vain and autistic).Nothing wrong with that considering we've got people like vtubers who stalk their regulars social media. Egosa can be a drug.
>>58730353>my vain ass has a proud smile when I see 200+ readers in the thread after an updateMy impostor syndrome ass was the opposite. Seeing more than 100 readers just made writing feel uncomfortably pressuring. Took the fun right out of it.
>>58730003There is that pmdfic that sometimes get shilled here, but it isn't really familylike.
>>58729892Thats cause Yugioh has an actual logical reason for it being turn based. Though this has suddenly given me an idea for a really cool 'turn based' power system.
>>58730353>Even if you post regularly, if no one gives a fuck about what you’re writing, you won’t get the engagement you desire. Don't know about that, because fics like the new normal get a lot of attention and they're boring as shit
>>58731130>new normalNew Normal ticks most of the checklist. It might not be fine dining, but it's got that fast food power fantasy "inventing the fairy type" appeal all wrapped in digestible regular updates.Although I haven't read it in a long time because I fucking hate "politics" that are no more than high school drama dressed in a suit.
>>58729892When two trainers lock eyes with mutual hostile intent, they become locked into an Aura Contract that binds them and their Pokemon down to their very soul. They can only order ONE (1) action per turn. They cannot purposefully target the opposing trainer. They cannot throw Pokeballs at caught Pokemon, and so on and so forth. This is part of a universe-wide restriction placed by Arceus after unchecked cultivation and battling led to widespread ESCALATION and destruction.
>>58731224fic idea: aurafag gets isekai'd in a Pokemon world without aura
>>58731383That would be so lame and gay, imagine going from having superpowers to having to actually rely on your Pokemon to fight for you and help you overcome obstacles
>>58731410Friendship is the strongest superpower
>>58731450How do you refine that into a pill?
>>58729855>>58729857>>58729877>>58729893I saw an anon shilling this fic last thread and I clicked on a random chapter on SB just to see what it was about. The narration was so terribly dry that I didn’t finish the chapter. I actually really didn’t give a shit that it used hard game mechanics, but the way they were described was incompetent and borderline autistic. The premise was interesting but I’m not giving it another shot. Funnily enough, it reminded me of some laughable power of friendship fics that I pretended to be okay with because I didn’t want to make the authors feel bad (they were part of a friend group that has since broken up).>>58731224Anyways, I am not actually a regular here. Can someone explain to me why cultivation and aura fanfiction is such a meme here?
>>58731467Painkillers
>>58730656Lonesome No More? I might give it a shot.
>>58731528While not exactly human turned pokemon, it is the best pmdfic next to maybe Heroes of the Past. Plus LNM is complete as is its sequel Whereabouts Unkown.
>>58731487>Anyways, I am not actually a regular here. Can someone explain to me why cultivation and aura fanfiction is such a meme here?Cause it's dogshit and kino at the same time. (Mostly dogshit.)
>>58730512>writes fic, hopefully people will like it>NO WAIT, THERE'S TOO MANY PEOPLE READING IT!stage fright is a bitch
>>58731383Even better, make it an auralet in a world of aurafags>everyone has aura in pokemon>protag is isekai'd from our world so he has no aura
>>58731487Which fic?
>>58731487>Can someone explain to me why cultivation and aura fanfiction is such a meme here?Because its cool, trash, but cool and those that use it do it in the most boring way, just punch harder retards that can talk to Pokémon instead of anything cool like>Flying in your aura sword>Barrier >Healing >Sealing And the typical xianxia stuff
>>58731770When I Win The World Ends
>>58731761>Is secretly the strongest of all because in a world of people obsessed with personal strength, only the MC has the drive to truly bond with his Pokemon and draw out their true power
>>58731882This is the only circumstance I will accept "weakest but actually strongest"
>I'm so creatively bankrupt that I just want to do a lunar base straight out of FF 8Pokémon just doesn't do it for me anymore, every idea I get is destroyed by the god awful canon
>>58732020Wipe your ass with canon if you think you can do something better.
>>58732592This. It's called FAN for a reason, retard.The fuck are you letting canon have you by the balls for?
>>58730353Was gonna upload on QQ over the weekend, do you have any advice on threads to shill yourself in, and how often you should be updating chapters until you've caught up?
>>58732020Every chapter of my fic are inspired on TV shows and movies I watched
>>58731487>someone explain to me why cultivation and aura fanfiction is such a meme here?My memory's hazy, but I think it was because MCs-with-aura/superpowers was a prevalent thing in some currently running fics, prompting some anon to relate it to cultivation, and things kinda spiraled from there sorta like how humans being WEAK and pokemon being STRONG prompted birthed pidgeysama.I'm not autistic enough to check the archive to verify, so I'm sticking with this headcanon until someone convinces otherwise.
>>58732638b-but the more you stray from canon the more you alienate potential readers
>>58732765QQ is a weird beast I assume IMOanon. So I started in the SFW section cuz I really didn’t want to do NSFW with PoPT. I did change my mind and made it a mostly QQ exclusive thing cuz that’s where I’ve got the most engaged community and it was my way of expressing gratitude to them. But the SFW board is less engagement but still will give you some good engagement (especially compared to what you’ve experienced). I’d even be down to post a link to it in my thread cuz I’ve got readers fiending for Pokémon content and you’re clearly telling a story that isn’t just journeyslop.But to get back to your question, I’d just go with a consistent daily posting schedule and once you’re caught up, disclose what your normal schedule is from then on. I didn’t post in any threads to shill, I just kept my updating and commenting on replies. Space out your replies to commenters to keep your thread in the first few pages when you do post. A good chunk of Pokémon fics posted on QQ are bland, journeyslop Patreon bait so you’ll eventually stick out a bit. Having child main characters will kinda kill your viability on the NSFW forum, but that’s life.
>>58732931What? It's the opposite if anything.Hell, pure novelizations, once common, have all but disappeared through all fandoms, too.
>>58732592>>58732638If all those Zero no Tsukaima fics taught me something is that people are really obssessed with canon, like just look at all the Pokémon game novelizations but edgy, hell this thread shitted on some poor anon because his OC villain won against a named character
>>58733070>ZnTI thought it was more like most authors are creatively bankrupt and just like that moment where Guiche gets his shit pushed in by whomever Louise summons in that fic because readers love that power fantasy.Most of the initial plot points happen because of outside influence so there's not much the main characters can change initially.I realize while typing this, I don't think I've read a single ZnT SI fic where there is some kind of foreknowledge involved.
>>58732957Thanks for the advice dude and yeah I'm IMOanon. When I tried on Spacebattles I got no replies at all, which I mostly ascribe to me, I'm not good at putting my name out there. So I wanted to make sure I put more work in that this time. If you'd be willing to link to it that'd be fucking amazing, I glanced through the first few pages of your thread when I was starting to read, but I decided to stick to reading it on Ao3 so I can form my own opinions on the plot without outside commentary.>Having child main characters will kinda kill your viability on the NSFW forum, but that’s life.It's kind of ironic, really, when I was publishing smut for money back in college the laws for shit you could put on the shelves of Target were more lax on underage sexual content than the rules on most internet forums.I might consider still doing some NSFW of the older characters, or any that hit 18 during the course of time.
>>58733070>OC villain>OCYou sure this isn't the issue instead?
>>58733092>When I tried on Spacebattles I got no replies at allWe had a list iirc
>>58733093Canon Pokémon villains suck to be fair, I'd rather take characters from old and dead franchises than the retards we got
>>58733092NTA but I feel the need to clarify, NSFW there is a thread label, not a story label, it means people in the thread are allowed to post (on-topic) NSFW stuff like images and fan-omakes. The staff will not give a fuck if the actual story you share is wholly SFW in content and it's the really SFW section of the site that's treated as a containment board for people who don't want NSFW stuff at all in their threads. Many story threads remain without seeing a speck of smut and you can just outright tag your story as not having smut to filter out people that are only looking for that. Hope this helps.
>>58733133This anon’s 100% right, but I also feel like if I’m posting in the NSFW board I should at least give em something to tickle their fancy.>>58733092If you wanted to kill any rogue autist coming in and saying “where’s the sex!” having adult character smut can work. Even one scene in an Extras tab will get the (very few but strangely militant) fuckers to stop. Obviously not necessary as the mods won’t trip.I’d wait until you’ve got a couple chapters in your thread before I start sending peeps your way. Also will recommend my OG Ao3 commenter who you’ve likely noticed if you’ve peeped my comment sections, idk if he’d check it out but I’ll at least put a recommendation.
>>58733093Shouldn't be, the villain was a pretty based Metal Gear reference
>>58733070>this thread shitted on some poor anon because his OC villain won against a named characterThat doesn't sound like something we'd shit on on principle. There must've been something else about it that tilted the thread.
We have beef, pork, and fish covered for Pokemon, but what's the chicken? Combusken doesn't feel right to eat.
>>58733251Yeah when was this?>>58733109Let's make a bingo card, submit your cliches.
>>58733263Obviously, fighting types are too tough and sinewy to eat
>>58733285Does this mean torchic are very common creature or did they fuck up the torchic line by selectively breeding a domestic broiler chicken variant for meat yield, low power and short lifespans.
>>58733251>>58733276Found it>>56999770This is where the guy complaining about the OC started if you wanted to check.
>>58706607How do/would you guys depict Mega Evolution? In the anime it's shown as this yellow lightning link between the Mega and Key Stone with the Pokemon morphing into its evolution like normal evolution (except it's surrounded by yellow instead of blue) while in the games it's shown as a circular cocoon that shatters after a second or two, revealing the Mega Evolved Pokemon.How would people react to Mega Evolution as being shown as mundane? I had an idea for an OC who just lazily flicks the stone and it lights up like a terribly impressive toy while the Pokemon just glows and blandly morphs into its Mega. The idea behind this is to show the lack of bond between the two and depict Mega Evolution as strictly a power boost achieved through pure strength ("leveling") rather than an expression of how the two make each other stronger and have built upon each other's power. I feel like the anime really embellishes how grand Mega Evolution is for shonen effect to appeal to kids.
>>58733333bruh
>>58733301They created an obese variant of Torchic that dislikes fighting and spends its days stuffing its fat fucking face. In the rare event it does evolve it turns into a sumo wrestler that prioritizes defense and HP over attack
>>58733350Have you ever seen how they make foie gras?
The dude who write Ghost Specialist released a new story, this time where the isekai’d trainer has an Iron Valiant. Thoughts on that? Is it a bit much, or not?
>>58733384Didn't know this was by the same guy who did Type Specialist but I guess I should've known based on the similar titles. Does he only post on RR? I hate reading on that site.
>>58733276>Isekaijin age regresses or transmigrates into a younger body>Unlocks aura from generic meditation>Is the first to discover things that should be common knowledge, like the Fairy type or how to evolve a Growlithe>Oi m8 you got a Loicense for that?>EsCaLaTiOn>Can effortlessly modify/create moves but others can't just because>Disrespects powerful people and instead of facing consequences is instead rewarded>"Politics">Makes waves but canon timeline remains mostly intact regardless>Isekaijin has a near encyclopedic of all things pokemon>Gets a psychic pokemon to communicate with their team but for some reason this isn't common practice>Gravity training
>>58733395As far as I can tell, yeah.
>>58733397You forgot>Nutrition>All characters of the opposite sex near the MC’s age are instantly attracted to the MC>Clair bashing
>>58733422how the fuck did I forget nutrition, jesus christ
>>58733397>despite all the advantages they get, they still struggle with literally every Gym battle
>>58733276>Marvel or similar referential Humor>Humiliation Rituals (I love PoTown thoughever)>Overpowered/Underpowered Legendaries>Being Champion is like being a Region's Military Dictator
>>58733474>being Champion is being a region's military dictatorThis one makes sense. Are you going to argue with the guy with the demigod fire-breathing dragon that instakills every other Pokemon?
>>58733483oh I subscribe to a lot of these fanon bs myself lol, this shit is for fun. Also forgot one that does annoy me>absurd character bashing i.e. Mr Fuji
>>58733483When has there ever been anything implied or shown like this in any Pokemon media?
How do you plan out a story? Do you do an outline? Notes?
>>58733534Bigass timeline
>>58733483Unless the fic itself changes things, pokemon's powerscaling doesn't really get that absurd. Using creepy crawlies for reference, champions are just soldier ants that are larger than average... and soldier ants are still easily chewed apart by a couple of normal ants ganging up on them, just like ants can gang up on spiders.
>>58733397>MC was born and raised in-universe and his upbringing is crucial to his arc>Will never possess aura and in fact all his rivals are and will remain physically superior to him (as are most of his allies)>Forgot Bulbasaur knows Tackle>Criteria for receiving a Pokemon from the Professor was "Fuck it lol">Good guys physically fight evil people because why would they not, if it helps >First person seen to radically change the use of a move in-story is a random grunt, and the most extraordinary part of it was the weird name attached>Upsets his big sis by NOT showing her less respect>Corporate Espionage>Takes place entirely after the canon timeline of games>MC has a near-encyclopedic knowledge of Pokemon, but his teammate just intuitively knows shit as well as him despite never studying >All trainers can naturally come to understand their Pokemon with time >Gravity training... would kill himBros... was I doomed from the start?...
>>58733550the author can make them as strong as they need to be for that kind of influence to make sense.
>>58733534write out higher level plot points, add subplot points I'm interested in writing, add sub details, write small sections to see how it feels. Avoid writing an introduction at first, a first chapter, write a later chapter like chp3 or chp4 first so you can backfill later. If you have multiple PoVs, write out who they are and bullet points concepts/ideas you want to touch on. "Is this person internally arrogantly giving a view of why they act the way they do? Maybe they have deep beliefs and are invested, maybe they don't care"If someone cool sticks out to you, add it to a "would be cool to have" bucket, you may end up with weird one off things you thought were decent in the moment. If they stay cool at a later look, expand them.finally unify something into a coherent flow. 10 chapters of writing is a good threshold, lets say (2k-4k word chapters). Do that, and you have something solid. Additionally, use AI tools to review things first, it often catches minor grammar things, and rewrite paragraphs and wording if you care to.Do that and you have a solid story to work with eventually.
>>58733566AOE attacks don't lose strength.This means Pikachu in episode 1 can fry 100s of spearow because individually, it can fry 1 spearow. This makes it way easier to handle hordes of weaker Pokemon.And that specific rat wound up growing strong enough to clear island-wide storms with its own electricity.
>>58733397>EsCaLaTiOnWhat's this? Most trash I know devolves into either SoL or drama. Either way, an endless quagmire with zero progression. I fucking wish they escalated. Then they'd run out of room and have to fucking endThe other stuff is on point. Especially>Disrespects powerful people and instead of facing consequences is instead rewardedBad authors can't visualize their self insert from anybody else's point of view
>>58733583>Geodude used Wide Guard!
>>58733608escalation is a meme about how you could just attack the trainers and that they don't so that in order to avoid a full blown war. Criminals operate with a certain code of conduct or else it'll turn into open slaughter with champions razing cities.
>>58733608What the other anon said, but I want to clarify that these "escalation" writers always treat escalation in extreme absolutes and never consider the possibility that criminals could do something other than killing the other trainer.Because it's not like we've ever seen criminals targeting trainers or taking them captive or anything.
>>58733609"Ah my wide guard counter I haven't used since the Sinjoh Era"
>>58733583>AOE attacks don't lose strength*pushes up glasses*>In Generation III, if there is more than one target, moves that can hit both foes (but not moves that hit all Pokémon on the field, such as Earthquake) have their damage reduced by 50%. In subsequent games, if there is more than one target, any move that can hit multiple Pokémon has its damage reduced by 25%
>>58733617Oh, yeah. 100% belongs on the list
>>58733321Hey, that's my post.iirc I shat on that dude not because it was OC winning against named characters but because his OC villains were comically OP.
>>58733733Sigh I'm going to touch you
>>58733617Why not just defeat the Trainer normally and then kill them once all of their Pokemon are downed?
>>58733833don't respond to somebody dredging up previous threads to defend their shitty oc long after the conversation ended. they aren't mentally stable and they'll just shit up the thread
>>58733833I've changed up some stuff pretty significantly since back then, but if you've read it you've already seen the OC that was getting discussed in In Mine Own.>>58733903What the fuck are you talking about?
>>58732020FF8 is my favorite FF so I say go for it. I'm already stealing something else from it for my fic.
>>58732020steal the lunar base from ff4 instead
>>58733986For me, it's stealing the Evil Tree from ff5
>>58732931Good, I want aliens to read my fics.
>>58733630How does rape rank escalation-wise, like you don't cripple or hurt the other trainer too badly, you just restrain them and give them a bit of cheeky rape for a while, just a bit of banter you know
>>58731743This is pmuch exactly what happened. Then it reframed my perspective and made me start second guessing every narrative decision and bit of prose I was making. Fuckin hell. Screw human psychology
>>58733534All in my head, and wing it as I go.
>>58733557Yes, but rebelling against fate is what all men should strive for.
>>58733986*laughs in FF1 Flying Fortress*
>>58733557DUMB COWARD >:(
>>58733534I take it you've conceived an idea for a story? I might be reading too much into things, but I'll ramble away regardless.Once you have the basic idea of the story down, fleshing it out with outlines is nice. Although if you go too hard with it (I'm saying more than 4 detailed outlines), you can easily kill the process of discovery which is crucial for good storytelling. Some of my favorite moments of my WIP were nowhere to be seen on my initial outlines. You do want to leave yourself some wiggle room to change up the pace every so often as well. I had some chapters heavy with emotional drama and knew it was going to pile up a bit more in the near future so I dropped a quick "MC fucks up some random baddies" chapter in between and it was just what the story needed.For the stories I've gotten to the point of actually writing the first chapter with, I tend to segment sections of the story into arcs. I have the macros down of the story and the big events that happen in each arc, but I leave a lot of the details for me to fill in once I'm actually at that arc. Say you have 9 arcs in your story. When you're just starting arc 1, there's no way of knowing what minutiae you're going to need for set up and to cover for certain things in arc 7. You'll know the broad strokes of what happens there, and it'll get fleshed out the closer you get to it naturally, so it's not worth agonizing over. When I start an arc I do a pretty thorough, detailed outline of the arc (that I'm willing to mess with if the wind isn't blowing the way it's "supposed to"). It helps keep me anchored on the necessities of the arc, whether for good storytelling or for setting up later plot things.
>>58733070To be fair, it really ticks me off when MC's Pokemon have moves that shouldn't learn
>>58734312I have a bunch of ideas but have no clue where to go with them.
>>58734381Consider the progression you'd need to get to the cool scenes/ideas you're imagining, and what would need to happen to bring you there, see if you can follow that back to a beginning point.
>>58734381That's par for the course, and not every idea's going to be able to work in the initial story you plan, but each compelling idea will find their way into a story in some way (maybe even future stories).I'd say work on fleshing the setting out a bit, and feel free to play fast and loose with canon. Maybe it's years after/before a game's events so there are different characters in the region, or you're in a full on AU. In the concept phase you're in, you can definitely find ways to include your ideas in. It's like shaping softened clay when it's formless.I assume some of these ideas involve a main character... maybe find a way to weave other ideas into the MC's story (or leave room for setup). Once you get your main character and your conflict in order, you'll start getting more specific in other parts. Feel free to lean on tropes from things you've seen in this initial phase, once you flesh the world and story around the tropes they'll be mostly unrecognizable. Or hey, it'll inspire you to do something different. For my last bit of advice, run with the ideas that have room for added depth and complexity.
How do you deal with writing about characters you simply don't care about and interested at all in whatsoever but you have to because they're part of the story/setting you decided on writing.For example: I'm writing a story set in Johto but I don't care for Whitney but my story is about to reach Goldenrod.How do you get over this kind of stuff that completely saps your motivation and desire to continue writing?
>>58734592>you have toNo, you fucking don't. Why would you force yourself to write stuff your audience will probably enjoy as little as you because you're phoning it in? Every gym being a big milestone perfectly crafted for the protagonist is so contrived it made the meme list: >>58733446Just think for two seconds. There's so many ways to avoid this.>girl isn't there, somebody else runs the place in her absence>thwart elaborate attack or disaster and get the badge for free, anime style. whitney is too busy doing damage control and barely shows up>protagonists were so afraid of the death rollout they overprepare and steamroll the gym, showing how much they've grown. you skip everything to emphasize what a stomp it was>shenanigans prevent gym battle, have to do minor gyms or elaborate challenges or literally fucking anything else you are the author
>>58734592Say that she died on the way to her home planet and skip her gym battle
>>58734592Off screen the gym battle. Have the character remark that it was a boring battle in post.
>>58734592Have her lose all her money in that stupid fucking voltorb game, go bankrupt and sell her body and remaining gym badges. MC orders it on Amazon.
What's the most powerfull humilaition ritual you've ever seen in a pokefic?
>>58734381If you've never written before then just say 'fuck it' and start writing. Your first story is always bad, just like the first attempt at anything new a person does. The hardest part for many people is just starting at all, so sometimes you have to throw caution to the wind and just write. Planning is useful, but don't let the desire to craft the perfect story prevent you from ever actually starting. I'd say take one of your ideas and write out a single chapter short story in one session. Low pressure since it doesn't have to be amazing, low commitment so if you end up not liking it you won't feel compelled to continue it. Then share it to get a taste of the nerves for showing others your work, and build up some tolerance for possible reactions (whether that be criticism or silence). This will help dispel the sometimes daunting idea of writing in your mind and make it easier to write more.
>>58734592Huh. Sounds like you need to mix up your story. If you're writing an exact story of the games then you are probably going to run into this issue again with other characters. I'd say make a pivot in your story, but thats easier said than done. If you really need Whitney, pull an Ash and have your mc earn the badge in some other way besides battling her.
>>58734592The first thing I would say is ask yourself "What do I not like about this character?" Is it their attitude, the way they talk, their actions? In doing so you'll get a better view of the character as well, just like asking why you love a character. The next thing to do is write them however is easiest for you. If it's so bad that you lose writing motivation, don't even bother, but if writing Whitney as a weak-willed sniveling bitch who gets called out gets you through it, go with that!The good news about Whitney is that she's meant to be unlikeable. Even her own gym trainer's know she's a brat so writing her to be unlikeable would work well. Have other characters agree with your own assertion of Whitney. You don't need to appease Whitney fans. Appease yourself first and foremost
>>58735406Sorry about the reddit spacing lads. I have a cold and my inner incel comes out
>>58735407Its okay I won't tell anyone I saw you do it.
>>58735172Silver calling monster to Mr. Fuji always gets me
>>58735550Other way around my dude>"Now's not the time to express regret!" I barked, silencing the old man. "You'll tell me what you did to me or else.">He quickly gave up on explaining at my merciless gaze, merely bowing his head.>"...I was not the one tasked with overseeing your progress. I only saw you occasionally… but from my understanding, we were tasked with injecting the cells of Mewtwo inside of you. I merely extracted those cells before giving them away.">"What…?" Green said in horror. She glanced at me in horror and I had a carefully blank expression on my face.>"Why?" I asked coolly.>"I'm not aware of the reason why. It was not my jurisdiction," Fuji replied.>"So which scientist's jurisdiction was it?" I pressed with narrowed eyes.>"Please... I just. I just wanted to save my daughter," he said brokenly, gazing at me pleadingly. "I never intended for any of this...">I said nothing, staring at the tears forming in the old man's eyes with a tilted head.>Then, I slowly walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, leaning in to whisper into his ears.>"I don't give a fuck about your daughter. Stop bringing her up like I care," I muttered cruelly.>"If anyone asks, we don't know each other. If I find out you said anything before I speak to Blaine… You and him are gonna be in for a bad time," I pulled out my Pokedex and waved it, before shoving it in my pocket.>"Thanks for your time, Dr. Fuji. Stick to caring for abandoned pokemon. You never know how much longer you'll be able to do it.">"You're... you're a monster," he sobbed in defeat.>Green whirled and glared at him with all the fury in the world but I simply looked back at him with a cold glint on my apathetic face.>"Monster... I wonder if that's what you called me while experimenting on me. I'm just the product of an environment that you participated in. You created two monsters, now reap the consequences of being a fucking idiot," I sneered
Humiliation rituals are passé. We need more suffering rituals. MCs need to be dragged through unfathomable hells before they're allowed their happy ending.
>>58735649No, not even a happy ending.
>>58735625>"You and him are gonna be in for a bad time," I pulled out my Pokedex and waved itOh no, not the Pokedexerino
>>58735666Yeah, the MC should end up alone and the love interest with the asshole side character that was constantly against him and betrays him at every point he can
>>58735854hyde eating good tonight
>>58735649Way ahead of you there.>>58735854>>58735870Stop giving me ideas.
>>58735649PokeNormal is a semi suffering/humiliation ritual. The MC has been running on a lack of sleep and proper food since the story started while ghosts are trying to murder him. All his pokemon are weak, one has a running gag of being instantly knocked out at the start of every fight. So a lot of his time is spent running away and getting beat up.
>>58735649I ascribe to the Fullmetal Alchemist methodology: the hero can only smile after losing most of his family, many of his friends, his childhood home, and the foundation of his belief system.
>>58735999Oh and at least one limb.
>>58736015in those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only, truth
For those who've read my Poop Town humiliation ritual, would you consider that Ula'Ula Island to be a post-apocalyptic setting? I haven't felt that vibe but I've seen it mentioned. It's definitely post-societal collapse, but the damage done isn't irreversible. I might be biased because at one point we will go to a post-apocalyptic world that can't be fixed, and what caused that hasn't hit this Alola yet
>>58736047>It's definitely post-societal collapseThis basically.
>>58736057As in not post-apocalyptic, nothing grossly has reduced all the systems, functions or even species to rubble yet.
>>58736047It's an Escape From New York style localized collapse. Since the entire story takes place there it's functionally the same. That said, Poop Town has schools and farms and such so it could be measurably shittier. As a wise scholar once posited, there could be more poop to poop
>>58736047No, its not post apoc. Its in a crisis. Can be post apoc if the apocalypse is still in progress.
>>58735649My MC lives in a single room above a bowling alley and below another bowling alley
>>58735649My MC has 'died' 4 times as of now.
>>58736103>Oh, what's this? A Zapdos? Well, I don't need safety gloves because I'm Ash Ket--
>>58736103>I'm saying you're what's wrong with Alola, Ian. You coast through life, you do as little as possible, and you leech off decent, hardworking people like me. If you lived in any other region in the world, you'd have starved to death long ago.
page 10, new thread>>58736467
>>58736047I always considered it a 3rd world setting. Alola doesn't have a real league and is full of tribal retards -> Alola is a 3rd world shithole that's in desperate need of a 1st world region saving them and liberating all their precious resources in the process. A 1st world region like, say, Unova.
