POPULAR: Cliches in Pokémon Fanfiction

[Jaypom]

The average journey fic is in itself a huge undertaking - I've been writing The Long Walk since 2013 and I'm roughly a third of the way through. Aether's been at Unpredictable since 2010. I wouldn't dare take on a story like that spanning multiple regions. Even if time weren't a consideration, how do you, realistically, keep a story going that long?

I think I'd want to consider first what the point is of going round the regions. If it's mostly to showcase the regions and have fun doing setting, it seems to me that an anthology of short stories would be a better way to approach that

I've been on mine since 2014 and I've only just hit half-way through the first book in my series (of most likely 6-7 books). I can't imagine how long it would take to go through ALL regions since it takes long enough to go through one.

 

[diamondpearl876]

I mean, if anyone wants to write the next Wheel of Time series in Pokemon form, twelve books should be more than enough to have your characters go through all the regions.

 

[Ereshkigal]

I'd rather write the next Discworld in Pokemon

And, I'm finding a journey fic is a bit tough when you have plots other than just the journey involved.

 

[Beth Pavell]

I'd rather write the next Discworld in Pokemon

So would I, but I just ain't good enough

 

[Ereshkigal]

So would I, but I just ain't good enough

Neither am I. Not even close.

I guess I need to get out my Applied Necromancy For Dummies book and see if I can interest Terry Pratchet in Pokemon...

 

[Misfit Angel]

If I kept the action to the original region during Storm Island (instead of that shipwreck in Asia plot), I'd have probably rounded the island at least once, or at least 85% of it by the chapter I ended at. It takes a loooooooot of work to do a single region, especially if you decide to slow down for character development.

That said, I'm already looking for excuses to leave Lanark (very briefly, 2-4 chapters at the most) in Land of the Roses. I don't know why, but the idea of visiting other places appeals to me for some reason. Probably because I never get to travel myself and thus have to live vicariously through my writing.

 

[Beth Pavell]

I don't know why, but the idea of visiting other places appeals to me for some reason

I know the feeling. I had a list of excuses for an Orange Archipelago arc in The Long Walk at one point. Somehow that metastisised into Kanto: There and Back Again, which I suppose is lucky

 

[Ereshkigal]

I have a list of excuses for every region for Multiple Dimensionality. Some of them are rather flimsy...

 

[Nitro Indigo]

The Pokémon universe is so flexible that it actually sounds feasable<sp?> that a fan could write a super-long series about it.

 

[CrystaI]

When the Pokemon Anime and also the Pokemon Game took 3 years to develop a story within one region, and it was developed by a whole bunch of people (if only account the story-writing board, still it had several writers), how long will it take for us one single fanfic writer to write story of one region? Not yet mentioning across several different regions.

That's why I had long abandon to work on my very first virgin work. And my most recent one that I still yet to post onto somewhere, it is a "journey"fic that has very few traveling limited to only several selected cities.

 

[SuperTrainStationH]

I'm not as well read as I aught to with the fics around here in general, but have there been a great many fics based around just developing a single location without a major "travel" or "journey" aspect, in which there's a single problem to be solved rather than a series of episodic incidents?

I say this because reading the discussion made me think, a lot of Pokemon fics take up that journey format due to the history of the anime series and the mainline video games, but the Pokemon feature films tend to take place in a single location, a town, a city, a castle, etc., that's often developed to some extent to be endearing, and the characters usually have to break in to, or escape from said location to stop a villain or misguided legendary Pokemon that's attacking the location, with little travel involved aside from the main characters arriving at the certain location.

And the thing is, the movies treat Ash and his friends in such a way that any previous history they had can be completely ignored for the purpose of the story presently being told, so now that I think of it I'm kind of surprised I haven't seen this format show up more frequently, as maybe it could give a chance for a complete story to be told with epic stakes, but not at a scale that becomes un-managable for the writer.

I'm not saying it isn't a thing, just that I haven't seen a lot of it personally, possibly because I'm poorly read.

I can think of ONE fic that does something like this, but its on the now defunct Glacidia Forums and I can't remember its name.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

I don't read Pokémon fanfics with humans in them very often, but the Mystery Dungeon equivalent of the journey fic is the Explorers rehash. I get bothered by Mystery Dungeon fanfics with "Explorers" in the title when they're not strictly based on Explorers - there are other PMD games, you know!

 

[AetherX]

I'm not as well read as I aught to with the fics around here in general, but have there been a great many fics based around just developing a single location without a major "travel" or "journey" aspect, in which there's a single problem to be solved rather than a series of episodic incidents?

The only one I can think of is Dawn of Darkness from @AceTrainer14. It's an origin story that takes place almost entirely in Sunyshore City. The constant setting is very much to the story's benefit. It allows the setting to be fleshed out a lot more while also helping the story stay focused. I wish more stories did it, but as you say, traveling is an important aspect of Pokemon. There's a reason it's a recurring theme.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Since apparently I'm an expert on this, I figured I should comment XD I think that the journey aspect of Pokemon fics is something that a lot of people fall into, not that it is inherently a bad thing, but I think it would be interesting to see more fics take place within just one or two cities. I've seen a lot of stories that aren't really dealing with 'journey fic' themes that still send the characters out on a quest. The next story I am going to work on takes place entirely on one island in Alola: there's a lot that can be mined from having just one location and using it as a character as opposed to just something to pass by.

Academy fics are a good example of this. Since they normally take place in schools in secluded locations, the school really can be a character. All those children/teenagers walled up inside one location - they are kind of like prisons when you think about it. There's a lot that side of things can add to a story.

 

[Ereshkigal]

What about a journey fic that never leaves one city? Many real-world cities are huge, with quite a variety of potential terrain in them. If they can manage a frozen gym for ice-types, why not a frozen park?

 

[AceTrainer14]

What about a journey fic that never leaves one city? Many real-world cities are huge, with quite a variety of potential terrain in them. If they can manage a frozen gym for ice-types, why not a frozen park?

I guess it would depend on what the plot was to make it a 'journey'. A journey fic is usually one where someone goes off and explores the world while fulfilling some other goal - gym battles, contests, musicals, godly quests ala Love and Other Nightmares. Just exploring a city on its own isn't really a journey. However, you are right that there are a lot of big cities in the Pokemon world and they could very easily be explored in a story. There is so much potential in a city like Castelia, Lumiose or Goldenrod, that you could explore the city in a journey-esque fashion while telling a story that has nothing to do with the 'journey' tropes. Off the top of my head, Castelia with the multiple skyscrapers, alleyways, sewage systems and secret areas would be a perfect setting for a crime or dark based story.

 

[diamondpearl876]

You could associate journey with coming of age or adventure and have the setting be one large city or something to that effect. Journey doesn't automatically mean your character takes on a region's gym circuit.

 

[Ereshkigal]

I was going with the idea that the Journey itself might be part a coming of age ceremony, and part to help someone come to know if they truly want to continue being a trainer and find their own definition of "Pokemon Master."

Thus, you can have characters who continue training and continue to battle, but for whom the journey ended a long time ago. And characters who completed their journey before it even began...

 

[AceTrainer14]

A coming of age story can just be a coming of age story though, it doesn't have to have the word journey anywhere near it. Less of a cliche, but a huge issue I've noticed in the Pokemon fandom is just trying to put things into labels. It's something we have an issue with here thanks to the awards and our very bland blanket title of 'Dark', but I feel like the title of 'Journey' is just very detrimental to the fandom. Labels make stories more appealing to skeptical audiences, but people should be trying out new, original-ish stories rather than trying to sell it off the bat.

 

[UselessBytes]

I'd like to see a story with a darkness-themed character who isn't a recluse or emo, and none of the other characters are bothered by them at all. If you can't find a story containing something you'd like to see, write it yourself!

I mean, I'm a little late to reply to this, but I've got a story in planning with a dark type user who isn't edgy. He's sellsword type of trainer, and the whole dark type theme is used to represent mystery and moral ambiguity rather than emo vibes