DISCUSSION: Journey Fic Discussion

[CrystaI]

Recently on another Pokemon forum fanfic section, the topic of journey fic was often being discussed, so I was a bit curious, as I am also writing one.

What I wanted to know, is the general thought of the genre "journey fic" within the Pokemon fanfic community. How one sees it? What do you think of it in general? What makes it so popular within the Pokemon fanfic community? What is so good/bad about journey fic in general? What are the common tropes you always saw? Do you have any specific sentiment towards this genre in general? Do you have any comment towards other writers that write story in this genre?

BTW, if one wanted to discuss about how to write a good journey fic, one may discuss it in this thread. Though it is quite old.

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As I am the one started the thread, I shall give my general comment on the journey fic.

Basically every Pokemon fanfic writer should knew it already, it is the common take of main series Pokemon gameplay experience into writings. It generally takes the form of protagonist start as a trainer -> receive first pokemon from whatever person -> challenge gyms -> encounter and being involved with some villainous team -> complete the Pokemon League.

Not that I had read a lot of different journey fics (I only quickly scanned through 3 of them, all in Japanese), but for one thing I notice about it for definite, is that the structure had been followed quite faithfully by many writers, where the structure itself had became so stereotypical to the point of cliche.

Though to be fair, I wouldn't deny there are exists good quality journey fic despite it follows this traditional structure so faithfully. But for me personally, I got really disinterested in reading such traditionally structured fic when I browse through the Pokemon fanfic community, seeing all the introduction/prologue of many journey fic that reads more or less the same.

That's why, I am really hoping for some kind of journey fic that will "break this tradition". Since I didn't expected anyone shall understand very much of my feeling, hence I started to write a "traditionally unconventional" journey fic. (Nah, the true reason I started this project was because of my another fanfic project)

 

[Beth Pavell]

I like this sub-genre, and I have a lot of time for it. I tend to like to see more of the slice-of-life/everyday life (Whatever you want to call it) in pokémon fanfic anyway, and that's my taste in anime as well, to put it in context. But in any case I think the journeyfic is popular because it puts the imaginary journey we go through in each game onto paper.

Where journeyfics fall down, I think, is usually in a couple of areas. The first is that they're simply rushed. I must have read any amount where the protagonist is rushed through the usual "My x birthday! - My first pokémon! - Bye Mum!" business as fast as possible, often in less than 2,000 words. Part of that is probably down to a perception that anything that isn't either battling an evil team, winning a badge or catching a pokémon is "filler" and should be downplayed as much as possible.

The other area is that many of them stick very closely to the source material - often a game plot. The problem with that is that anyone who has played the game will already be familiar with the meat of the story. A straight-up novelisation of a game plot can work, but I think it really needs to be supported by detailed characters and especially with a detailed world.

I write a journeyfic, of course, so let's get that out of the way. By the standards of most journeyfics I think it's safe to say it has a fair few things different to the usual. Off the top of head, a couple of other journeyfics that do the genre well:

Unpredictable, which takes the most difficult one of all, the Kanto journey, and moves away from the typical plot progression

Lucky Egg, unfortunately rarely updated, but demonstrates my point about not rushing and really taking the time to build the world

 

[AetherX]

Ohhhh boy. There's a lot to say on this, but I'll try to keep it relatively short. I write a journey fic too. It's really damn cliche, because it is/was the first Pokemon fanfic I ever wrote. In recent years I've tried my best to dropkick some of the more tired tropes into the ocean, but I've already embraced so many that it's really impossibly to escape. I wouldn't even say it's moved very far from the typical plot progression. I'd start over, but I'm too stubborn.

Journey fics are cool because they're the core of Pokemon fanfiction. To me, they capture everything that I love about Pokemon: adventure, exploration, friendship, and growth as a person. They're a great place to start as a beginning writer because the skeleton of a story is already done for you (the gym quest). All you really need to do is drop in some good characters with decent motivations to be on the journey, paint your region of choice in pretty colors, and if you're feeling ambitious, add original (or unoriginal) subplots. The trouble is, a good journey fic needs to do all of those things really well, otherwise it will end up just one more in the sea of mediocrity. My personal favorite journey fic is The Long Walk, because Pav's a cutie-patootie because it takes the minimalist approach. It looks at the core values of a journey fic that I mentioned and does them all really damn well without trying to bloat it with an epic action or mystery subplot.

The story skeleton that I talked about is a bit of a trap that leads to many of the common problems with journey fics. I think a lot of first time writers get this idea in their heads that you have to stick to a bunch of lame cliches (like the late to the lab to get a first Pokemon thing) in order for it to be accepted as a journey fic. It's a story we've all heard/seen/read so many times that beginning writers often seem to think they have to do, but at the same time, everyone is tired of it. Even the writers. It's unfortunate, but most of the times I've seen people try to write "unconventional" journey fics, they often end up not really being recognizable as a journey fic at all (which could be good or bad) or worse: they introduce the same story elements that everyone else uses to set their fics apart (which obviously doesn't work). It's usually something to do with legendary Pokemon, evil teams, or sub-par original characters.

 

[LightningTopaz]

I'll admit that "A Yellow Morning Comes" is 100% genuine journeyfic (in celebration of Pokemon's 20th anniversary) but in writing it, I'm doing my best to blend both the games and the show (such as what if Ash had actually arrived on time? And what if Butterfree and Pidgeot had never left? What if Misty had come along of her own free will? What if Team Rocket was only seen in a few select places?)

In addition to subverting and gently poking fun at the games and the show, I also include things that were not in either of the show or the games (the Trio's musical skill and Brock's impromptu show being two of them

 

[CrystaI]

Please don't make the discussion short. That's why I opened a thread for discussion, because I expected it to be long!

AetherX, those things that you deemed as "unconventional", which is legendary pokemons, evil team, original characters or original region with original fakemons, those are nothing "unconventional" at all! Because even the canon game story had toyed around with these elements for each gen. So no matter how one changed these things, at the end of the day the entire fic is still just old wine in a new bottle.

My very first virgin work (not the one I'm currently work on) was such traditional of the traditions journey fic, where protagonist received her first starter from the regional professor, going on a journey to challenge gyms, getting involved with the regional villainous team, and finally made her way to the Pokemon League. Anything specific about this fic that is not part of the cliche, I guess it will only be her reason to start the journey, and where then during the journey looking for ways to reach her "real goal" that is not the Pokemon League. I dumped this fic before it reaches to the 3rd gym, and it never published to be read by public.

Yeah, because I wrote such stereotypical journey fic before (bonus point for the chapter structure as well, which is 1 gym battle + 2~4 "filler story" in between + few villainous team centered episode), that's why I felt guilty and shameful about it. But nonetheless, I admitted it was a good starting point for novice writer, because basic story plot skeleton is already there, so in terms of novice writer's POV, all one need to do is decide/design a protagonist character, decide/design a region with 8 gyms, decide/design a villainous team. There! A journey fic starter pack had done. There afterward it will be the responsibility of the writer to create an above-mediocre story, where that solely depends on the own creativity and writing skill level of the writer.

Journey fic IMO, is a genre where it is easy to start, difficult to master (Why I kind of feel it is equivalent to Pokemon Battle itself? Just in terms of literature department). Many of us wrote one before, but only a few made to the top and become renowned by the high readership. Actually, I doubted those high quality journey fic were written by newbie writers, if it was the first Pokemon fanfic within the person's writing history, then I don't think it is the first fictional work within that person's writing history.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Journey fic IMO, is a genre where it is easy to start, difficult to master

That's not a bad way of putting it.

The Long Walk is my first pokémon fanfic, but then, I had been writing a lot of what was essentially fanfiction beforehand. Which, given that it was content for a pen-and-paper RPG, I might have been better off not writing ...

because Pav's a cutie-patootie

My patootie isn't so cutie in person

Going minimalist, so to speak, is very much a double-edged sword. On the one hand, without the epic plot elements there's a lot more space to indulge in really building a vivid world and having fun with the characters. On the other, it means you have to do that well, because you can't prop up the problems with easy drama.

That being said, there are a few things any journeyfic can do to immediately bring the standard up. The first is to take the world seriously. If you don't describe your world then it's going to look generic right off the bat. You might assume everyone probably knows what Pewter City looks like, but what that really means is that they all know the standard landmarks that turn up in each of the canons (Gym, Pokémon Centre, Museum, etc etc). I know what my Pewter City will look like; what I want to know is what the author's Pewter City looks like. I still maintain the among the best scene-setting of this kind I've seen is in AceTrainer14's Dawn of Darkness (Not a journeyfic but it illustrates what I mean).

The other obvious thing is to take a different path around the region. The Kanto journeyfic doesn't have to start at Pallet Town. For a start, moving this kind of thing around immediately changes the reader's expectation of what's going to happen. Secondly, it makes the world just that little bit more believable, since you're immediately addressing what all the trainers that aren't Red do to get started.

 

[AetherX]

AetherX, those things that you deemed as "unconventional", which is legendary pokemons, evil team, original characters or original region with original fakemons, those are nothing "unconventional" at all! Because even the canon game story had toyed around with these elements for each gen. So no matter how one changed these things, at the end of the day the entire fic is still just old wine in a new bottle.

That's exactly what I mean. I feel like a lot of newbie writers say "I need to make my journey fic more original, so I'll add... Team Rocket! And Mewtwo!" Totally not speaking from experience here or anything They completely miss the point because most journey fics end up with stuff like that anyway. What really sucks is that often these secondary plots (not quite subplots, since they're still quite important) usually end up more exciting and enticing than the actual gym challenge, which they rarely, if ever, tie in with. I'm running into the problem in my fic right now where Team Rocket is "beaten" so the fic feels like it should be wrapping up in a few chapters, but I still need to get my protagonist to the Elite Four. I'm trapped by the expectations for a journey fic. My own expectations admittedly, but by golly I'm going to finish this thing if it kills me.

 

[Misfit Angel]

What really sucks is that often these secondary plots (not quite subplots, since they're still quite important) usually end up more exciting and enticing than the actual gym challenge, which they rarely, if ever, tie in with.

Who says they have to be tied together?

Personally, I'm trying to keep the motives of my characters rather separate if I can. For Storm Island, Andrea's chief motivation, her research, has always come first in her mind (whether or not that actually is the case is debatable), while her two other big motivations that I have planned are completely separate and can either be summed up as "I'll do it on the way." or "Well shit, now I have to deal with this, and quick."

Might just be expectation from the reader that the two be tied, I guess, I'm honestly not sure. I try to take expectations and set them aside, because that will only end up shaping the story in a different way than envisioned.

 

[AetherX]

Who says they have to be tied together?

Good point. That brings up another thing I meant to talk about in my original post.

Journey fics are fanfiction. And a fanfic is not a novel. I can't say I've ever read a book that has two entirely disparate plotlines that have no real connection besides the characters they influence (feel free to provide examples if you have). I have seen TV shows that do this, which is a format much more similar to fanfiction. Movies are to TV what novels are to fanfiction when it comes to format. Having a way longer story that updates serially allows for a lot more room to play with different plotlines. It could certainly work in fanfiction. As a reader I much prefer it when the various plotlines actually matter to each other, but that's a subjective thing.

So much common knowledge in novel writing doesn't apply at all to fanfiction, something I've realized recently while reading books about fiction writing. That's a whole subject on its own though, so I'll leave it for another time.

 

[AceTrainer14]

I think the term 'journey fic' can be quite broad. When you look at it, pretty much the majority of fics on this site have some degree of the journey fic in them: some rise by sin, Vaira, Stainless Steel have all won recognition in other categories of our awards, but their stories have the 'travel around fighting gyms' thing underlying. A thought which I feel ties into what @AetherX was talking about.

I kind of agree and disagreeing about the plots tying together. I think what you brought up addresses the fact that most fics we would/could call 'journey' fics really just use the gym challenge as a starting point and then build a story from there. I agree that there should be a clear connection between the gym challenge and whatever else is happening in the story, but I think that there can be a connection from a character POV. The gym challenges provide the characters an opportunity to grow, adapt and learn as people and trainers, and I think gym battles can often be used to help figure out where the character is at that point in the story.

Galactic is probably a pretty good example of a journey fic that kind of ignores the journey elements - the gym battles are pretty much there to be there, I'm not going to deny that. With Eight Easy Steps, I think I have done a decent job of tying the gym battles to Alaska's internal conflict and her external challenges. Not to toot my own horn, but I think that story is a good(ish) example of how one can combine the two together. It can be a tough balancing act, but it can be done.

 

[CrystaI]

I do not quite agree that writing fanfic is not the same as writing novel. May be the overall structure is not the same, but the writing techniques and knowledge are still the same.

One shall write a fanfic like you are trying to write a novel for publishing.
-- This is not said by me, but it is translation from one JPN novel writing advice website I always go for helps&tips. Of course it doesn't mean in terms of structure, but in terms of writing skill level and literature sense.

 

[AceTrainer14]

I think Aether is on the money: all forms of writing are similar, and writing fan fic is like writing a novel in some ways, but it is much closer to TV series usually in terms of style and release format (episodic and released usually one at a time). Most fan fics are generally read in segments the same way a TV show is digested, traditionally, on a weekly basis.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Depends how you choose to go about it. Typically fanfiction is written serially, yes, but that's mainly because most people choose to write it that way. The format does change the way you go about writing. The average fanfiction reader will have a higher tolerance for the kind of things Aether was talking about. When you look at the average wordcount of novels, fanfiction is a lot longer, for a start.

When it comes to the Gym challenge part of the problem is that the challenge in itself isn't really enough. The closest analogy I can think of is like watching sports when you don't care who wins. To my mind, if the protagonist's motivation around wanting to succeed in the challenge is neglected, then the challenge itself is probably going to look like routine box-ticking. That's not to say that the motivation has to be anything more clever than "I like winning and I like the glory of being seen to win". But it's certainly something I would keep returning to if I were to write a "be the very best" protagonist journey

 

[CrystaI]

This was mentioned in another thread, and it just makes me ponder deeply about something particular for journey fic -- the character's reason to start traveling. This is not only limited to protagonist, but every other characters in the fic.

Most stereotypically, "Aiming to be the best of all" is the most common reason out of all for protagonist, and "Wanting to see the world" is the most common reason for the companions. I guess, they are just ripping off from the Pokemon Anime.
Other than those two, other popular traveling reasons will be something to do with the character's abusive past, or something to do with the villainous team, or something to do with legendary pokemons.

Yeah, stereotypical and hence cliche done to death, but nonetheless I wouldn't say it is really that bad for it being a driving pulse to let the characters set their foot off to leave one's home. BUT OF COURSE!!! Only in the condition that if writer can pull it off reasonably believable in a way that it felt natural for the character(s) to do so.

Because the reason to start a journey, is something part of the characteristics and personality of the character, it is not a standalone thing like a responsibility or mission that is to be shoved into anyone and everyone. Everyone has different situations and circumstances, hence has different reason to leave/escape from one's home, it is not always because of this trainer job, but it can be something else that has nothing to do with being a trainer or not. One should had the traveling reason tailor-made according to the characteristics and personality of the character. Even that may turned out to be the stereotypical "Aiming to be the best" or "Wanting to see the world", as long as it is natural and plausible according to the character's mindset, then it is fine.

Though, especially for newbie writers, this is something yet to be grasp and truly understood. For many times, I saw that the reason to travel and persona of the characters are like two separate things. You told me the character wanted to be the best, but he/she is not putting any efforts into becoming better than any other, it is then really not convincing from the audience's POV that the character is indeed wanting to be the very best. Or, you told me the character is chasing after a legendary pokemon, but he/she knew nothing about that legendary, never ever search for any information from any sources, nor thinking of any methods in how to encounter it, just hoping to meet it one day by randomly traveling through the region, then it is also not convincing at all that the character is indeed aiming to track down that legendary pokemon.

 

[Echoing Shadows]

I'm working on a Pokémon/HomeStuck crossover where the main characters of HomeStuck embarked on a journey of their own. I did it to also explore what it was like without the villainous teams in the picture. Too many fics have the protagonist defeating the villainous team all on their own these days. I'm not saying it's bad, but it's the choice of Pokémon and how blatantly the rules were bent. I mean, really? A CHESNAUGHT shrugging off an Oblivion Wing from Yveltal like it was nothing and then knocking him out in one shot with Hammer Arm? That's just ridiculous.

 

[AceTrainer14]

While I agree this is a general cliche, I feel like it is becoming less and less common as a starting point. I speak of course referring to this site, so I don't know how popular of a trend it still is on your FanFiction.net or what have you. Even when a character does venture out with the idea of winning or being the best, it usually is not as simple as 'I just want to win/be the best'.

I think the thing with cliches, especially around journey fics, is that they are so prevalent that most authors now tend to recognise them and try to avoid them. However, cliches are only as bad as the story itself. A story doesn't necessarily have to be imaginative or new to be good.

 

[Echoing Shadows]

I am mainly on Quotev, but I just LOATHE how some authors who write Pokémon fics (and I don't mean just on Quotev, look on Wattpad or Fanfiction.net or Archiveofourown) opt to skip over maturity just to show off how powerful the main character is.

 

[CrystaI]

Personally I do not mind about stereotypical archetypes (aka cliche, in the non-derogatory wording). As long as it is pulled off reasonably and nicely in the plot, I may turn out enjoying in reading them.

Not to mention, I AM writing such journey fic full of those traditional stereotypes and common tropes (except villainous team). But I deliberately choose to write it as so, because I had an idea which had been ferment for long of trying to portray the canonical Pokemon World in a different attitude (not manner nor style, but attitude).

 

[Beth Pavell]

It's how you deal with the cliché, as ever, that matters. What bugs me about the "being the very best" motivation is that in practice you just don't see it in the character. They don't crave the spotlight, they don't revel in the glory of victory, sometimes they don't even seem to know very much about what they're supposed to be passionate about. The reason for the journey becomes an excuse because it's so quickly pushed aside and forgotten about

 

[Echoing Shadows]

That's exactly what I mean Beth. Also, stereotypical archetypes aren't too bad... but lack of character? Blegh.