My thinking lily pad (where I talk about different things)

[Greninjaman]

I have done many Pokémon challenges over the years, and here is something I have noticed: Some challenges can work well in the form of fanfiction while some cannot. Take the Monotype Run, for example. All you need to do is give your character Pokémon of just one type. There are no crazy rules and such that change the mechanics of the game. It's just the player catching only Pokémon of one type. I have seen quite a few challenges that affect what you can and can't do in the game.

For some challenges (like the Nuzlocke and its variants), there are changes to how the mechanics work that would make it difficult (if not impossible) to put in fanfiction. Take the Nuzlocke and its "fainting = Dead" rule, for example. How do you work around that? Now, if you only had one "death" the entire run, you could get away with it. However, if there is like 20 "deaths" what do you do? Of course, you could have some be a case of forced retirement due to an injury or illness. Same with the "You can only catch the first Pokémon you encounter in each area" rule. You would be catching so many Pokémon throughout the challenge.

Here is an example of a challenge that effects more than what the Nuzlocke does: the Chesslocke.
While the Nuzlocke only really has two rules (Fainting = Dead and can only catch the first Pokémon you encounter in each area), the Chesslocke is more complicated. You can only catch sixteen Pokémon throughout the entire game. There are roles based on the different chess pieces. They are:
1 King
1 Queen
2 Bishops
2 Knights
2 Rooks
8 Pawns
Each piece has a set of rules that changes certain aspects (such as not being able to use moves with a power greater than 60 or can't use moves with secondary effects). How would one write a fanfiction based on the Chesslocke? You really can't. That's why the Monotype Run works. The only thing that changes is the fact you can only catch and use one type.

 

[Greninjaman]

Sorry for the repost. I wanted to add something and decided to copy the old post and repost it with the additions. Not sure why I didn't just edit the post to begin with...

In the back of my mind, I still have the desire to do the Badge Quest Journey Fanfic. There are several problems, though: First, it takes a lot of time to do one due to the scope/scale of the story. I want to do it, but I know that it would take a lot of time and effort to do. I really should start with something smaller scale than traveling the entire region, like perhaps a small corner/section of one. The other problem of course is WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE TEAM? How does one decide that sort of thing? How does one decide what moves it should have? There are a lot of factors that go into this sort of thing. I understand that.

Also, I don't have much experience with writing battles. Maybe I should start there first in thinking about it. I have a fanfic here where I wrote two battles (Here is the Link if you want to check it out). As seen in the story I linked, the battles are not really full on action-packed. Plus, I didn't really get into what's going on in the heads of the trainers involved. How do they react in certain situations? Why are they battling? Survival? Friendly battle? What are the stakes here.

One thing that can certainly kill one's motivation to do a journey fanfic (Badge Quest or otherwise) are too many subplots. If you have so many, the story becomes way longer than it should be because of all of these subplots and arcs. If you only focus on the Badge Quest and never deviate from that, then theoretically, the story would be a lot shorter. Of course, there will still be things that you must keep in mind, such as the character development of the Pokémon and your main character. You want to be careful with how you go about the story and the characters. Too much can make the chapter number bloat to the point that it's unmanageable.

 

[Greninjaman]

One thing about story writing that I need to work on is building up the culture of the areas of the world that the story takes place in. The thing is, the more villages/towns/cities appear, the more work you have to do with culture (assuming they are not all part of the same kingdom [though I will agree that is not always the case, like in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom]). Now, if the story takes place in one town and the immediately surrounding areas, then it's not as much work because, well, it's just one town.

Another thing you have to consider are the things that fall under the umbrella of culture:

• Where is the town located? Is it in the mountains? Is it on the coast? Is it in the desert?
• What are the customs of the people there? What kind of clothing do they have? What do they eat? What is the layout of the town (this being influenced by the location of the town itself)? Do they have technology? Is so, what is it? What are the social norms of the people? What sort of things do the people do each day? What traditions are there?
• Are there any magical powers or religion? How does the Magic work (if there is any magic at all)? What is the Religion like (if there is one)

If there are multiple towns, then you would be answering these questions multiple times for each one. On the other hand, if there is only one town, then you just have to answer them the one time. Of course, I can see the argument of "Why include other towns if they don't appear in the story at all? Why include areas that are not important to the story being told?"

Culture has been something I tend to not bother with and just go right for the action. In order to gain experience, it would make sense that the story takes place in one village/town/city.