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POPULAR: Plot Bunny Zoo

Well. A few things off the top of my head. First things first, if you're going to go for a variation of the "taking over the x" plot, then be sure to have the kinks very thoroughly worked out. I'll be honest, I don't really think they're all that convincing in a journey fic - the games get away with it because they're really light on plot anyway and the real meat of the game is in the training. It's much harder to hide the plot holes in prose.

So that being said, the first issue would be this - if your antagonists want to usurp the League, the method they use to do it has to give them what they want more easily than doing it the legal way. In other words, controlling Darkrai either has to be easier than defeating Cynthia through training, or it has to give them some kind of reward they wouldn't get as Champion. That's just a matter of logic - the actions of the antagonists have to make sense to the antagonists, not because you need them to do something evil for the plot.

The second issue sort of relates to a pet peeve of mine, so it's more than likely that few, if any, of your readers will feel as I do on this - if the plot is some kind of rebellion/coup, who's there to stop this from happening? Again, it's a big old franchise cliché that the plucky kids solve everything, and though you could name half a hundred reasons why this doesn't make sense, it's fair to say that suspension of disbelief means that it doesn't have to make perfect sense. However, suspension of disbelief goes a lot further if you pay attention to some details. In short - if your plucky protagonists weren't there, who else would oppose the antagonists? The League trainers, the police, the National Guard, the militia?

Creating a reasonably competent "official" opposition to the antagonists might seem like a recipe for a boring story, but I reckon it forces an author to think through the plot better. An evil team is probably going to be a lot more interesting and threatening if it has to figure out how to evade forensics teams picking through their activities - compared to the usual narrative of "Evil team busts in/Evil team battles kids/Evil team busts out". That's not to say that you can't have the kid protagonists at the forefront of the major battles. The way Kim Prescott deals with Team Rocket in Storm Island is a good example of the sort of thing I mean

I've rather gone on longer than I intended, so I'll stop there, but anyway, food for thought
 
So that being said, the first issue would be this - if your antagonists want to usurp the League, the method they use to do it has to give them what they want more easily than doing it the legal way. In other words, controlling Darkrai either has to be easier than defeating Cynthia through training, or it has to give them some kind of reward they wouldn't get as Champion. That's just a matter of logic - the actions of the antagonists have to make sense to the antagonists, not because you need them to do something evil for the plot.
I think if some diablous ex machina in the anime can somehow gain a Darkrai and a Latios and win the league, then it could be easier, but honestly, there's still a lot of kinks to work out in the plot. Its probably the hardest part for me. I had other ideas involving a chairman of a well liked organization working in the shadows to capture whatever legendary or even a trio, though I'm not sure.

In short - if your plucky protagonists weren't there, who else would oppose the antagonists? The League trainers, the police, the National Guard, the militia?
In this case, if it makes sense to you, the core trio of characters would initially encounter the antagonists and it would spread over the news. Cynthia and the rest of the league would be working to keep an eye on the antagonist and the next time they're encountered, a Gym Leader will step in. They will try to keep the kids out of it for the most part. Eventually, the kids will take part as they grow stronger, or potentially they will go behind backs of the Gym Leaders and the League. I know I want Cynthia to be involved, though I don't plan on introducing her until after the protagonist defeats Gardenia.
 
So I heard a bit of advice the other day: similar to how it's better to start out programming a Pong game than a huge, epic RPG, I could try a simple mini-story (that would be only 8 chapters or so.)

It would be about two kids scheduled to leave for their journey in a week. Because of an event going on in their home town, they get a chance to learn about various paths they could take from a bunch of... quirky mentors. Training and Coordinating are a given, but I'll think about the other 5 options they consider.
 
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It would be about two kids scheduled to leave for their journey in a week. Because of an event going on in their home town, they get a chance to learn about various paths they could take from a bunch of... quirky mentors. Training and Coordinating are a given, but I'll think about the other 5 options they consider.

I would be careful about including too much. I think it could nice as an exercise to trial something short like that, but you also would want to ensure you get a good plot in there at the same time. Eight connected-scenelets around different areas is a nice idea, you would want to ensure you put the characters and their journey foremost.


So for a while now, the various discussions we've been having have gotten me thinking about doing a story about some less than traditional trainers going out at the start of their journeys. I am thinking of setting it in the 1960s/70s at the beginning of the Indigo League in the GVerse before it becomes a big spectacle, and three trainers from different areas of Kanto decide to leave home on this quest. I've only got firm ideas for two of them: one would be a middle-aged mother who, in a spur of the moment decision, captures a wild Pokemon and leaves home, the second would be a homeless teenager, male or female I haven't quite decided yet, who has to leave an abusive relationship and with starts battling gyms to get money. The third I am still unsure about, but I think could potentially be someone down the more traditional 'wants to be the very best' route, but is motivated partially out of greed or delusions of grandeur and would serve a borderline-antagonistic role without being an outright villain. The three would come from different areas (the mum from a small farm near the Rock Tunnel, the teen from slums in Celadon) and woud cross paths at points, with maybe a mini-tournament at the end. I would also keep it to six badges to keep it shorter and it would fit in with the beginnings/finding feet part of things.

I was just wondering what people thought of that idea. Does it sound appealing at all? I know ti would be my third Kanto set story, but I think the historical changes could make it more appealing, plus I would go for some different Pokemon I haven't written about before. But yes, any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
A giant man eating venus flytrap attacks all over Paraguay and maybe El Salvador but has a change of heart and decides to learn the piano and coach cricket while going around the world.
 
So for a while now, the various discussions we've been having have gotten me thinking about doing a story about some less than traditional trainers going out at the start of their journeys. I am thinking of setting it in the 1960s/70s at the beginning of the Indigo League in the GVerse before it becomes a big spectacle, and three trainers from different areas of Kanto decide to leave home on this quest. I've only got firm ideas for two of them: one would be a middle-aged mother who, in a spur of the moment decision, captures a wild Pokemon and leaves home, the second would be a homeless teenager, male or female I haven't quite decided yet, who has to leave an abusive relationship and with starts battling gyms to get money. The third I am still unsure about, but I think could potentially be someone down the more traditional 'wants to be the very best' route, but is motivated partially out of greed or delusions of grandeur and would serve a borderline-antagonistic role without being an outright villain. The three would come from different areas (the mum from a small farm near the Rock Tunnel, the teen from slums in Celadon) and woud cross paths at points, with maybe a mini-tournament at the end. I would also keep it to six badges to keep it shorter and it would fit in with the beginnings/finding feet part of things.

I was just wondering what people thought of that idea. Does it sound appealing at all? I know ti would be my third Kanto set story, but I think the historical changes could make it more appealing, plus I would go for some different Pokemon I haven't written about before. But yes, any thoughts would be appreciated.

There are some elements I can see that have a lot of potential from the get-go.

One of which is certainly the "middle-aged mother" for whom some additional details would be really helpful. For instance: the age of her child/children, her relationship to the child and the child's father are key factors that would fill out her character and set up for the dynamics with the other characters. Has the mother's child grown up and left home, giving the mother a hard case of the "empty nest" syndrome? To me, that would make the most immediate sense if she suddenly had a spur-of-the-moment desire to go on a journey. I know of many cases of mothers who's children have grown and left, who then find themselves quite restless, and proceed to involve themselves in highly ambitious projects (I confess that my own mother is of this sort: the weird things she gets up to these days, much to my dad's chagrin...).

For the homeless teen suffering from abuse, it's been done a lot it seems; Sandy from your own 8ES for instance. The real crux of the issue depends on what abuse this character suffered, and how this character reacted to their abuse. From what I can gather, this youngster turned their back on their family and left it behind to strike it out on their own. I can guess that there may not be much extended family (or they are equally abusive or distant), otherwise I would have guessed the character might have gone to them for support. Another question is why go after a league competition for money as opposed to more regular work? My guess would be more than a matter of money alone, that there's something to prove, or something of further depth. In any case, this would immediately set up a dynamic between the teen and mother, where the mother would feel strong urges to act as a "surrogate parental figure" to the teen, which even without knowing full details, I know is ripe for inter-character play.

Character number three however feels like a rehash of the popular character archetype of "the Rival", who's primary driving force is to be the better trainer. Done alright, it could be a factor for homeless-teen's motivation to take the league challenge, providing the "always someone better" kind of imperative. But there again it would tread the same water for character motivations that 8ES has for Alaska's initial journey.

One interesting take on it though could be if you were to play with the readers' expectations. As one example, it could feel like a classic "Rival" situation to homeless-teen, and sets this character up in their mind as someone that has to be overcome, that has to be beaten. But that's just one thought on that.

As for the time period, the question that comes to my mind is: what about the intended time period would bring something to the table that would feel more than just the throwaway gimmicks of the period? In the idea-pitch above, it simply mentions "before it became a big spectacle." What does that entail that would make an appreciable difference? Are there other events going on at the time that would significantly affect the setting? Using US history as an example, there was the full effect of the Cold War in swing, including the Vietnam war, the technical ambitions of the Space Race, the surge of counterculture in response. What was your Pokémon setting up to during that period of time? How did the people of that time feel about it, and what did they do in response?
 
As for the time period, the question that comes to my mind is: what about the intended time period would bring something to the table that would feel more than just the throwaway gimmicks of the period? In the idea-pitch above, it simply mentions "before it became a big spectacle." What does that entail that would make an appreciable difference? Are there other events going on at the time that would significantly affect the setting? Using US history as an example, there was the full effect of the Cold War in swing, including the Vietnam war, the technical ambitions of the Space Race, the surge of counterculture in response. What was your Pokémon setting up to during that period of time? How did the people of that time feel about it, and what did they do in response?
Addressing this first since it could help with the other ideas. In the G-Verse, Pokemon and humans fought for centuries and only in the 17th/18th century did the gods force them into a truce that existed to this day. This would be a world where Pokemon are not particularly trusted, and vice-versa, and the gym challenge is looked on as a bit of spectacle. There would be side-issues of similar things, such as around race and gender rights, but the main part of the story would be about this changing world and three people right at the front of it.

One of which is certainly the "middle-aged mother" for whom some additional details would be really helpful. For instance: the age of her child/children, her relationship to the child and the child's father are key factors that would fill out her character and set up for the dynamics with the other characters. Has the mother's child grown up and left home, giving the mother a hard case of the "empty nest" syndrome? To me, that would make the most immediate sense if she suddenly had a spur-of-the-moment desire to go on a journey. I know of many cases of mothers who's children have grown and left, who then find themselves quite restless, and proceed to involve themselves in highly ambitious projects
I was thinking that she would have married young or something, and the competition provides her an opportunity to go out and explore, one she takes quite suddenly with the potential of not telling her family and simply disappearing in her desperation to get her own life.

For the homeless teen suffering from abuse, it's been done a lot it seems; Sandy from your own 8ES for instance. The real crux of the issue depends on what abuse this character suffered, and how this character reacted to their abuse. From what I can gather, this youngster turned their back on their family and left it behind to strike it out on their own. Another question is why go after a league competition for money as opposed to more regular work?
Firstly, Sandy isn't really a 'homeless teen'. This would be someone who has been homeless for quite some time, rather against their will - either abandoned or forced out by their family - and has mostly lived on the streets . And being homeless kind of rules out a lot of stable employment. They need a source of income urgently, they see a Pokemon nearby and decide to take part, and they would examine their situation as they travel.

Character number three however feels like a rehash of the popular character archetype of "the Rival", who's primary driving force is to be the better trainer. Done alright, it could be a factor for homeless-teen's motivation to take the league challenge. One interesting take on it though could be if you were to play with the readers' expectations. As one example, it could feel like a classic "Rival" situation to homeless-teen, and sets this character up in their mind as someone that has to be overcome, that has to be beaten. But that's just one thought on that.
The characters would not interact enough for this character to be a 'rival' or to really challenge any of the other two into anything. This is someone who wants to be the best at something people don't really care for or are that interested in. The 'very best' motivation has been done before, yes, but that doesn't emean it should be automatically ruled out when it can be interesting when done well.
 
Would having a supporting/recurring character whose main battle strategy is using Pokemon such as a FEAR Rattata, well-tailored Smeargle and a high level Magikarp to sweep would work in a story? I think it would be a nice way to challenge the system and be a different type of foe, but I'm not sure how believable I guess it would seem. Like, these things work in the game, but can they really work in fiction?
 
@AceTrainer14
I mean it really depends on the laws you set for your fanfiction. FEAR Rattata only work because the game is turn based, so you would have to apply that law to your fanfic universe. As for well-tailored Smeargle, I don't see why that wouldn't work in any fanfic, in fact if it's like most fanfics where there's no limits on how many attacks a pokemon can learn, then Smeargle has about 10 sketches to learn any 10 attacks. High level Magikarp sounds like a gag and is frankly hilarious.
 
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I started on a Pokemon fic that tells what happened to Clemont and Bonnie's mother since the anime never tells what happened to her. It mainly centered on their family since it's not really a journey fic like most Pokemon fan fictions do. I feel that with this story, I have more freedom on what I want to do with the story. So far the story has over 1,000 words and on the first chapter, it was originally was going to be a one shot until I decided to make the story longer then a simple one shot. What do you guys think?
 
I'm still sorting out background details for my History of Shoyo (Poke-Japan) fanfic. While I've got my first draft of the Chapters sorted out, the BG blog sections holding my entries are shut down at the moment. (Man, when is it going to re-open...)

After this is done, either I might do:
  • my re-take on the Pokémon Anime...as in, me writing the episodes/stories as the director of TV Tokyo, or
  • a Fire Emblem: Binding Blade x Pokémon Anime crossover, where the story of Binding Blade is re-interpreted to fit into both the modern-day Pokémon setting, and also partially the modern-day geography and politics of our world. Other inspiration will include events leading into, and during, World War 2. This story shall take place near the end of the Kalos arc, where Ash and Co are called to defend Kalos from her Germanic neighbour.
Sadly, the two also, are in my BG blogs - again, which is shut down at the moment.
 
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So I had an idea for a fan made pokemon game or fanfic:

-region is based off of Greece

-your mom is the region professor

-your dad is a dishonored league champion given a chance by the league officials to reclaim his throne

-gym leaders named after ancient Greek gods

-elite 4 named after the argonauts/titans

-evil team wants to dissect legendries to see what really differentiates them from regular pokemon

-main legendary trio based off Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades

-secondary legendary trio based off the Fates
 
Since it's unlikely that I'll write it, maybe I should release the basic premise I had for a horror-themed short story spinoff to Storm Island, which was going to be titled Whispers.

It was something I wanted to have done, dusted and released prior to Halloween, but I just didn't have the time. I'm also not sure if I could capture the feel I'd want for it as well, I'm not that great with horror.
 
AceTrainer14 gave me advice saying that if I don't feel a particular path is working for me, I should take a new one. I've debated that for a while in attempting to restart XCD. I will definitely make several changes to the overall story structure, but the main pairing is one I haven't yet figured out.

AmourShipping has lost much of its appeal, though the XYZ anime finale confused me as to whether or not it deserves to keep going. I can only support it if Serena returns to the anime full time or if the show ever ends, give some kind of confirmation. If not, I chose BoutiqueShipping, as Sana seems to be the person who would make Serena happiest. If that's the route I choose, I'd outright state in story that Satoshi is asexual.

For those that have seen the anime, is this viable?
 
I was thinking of writing a sort of AU fic where Pokémon is mixed with the concept of dæmons from the His Dark Materials series, but I'm not quite sure how it would be received?
 
I was thinking of writing a sort of AU fic where Pokémon is mixed with the concept of dæmons from the His Dark Materials series, but I'm not quite sure how it would be received?

Depends how you approach it, I think. I mean, key the idea of the dæmon from His Dark Materials is that they're not just a cool shapeshifting animal sidekick. I mean, frankly, move aside Ash and Pikachu, because being bestest buddies ever really doesn't compare to the average boy and dæmon. If you deal with it frivolously, then the idea will flop. I'm not really sure if it'll fly without the context of His Dark Materials' plot in any case ... thinking briefly about it dæmons are used as a metaphor to make a point about the value of personhood.
 
I've been considering creating an AU where the protagonists and antagonists switch roles. (Note: This is based within the games universe).
Although coming up with things such as why Game Dawn would want to destroy and/or recreate the world will probably prove rather difficult. Although that's not to say that the the antagonists motivations and the groups general designs can't change (at least somewhat).
The other way I could do this is with shipping the professors with the leaders, and swapping the main protagonists possibly with admins, it would make a little more sense and would give me the opportunity to develop some characters which had little development in general. It might be a less fun though!

I'm also not sure if the characters will communicate with each other or not, and how. I think it was shown a few times that the Pokemon world does have some kind of online video communication, perhaps they could be internet friends? The other way would be to kind of split the story between the characters and then just sort of have them meet as they travel around. Then again, I'm not sure if I want to fit in any ideas surrounding the idea of other universes which have been coming up in the games recently, or if I'll even explore the idea of how the 'role switch' happened. It might be interesting to explore, but I suppose it could also ruin it if I'm not careful.
 
I've been considering creating an AU where the protagonists and antagonists switch roles. (Note: This is based within the games universe).
Although coming up with things such as why Game Dawn would want to destroy and/or recreate the world will probably prove rather difficult. Although that's not to say that the the antagonists motivations and the groups general designs can't change (at least somewhat).
The other way I could do this is with shipping the professors with the leaders, and swapping the main protagonists possibly with admins, it would make a little more sense and would give me the opportunity to develop some characters which had little development in general. It might be a less fun though!

I'm also not sure if the characters will communicate with each other or not, and how. I think it was shown a few times that the Pokemon world does have some kind of online video communication, perhaps they could be internet friends? The other way would be to kind of split the story between the characters and then just sort of have them meet as they travel around. Then again, I'm not sure if I want to fit in any ideas surrounding the idea of other universes which have been coming up in the games recently, or if I'll even explore the idea of how the 'role switch' happened. It might be interesting to explore, but I suppose it could also ruin it if I'm not careful.
I like the idea of switching these characters roles, we don't get that much here, but I think if you are going to do a 'role switch', trying to explain it as being something different wouldn't really make sense in that world. Why would it matter to these characters if they were different in another world, unless the fact they have switched roles is important to the story/its themes (ie part of Cyrus creating a new world, if you are doing DPPt).

I think a split story would be best to get a lot of characters in there, but you would need to make sure their plots are different enough that you do not repeat things constantly, such as gym battles and that.
 
I like the idea of switching these characters roles, we don't get that much here, but I think if you are going to do a 'role switch', trying to explain it as being something different wouldn't really make sense in that world. Why would it matter to these characters if they were different in another world, unless the fact they have switched roles is important to the story/its themes (ie part of Cyrus creating a new world, if you are doing DPPt).

I think a split story would be best to get a lot of characters in there, but you would need to make sure their plots are different enough that you do not repeat things constantly, such as gym battles and that.

Hm! The split story would be cool!
I was only going to mix in the 'new world' thing if it was going to be an important part of the story. Since the characters are pretty different, as well as being different ages and sorts I shouldn't end up repeating myself. Perhaps if I do get something in with the 'alternate worlds' it would give me something extra to write about, however. I do have some possible ideas as to why the alternate universe came about. I'll still be open to other ideas though and none of them are finalized yet.

1. Some kind of alternate timeline events at Spear Pillar, perhaps the attempt at the creation of a new universe is only half-complete, it messes with time, or the new universe 'leaks'.
2. Another legendary Pokemon is involved, or an attempt to avert a great disaster within one world doesn't go too well. (Think the meteorite in ORAS, perhaps something on an even larger scale than that.
3. After the events of Platinum, Saturn's attempts at finding 'new universe based energy sources' goes wrong. considering how a new world was almost created, perhaps it wouldn't take all that much to simply reset one?
 
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