• A new LGBTQ+ forum is now being trialed and there have been changes made to the Support and Advice forum. To read more about these updates, click here.
  • Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

POPULAR: Simple Questions, Simple Answers

Sometimes I worry that I mess up on pacing and rush through a scene. How do I keep myself from doing that?
Write the scene up anyway. There's really no way to "prevent" it. See if you can reach the end. Then read the scene over to yourself to see if it feels like it "skips" or feels like everything is happening too fast. Or if it feels like it's dragging its butt across the carpet. Imagine the scene happening in real time as you read it.

If something feels "off", try adding or cutting words. You can also ask someone to read a paragraph for you to see if they think it needs changing.

It is what happens in the story that is difficult to write. A violent death.
Alright, so what part of that are you struggling with?

If it's the actual death itself you're struggling with, then it's usually effective to describe that death in detail (2 - 5 sentences) to convey that shock and horror. It's also effective to show the reactions of other characters witnessing the death taking place.

If you're looking something for more specific, ask about which part(s) you need help with. Otherwise, the best alternative advice I can give is to, "Just write." Some level of progress will get you somewhere, even if it doesn't meet your expectations.
 
The aftermath.
Okay, so that largely depends on context. There are a number of ways you can go about it.

If the character in question is a major one, then you might want to consider writing a brief "funeral" scene. Or perhaps a character who was close to that person, in mourning. Sor. Death is normally a serious topic, so it should be taken seriously (unless you're writing some kind of dark comedy). It'll be bizarre and whiplash-inducing if the remaining characters are just "fine" after a major death occurred. As if nothing happened.

People take death at different paces; some will have a more difficult time in coming to terms with it than others. Remember the 5 Stages of Grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Some people may never even reach the "acceptance" part.

If this is for a minor character, you can most likely just skip this and move the story along. It's up to you if you want to focus on the aftermath of their death, but it's usually unnecessary.

Recently, I had to write a number of characters getting killed off in my story. Violently. While I would not call them "major" characters in my story, they're important enough to one of my major characters for him to grieve for them. The context is that they're all soldiers and have fallen in combat. My major character (Hesh) is a Wartortle who was participating in his first frontline battles and is rather inexperienced in combat. He watched his whole company getting wiped out almost in an instant. This would be a tramautic event that'll stick with him for the rest of his life; not only will he question if he belongs to the military life, he'll carry survivor's guilt. There will be times where he'll feel that he should've died instead, and that his closest squad mates had lived instead.

I purposely kept the aftermath brief. Hesh couldn't retrieve the bodies of his fallen comrades since he's still in a danger zone, so he can only deliver the news of their deaths to the military higher-ups. He'll still be tormented by the deaths of his fallen comrades on his journey to deliver the news.

Just a penny for a thought. The topic of death can have serious consequences on other characters. If you're unsure how to progress, you might need to brainstorm some scenes and try to connect them.
 
Okay, so that largely depends on context. There are a number of ways you can go about it.

If the character in question is a major one, then you might want to consider writing a brief "funeral" scene. Or perhaps a character who was close to that person, in mourning. Sor. Death is normally a serious topic, so it should be taken seriously (unless you're writing some kind of dark comedy). It'll be bizarre and whiplash-inducing if the remaining characters are just "fine" after a major death occurred. As if nothing happened.

People take death at different paces; some will have a more difficult time in coming to terms with it than others. Remember the 5 Stages of Grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Some people may never even reach the "acceptance" part.

If this is for a minor character, you can most likely just skip this and move the story along. It's up to you if you want to focus on the aftermath of their death, but it's usually unnecessary.

Recently, I had to write a number of characters getting killed off in my story. Violently. While I would not call them "major" characters in my story, they're important enough to one of my major characters for him to grieve for them. The context is that they're all soldiers and have fallen in combat. My major character (Hesh) is a Wartortle who was participating in his first frontline battles and is rather inexperienced in combat. He watched his whole company getting wiped out almost in an instant. This would be a tramautic event that'll stick with him for the rest of his life; not only will he question if he belongs to the military life, he'll carry survivor's guilt. There will be times where he'll feel that he should've died instead, and that his closest squad mates had lived instead.

I purposely kept the aftermath brief. Hesh couldn't retrieve the bodies of his fallen comrades since he's still in a danger zone, so he can only deliver the news of their deaths to the military higher-ups. He'll still be tormented by the deaths of his fallen comrades on his journey to deliver the news.

Just a penny for a thought. The topic of death can have serious consequences on other characters. If you're unsure how to progress, you might need to brainstorm some scenes and try to connect them.
That helped. Thanks.
 
So I'm writing my story, simple as that. Sometimes, though, I worry about balancing the comedic elements of the story with the more serious ones. The story has a lot of humorous parts, but it also deals with some heavier subjects. How do I go about balancing both sides?
 
Well, it's not really a simple question. It depends on the humour, for a start. Black humour will tend to gel more easily with gritty subject matter than zany absurdist humour, for example. Trying to joke about the same subject matter you want the audience to take seriously is likely to result in awkward dissonance.

Opinions will vary. Take Bojack Horseman, for example. In my opinion it has some of the finest emotional scenes in TV, let alone animation, and is rightly praised for dealing with mental health in a bluntly unromantic fashion. But I also think that the wacky stoner humour undercuts those messages. I also know at least one person who disagrees with me on that point
 
Well, it's not really a simple question. It depends on the humour, for a start. Black humour will tend to gel more easily with gritty subject matter than zany absurdist humour, for example. Trying to joke about the same subject matter you want the audience to take seriously is likely to result in awkward dissonance.

Opinions will vary. Take Bojack Horseman, for example. In my opinion it has some of the finest emotional scenes in TV, let alone animation, and is rightly praised for dealing with mental health in a bluntly unromantic fashion. But I also think that the wacky stoner humour undercuts those messages. I also know at least one person who disagrees with me on that point
Petition to make a Complex Questions, Complex Answers thread.
I don't really know what to describe the humor in my story as, probably not black comedy (probably more akin to slice of life/interpersonal humor, but there's also Pokémon). The story, I'd say, is mostly a comedy and has some over the top elements, but there are some more serious problems (i.e. mental illness) that characters deal with. The humor and serious elements are probably at least sort of divorced from each other.
I've never seen Bojack, though I have seen videos about it.
I'm trying to think of a good comparison I could make.
Also I'm sorry for liking your reply and then replying to it hours later. And sorry for saying "probably" so much.
 
Currently writing the third part of a three shot where Chloe Cerise will be driven insane, assault a cop, and then get electrocuted before breaking the heart of one of Ash Ketchum's thousands of half-sisters.

....Context makes it make more sense.

EDIT: WRONG THREAD
 
Last edited:
In my Legend of Zelda story, I am stuck on what to do regarding the monsters that reside inside the dungeons. Should I:
A: Have each one have its own set of creatures
or
B: Have a set of monsters that every dungeon shares and have one or two that are unique to that dungeon

Which one would make the most sense?
 
In my Legend of Zelda story, I am stuck on what to do regarding the monsters that reside inside the dungeons. Should I:
A: Have each one have its own set of creatures
or
B: Have a set of monsters that every dungeon shares and have one or two that are unique to that dungeon

Which one would make the most sense?
It depends why they are there.

If they're just living there then the monsters should fit the area and the former probably makes sense unless the dungeons are similar (all in caves, all in forests, etc.).

On the other hand a standardized set would make sense if they're minions of some villain who sent them there for some reason.
 
On the other hand a standardized set would make sense if they're minions of some villain who sent them there for some reason.
Why did I not think of that? The creatures are indeed minions of the main villain. I shall create a set of monsters and have them start off weak and have stronger versions appear later in the story. Again, why did I not think of that?

Also, what do you mean by "standardized set"?
 
Last edited:
Should spinoffs of a series go in a separate thread, or should they go in the thread of your main story?
I'd say on a separate thread, especially if said spinoff is lengthy. Just make sure to specify that it's a spinoff of your existing story.

If it's short enough, you can probably get away with posting it on the main thread, but make sure to clarify that first thing in your post.
 
What do I do if a (side) story isn't vibing with me anymore? Do I abandon it? Delete it? I was thinking of rebranding it because I llike the collection, but maybe it just doesn't vibe in the 'verse it's in.

Update: Answered, I guess. I changed the 'verse it was in.
 
Last edited:
Need a little help on a mini-arc in Chaos Rising. As of the current chapter, I'm heading into a small arc that ties into the overall Four Stars Church arc. Long story short, in a desperate attempt to uproot the Hero faction, more accurately the Shroud Hero party, Robert "hires" a band of seven extremely brutal and talented "warriors" to act as pretty much "evil counterparts" to the Shroud Hero party. Basically, Robert wants to fight, in his mind, "evil vs evil", thus, like how he sicced Kei onto Celtic's party, he's doing the same with this gang of seven warriors in hopes that they'll take down the Shroud Hero party (or, more preferably, create a mutual destruction so he won't have to "reward" the seven warriors later). If anyone remembers the Band of Seven section of Inuyasha (boy, does that anime name feel ancient) then that's who these guys are based off of. But I'm not 100% sure how to execute it, especially concerning the seven "warriors" themselves. Obviously, as Robert isn't keen on dealing with anyone who isn't human and elven, the group will be seven humans, though I'm tempted to have one of them "altered" into a pseudo cyborg (since technology does exist, just somewhat limited in accessibility) like Ginkotsu was. The basic idea is down, and each "warrior" will be the opposite of their respective "counterpart" (ie: Viola's counterpart will be a poison master to act as a foil to her white mage/medical master), but I'm having trouble getting the idea off the ground. And suggestions would be stellar. I don't plan on making this arc too long, just long enough to tie into the Four Stars Church's final rebellion. Thanks in advance.
 
Please note: The thread is from 2 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom