POPULAR: Simple Questions, Simple Answers

[Beth Pavell]

I have a question regarding rivals and getting invested in the protagonist's rivalry with them. Could it be possible for the rivals to be off-screen - hypothetically, a group of trainers who appear on TV whose attitude is enough for the protagonist to want to bring them down a peg?

 

[Dorothy]

I have a question regarding rivals and getting invested in the protagonist's rivalry with them. Could it be possible for the rivals to be off-screen - hypothetically, a group of trainers who appear on TV whose attitude is enough for the protagonist to want to bring them down a peg?

I'd say that's a good place to start, but then maybe later the protagonist meets the trainers and realizes that, no, they're really like that, they're not just heels playing up their dickishness for the audience - and that's when he becomes determined to take them down a peg,

 

[AetherX]

I have a question regarding rivals and getting invested in the protagonist's rivalry with them. Could it be possible for the rivals to be off-screen - hypothetically, a group of trainers who appear on TV whose attitude is enough for the protagonist to want to bring them down a peg?

I'm sure you could do it, but to be honest I think it would be pretty hard. Eventually the rivals would have to be developed on-screen. I feel like the best you could do would be to simply have the reader sympathize with the protagonist's hatred, but if you really want them to get involved you'd need to be more direct. Not to mention, rivalries tend to be two way things, otherwise they often come across as silly vendettas.

I think it's possible, and I hate to be the guy who's like NOOOO YOU CAN'T DO THAT! But it would be tough to pull off effectively.

 

[Ghostpawse]

As of late, my time has been ultimately consumed by school; however, in the free hours I do have, I have found I have no inspiration and would rather curl up for a nap. Being both a writer and an artist, this lack of drive has left me feeling quite depressed.
On top of that, when I do write, I have found my quality slipping and, instead of my usual careful editing, I just get frustrated and quit. I have a story— intended to be a series— that I have been working on for over three years, but I lost many chapters due to a lost flash drive. All of these things have left me without my passion.
Does anyone have any ideas of how to reinstate my motivation? I do truly love writing, but I find that I am too tired. What should I do to inspire myself again? How should I space my time so that I am comfortably making progress, yet not allowing my content to take a nose-dive?

Thank you :ksmile:

 

[Beth Pavell]

My advice would be to start again. Scrap the story and go completely afresh. In fact, forget that - just write something for the sake of writing. Check out the Weekly Prompt thread - take a prompt, and just write whatever the hell comes to mind for 1,000 words. No pressure, no need to be clever or have much of a plot. Just telling a short tale because you can

 

[Ghostpawse]

My advice would be to start again. Scrap the story and go completely afresh. In fact, forget that - just write something for the sake of writing. Check out the Weekly Prompt thread - take a prompt, and just write whatever the hell comes to mind for 1,000 words. No pressure, no need to be clever or have much of a plot. Just telling a short tale because you can

Alright, I'll try that. Thanks for the advice ^^

 

[Misfit Angel]

So... a triples routine in coordination. The basic idea is to combine the abilities of three Pokemon into one. I have an idea for one of my contestants, but... I'd really hate to do this, since it would ruin the surprise for readers (especially since this is for the final round) but I need ideas. I can't think of any way to possibly combine the abilities of a Blastoise (nothing really special about this one), a Wigglytuff (who has a knack for singing and other entertainment-related things) and a Skitty (which can display powers over elemental types such as ice, lightning and fire) into something decent.

I've already got something for the other finalist's routine, so this is pretty much the only thing holding me back from finishing the next chapter of Storm Island, and I figure in times like this, community input might be nice.

 

[Shiny Exeggcute]

Fan Fic Ideas

I am writing a fanfiction. It is a fighting tournament with 64 characters. If you were to pick any Pokémon or a trainer of said entities to be put in this story, what or who would it be? If you guys are interested, I'll post a link to it when I'm finished.

 

[AuraSoul93]

Re: Fan Fic Ideas

I think this is too general & broad of a question. Are you looking for existing characters? Made up characters? What do you mean by "fighting" tournament? Is it any different than a regular league? What's the point of the tournament? Is it just a plain-old competition or is there some kinda scheme behind the curtain?

 

[Life]

Something that's been stressing me recently is the length of chapters. I've planned out a story that I'm currently writing and have it paced chapter by chapter. Now, I'm not expecting everything to follow the way I have planned, but as I said before, I'm worried if the chapters will be too short. The first chapter of the story (while not technically cleaned-up yet) is around 2,100 words and I'm nervous that it's not at an adequate length. I know some people might say that what really matters is what's in the chapter, but is there a minimum one must have for doing the job correctly? I have written fairly short chapters before and I feared that people would regard it as lazy, but sometimes that's all I think the chapter needs.

Is there a minimum one must have regarding chapter length, or is substance the way to go? Thanks for the help!

 

[Vivillon]

Something that's been stressing me recently is the length of chapters. I've planned out a story that I'm currently writing and have it paced chapter by chapter. Now, I'm not expecting everything to follow the way I have planned, but as I said before, I'm worried if the chapters will be too short. The first chapter of the story (while not technically cleaned-up yet) is around 2,100 words and I'm nervous that it's not at an adequate length. I know some people might say that what really matters is what's in the chapter, but is there a minimum one must have for doing the job correctly? I have written fairly short chapters before and I feared that people would regard it as lazy, but sometimes that's all I think the chapter needs.

Is there a minimum one must have regarding chapter length, or is substance the way to go? Thanks for the help!

Length does not matter in my opinion. I don't care if it's only 200 words; make it good and you're all set.

 

[Beth Pavell]

It's a decent yardstick for sketching out the pacing of an individual chapter, but if you've read it and the 2,000 words does what it needs to then I wouldn't try and expand it for the sake of trying to hit a target length

 

[AetherX]

I agree with what everyone else has said, but I'd also like to add that regardless of content 2000 words is actually just a fine length for a chapter. I've written shorter, to be honest.

 

[Shiny Exeggcute]

Re: Fan Fic Ideas

I think this is too general & broad of a question. Are you looking for existing characters? Made up characters? What do you mean by "fighting" tournament? Is it any different than a regular league? What's the point of the tournament? Is it just a plain-old competition or is there some kinda scheme behind the curtain?

Yes, only existing characters that have appeared in the games or anime are permitted. Kind of like a fighting game, except the action is described in depth. It is a crossover between many franchises. To see who's the best, of course. I can't explain that last part...

 

[Life]

Re: Fan Fic Ideas

Yes, only existing characters that have appeared in the games or anime are permitted. Kind of like a fighting game, except the action is described in depth. It is a crossover between many franchises. To see who's the best, of course. I can't explain that last part...

I don't know if you were specifically looking for recommendations from others, but Bulbapedia has a list of all the game, anime, and even manga characters if you want to look there.

 

[Shiny Exeggcute]

Re: Fan Fic Ideas

Yes, only existing characters that have appeared in the games or anime are permitted. Kind of like a fighting game, except the action is described in depth. It is a crossover between many franchises. To see who's the best, of course. I can't explain that last part...

I don't know if you were specifically looking for recommendations from others, but Bulbapedia has a list of all the game, anime, and even manga characters if you want to look there.

I'm taking recommendations from others, however, if nobody votes by January 1st, I'll pick a random character.

 

[AuraSoul93]

Re: Fan Fic Ideas

Yes, only existing characters that have appeared in the games or anime are permitted. Kind of like a fighting game, except the action is described in depth. It is a crossover between many franchises. To see who's the best, of course. I can't explain that last part...

Hmm, I'd say choose trainers from the games. The anime has so many different Pokémon for so many different characters that it'll be difficult choosing who has who on their team. Plus not every character has an equal amount of Pokémon at their beck & call, which is unfair for many trainers in the anime. And when I say "games" I mean use characters in established roles like Gym Leaders, Frontier Brains, Coordinators & Elite Four Members. They're solid enough characters to use since they're very well-known in terms of personality & Pokémon. Readers will have a large pool of characters to choose favorites from & that will widen your potential audience. Also their choices of what Pokémon they have with them will be easier to sort since they have much smaller rosters, so you can see what they have available & just pick your preferred ones. Player characters are self-inserts at best & empty shells at worst with literally every Pokémon of every kind in their back pocket. It's too difficult writing for people like that so they shouldn't be considered. Hope this helps you out.

 

[Moonlight Dragonbloom]

Hello I had a question. I've been working on fic awhile and wanted to organize it a bit better before posting it. There are several arcs contained within and some are more violent and graphic then others. Should just make two stories with different rating or just make it all teen? The first few arcs are very mild and not very graphic.

 

[BlitzTrain]

From want I understand, it's probably best to keep all the arcs of your story on the same thread and label the thread for the highest rating the fic is going to get to. But you should be able to make a note in the intro about which arcs are Teen or Everyone if you'd like.

 

[Beth Pavell]

I'd just rate it Teen and be done with it. It won't hurt you to rate it as Teen with Everyone-friendly arcs at the start. Hell, I rate The Long Walk as Teen for the freedom of using curses and sneaky sexual references - apart from that it could quite arguably be Everyone