What's Your Inspiration and Motivation?

[Legacy]

Just wanted to start a discussion about how we all came up with the ideas for our fics.

1. What first inspired you to write your fic(s)?
2. Where did you get the ideas for your plot, characters, etc. Are they based off of anything in particular?
3. Do you feel you have 'borrowed or copied' anything from someone else's writing style that you incorporate into your own writing? Not talking about plagiarism, but in terms of emulating a certain literary device tendency or certain styles from other writers.
4. Also, what motivates you to write Pokemon fanfiction? Why do you spend time writing your fic?

Feel free to answer all, some or none of these questions. Just always wondered what inspired some of the great fics on this board.

Here's mine:

1. I was first inspired to write my fic a couple years ago, seriously it's been in the works that long. I had just gotten back into the anime after a long lay off since my childhood and I wanted to make something that took the anime and made it more suitable for a teenage/young adult audience.

2. This is an easy one for me. I obviously base the fic's characters on the anime characters, although I do have some room for creativity since I aged them 5 years from the anime-verse. As for the plot, I guess a lot of it violates a lot of TVTroup rules, so in that way it isn't really that original. Although a big part of the main plot is based off of a one of the Korean Creation legends (I won't say a lot more for fear of perhaps giving something up).

3. Like I said, the Korean Creation story sort of inspired me as well, although it's very loose in terms of the interpretation. Only a few aspects were used. Other than that, I wouldn't say I try to emulate any particular author. I'm more of a technical/journalistic style writer by trade, so I guess that might be why I struggle with creativity at times.

4. As for what motivates me, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want people to read my work. As I'm writing, I really try to make all of my sentences sound good and all my grammar correct. I think everyone who writes wants feedback. But honestly, above all, and although it sounds cliche, I do write for myself.


So yeah, you guys can answer via template or just discuss freely.

 

[DarkDreams]

I have a great deal of love for writing, and I get ideas pretty easily. My thoughts can change depending one what I write for - For example, when I was in the Naruto fandom, I normally wrote shipping fictions. I try to distance myself from the more 'typical' fanfics, and go for something..Different, but interesting. It's more about how much I like the fandom i'm in, or how much I want something happen in canon.

When I make up my characters, I first think of a name...Lets say, I think of 'Bob Blue' Name isn't very interesting, and depending on my mood, I would build up Bob to be dull or badass, just for contrast. But mostly, I reuse my characters and continue to give them more and more depth, until it makes them extremely well rounded. For anime characters..Well..I try to keep them in character. And they mostly are, minus a few..Moments.. Since I focus on more shipping for anime characters, it takes some time predicting what their reactions would be.

Oh, yes, definitely. If I see..Lets say, an expression catches my attention, I would use it, or at least modify it.

I like to get my ideas down, well, major ideas. If it sticks with me for over a month, I would definitely write it down before it drives me mad. Also, I like to improve in my writing; find new ways to improve. I also like the characters I have in mind to...Shine, if that's a good way of putting it. I mostly write for myself, having reviewers would be awesome, critiques are definitely accepted, but I wouldn't change anything I would have in mind for the reviewers - It would be too predictable. Unless they have something great I could use later =]

 

[White Len]

The person above me inspired a random character, whom I then based an entire story around. I know, it sounds like a likely story. And I should be shot for that pun.

 

[Captain GIROG]

I want to be the very best, like no one ever was.

 

[Der_Neuevenmenschen]

^^
To cacth them is my real quest, to write 'em is mah cause!

Okay, I'll also do Legacy's little thing:

1) I was inspired to write my fics after reading Life of the Legendaries and Roots. The former fic's influences should be clear in my HunterShipping oneshot, and Stay Tuned, Folks. Root's influence is clear in Tarnished Gold. My fic, 'Black and White (The_Noob Edition)' was inspired by speculation on the forums, and actual strategy guides, not to mention Bulbapedia's informative pages.

2) For PokeTV, I made it up in my head; as for Tarnished Gold, however, I sort of based off of Roots, added some OT fic elements, and then went along with it; for the PreciousMetal oneshot, I took the basis of every sterotypical shipfic I've ever read, and added lots of Lyra; Finally, for Black and White (The_Noob Edition), I've mostly been inspired by Bioshock, and reading 'Lord of the Flies'. The characters are mostly based off my imagination, and all the little people in my head that actually represent my personality under many different stimuli.

3) The 'Luke, I am your father' concept shows up alot in Tarnished Gold; I assume my writing style comes from writing essays in middle school, and then applying imagination and lots of description (which is why it seems a little straightforward, and often can get bland), some of its style comes from reading Asimov's short stories, as well.

4) I write for teh lulz. Of course, I keep writing because I keep thinking up things that get rooted so deep inside my head I want to get them out before I go compeletley nuts! Also, I just write because I like to see what other people think of it without having to hand it in at English class and get a depressing grade on it.

 

[Zekurom]

1. Playing through the game once, and becoming a fan in the first place. I decided that I wanted to write an original trainer fic, like some of the ones I had read up to that point, and so it began.

2. Nope. They just came to me as I started writing. They have a habit of doing that, really. If you read my stories, you'll see that they don't have any clear structure outside of canon.

3. All the freaking time, but I don't ever know exactly whom I'm borrowing from.

4. The fact that I want to complete the story and give myself, and any readers who read it, an enjoyable experience. No kidding, this is one of the only reasons.

 

[Kayi Rowling]

Mmm... I haven't written that much for the Pokefandom, so... :sweat: Let's see:

1. My inspiration for "Garnets and Cherries" was my dad.

Spoiler

I know it may seem like I based it on the TV show "How I met your mother" (never seen it, heard it mentioned), or such other random things... But no, it was only my dad's silly, silly story on how he ended up meeting my mom (ever wondered what's up with the train in chapter one? :XD2. Thanks to how I was raised, I believe family stories are to be worshiped; thanks to him specifically, I believe the best thing your parents can tell you about the past is how they met. Hence, "Garnets and Cherries" was born.

"Kisses" was a thing of the moment. I couldn't think of a plausible thing to bring Gold and Silver together... so I didn't. If you notice the fic, you'll see it only has one tiny bit that can be considered shippy. Everything else was delicious chocolate (Hershey's Kisses) being eaten :-D

"Vuvuzela"... Since my Peruvian pals dragged me over to watch every single football soccer match that happened during the South Africa Cup, I eventually warmed up to the damned sport. I also noticed the vuvuzelas, and browsing the internet I found them becoming quite popular (I remember the YouTube "vuvuzela" button :XD2. Along with that, information on GenV was coming in... Eventually, N kicked out the whole PokeSpe cast and Black/White moved the setting from the Pokeathlon to the Isshu League. And I think it was good they did.

2. Most of my characters are canon ones, and also come from the PokeSpe verse almost exclusively (notoriously, the "Vuvuzela" cast was game-verse mixed with an unhealthy dose of speculation).

"Garnets and Cherries" is special on this regard.

Spoiler

I had nothing to work on at the beginning (the HGSS arc of PokeSpe had, like, only three rounds to it), so I had to give some thought to the Rocket Executives: Proton is an exaggerated version of what several fans believe him to be (read Ryu Shoji's "Relaunch Sequence"), for example. The other three have more thought put to them, but that's something you'll have to read about. This story also demanded from me to make up a character for a younger Giovanni, who is the one being hit by the trope Youth Is Wasted On The Dumb the hardest... Etc.

3. The "Princess Bride" is such an obvious inspiration to "Garnets and Cherries" that I made it part of the TV Tropes page for the fanfic. The other two, I'd hope, are original; but you never know, considering that everyone has hidden inspirations through having read this book and that story and so on.

4. I liked the PokeSpe verse so much it brought me back to the Pokemon fandom after being missing for over ten years. I have to do it a favor now :XD2: This is the reason I write about this verse more (count the words, guys; "Vuvuzela" is a third of my writing only in appearance).

Specifically talking about "Garnets and Cherries", my only non-one-shot, I think I've tried my hardest to keep writing (schedule slip of two months; I feel like... very bad, but real life is trying to be very difficult right now) because I like the story and I want to keep telling it just as stubbornly as Giovanni does in-universe.

Spoiler

To top it, the planned fanverse around it won't fit in a single story, so I'm also on the process of writing sidestories (Sird's was promised in FF.net, I remember; I forgot if I did the same here...), which is one of the ways you can prove whether or not an author loved a certain "world" they wrote about :ksmile: *does*

 

[LightningTopaz]

I write because it's fun to try answer some questions that never really are explained, or explore what the world is like. Plus, it's great writing practice

 

[Captain GIROG]

Gah, I'm going to give a serious answer now.

I love writing. I've been writing in my spare time since I was nine years old. When I write, I thoroughly enjoy it. Apparently, I'm not bad at it either.

What inspired me to write this? About a year ago, a friend said:

Dude, wouldn't it be cool to do research for Team Rocket?

So I wrote up the earliest plotline for Field Research. I thought it sucked, so I went back and changed things. Team Rocket turned into Team Magnum, characters were given bigger backstories, and I added an actual plot besides "LOLOLOL WE NEED MOAR RESURCH". The biggest change is part of the answer to #2. I removed all non-original characters, except for Silver and Lt. Surge, and both were just there for a scene or so. Surge didn't even talk, and Silver just had one line.

I based my main characters off of... Well, they're not really based on anything. I drafted the story, then made their personalities, backstories and actions match the role they play in the story. I'm really proud of how well this worked with Barnabas and Jason, the reason for which won't be seen until the last chapters.


Numbah three. Aside from the obvious setting and Pokémon, I try not to copy from others. I did take a few pointers on character development from David Eddings, whom I consider the Superjesus of authors. Backstory, relations with other characters, and the character's thoughts provide almost all of the characterization in what I write.

Fourth thing: The only reason I'm writing in this universe is because I thought it would be a great outlet for a character driven, new-type plot. I've been wanting to write a Journey Fiction for years, but I didn't want it to be a normal "Hey, here's a Pokémon, go collect eight badges" plot. One character, Justin does want to be a master, but it's not at all the driving point of the story. I wanted to do something new in an old fandom.

 

[Joshawott]

Proton is an exaggerated version of what several fans believe him to be (read Ryu Shoji's "Relaunch Sequence"), for example.

Wow...people actually read it 0.0.

Anyways...

1) The idea for "Relaunch Sequence" came from a text-based RPG I ran on the website I administrate on around HGSS's European launch. I wrote Chapter 1 as a way of promoting it on there. I eventually decided to post it here once the RPG had pretty much died. I really liked writing about already established characters, which I rarely do, and decided to continue it. And yes, I will write Step 4 at some point, once life is less crazy.

Pokémon: Bright World...well, I'd always wanted to try a journey fanfiction, although they tend to be long (During one of my free periods, I noted down everything that is happening from Chapters 1-8, so trust me, I'm not thinking of it on the spot!). As I outlined in my more general statement, it's so that I don't get rusty

2.
For the Rocket Executives in Relaunch Sequence, I think it's fairly obvious that I think of their personalities just by looking at their Sugimori artwork. The plot for Step 1...I can't remember where I thought of that idea. I guess I was inspired by all the theories that Ariana is Silver's mother.

Step 2 was more inspired by Blaine's role in the creation of Mewtwo in Pokémon Adventures, which I mixed with the backstory for Mewtwo Strikes Bac, with the in-game text from Pokémon Emerald suggesting that Dr. Fuji went to Southern Island. I had already outlined at the start that each chapter would feature one of the HGSS executives, and in the RPG, I had put Petrel in charge of the more technical side, so he seemed to fit as an assistant to Blaine.

Step 3 is a tougher one, and probably the Step I put the most thought into. For some reason, I had an idea to use Koga (Ninjas are cool), who looks like a very traditional person. This created conflict between Koga's manner of staying to tradition, and Proton's more wild approach. To be honest, I noticed that Janine had little attention from the fanbase, and it would be cruel to mention Koga without her. From his Sugimori artwork, I had summed up Proton as a guy who'd abuse his looks (look at those hips!) and unfortunately, the best way to sympathise with a character is to see them in distress. This also meant I could build on Koga and Janine's relationship, which hadn't really been explored at all.

As word of the chapter being a bit Proton x Janine came out, and the attention that particular part got, I decided to give Janine a rather prominent role, over Koga. To be honest, it is really tempting to expand this chapter into a fanfiction of its own.

With Pokémon: Bright World, I began writing it late-July/early-August, where the only thing we had seen in relation to the Black/White story was the game's opening, so my ideas about the plot differed from the actual plot of the games (although, not too drastically), so I had to come up with a lot. The ending of Bright World is already planned. Obviously, to fit into the 12-chapter maximum I have been given the series, and with the slow start of the series, I will have to rush through things a bit, and give it a more focused plot.

As for the characters...I honestly don't know. They were just 'born' into my mind, and are how I first imagined them. However, I will be giving unique twists to canon characters that appear later.

Athough, a sequel that blends the 'canons' of Relaunch Sequence and Bright World isn't completely off the cards.

3.
Apart from taking the Pokémon franchise? The only one I can think of, is that Pokémon Adventures is a huge inspiration for Pokémon Bright World.

4.
Motivates? Writing practice. Why do I write? When I have writer's block or lack of motivation for my original material.

 

[UFAlien]

Writing is something I've enjoyed for a while (at least in terms of poetry and fiction - I hate essays), and people keep swearing I'm pretty good at it, so why not?

I mostly write horror stories, because I'm an absolute horror freak. I guess I could blame that on some of the movies I loved as a child - Carnosaur, Halloween, et cetera.

I take inspiration from many places, of course. The writings of Stephen King, the films of John Carpenter, Hideo Nakata, and Takashi Miike, and various other things I'm sure subconsciously affect me but which I don't really notice.

When it comes to The House, I took quite a bit of inspiration from The Amityville Horror. That's a special case, of course, since it is (debatably) based on a true story. Still, there's no denying its influence on me, especially since I even listened to the theme song as I wrote!

 

[Kamitsure]

1. Well, I guess it was right after I saw the movie, The Dark Knight, I liked The Jokers story so much, I wrote a back story for him, and thus you have my first fanfiction. It sucked ass, but whatever.

2. I base a lot of people off of people that I know, and I change them from there.

3. Oh, definitely, I try to follow J.K. and SM's (the authors of Harry Potter & Twilight) writing styles. And most of the time I fail.

4. I guess I enjoy doing it, it's a "just because" thing.

 

[Drakon]

1. Life of the Legendaries was directly inspired by a mediocre Legendary Pokémon shipping/action-adventure fan fiction called Rebellion Starts Tonight. I saw that and I thought, "Let me see if I can do better"... 50,000+ words later and I think I did do better.

2. Plot is more or less original (inspired a bit from Calfab's Legendary Protectors RP). The OC James Elison is almost a direct copy of my character from that RP. Granted, there is very little pre-planning; I just write what comes to mind.

3. Yes. I tend to borrow tons upon tons of things from all sorts of sources - usually modified (sometimes heavily). But I come up with my own ideas too.

4. Entertainment reasons.

 

[Marcat]

Alright...

1- Pokemon, the world draws me in. I always wanted to do an OC story but never had time or motivation. The first awards motivated me and it was a two days after the end of school... fateful. The plot came up when me and a friend were talking about our respective stories, it hit me.

2- My abyass of imagination. My Real-life, you could say readers have a very small insight of my world when they read my story.

3- I read ALOT, I have my own personal mini library. I love epics and certain classics. Harry Potter, Eragon, Percy Jackson. Oliver Twist, Jane Eyre, David Copperfield and such. I learn alot and when my story is in a jam, I pick one and read to learn. I test-read to learn new styles, some stories I like others I don't but I learn and thats what matters.

4- Its a hobby. I want to be better, and thats it. Everybody who reads and critisies helps me be better. I do what I love and love what I do. If someone happens to enjoy my work, thats awesome.