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Writers' Workshop General Chat Thread

Anyone here ever preview a fic they were writing to make sure the BBCode was okay, only to accidentally hit "Post Thread", so you spend a minute trying to find the delete thread option only to find there isn't one, so you copy/paste like mad before someone stumbles on your supposed-to-be-in-progress fic including a jillion attachments you have to insert?
Yes. Perks of being a mod, though, I can just bury it in a place where no one would ever find it!
 
There's definitely a certain authorial anxiety coming through last season. When Bojack frets about whether Philbert normalises shitty behaviour, I think that's the writers realising that the character of Bojack has fans, defenders and sympathisers who now have a window of forgiveable behaviour that includes the awful things Bojack does.

Snuggle has a point about his wealth - it's not just a reset button, it also puts a limit on the degree to which Bojack can actually be punished for his failures.

Also, hot take, Todd is pretty boring by now. He is implausibly wacky and naive at this point, and while I personally found the robot CEO hilarious, Todd himself feels deeply odd now that he's been used for serious exposition on Bojack's inadequacy and moved out, and yet still is zany as all get out. He doesn't seem any older, you know?

On a more positive note, I think some of the weirder eps last season were brilliant. I think Mr Peanutbutter's Boos was a sleeper gem, personally. What a guy. What an immature prick.

Anyway, regardless of my deep cynicism, I'm fundamentally a hopeful cat. I want these characters to get their shit together. Maybe they finally will, at least a little.
 
i like the part where todd tells me to buy skyrim
Todd Howard?

Almost all of my knowledge about Bojack Horseman comes from a video reviewer called The Mysterious Mr. Enter.

I was going to say this earlier, but I was worried that I would embarrass myself by saying something irrelevant to the ongoing conversation: I'm considering re-editing that video of mine I linked to (there's a minor factual error I'd like to correct with text, some clips end at weird times, and I think I used an unofficial image near the end), but I'm not sure if it'd be worth the effort.
 
Also, hot take, Todd is pretty boring by now. He is implausibly wacky and naive at this point, and while I personally found the robot CEO hilarious, Todd himself feels deeply odd now that he's been used for serious exposition on Bojack's inadequacy and moved out, and yet still is zany as all get out. He doesn't seem any older, you know?

This speaks to some of my biggest problems with the show, as it stands. On the one hand, it's about stagnation again - aside from a slightly pious, but good-natured asexuality arc, Todd hasn't developed at all. He's merely moved location, repeating the "stupid business idea" schtick each time. He's become a Homer Simpson-esque zany character, coming up with implausibly successful ideas that never have any serious consequences for himself or anyone else.

On the other hand, it demonstrates Bojack Horseman's preoccupation with black-and-white labels. Despite being an adult show, characters are typecast as Good or Bad. Bojack is Bad, therefore when he does bad things, they are always Bad - any possible grey area is depicted as Bojack grasping at weak rationalisations (e.g: doing drugs with a girl who really likes doing drugs is Bad Bojack's fault). Todd is Good, therefore when he does bad things, they are just comic relief, not character flaws (e.g: building a misogynistic company because he wants to make more money).
 
Recently, I've become interested in transformation stories again. I've mentioned some of this on another thread, but I got an idea yesterday for a story about a human who transforms into a Beautifly, and I really want to put emphasis on adjusting to her new body because of how different it is, something I don't see very often. The first thing she notices is how blurry everything looks, for example. It'll take her a while to understand how everything works, but luckily, she's very analytical and observant about not only her new body, but also the world she's ended up in. There are other transformees there, too, but she doesn't meet them right away.

I think this interest was kicked off by an ongoing My Little Pony fanfic I'm currently reading called Through the Aurora, which is about a human-turned-hippogriff. Among other things, it's mentioned that hippogriffs and pegasi are lightly-built and have an easier time breathing at high altitudes, something that's not conveyed in the show, but has appeared in some of the author's other works.
 
@Nitro Indigo The transformation into an insect immediately brought Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis to mind. Wikipedia says the book's over 100 years old now, which means you got a hundred years of transformation fiction to draw from. Most I'm aware of is horror (i.e. The Fly), but this fandom's got Pokémon: Mystery Dungeon to draw from if you want a less-horrific tone.

Now that I think about it, I can't think of many pro-transhumanism stories out there. I guess they get caught in the "children's wish fulfillment" ghetto; closest stories I can think of only deal with mechanical transformations, and even then, that's tied up in the cyberpunk genre. If you're writing a transformation fic, you'd need a way to deal with the potential inequality involved (who transformations, why is it happening, how does it affect people's lives, and how should this technology/event be handled).

From what you've teased so far, you seem to have the "who" and "hows" down. And I'm gonna take an educated guess,and say you have ideas as to "why". That sounds like a foundation for a strong speculative fiction story. I'd check out Issac Asimov's Three Types of Science Fiction (WARNING: Link to Tv Tropes). Asimov used the term "invention", but substitute that for "transformation" and you got several plot arcs to choose from. Can't give more resources/advice without knowing more; hope you finally find an idea that sticks!
 
So I finally got back to my recently-acquired copy of Sun, and realised I seem to be on track for having a full Fairy-type team by the end of the game. Success?
 
@Snuggle Tier List I learned about The Metamorphosis because I came across it while researching absurdist literature. I was learning about Martin Sorescu at school.

As for this fanfic, it's also a crossover with a franchise I'm only casually interested in, that I came up with on a whim because a song from it came up in my YouTube recommendations. I need to watch more of it, and I don't have school tomorrow. I've been meaning to continue watching it for the first time in about a year this weekend, but I became interested in reading about Doctor Who on TV Tropes instead.
 
I've been meaning to continue watching it for the first time in about a year this weekend, but I became interested in reading about Doctor Who on TV Tropes instead.
What a strange coincidence. I just linked you to a Tv Tropes summary of an Issac Asimov article. I'm sure the two events had no relation to each other whatsoever.

Oh, look! A distraction!
So I finally got back to my recently-acquired copy of Sun, and realised I seem to be on track for having a full Fairy-type team by the end of the game. Success?
That's odd. Apparently, you're Ice-type now.

Also, what's your team looking like, and who's the highest tier snuggler?
 
Writing went fairly well this week. Got most of the work on chapter six done and out of the way! I'd like to focus on short stories going forwards, I think. I was going to dive into my novel again today, but a conversation with my partner and family yesterday reminded me that the local annual short story competition is firing up again next month, and I absolutely must give it a shot!

In worse news, my wisdom tooth is doing its quarterly spurt and I'm chewing involuntary on my cheek constantly. It's a bother.
 
I was reading TV Tropes before that, though.
oh thank whatever's out there my conscious is clean

In other news, I just finished a chapter of my Let's Play-ish fic...only to bump into Bulbaforum's "10 attachment per post" limit. I am very sad, as you can see from this emoji:

:(
 
I think the reason why I don't enjoy writing anything I post on Fimfiction that much is because I'm only casually interested in My Little Pony, so it feels like something I "have" to include. That's why I'm glad I got an Archive of Our Own account.

I'm also trying to think of unusual transformation scenarios, such as:
  • A character not remembering that they were once something else at first.
  • A former human ends up in the body of a natural Pokémon, while the natural Pokémon ends up in the body intended for the human. They might not necessarily know each other, or even be near each other. I've never read about a Pokémon-to-Pokémon transformation.
Do any of you have any other ideas?

...And now I've reminded myself of a PMD2 roleswap where Grovyle ends up being devolved into a Treecko. It was on Fanfiction.net, but I remember seeing a banner for a fanfic with a similar premise on Serebiiforums, years ago, but it lead to a broken link.
 
Do any of you have any other ideas?
I liked @unrepentantAuthor's approach in Different Eyes. The transformation is a willing decision, which lets you dive into why a character chooses a permanent transformation. Both plot and character device rolled into one.

I've also had an idea of a PMD fic where the protagonist is a human-turned-Pokémon, but is completely aware of their past life. They'd keep that knowledge to themselves, but the audience would immediately be informed the protagonist isn't who they claim to be, while their actions over the course if the fic would slowly reveal their backstory and aims. Fic would be typical PMD fun, but with a detective novel-ish arc from the audience's perspective. I love fiction where the audience has a fair but challenging puzzle they can solve, hence where the idea comes from.

You could also do an inverted transformation. That is: every character transforms except for one person/Pokémon, who has to deal with a world that both radically different and still figuring things out. I've had an idea bouncing around for quite some time of a comedic human-in-PMD world fic, except the Pokémon are all giant scary monsters that've gotten so complacent in their optimistic and friendly PMD world, they need an emotional support human to assert themselves against any threats. Bonus points if wild Pokémon are normal-sized or smaller. Extra bonus points if human's partner is nicest giant Pokémon ever. Extra extra bonus points if partner Pokémon slowly grows to incredible strength as their human partner slowly teaches them the right and wrong way to assert themselves.
 
@Snuggle Tier List

I actually did something similar to that in my story, Unequivocant, where the human-turned-Pokemon kept their memories, and their was a really nice giant Pokemon as a companion--in my case, a Golurk. Everything else was somewhat different, but still...good ideas.
 
Can I just confess my love for the "friendly giant" trope? For giant monsters to be remotely sustainable as a species, they'd need extremely careful cooperation and diet. For instance, they probably wouldn't be able to eat people, as A) eating people makes you fair game for monster hunting, and B) a species that needs maximum dietary efficiency could find more edible biomass at the bottom of the food chain — plants, plankton, algae, etc. Then, they could give piggyback rides to the puny humans in exchange for snacks!

Somewhere out there is an alien swarm obsessed with efficiency. They are friendly, honest, peaceful traders that could easily conquer the galaxy if they weren't preoccupied being alien pets that get lots of friendship and kindness. Mostly because you can't really say no when an alien monster wants to do a sleepover, but also because being friends with giant monsters gives your relatively puny species a huge advantage.

And that's how post-apocalyptic Earth became the Pokémon world. The end. Only they're not giant monsters, they're just normal-sized monsters, but I can't think of a better explanation for why near-sentient Pokémon don't take over the world. Besides marketing, of course.
 
The transformation is a willing decision, which lets you dive into why a character chooses a permanent transformation.
That won't work for my fanfic, though.
the Pokémon are all giant scary monsters that've gotten so complacent in their optimistic and friendly PMD world, they need an emotional support human to assert themselves against any threats.
So... Kaijumon Mystery Dungeon? I'd read that.

As for your "one untransformed human" idea, what if I combined it with the body-swapping one?
 
i'm a big fan of friendly giants too, and i've had plans for a short story starring one, buuut as always i'm stuck with not knowing how to form the plot. always happens - no shortage of characters or premises in this mind, but stringing it into a working story is where it hits a roadblock. if i figured out how to end stories, i could just fit the puzzle pieces in and be a much more prolific author.

in case the story never sees the light of day, here's some concept art of the main characters
 
i'm a big fan of friendly giants too, and i've had plans for a short story starring one, buuut as always i'm stuck with not knowing how to form the plot. always happens - no shortage of characters or premises in this mind, but stringing it into a working story is where it hits a roadblock. if i figured out how to end stories, i could just fit the puzzle pieces in and be a much more prolific author.
Immediate idea from the concept art: Plusle (or is that Stella?) eventually must leave big dude, ir vice versa. Short epilogue detailing how the characters are now that they're permanently separated. Pair that with a prologue of how the characters were before they met each other. Readers get to see how the characters have changed (the more they're changed, the better), giving the epilogue closure. Kinda like that painfully long cutscene at the end of PMD2 that shows your partner spiraling into legitimate, surprisingly well-portrayed extended depression after the surprise loss of the player. Tv Tropes calls that plot device Book-Ends (WARNING: Link to Tv Tropes). Though in PMD2, a literal deus ex machina arrives and starts a whole new epilogue chapter, but that tragedy is not to be spoken of at this dinner table.

So... Kaijumon Mystery Dungeon? I'd read that.
omg are you referencing my own story in casual conversation omg omg omg play it cool
Maybe? In KAIJUMON, I implied off the bat that baby giant Pokémon need a human to get attached to or they'll get all high and mighty and possibly human-enslaving-ly. How much is nature and how much is nuture, I left vague.

For a KMD, I'd have to make the giant Pokémon inherently peaceful if I wanted there to be a world before some puny human arrives. That means I'd need a whole new source of tension; knee-jerk response is "actual danger that could hurt giant Pokémon coming", which sounds a little too close to a "dude trains the natives" plot I'm not very comfortable with. Perhaps it would work best as pure comedy; a parody of "human in PMD" fics? Exaggerating all the ways a puny human would be useless in a world run by magic monsters? In which case, it'd probably be best as a one-off short story. Perhaps something for April 1st.

Side note; I do have possible plans to continue KAIJUMON, but they're on the backburner. I got my pseudo-Let's Play and a secret longfic I've been steadily building a chapter buffer for, then I can think about turning KAIJUMON into a longfic premise.

As for your "one untransformed human" idea, what if I combined it with the body-swapping one?
That would be awesome and possibly hilarious, in the good way.
 
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