Writers' Workshop General Chat Thread

[Beth Pavell]

Oh, I just realised that Expansion requires the use of canon characters, which I don't intend. The idea was for a kind of "Pokédex" style series expanding upon the biology of pokémon. I hadn't decided quite what form it would take (Whether it would be literal expanded in-universe pokédex, for example)

That would make an interesting entry for Best Alternate. If it was specifically related to your universe than it could maybe be Expansion, but we'd have to discuss at that point in time.

That would be my preference, setting it specifically in The Long 'Verse - so to speak - and probably using one of my characters as the author/contributor/whatever. Which character is the question. I suppose I could bring Dr Imogen Joy into the spotlight for a while

 

[Tophat Dragoneye]

The biology of Pokémon can be tricky, which is something that is not often explored ingame unfortunately. Though simple observations of the Pokémon's design and artwork, including animal's behavior they're based as well could give one ideas to what their behavior would be like in the Pokémon world.

By the way, AceTrainer14, congratulations for posting post number 10000 on the general chat

 

[Vivillon]

I challenge anybody and everybody here to a game of chess on chess.com. My name is sir_qwertz there.

Best name ever.

What's your rating? If you fight my BFF Ph8 on there and win, let me know and I'll give you a prize.

If you're referring to my USCF rating, then it is 709 as of the lasr update. However, it may go up a bit during the next one given my performance in the last tournament I played in. Also, CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. Tell me when I can play against him/her and I'll be there.

 

[AceTrainer14]

By the way, AceTrainer14, congratulations for posting post number 10000 on the general chat

I didn't even realise! Congrats to all of us for making this thread go so far!

 

[Beth Pavell]

The biology of Pokémon can be tricky, which is something that is not often explored ingame unfortunately. Though simple observations of the Pokémon's design and artwork, including animal's behavior they're based as well could give one ideas to what their behavior would be like in the Pokémon world.

By the way, AceTrainer14, congratulations for posting post number 10000 on the general chat

Yeah, it's one of those areas where you tread a fine line between adding some interesting spice to the canon, and burying the magic under rambling pseudo-science. I rather enjoy the intellectual exercise of going on a wiki-walk (And similar research walks) to figure out aspects of pokémon biology for the Taxonomy articles. My favourite Linnaen name is still Venusaur's Phytodorsum gloriosus

 

[Persephone]

I think we could realistically move anything centered around a canon character to Expansion to balance categories. Mainly this would apply to Stainless Steel and Through Sapphire Skies, which are journey fics, but OC journeys on their own are more than enough to fill the category and neither of them got the votes to make the judging phase in the last two cycles.

And I think we could move non-Pokemon-related poetry to Non-Pokemon/Crossover to balance categories. The poetry seems more obvious since it has nothing to do with Pokemon and the site is really weak on popular original fiction and crossovers at the moment, getting a grand total of two entries last time. Right now it's in alternate, which is already a huge category without one or two of its nominations going to something that doesn't really deal with Pokemon to begin with.

 

[Beth Pavell]

I honestly don't think it's at all sensible to judge poetry along with prose. I've been meaning to mention this for some time, but it might as well be here. The long and short of it is that only epic poetry has to seriously deal with plot and characterisation, and poetry also has aspects such as metre and rhyme to deal with that prose doesn't. They're two different art forms - both written, sure, but not really the similar beyond that.

Since there's actually quite a few poetry anthologies floating around at the moment I don't see any reason why poetry can't be its own category

 

[Tophat Dragoneye]

Something just came to mind while I thought about some ideas for future chapters: what happens to the Pokémon when their trainer dies? One thought springs to mind that they would be given to a relative to take care of them, but that's just one possibility.

What would you guys do?

 

[kintsugi]

Something just came to mind while I thought about some ideas for future chapters: what happens to the Pokémon when their trainer dies? One thought springs to mind that they would be given to a relative to take care of them, but that's just one possibility.

What would you guys do?

I wrote something dealing with that a few months back (never published here, but I might get around to it), but, me being me, everything died and the world kind of ended.

I'd probably say it depends on how Pokemon are treated in the story--if they're more free-agents/free-thinking creatures, they'll probably have some sort of choice in the matter, maybe deciding to go to a friend/relative or maybe deciding to return to the wild or something? If the story is more geared toward "battle weapon" interpretation, yeah, I could definitely willing/inheriting as a standard route.

I remember enjoying this interpretation many years ago, although I haven't read it for quite a while and can't remember if I just enjoyed it then because it was so hard to understand or something haha

 

[AetherX]

Something just came to mind while I thought about some ideas for future chapters: what happens to the Pokémon when their trainer dies? One thought springs to mind that they would be given to a relative to take care of them, but that's just one possibility.

What would you guys do?

I asked the same question in the general writing questions thread a couple years ago, if you want to look at the few responses.

I think the important thing to do is kind of try to roleplay it. If a character suddenly died and you were left to deal with the aftermath, what would you do? Chances are there are no rigid rules or laws regarding ownership of their Pokemon. Like kintsugi said, look at how the character in question treated their Pokemon. What would their wish be? Would the Pokemon agree with that wish? Do the characters dealing with the aftermath care about/agree with that wish? They might be inherited, or sent to a breeder for adoption or breeding, or maybe they escape of their own accord. It would depend heavily on the situation.

 

[AceTrainer14]

I think we could realistically move anything centered around a canon character to Expansion to balance categories. Mainly this would apply to Stainless Steel and Through Sapphire Skies, which are journey fics, but OC journeys on their own are more than enough to fill the category and neither of them got the votes to make the judging phase in the last two cycles.

And I think we could move non-Pokemon-related poetry to Non-Pokemon/Crossover to balance categories. The poetry seems more obvious since it has nothing to do with Pokemon and the site is really weak on popular original fiction and crossovers at the moment, getting a grand total of two entries last time. Right now it's in alternate, which is already a huge category without one or two of its nominations going to something that doesn't really deal with Pokemon to begin with.

We generally go by whichever is more prominent if a story has multiple categories it could fit into. If the Journey element is stronger than the Expansion elements, we traditionally have put it into Journey. I think though that, with journey, if your story can fit in another category you should put it there. Journey is seen as more prestigious, I feel, but it is one of the most crowded categories and you would be more likely to win in other categories.

With regards to poetry, I have long wanted a separate annual poetry competition held in between the Awards at some point, but we have never gotten around to it. I will discuss with the other mods and we can probably reach some decision before the next awards.

@Tophat Dragoneye: In my stories, the PokeBall breaks upon the death of the trainer, and then the Pokemon decides what they want to do. Like the others have said, it depends on how the trainer has treated their Pokemon and how the Pokemon feels.

 

[Beth Pavell]

If there can't be a separate category for poetry, there at least needs to be alternate judging criteria

 

[Misfit Angel]

I imagine, if the trainer was killed in the wild and never found, their Pokemon would be trapped in the Pokeball until it was recovered. In other events they would probably be passed down to friends/family or released.

 

[Flaze]

I would-ve thought that th efact Pokemon are given to trainer's relatives if their trainer dies was obvious xD

 

[AceTrainer14]

I don't like the idea of Pokemon just being passed around the family with the Pokemon having some sort of say in the matter. It turns them more into possessions than anything else, and since they are much more sentient creatures than real animals, it seems kind of cruel to just pass them on to their dead trainers nephew or second cousin or something like that.

 

[Instrutilus]

Sentience tends to vary. Some things show Pokémon as simple as animals, such as dogs and such. Some show Pokémon as intelligent and capable of intelligent decision making. I suppose one should have the choice of passing down reflect how sentient the story makes them.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Children are sentient, but they don't always end up where they want to be when it comes to parents and guardians.

The fact that we're having this hypothetical argument means that people in the Pokémon world probably would as well

 

[Flaze]

Well I guess they would technically get a choice in the matter? I mean I'd imagine that if the Pokemon has a specific relative they get along they can at least get the choice of picking who they can go to themselves, if htey want to go to the wild I would imagine that'll depend on how close to them the family is. Of course you can't give the go to the wild option to kids though.

 

[BinkVallen]

This is really interesting to think about, actually. I bet that releasing the pokemon into the wild is only a real option if they were caught in the wild rather than raised in captivity, because otherwise they wouldn't know how to survive. I think that pokemon would reasonably be able to opt out to being released, unless the trainer died out in the woods and no one ever found them or something. Passing onto family is a good idea, although it could be problematic if the family members don't have the funds, space, time, or skill to care for pokemon, especially if the deceased had a large team. Close friends could take them in too.

I like the idea of pokemon adoption shelters, both for pokemon with dead trainers that have nowhere else to go and pokemon saved from abusive or neglectful trainers. Trainers would be able to adopt from there if they don't feel comfortable with taking pokemon out of the wild, or if they're just bad at catching pokemon or don't want to catch for some other reason. The problem with adopting is that they run the risk of getting a pokemon that doesn't listen to them because they're still loyal to their old trainer, or a one with other emotional issues. The more docile ones probably get adopted as pets by non-trainers. Although, this makes me wonder about what happens to pokemon who just can't get adopted. Do they get released, even though there's a risk that they won't survive? Do they get put down?

 

[AceTrainer14]

Children are sentient, but they don't always end up where they want to be when it comes to parents and guardians.

Children aren't kidnapped from their native environment and forced to battle at the whim of their kidnappers though