Writers' Workshop General Chat Thread

[Life]

You know, if you (or anybody else for that matter) feel the need, you can shoot me a message with something like that. I'm an astrophysics major in college right now, and I've already been thinking on my own some about applying science to the Pokemon world, so I might be able to help answer any questions. Can't promise anything, but I'm certainly willing to listen.

That's really cool! Not sure if I'll get to it since I've sort of abandoned the idea, but if I do come back to it I may just have to shoot you a message, thanks!

 

[Treble Tech]

Oh, yeah, I'd never try to apply science as we know it to the Pokemon world as a whole; it's simply impossible. As already mentioned, it's fundamentally based on magic, and there's simply no way it would work. But if, as chaos_Leader mentioned, you try to think about how science would exist in the Pokemon world rather than a direct application of our own, and you look at smaller, less magical topics by themselves, you can at least draw some interesting connections and parallels. Myself, I only ever think of science in the Pokemon world as a "what if", and just with small topics, for fun. For example, passing down IVs through breeding could be similar to the passing down of DNA, although they certainly don't act exactly the same. Do they have principles in common? Heck if I know, but they could. I also have a theory relating to magnetism on why electric resists steel, but it's a bit long, so I won't post it.

We are looking to reboot the Academy. Perhaps we could have a basic science lesson to explain some of these things if your interested?

I'd have to think about what to include, but sure! I'd be willing to take a crack at it. Keep me in mind when you get to that.

 

[Misfit Angel]

With creatures transforming into pure energy for storage in baseball-sized objects

This could be handled the same way Star Trek handles the transporter system: the subject is scanned, digitized and stored in a memory bank, and the original is... 'vaporized'. When a Pokemon is brought out again, they're 3D printed into existence. It's kind of a scary thought, admittedly, that all Pokemon become digital clones as soon as they're put in a Pokeball, but it's at least believable.

 

[Jersey Jimmy]

This could be handled the same way Star Trek handles the transporter system: the subject is scanned, digitized and stored in a memory bank, and the original is... 'vaporized'. When a Pokemon is brought out again, they're 3D printed into existence. It's kind of a scary thought, admittedly, that all Pokemon become digital clones as soon as they're put in a Pokeball, but it's at least believable.

Actually, if somebody were to write a story where Team Plasma are the villains, this could be used as a serious talking point for them to use. And in addition, if caught Pokemon breed, are their spawn digital as well?

 

[Persephone]

The possibility of editing the clone could also explain why captured Pokemon, however intelligent or sentient, will now follow your orders without question.

 

[0bs1d1an_kn1ght]

This could be handled the same way Star Trek handles the transporter system: the subject is scanned, digitized and stored in a memory bank, and the original is... 'vaporized'. When a Pokemon is brought out again, they're 3D printed into existence. It's kind of a scary thought, admittedly, that all Pokemon become digital clones as soon as they're put in a Pokeball, but it's at least believable.

That's...pretty fucked up. I can see this giving leeway to why Missingno exists.

 

[Misfit Angel]

Ugh, I think I burnt myself out of writing. I was hoping to keep a solid pace after the awards were announced, but I've spent so much time the past two weeks revising plans, rewriting parts of old chapters and working on other stuff that I've fizzled.

Anyone ever do that? And should I worry that this might be a permanent problem, or will it eventually go away and I can get back to writing?

 

[BinkVallen]

Late to the party on this topic but I couldn't do a darkfic if I tried. All I write is puppies and rainbows. As for science, I've tried before but now I've decided that it's not worth it and I should just let things be kinda magic-y. I'm not clever enough to come up with plausible sounding explanations. I mostly sprinkle in details about how day-to-day stuff that canon never mentioned works, which adds a small amount of "realism" without me needing to deal with physics. Ideally. Not sure if it's working. (My personal favorite explanation I've come up with is for how the pokemon league is funded and why parents are letting their ten year old children run around on pokemon journeys virtually unsupervised, but I haven't figured out how to work that into Lucky Egg yet.)

The fact that the vaporizor pokeball theory adds up upsets me greatly, so I'm going to pretend it's nonsense for the sake of my mental wellbeing. >__>

 

[AceTrainer14]

Ugh, I think I burnt myself out of writing. I was hoping to keep a solid pace after the awards were announced, but I've spent so much time the past two weeks revising plans, rewriting parts of old chapters and working on other stuff that I've fizzled.

Anyone ever do that? And should I worry that this might be a permanent problem, or will it eventually go away and I can get back to writing?

I intended to get two chapters of 8ES out this month. I am still struggling to get through the first one. And I had such high hopes to start this year off right; I really wanted to post something for each of my stories next month in celebration of the anniversary. But I've had the same issue as you of being distracted by planning. However, I went away for a few days and finally sat down to write and got some inspiration. Maybe breaking up your routine is what you need?

 

[Jersey Jimmy]

Meanwhile, I get anxious if I don't post a new chapter within five days. Then again, I write relatively short chapters, so...

 

[Beth Pavell]

Ugh, I think I burnt myself out of writing. I was hoping to keep a solid pace after the awards were announced, but I've spent so much time the past two weeks revising plans, rewriting parts of old chapters and working on other stuff that I've fizzled.

Anyone ever do that? And should I worry that this might be a permanent problem, or will it eventually go away and I can get back to writing?

You just need to give yourself a break. Slow down on the pace - I wouldn't just stop entirely, since that'll just encourage yourself to not pick it up again - and don't set yourself any expectations for a whole

 

[Lord Kyuubi]

Ugh, I think I burnt myself out of writing. I was hoping to keep a solid pace after the awards were announced, but I've spent so much time the past two weeks revising plans, rewriting parts of old chapters and working on other stuff that I've fizzled.

Anyone ever do that? And should I worry that this might be a permanent problem, or will it eventually go away and I can get back to writing?

I used to be constantly doing that - I'd get a spark of inspiration and then write literally until I'd burned out... It wasn't a good technique any way you look at it. Recently, I've been trying to adopt that most frustrating practise of stopping while still feeling inspired, and therefore being able to carry on later. Though the problem with that is feeling inspired in the first place - I think you're supposed to try writing 15 minutes worth literally first thing in the morning or something, because that... helps, maybe? Still, I haven't been motivated enough to write seriously since that fiasco last month. Which is very bad, I do need to sort this out at some point. Saving that chapter would probably be a good start.

The fact that the vaporizor pokeball theory adds up upsets me greatly, so I'm going to pretend it's nonsense for the sake of my mental wellbeing. >__>

I've never liked pokeballs, and this theory certainly doesn't help them. Though I guess, if that is how they work, how would pokemon be able to break out again when they're initially being caught? The fact there's a struggle implies the pokemon must at that point be more than just energy or data, so hopefully that means it's not true?

That still doesn't cover them against the fact a pokemon is claustrophobically locked away inside, essentially cut off completely from the world until their trainer sees fit to release them again. Even if the vaporising thing isn't true, it's still basically the same as putting someone in solitary confinement.

 

[Beth Pavell]

That still doesn't cover them against the fact a pokemon is claustrophobically locked away inside, essentially cut off completely from the world until their trainer sees fit to release them again. Even if the vaporising thing isn't true, it's still basically the same as putting someone in solitary confinement.

Doesn't that rather depend on the canon? In at least one of the manga, pokémon are able to at least see outside. Logically in the anime pokémon must at least be able to sense some of what's going on outside, since there are multiple instances of them letting themselves out in response to events.

I chose to interpret the Poké Ball as being restful for The Long Walk. My reasoning is that without a physical body, a pokémon inside the Ball wouldn't perceive the space in the same way. It's harder to get claustrophobic if you don't have a body. Part of the reason I did this was to explain why most pokémon don't seem to mind the Poké Ball, and partly because I'm tired of the imprisonment cliché

 

[Lord Kyuubi]

Doesn't that rather depend on the canon? In at least one of the manga, pokémon are able to at least see outside. Logically in the anime pokémon must at least be able to sense some of what's going on outside, since there are multiple instances of them letting themselves out in response to events.

I chose to interpret the Poké Ball as being restful for The Long Walk. My reasoning is that without a physical body, a pokémon inside the Ball wouldn't perceive the space in the same way. It's harder to get claustrophobic if you don't have a body. Part of the reason I did this was to explain why most pokémon don't seem to mind the Poké Ball, and partly because I'm tired of the imprisonment cliché

This does make sense, yes. I wasn't aware of any instances of pokemon releasing themselves, besides wild pokemon breaking out when someone attempts to catch them, so I guess that does improve the matter rather.

And yeah, 'claustrophobic' was probably the wrong word. Though something more similar to this than I'd thought, in my story, certain dark-type pokemon are able to transform their bodies to become part of a shadow, usually to hide. Personally, I'd always portrayed lack of a body as a very unsettling experience one prefers to avoid if at all possible, though that might say more about the character using this ability than the process itself. I can see how having no body could also be relaxing, at least to someone less jumpy.

I still don't see the pokeball as a particularly favourable place to be put though, except perhaps if you needed time to rest or reflect. Sure, a pokemon may be able to see and be aware of things going on outside, but that still seems a poor substitute for actually experiencing whatever journey their trainer may be on. Not to mention they can't interact with the trainer or any other pokemon from in there. This is making me wonder what luxury balls do differently, though.

 

[Beth Pavell]

I still don't see the pokeball as a particularly favourable place to be put though, except perhaps if you needed time to rest or reflect. Sure, a pokemon may be able to see and be aware of things going on outside, but that still seems a poor substitute for actually experiencing whatever journey their trainer may be on. Not to mention they can't interact with the trainer or any other pokemon from in there. This is making me wonder what luxury balls do differently, though.

It would depend partly on the psychology of pokémon, I would think. Take dogs, for instance. A dog is happiest when the pack hierarchy is firmly established, even if that means his place is right on the bottom. That same situation for a human would usually be thought of as terribly unjust. It might depend upon the species of pokémon, I suppose, but I could easily accept the idea that they don't mind longer periods of inactivity (Bit of a tangential point this, but predators tend not to mind doing nothing for extended periods of time. The extreme side of this would be certain snakes that can happily sit and do nothing but digest for months on end).

That being said, it would be a nice detail if good pokémon care was considered to include a balance of time outside of the Poké Ball. Going back to dogs again, you don't have to have them out in the free air all the time, but try never taking a spaniel for a walk and see what happens.

... ok, this has got me distracted from actually writing Chapter Twenty Three

 

[Misfit Angel]

And yeah, 'claustrophobic' was probably the wrong word.

Cabin fever?

Anyways, I imagine the inside of a Pokeball to be like another thing from Star Trek, the holodeck. A digital environment that simulates the passage of time, the movement of space, and is overall a pleasing experience for the Pokemon within. Like a Lapras' simulation would be that it's on the open waves in a tropical environment or something. There's so much possibility when converting something into digital form and storing it, creating a simulated environment for it doesn't seem out of the question.

Although none of that says anything about power requirements and storage capacity, and how you'd be able to fit all of that into something that size. The people of the Pokemon universe must be techno-wizards who bee-lined for Pokeballs in the tech tree and skipped everything else.

 

[Tophat Dragoneye]

Not to mention the fact that pokéballs can shrink from baseball size to ping pong size for better storage and vice versa. Unless the Pokémon world has access to the Pym particles (you need to watch Ant-Man to understand that) how do you explain that technology?

 

[Caitlin]

I feel so horribly detached from this place. I really want to visit more but I keep worrying I'll get stuck in the whirlpool that is destructive internet addiction.

 

[Jersey Jimmy]

Not to mention the fact that pokéballs can shrink from baseball size to ping pong size for better storage and vice versa. Unless the Pokémon world has access to the Pym particles (you need to watch Ant-Man to understand that) how do you explain that technology?

Maybe the Poke Ball is bigger on the inside? I've always thought that it creates a replica of the Pokemon's natural habitat - a graveyard for Gengar, the inner city for Scrafty, etc. I also like to think this is how PC boxes work... maybe I should do something that explores that.

 

[VeniaSilente]

With all this talk about Pokéballs, I'm pretty happy to have done away with the whole "digitally stored" concept. It's just so horrifically senseless, and opens up and eve more horrificable (yeah I had to invent that word for the specific purpose) can of worms. After all, Pokéballs can also apparently digitize food, souvenirs and any sort of item that you could attach to a Pokémon - including spoons and handkerchiefs. It's next to impossible they can't also digitize humans too, with the various consequences thereof (watch The Matrix, Sixth Day, etc...) and that assuming that the whole process goes right. Probably "Sentret being merged with their handkerchief" or "human arm is fused with a Magipark's head" are the kind of things where Glitches come from in a "everything is digitizable" Pokémon world...

Instead, Pokéball information is attached to a digital database (but of course!) but beyond that, Pokémon storage is more about teleportation and space/energy folding (which at least M8 seems to support). My personal interpretation, admittedly taken from a friend who also writes Pokémon, is that Pokéballs contain a link to a larger, folded space modified for inhabitation where Pokémon can spend some of their time, and that the fold is "active" at all times, allowing Pokémon to perceive what is going on outside. It would also help explain using machines for trading Pokémon, as the information within the Pokéballs has to be rehashed and relinked in the database from one Trainer to another, which requires a cryptographically secure and computationally heavy process (and we are talking "computationally heavy" in a 'verse where storing and processing large amounts of data looks easily doable considering Zero has his own persona assistant meido AI, and inorganic Pokémon like Metagross could be theoretically clustered to function as homemade supercomputers, so... yeah).