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Writers' Workshop General Chat Thread

I realised that those two ideas contradicted each other. I'll definitely include the point about personality changes that someone brought up, though.
 
Anyway, the Cat News is this: my players cancelled again and we're all busy for NaNoWriMo so the RPG is postponed until December. Goddamnit. Also I failed my driving test and the next available slot is in January. And I might be coming down with a cold. Ugh.

Ouch! I hope you pass next time! And, please, get to feeling better.
 
You don't need to explain it, this is pokémon. You can use his canon backstory. You can say "some pokémon just do that."

This sort of thing only matters, and becomes tricky, if you're holding yourself to a much higher standard of realism/plausibility than the franchise as it already exists. If you were doing such a thing, it would surely be the focus of your project, due to the sheer amount of work it would take.

I recommend that you learn to stop sweating the details, man.
It was more asking for ideas than straight asking for help.

I have settled on an idea: It's normal for a Pokemon to be able to talk, it's just super rare to encounter one. Like to the point that it's almost unheard of. I will occasionally bring in Pokemon that can talk. It's not going to be a common thing.
 
I think my story is being hit on fanfiction by sockpuppet accounts claiming to be part of a forum called 'Critics United'. They're all signed the same way, down to saying I should check the forum for 'informations' and they signed with 'Critics United member.', including the period! All the messages are exactly the same save for the paragraph they say is a problem--and they aren't. Smells fishy, doesn't it?
 
I think my story is being hit on fanfiction by sockpuppet accounts claiming to be part of a forum called 'Critics United'. They're all signed the same way, down to saying I should check the forum for 'informations' and they signed with 'Critics United member.', including the period! All the messages are exactly the same save for the paragraph they say is a problem--and they aren't. Smells fishy, doesn't it?

It's a spambot. There is an actual group called Critics United, but the bot isn't part of them. Critics United still isn't a particularly nice or decent group, but they're not guilty of this particular outrage.

Basically, you're kinda being dragged into the middle of a troll war. Just block and report.
 
Just putting my mod hat on here to remind everyone to be mindful of the intersite drama rule. I'm not saying anyone's broken it, just a friendly reminder.

Good fun. My playgroup was garbage and I've got approx 0% chance of doing any more in the next decade, but it was nice while it lasted. My group went for 'elite' grenadiers, I believe and then promptly began to roleplay complete morons.

I was lucky that my players didn't want to be stormtroopers - 40K special ops would have been boring as hell to GM, and less interesting to play than most players think. But now you mention that, it reminds me of how brutal I intended to be. Not because I wanted to kill my players, but because I didn't intend to save them from bad decisions. Not every mission was intended to be completable, if that makes sense
 
Sometimes, when I'm stuck on ideas for a story, I feel like pulling out all the stops and write a story full of things I like, worrying about themes later. For example, I looked at my Skitty avatar and wondered if I should write about a Skitty. Usually, this never goes anywhere.

Also, I'm trying to upload an avatar that's SMALLER (in terms of file size) than my current one, but it won't work. Is it a problem with my internet connection?
 
Sometimes, when I'm stuck on ideas for a story, I feel like pulling out all the stops and write a story full of things I like, worrying about themes later. For example, I looked at my Skitty avatar and wondered if I should write about a Skitty. Usually, this never goes anywhere.

Also, I'm trying to upload an avatar that's SMALLER (in terms of file size) than my current one, but it won't work. Is it a problem with my internet connection?

Try to change the format of that picture. If it’s PNG, try to save it as a JPEG. Should go through in this way.
 
Hey there, I had a question. Is it okay to make the protagonist of your story slightly dislikable?

Actually, the protagonist Purple of my story comes across as likable in the first chapter (at least I hope so) but later on it's going to be revealed that she used to have personality traits similar to the archetype 'arrogant rival'. Although now she has matured. But those traits do surface from time to time.

I was wondering whether people would be okay with that?
 
I say go for it. My own protagonists are not necessarily the most likable of people, though. I think it's obvious in the rewrite why Athena gave them those nicknames >.>
 
all protagonists should have flaws and not being 100% agreeable allows for depth in a character. however, it's important to not present the dislikable moments as being completely okay for the character to do within the story, or it'll get that scent of "my protagonist can do no wrong". having a character regret acts later on or at least be called out on them by another character (with this character not being presented as being wrong for criticizing the lead) helps with keeping the trait from becoming too unlikable.

there's also the path of the protagonist who's established as unlikable from the get-go, but it's pretty tough to keep it from getting grating. even then, different readers will have different reactions and a character who's love-to-hate to another can just be genuinely unbearable for another. i would know, i'm currently trying my darnedest to get my own protagonist to hit that sweet spot of likably unlikable.
 
Hey there, I had a question. Is it okay to make the protagonist of your story slightly dislikable?

Actually, the protagonist Purple of my story comes across as likable in the first chapter (at least I hope so) but later on it's going to be revealed that she used to have personality traits similar to the archetype 'arrogant rival'. Although now she has matured. But those traits do surface from time to time.

I was wondering whether people would be okay with that?

Please keep in mind that "protagonist" is defined as simply the leading character. This does not mean they need to be likeable, agreeable, or even a good guy. Your protagonist could be a vile, atrocity committing person, but they would still be the protagonist. As long as you keep them consistently written, feel free to make the protagonist an unbearable asshole, if you wish.
 
Speaking of protagonists, I realised that a big reason why I got bored of writing The Tides Have Turned was because Jay was really, really milquetoast, and everyone else's personalities weren't clearly defined because I didn't spend much time thinking about them. It's something I'll try to avoid from now on.
 
all protagonists should have flaws and not being 100% agreeable allows for depth in a character. however, it's important to not present the dislikable moments as being completely okay for the character to do within the story, or it'll get that scent of "my protagonist can do no wrong". having a character regret acts later on or at least be called out on them by another character (with this character not being presented as being wrong for criticizing the lead) helps with keeping the trait from becoming too unlikable.

It's even more fun to have two characters with bad traits correctly call each other out. Leaves you with a sense neither one is entirely the best person, but also that both are correct in their critiques.
 
Protagonists absolutely must have flaws and traits people don't approve of, and the best way to do this imo is to have those flaws be the flipside of their strengths. They're brave? They're foolhardy. They're kind? They're too forgiving. They're gentle? They're weak.

The reverse is also true. They're arrogant? They're confident. And so on.

You may do anything in your writing. Everything you do has consequences. Decide whether you like those consequences.

It was more asking for ideas than straight asking for help.

I have settled on an idea: It's normal for a Pokemon to be able to talk, it's just super rare to encounter one. Like to the point that it's almost unheard of. I will occasionally bring in Pokemon that can talk. It's not going to be a common thing.

Asking for ideas isn't really distinct from asking for help. What I was actually saying to you, though, was that this isn't a problem in the first place since it doesn't need handling any differently to the anime. Do you follow my reasoning?

Also, if it's super rare, it's not normal. Rare and normal are antithetical. Not saying that this is a bad plan, just pointing out a discrepancy.
 
Asking for ideas isn't really distinct from asking for help. What I was actually saying to you, though, was that this isn't a problem in the first place since it doesn't need handling any differently to the anime. Do you follow my reasoning?

Also, if it's super rare, it's not normal. Rare and normal are antithetical. Not saying that this is a bad plan, just pointing out a discrepancy.

I guess I didn’t think about. Sorry. I believe in episode 3, I had nurse joy say that she had heard of rare cases of that happening, but never thought she’d see one.
 
For someone who still hasn't got around to playing Gen 7, what would you folks recommend? Should I skip straight to Ultra Sun, or play the original version first?
 
Original. Ultra Sun might have more features, but Sun has a better narrative. I guess it depends on what you look for in a Pokemon game, but I still think the original is superior even without the extra bits of content.
 
For someone who still hasn't got around to playing Gen 7, what would you folks recommend? Should I skip straight to Ultra Sun, or play the original version first?

It depends.

If you are looking for better narrative, more cohesive story, and more focus on proper characterization... go for the originals. If you want more content involving the Ultra Wormholes, more Pokemon, a chance to catch any prior gen legendary you missed, or a chance to fight villains from past games go Ultra.

Really, both games have their upsides and their downsides. This isn't like the era of third-games like Platinum, where the newest addition is just better all around; this time there are some trade-offs.
 
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