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Writers' Workshop General Chat Thread

I'd beg to differ. How would they not mesh well? I'm not the most informed person on Thomas the Tank Engine, but I don't see any possible conflicts.
 
It's still perfectly possible to get a decent, budget, ordinary laptop without too much fuss. If you like, I can recommend something to you online that matches the specs you need. Otherwise you might want to go to a physical shop and get staff assistance picking something out. I've had some luck doing this.

I suppose it wouldn't hurt. I went to PC World last November (Yes, yes, I know), to see what the staff would do with the brief. They don't seem to know very much - perhaps I've been blighted by Lush's sales obsessions, but I spotted a golden opportunity to upsell missed by the girl I spoke to. I don't really need it to do much. Decent sound quality since I watch anime on my laptop, most of the other work I do on this is writing and web browsing. It would be nice to be able to run Empire: Total War properly (It just about runs on this glorified tablet of mine).

In the matter of a crossover, well, all crossovers are of niche interest anyway - a relatively obscure animation such as Thomas the Tank Engine is even more niche.
 
Hello, everyone... InfiniteBakuphoon here again. It wouldn't be a visit from me without a mention of a certain eternally unfinished first chapter of a certain fic that I've been writing. That said, I have good news... said chapter is eternally unfinished no more, after at least a month and a half of work. However, I did have to "cheat" a little bit to accomplish that. Basically, a few days ago, I actually just sat down and read everything that I had written from beginning to end, and I realized something: my originally intended first chapter was really, really long (and not even fully complete on top of that!). So in the end, I decided to shorten it considerably, essentially by splitting it into (what's currently) three chapters. Part of this decision was made out of semi-desperate practicality, I'll admit — I wanted to get something out there — but I do also think that it's legitimately better this way; shorter chapters are better to read than ultra-long ones, right? Hopefully I'm right, anyway... we'll see.

I asked this before elsewhere but only got one reply which didn’t really help so I’ll ask it here: if Thomas the Tank Engine and Pokemon had a crossover what would any of you like to see? I’m asking because I’m writing one myself but have no idea what fans of Pokemon want to see in it.
As has been mentioned a few times already, Pokémon and Thomas the Tank Engine are... rather interesting choices for a crossover; it's certainly not the first pair that would come to most people's minds when thinking about a crossover involving either. I suppose that it could work with enough imagination and ingenuity, as with almost any idea. That is assuming, however, that you'll find an especially wide audience for such a unique idea, although in that case you'll probably want to consider for yourself how much the bringing the idea to life in itself matters to you versus having that and recognition (as well as how much of it you really want in the first place).

That said, might I make a suggestion? Assuming that you haven't already planned or thought about this, perhaps you could possibly consider a conceptual crossover versus a traditional one? That is to say, instead of having characters from Pokémon and Thomas the Tank Engine literally meet one another somehow, you'd essentially just take the basic concept of one franchise (that is: the concept, not necessarily the plot itself) and apply it to the universe and characters of the other. Or, to put it another way: characters from Pokémon would be transplanted into the roles of characters from Thomas the Tank Engine — or vice versa — and would be treated as if they were always there; how these characters act in this new scenario would then create the story elements for your "conceptual" crossover. Again, I don't know if those were already your plans or if you'd even be interested in doing something like that, but it's a thought nonetheless.
 
Heads up, everyone. We've made a change to the submission rules for the Review League. You'll now be able to post a maximum of four reviews per week. The intent is to make administering the League manageable for moderators.

You have until the 10th to post at will, at which time the new rule comes into effect.
 
i take it that this means that we're still able to review as much as we want, but we can only log up to four of them in a week?
 
Yes. If it becomes a problem where people start to pile up more than four reviews a week, we can look at this new rule again. We just want to prevent people from piling 20+ reviews on at once, it's kind of inconsiderate.
 
I need to review more myself, thinking about it. (I should probably start with reading stuff in the work more often, I guess.)
 
Woops, I definitely contributed to that, once upon a time. :V I've been on both ends, and it's painful to compile that many as much as it is to approve that many. DO YOUR HOMEWORK ON TIME, KIDS something something

In other news, I got into a really good writing flow today for the first time in a while and it was amazing. Just one straight hour of drowning out everything except my writing, yesssss
 
@Zaphod Scotsman: I think what @InfiniteBakuphoon suggested is a good way of handling it. I think trying to combine talking steam engines with a world populated by fantasical monsters would be too many diverse elements to work cohesively together. Taking the railway elements or the personalities of the engines and transferring them to the Pokemon world might work best, or alternatively transplanting the Journey aspect to that of Sodor.

@diamondpearl876 I am very glad I decided to actually click on a thread today - those images are ASTOUNDING! I really wish I could visit them all as well. I always try to keep my eyes peeled on real world destinations for inspiration, but rarely does it generate anything. I tried to use a trip to a Swiss mountain to get me thinking about Mt Coronet, but the mountain was perhaps too sparse and jagged to fit in with my imagination.
 
It seems I am getting back into writing fanfic... maybe it's nostalgia, as I get closer to graduating college...
 
I've been enjoying Atlas Obscura for getting worldbuilding and location ideas for fics... and I may wanna visit some places on here myself, near where I live. :V Thought I'd share it with y'all.

Interesting resource, that. Might be good fuel for getting the journeyfic out of the very well-trodden canon locations
 
Uh...hi.

My name's Kyle. I didn't see an "Introduce Yourself" thread specific to the Writer's Workshop, so, uh, yeah. Hello. Nice to meet you all. You seem like nice people. Please don't kill me, I have a family.

I have the urge to write a story called "Storge: The Family That Fights Together", but I don't know what it should be about.

@Nitro Indigo Not seeing any context for this urge, but your title made me think of (of all things) The Wondersmith And His Sons by folk-rapper Astronautalis (mature content warning; can't remember any explicit lyrics but the imagery is dark and there's explicit mentions of violence and death):

It's a song about a family of outlaws that charms their way to their marks, as well as their eventual downfall. Very storyteller-like song structure, could serve as inspiration if you're digging the "family bandits" vibe.

Though if you're looking for a more optimistic take on Families Battling Together, I'd instead recommend Brother by alt country band Murder by Death (mature content warning again; explicit death, drug use, moderate language):

Again, very storyteller-esque presentation of a family sticking together through hard times. I've always found music to be a good writer's block breaker, especially if you're listening to more literary songwriters. Hope I helped!
 
I was thinking more of some "found family" type of deal. I'm trying to come up with new ideas for fanfics because I'm burned out on Fimfiction.
 
It's a shame that I haven't been posting so much the last couple of weeks, but my jobs has been working me harder and harder than ever. This last week, I cut my breaks and left the office late pretty much every day, and I'm still being pushed to perform even more. It's rough. The relentless push to work extra hours unpaid without time in lieu, plus the fact that my supervisor is discourteous and disrespectful, has made me start looking for another job. Wish me luck, all.

In better news, Partner has a new job in our town council, we're adopting a bearded dragon, and I am getting a very little writing done from time to time. Despite hardship at the office, I'm in decent mental and emotional shape!

I hope everyone here is well, and welcome to @Snuggle Tier List, I assure you we don't kill people here, save for in prose fiction from time to time. Make yourself at home.
 
Hey can anyone help me for a piece of fanfic I am writing. I need a way of defining time for the Pokemon Universe. For example in the real world right now it is 16th February 2019.
Are years ever mentioned in Pokemon? What year is it if so?

Thanks

So for years and years, many of us on here, myself included, have tried putting together accurate timelines for the Pokemon games, up until ORAS, this was actually very easy to do, thanks to this tweet here:
DmzTLDh.png


This tweet was from after the release of XY but before the release of ORAS, and it quite simply reads: Kant:bulbaWave:Hoenn -> Joht:bulbaWave:Sinnoh -> BW -> BW2/XY.

However, ORAS effectively retconned XY out of the same universe as every game prior to it. When XY came out, Mega Evolutions were treated as something of ancient times known to select few people that has more or less been rediscovered and popularized, starting from the Kalos region. Up until XY, every game could exist in one universe, but back to that retcon, Zinnia very clearly states that the firing of AZ's Ultimate Weapon 3,000 years ago happens in one universe but not the other, the Hoenn she references that doesn't have Mega Evolution or Infinty Energy is almost surely referencing RSE. This of course, by extension, takes XY out of the old universe and puts it into the new universe.

Before I continue on, I'll give the universes dedicated names, the one where the Ultimate Weapon was fired is typically referred to as the Megaverse, the other is one nobody can really agree on, I'm going to call it the Standardverse for lack of a better name, but Advancedverse, Non-Megaverse, Classicverse and a few others are all other names given to this one. Technically, one could consider Gen 1 and 2 a separate universe from Gen 3-5, but the events are so close to each other that you're better off thinking of these as alternative events that could've happened in the same universe, much like SM and USUM both take place under the Megaverse umbrella, but are themselves separate versions of events. Basically what I'm saying is RBY = FRLG, and GSC = HGSS, either one can exist in the Standardverse, although some prefer to split them into a third universe called the Classicverse.

So now we have at least one established universe, the Standardverse's events go as follows (remakes and third versions override initial versions for simplicity's sake):

FRLG/Emerald -3 years-> HGSS/Platinum -~5 years-> BW -2 years-> BW2

The gap between Gen 4 and Gen 5 is never confirmed like the others are, but through a few details, one could come to the conclusion that it's around 5 years, give or take a couple more. The Team Rocket Grunt from the Power Plant story in the Johto games is now married and has a young child who would appear to be age 4-6. Assuming he left Kanto immediately after this with his wife, this is well within the realm of a 5-7 year gap. Also, the two Team Magma and Aqua Grunts that fell in love that are also referenced in ORAS now live together in Unova as well (Unova is apparently where criminals go to live a normal life, fun fact).

So now we move onto the Megaverse, this is where things get interesting, mainly because not all regions are yet represented, but Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee have helped us create more accurate gaps and help fill in the timeline, there are also MANY things referenced in LGPE to help tie it into the rest of the Pokemon World.

Prior to LGPE, many would've told you something like this for the Megaverse timeline:

Origins/ORAS -3 years-> Johto remake/Sinnoh remake -5-7 years-> Unova1 remake -2 years-> Unova2 remake/XY -2 years-> SM/USUM.

However, LGPE has changed more things, just like ORAS did. This time, Red, Blue, as well as a new character, Green, have all set off on their journeys maybe 2-3 years before you as the player do, I don't think this pushes LGPE up past the Johto games, however, as Sabrina mentions after you rebattle her that "another trainer like you won't appear for another 3 years" which is a clear reference to the PC in the Johto games. I think, rather, Red and Blue started their journeys three year earlier.

Mina also appears in LGPE, with concept art stating she's 13-15, as shown here:
index.php

and since she's 19 in the Alola games, since Trial Captains cannot be 20 or older, this condenses what would otherwise be a 12-14 year timeline down to probably a 7 year timeline maximum. And the reason I say 7 and not 6 is because Mina could be nearing 20 in SM, which can effectively make the timeline 7 years rounded up from 6 years and 11 months, or whatever.

Anyways, the new timeline thanks to the new information, goes something like this:

LGPE/ORAS -3 years-> Johto remake/Sinnoh remake/Unova1 remake -2 years-> Unova 2 remake/XY -2 years-> SM/USUM

This is exactly 7 years (minus a month or two), which fits all the details we have, Red and Blue are clearly in their early 20s in the Alola games, and this timeline puts them at either 21 or 22, depending on whether you think they still started their journey at 11 or if they're 11 in LGPE. This condensing down to 7 years would also help the case of Wally, who's 10 in ORAS but hasn't changed too drastically from then to his appearance in the Alola games, he'd be 17 in SM which isn't out of the realm of looking a little bit more on the youthful side.

Other aging characters include:

Red and Blue: 13-14 in LGPE, 20-21 in SM/USUM.

The reason I think the gaps can change from the Standardverse to the Megaverse is quite simple, the events don't have to stay chronologically the same. So the Rocket Grunt, which was the only reason people forced a huge gap from Gen 4 to Gen 5, might not even exist in the same way in the Megaverse, completely eliminating a need for that gap. LGPE is proof that major differences can happen, as Red started his journey earlier relevant to Team Rocket being taken down, by a good 2-3 years.

Lastly, we know the gaps from the Unova, Kalos, and Alola games thanks to various in-game texts. Grimsley in the Alola games is stated to be 2 years older than his last appearance, which would be BW2, which is supposed to take place alongside XY, which is confirmed by Sina and Dexio to take place two years before the Alola games.

So there you have it, until other information confirms otherwise, this is basically the timeline of the Megaverse, remember, the Megaverse is also a multiverse, where every game and every person's copy of that game serves as another parallel universe to one another, for example, in my opinion, USUM don't override SM, they're just separate branches off of each other. Just as ORAS are just two versions of similar events, and so on and so forth.

Credit where its due, Bird Keeper Toby, who's channel is linked here, has done more to cover this topic than just about everyone, he himself is more subscribed to a 20 year timeline instead of a 10 year timeline because of Porygon's Dex entries stating it was created 20 years ago, but nothing in LGPE ever suggests that Porygon is a brand new Pokemon, just that it's a newer and artificial Pokemon, so I disagree with him on that bit, but I respect him for leaving the 10 year timeline theory open for discussion and not downright dismissing it, but I think this 7 year timeline needs a bit more exploring.
 
As far as I know, there's never been any concrete mentions of years and dates within the Pokemon franchise, with a couple of exceptions:
  • In the games, I believe it's been stated that Gold/Silver take place... three years after Red/Blue? I could have the number wrong, it's been so long since I've played the games.
  • Naturally I believe BW2 takes place after BW. Having not played them, I don't know any specifics.
  • In the anime, I don't believe Ash has ever turned 11 years old yet, despite there being a special episode that focused on his and Pikachu's one year anniversary. Go figure that one out :p
This is one of those things where you'll have to come up with details yourself, since the official media is so murky. I think that's a good thing, it's an opportunity to flex your creativity!
 
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