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Writers' Workshop General Chat Thread

well, a parody comes with a good opportunity: make up something so outrageous that people will click, even if it's out of pure morbid curiosity. then you can use those unconfirmed speculations to make some highly tangential case for it.
 
I think people got the idea of Armoured Evolutions from Digimon, so I can make some ludicrous claim about how Sword and Shield would be a Digimon crossover because Namco Bandai worked on Smash or something...

...Except "Digimon, herpty-derpty-doo" is one of the most unfunny jokes that YouTubers trying to be edgy can come up with, unless I want to parody them, too.

Alternatively, I could apply those clichés to a video about another franchise, or combine it with a parody of Zelda theories, which I wanted to do a few months ago.
 
problem is, parody really works best (and really only works in general) on youtube when you either A) base your whole channel around such videos or B) have a large enough following for people to know that this video isn't something you normally do at first glance
 
On a completely unrelated note, the other day, I watched a video about how Pokémon designs have become cuter over time. Despite all the "GENWUNNER!" comments, I felt that way at one point, too. But anyway, it gave me an idea: people could do theme teams of Pokémon designed by a specific artist. There was a list of a few on Reddit once.

I also felt like writing a fanfic about a Xatu. I still want to write about the Skorupi and the Maractus, but I can't think of where to start.
 
...But I don't have a big viewerbase, so I don't want it to drown in the sea of actual Sword and Shield clickbait. I wanted to make a parody theory a few months ago; maybe I could do that?

I wouldn't recommend you make any video if it needs an audience, but if you enjoy making videos for the sake of making videos, go for it! For me at least, solidifying thoughts into some creative form is downright therapeutic (literally; I have a therapist, I'm relaying their advice on creating art with a healthy mindset). So long as you don't pressure yourself to get views or stake your self-worth on some other metric, your parody sounds like a great idea! Go for it!

problem is, parody really works best (and really only works in general) on youtube when you either A) base your whole channel around such videos or B) have a large enough following for people to know that this video isn't something you normally do at first glance

I wouldn't agree with that. If you're going in with the mindset that people will confuse your parody with actual clickbait, then I think you're valuing unimportant people's opinions too high. A good parody can be recognized as parody even in isolation if done right. You just need to give the reasonable portion of your audience a wink. For instance, recording yourself "accidentally" wondering who believes this crap would immediately clue in anyone who understands basic video editing, especially if you otherwise demonstrate competent editing. Or as a hypothetical, if the entire video turns out to be 20 minutes of increasingly more armored forms of Mewtwo to the point it's literally just a photo of scrap metal as a "New Mega Evolution", followed by "This would, of course, be a grass type", then I don't see how a reasonable person could take it seriously.

Also, unreasonable people be unreasonable. Don't factor them in; you'll just drive yourself insane. I speak from personal experience.
 
...I should go hone my Photoshop skills. (On Pixlr, but you know what I meant.)

I still think the stupidest Pokémon clickbait I've ever seen was an USUM trailer breakdown where the thumbnail was like, "WALKING POKEMON CONFIRMED?!" The evidence was that there was a Wingull flying in the player's general direction, which the guy in the video dismissed as unlikely.
 
I am back from the grave!

...

Seriously though, I've been inactive for an obnoxiously long time, and it's high time I get back into the swing of things! I was hit by a combination of a continual headache and a shift into a gaming mood. I tend to shift between primary interests every few months or so, and now I'm crawling back into a writing mood.

Though, I'm not sure if I want to write anything Pokemon related. I've had plenty of time to think--somewhat forced to, I might add--and I find that the work I would write within the confines of the Pokemon universe simply won't be up to par with what I know I can do. I already push the limits of calling my work fanfiction in the first place; take out the Pokemon themselves and some plot points, and it can pass off as original material.

Plus...my last story, Unequivocant, simply wasn't as good as I thought it was. There are still many good aspects about it, but to me, it just stands as evidence of how I am restricted by writing it as fanfiction rather than something original. I am forced to make rather awkward plot points at times to keep it thematically akin to PMD, and the process of determining the best Pokemon for new characters is exhausting. Then there's my mentality of making the work as short as possible as to make sure the writing of it doesn't take too long, despite that causing the story to sometimes advance too quickly and make awkward character development.

TL;DR I don't think I should continue writing Pokemon fanfiction and should return to the original material I began with. I've steadily been creating a new world for this, and have adapted my planned and completed stories into it so I can get to writing them. I'll consider posting one of these stories here as to not move away from the community just yet--you're all too nice for that. ;)
 
Now that I've gotten bored of My Little Pony, I've wanted to write a pure Pokémon fanfic that focuses on species I want to write about*, but I lack inspiration. Instead, my mind has been focused on canon character introspective drabbles, such as an anthology-ish Fullmetal Alchemist AU where several characters are Pokémon, or a Power Rangers fanfic about an anthropomorphic dog reminiscing about how much it hurt for a bunch of space marines to betray him.

*As well as the Skorupi and Maractus I've mentioned before, I've also recently felt like writing about Xatu and Chikorita, the latter because of a headcanon I saw elsewhere on these forums that said it was fuzzy, like a peach. Aww.
 
I see a conga line of "speculating about what I'll write next". I wanna conga!

I've been working on a longfic between my poetry collection and now-completed short-ish story, and I want to keep building a buffer. But I feel the poetry well's starting to dry up. Most of the incomplete thoughts and feelings I had coming to these forums are now typed up and given author's notes. My poetry buffer is dangerously close to becoming nonexistent, and I'm already starting to retread on previous topics. But I want to keep building my longfic buffer while still posting something.

I've recently dug through of my past unpublished (read: bad) writings, and among them was a potential script for an analytical Let's Play of Pokemon XD: Gales of Darkness. I don't have the equipment to actually record a Let's Play, but my old script had a ton of research notes on the developers Genius Sonority, plus a good deal of "talking to camera while stock footage plays" and a good deal of unfinished talking points. It'd need some adaption, but I think I could spin it into a game analysis/text-based Let's Play hybrid. Something between "as-I-play commentary" and "researched critique". And I've been looking for an excuse to replay that game, and nicking some screenshots would make some nice accompanying art...
 
@Snuggle Tier List What you're describing reminds me of chuggaaconroy's Splatoon let's play, where he describes a weapon over B-roll footage in every episode.

Sometimes I feel self-conscious about Power Rangers on this thread, and then I remember that someone made a thread asking for advice for worldbuilding in their Pokémon/Thomas the Tank Engine crossover.

The only creative project of mine I've been invested in recently is a let's play of THE DOG Island.
 
@Nitro Indigo I actually watched an episode of Chugga's XD Let's Play, and he does some similar stuff with Pokémon stats. Was figuring of taking things in a more academic direction, something akin to Extra Credits or Super Bunnyhop's reviews. Did you know Crash Course has an entire lesson on Pokémon?



Also, Chuggaconroy is best when he's making ProtonJon speechless. TheRunawayGuys are what convinced me Let's Plays can rival TV and Movies. If not for them, I'd still be an edgy teen arguing "Let's Plays are just reality TV". I regret most of my opinions.
 
I can't get into chuggaaconroy's Gale of Darkness let's play, or TheJWittz's (which was never finished). I find it hard to watch finished let's plays, because I usually end up either getting bored, or watching the episodes in whatever order I feel like.
 
I can't get into chuggaaconroy's Gale of Darkness let's play, or TheJWittz's (which was never finished). I find it hard to watch finished let's plays, because I usually end up either getting bored, or watching the episodes in whatever order I feel like.
As a fanfic writer, that's incredibly interesting! Do you get bored when, say, reading a completed fic?

I'm curious because I take the exact opposite approach. I wait until a Let's Play is completed before I start watching. This saves me from watching abandoned Let's Plays, like lucahjin's Pokémon Snap playthrough, Super Best Friend's Kingdom Hearts, or Team Four Star's Xenogears. And I've seen Let's Players test the waters: NerdCubed released an entire 21-part Planet Coaster series at the same time, with every video description including "If Netflix can do it, so can I". As someone venturing into multi-part work myself, I'm interested to hear more.
 
i seem to keep accumulating new fic ideas from seemingly nowhere, but they all have the same problem - i don't know how the stories should end. i can come up with a beginning and a middle just fine, it's like they write themselves, but the lack of endings is what keeps me from simply writing them. it was also the reason why i got so sluggish on dragony - it was hard to write when i didn't know specifically enough where it was leading. i do have an outline planned out now, but the whole struggle has somewhat burnt me out and writing dragony is kind of a slog now. but it's the last chapter and i have people looking forward to it, so i just want to get it done...

i think my trouble with endings partly, if not primarily, stems from my trouble with character arcs. it's hard for me to get deep into the head of a character who i don't see myself in or i don't understand... and when i don't have a good grasp on their way of thinking, i have an even worse grasp on how they should change. my stories also tend to be on the shorter side, meaning the change will have to be faster and more dramatic, and that makes it all the more difficult to execute naturally and believably.

of course character arcs aren't the only arcs for stories, but even if i'm kinda crappy at it myself, i tend to prefer more character-focused arcs since they feel more personal. characters really make or break a story for me, which is why have trouble getting into certain genres that place a lot of weight on the surroundings or "gimmick" rather than the characters and how they're affected. it's just hard to care about a conflict when the people in trouble are paper cutouts.

sorry for rant lol
 
i do have an outline planned out now, but the whole struggle has somewhat burnt me out and writing dragony is kind of a slog now. but it's the last chapter and i have people looking forward to it, so i just want to get it done...
Extreme respect, putting your audience above yourself. I personally can't handle that level of stress. From how you describe things, it seems like your character problems will get easier with experience. Though research and "write what you know" can help if you need relief now. Hope your future writing comes smoother!
 
Do you get bored when, say, reading a completed fic?
It depends. I can plough through a long fanfic if I'm interested enough; it depends on how interested I am in reading in general at the time. So I might read an ongoing AU with an interesting premise, but not a series of million-word epics.

I have the opposite problem to canisaries when it comes to writing: I can come up with a rough idea for an ending and some quirky scenarios along the way, but I find beginnings boring to write. I spent most of last autumn working on an original story, only to give up because I kept rewriting the same scene over and over, because it was more suited for a visual medium.
 
@canisaries endings are hard! Props to you for wanting to push through it, and you can brainstorm with me any time.

I suggest thinking about their key desires and whether they get them or not and whether they're okay with that or not, and what they're going to do or want once that's been resolved. If the story is about a quest to become a dragon-type, then the story ends when either it happens, or the quest ends in failure (the quest is shown to be impossible, the quest is abandoned, the quest is no longer the character's desire, or the character dies.) When that point is reached, does the character go through the five stages of grief? Do something dramatic and cathartic? Find a substitute goal? Move on peaceably? Your call.

***

I'm doing okay, but my antibiotics have rendered me pretty knackered this week. Trying to get various things done, catch up, get on top of my goals, but it'ss tougher than I expected. Plus I really ought to be searching for a job as a priority. Hopefully I'll feel more well soon. I'm making a great effort to eat better and keep active, plus it's gorgeous weather right now, so it seems likely~

Committed to doing some writing real soon. I've missed it very much.
 
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I have the opposite problem to canisaries when it comes to writing: I can come up with a rough idea for an ending and some quirky scenarios along the way, but I find beginnings boring to write. I spent most of last autumn working on an original story, only to give up because I kept rewriting the same scene over and over, because it was more suited for a visual medium.

there's something that makes beginnings easy and exciting for me to write, and it's these three magical words: in medias res. the beginning's boring? cut it. bam. out the door. it's almost satisfying even when no previous beginning's even been thought of. i love to get straight to the point in both my own works and others'. there's kind of an honest air to it in a way - not needing to make something bland for the beginning just to have a beginning when both sides agree there's no real need for one.

don't underestimate your readers' ability to piece things together on the fly. there's a whole lot you can do while only showing and not telling. of course there are some things that are impossible or impractical to show and require telling for the story's sake, but a lot of things you can establish just through having things happen. for example, if your pikachu character uses telekinesis, your readers aren't going to be absolutely lost on what's happening - they know to assume that there's more to the story and that this pikachu likely is special in some way that allows it to use those powers. of course, they'll want an explanation later on, but the key phrase there is later on. things don't need to be clarified right out of the gate, and readers actually do enjoy being able to put things together by themselves as that makes them feel smart.

for endings, though, it takes a lot of balls to just cut out everything past the absolutely necessary. the anime i recently finished, Mononoke (not the princess one), was able to do this. the first arc, for example, ends only a second or two after the resolution of the conflict. admittedly i did shout in the chatroom for the show to come back RIGHT NOW and explain what the fuck was going on, but i knew the answers were already there in what i'd seen. mononoke is a show that will not dumb anything down and expects you to pay close attention, and that's something i really love about it. so yeah everyone watch mononoke okay bye
 
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