Writers' Workshop General Chat Thread

[UselessBytes]

@Misfit Angel I mean, regarding your concerns with the torterra part, that's kinda par for the course when it comes to pokemon, no? I can't count the number of legends that have been ignored by the evil teams that would have achieved their plans in faster, much more destructive ways.

 

[kintsugi]

@Misfit Angel I mean, regarding your concerns with the torterra part, that's kinda par for the course when it comes to pokemon, no? I can't count the number of legends that have been ignored by the evil teams that would have achieved their plans in faster, much more destructive ways.

I would buy this, except that these guys have sooooo much more destructive potential (it was kind of unclear but they looked at least city-sized?), and they're also super easy to access. It really felt like they needed a chase scene gimmick, and while this was cinematically really cool, it didn't seem like they considered the ramifications there.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Yeah, seriously. I don't know if I want a sequel to Detective Pikachu, but I'd love another movie that focuses on another "normal" profession in the Pokemon world. Maybe a law firm that focuses on interspecies disputes or something.

That sounds real cute. Same here — I want stories about ordinary people living lives considerably affected by the presence of pokémon. It doesn't have to be mundane, although I'd be fine with that too, just so long as it isn't battle-saturated and has that wonderful Ryme City vibe.

Oh yeah, that was another thing that pleasantly surprised me, the decent representation from all the generations. Usually with these kinds of things I expect a ton of gen 1 fanservice, which I can understand, since that's the one people remember most fondly, but they put in a whole bunch of 'mon from all the games.

It was such a relief, right? Just off the top of my head I can think of at least two or three pokémon from each generation, even if Kanto was somewhat more well-represented. I was really pleased to see a real variety, too: reptiles, mammals, birds, weird fuckin things like golurk. Great stuff.

I would buy this, except that these guys have sooooo much more destructive potential (it was kind of unclear but they looked at least city-sized?), and they're also super easy to access. It really felt like they needed a chase scene gimmick, and while this was cinematically really cool, it didn't seem like they considered the ramifications there.

You might be right, but I honestly got the vibe that those guys just really love sleeping, and only woke up for less than two minutes because of psyduck's shockwave.

 

[kintsugi]

I was really pleased to see a real variety, too: reptiles, mammals, birds, weird fuckin things like golurk. Great stuff.

chiming in to say golurk is best boi

You might be right, but I honestly got the vibe that those guys just really love sleeping, and only woke up for less than two minutes because of psyduck's shockwave.

yah, in this movie they may not be utilized heavily, but in the wider context of the universe, it doesn’t make sense that no one addresses the lab that can make things mega huge, or the fact that this research facility could probably end the world

 

[Nitro Indigo]

@kintsugi You formatted that quote incorrectly.

 

[Ryoma Maser]

You might be right, but I honestly got the vibe that those guys just really love sleeping, and only woke up for less than two minutes because of psyduck's shockwave.

yah, in this movie they may not be utilized heavily, but in the wider context of the universe, it doesn’t make sense that no one addresses the lab that can make things mega huge, or the fact that this research facility could probably end the world

My take on it when I saw it the previous week with one of my older sisters was that due to the Torterra's having a larger size now they need conserve even more energy to survive and was most likely in the process of getting said energy through a very long period of Photosynthesis or a animal equivalent of it and Psyduck's psychic outburst disturbed the process. Or the Torterra are territorial creatures and was feeling that the Pokemon on their backs were in danger and awoke to protect their forest maybe without realizing they were the forest.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Feels good to have a massive housework binge. It's a different experience entirely when it's your own place and not your parents'.

I've been thinking lately about the supposed two kinds of writer. The "architect" or "planner," and the "gardener" or "pants-er". The former know all the details of the story before it's written, and the latter let the characters do what they will and see what happens, at least at the far ends of the scale. I find myself to be a little bit of both, and have difficulty committing to either strategy fully. Who here has a good idea of which kind they are?

 

[Snuggle Tier List]

@unrepentantAuthor Planner, but no plan survives contact with the enemy paper. Once a draft begins production, plot holes become obvious, opportunities for character development are revealed, etc. I often find myself writing entire fics in advance because my "perfect plan" has me writing myself into a dead end, requiring me to go back and oh-so-slightly alter scenery details, insert foreshadowing, etc. Hence why I've written mostly shorter works up to this point and have been sporadically mentioning a longfic I'm holding off on publishing.

That said, can I say I'm a gardener too? Much of my planning looks something like this:

• Scene premise: Character X and Character Y walk and talk
• Exposition for scene: Character X's backstory hints, particular worldbuilding fact
• Source of tension: Character Z attempting to find and confront Character X and Y
• Needed moments: Character Y gets phone call from Character I-Ran-Out-Of-Letters

Something like this makes characters doing things a "known unknown"; I don't know how the characters will act, but there's a detailed guideline I steer them towards. This often turns into a puzzle; you don't want anyone "breaking character" for the sake of plot. Hence my reluctance to publisher longfics; the butterfly effect can box me into a corner.

 

[kintsugi]

I feel like most people are a bit of both? Or at least, everyone I've met is in some aspect a pantser; "no plan survives contact with the paper" indeed. I've met some true madmen who are purely pantsers back when I did NaNoWriMo, but a) that's an extreme use-case, and b) I feel like that's really just planning with extra steps.

I'm a huge fan of the fun, simple, 3-step process:

1. Plan the ending
2. Plan the beginning
3. Publish
3.5. hiatus
3.5B. realize you forgot to plan the middle
3.5Bii. panic
4. ???
5.Profit

 

[canisaries]

i've had multiple stories change course drastically from the planned one, but the changes are always only on a notes level rather than going straight into prose. in prose, i only produce/allow small tangents that don't interfere with the plot itself (i hope).

before i had my wake up call with dragony, i had a bad habit of planning the endings too vaguely and then not knowing how to actually execute them once i actually reached them. now, though, worrying about it too much may in turn be scaring me off from starting new stories. i hope i can figure out endings soon so i can stop having both problems.

 

[Ryoma Maser]

I'm a huge fan of the fun, simple, 3-step process:

1. Plan the ending
2. Plan the beginning
3. Publish
3.5B. realize you forgot to plan the middle
3.5Bii. panic
4. ???
5.Profit

That's 5 steps though......about 4.7 or 4.8 steps if you want to get technical about it.

I know for mystery writers, you want to start at the end so you know what the major twist and ending of the mystery from the beginning of the story and not have the mystery constantly change from beginning to end and not have pieces line up. It's also easier to have a Chekhov's Gun and to know where it will come in to play(say useless Ace Attorney evidence made useful where you wouldn't think it would be, like Polly the Parrot in the 4th case of the first game).

As for my writing process, it's just a lot of planning in my head while I try to get a jist for the idea I'm going for. With some notebook planning comes afterwards once I have general idea of how I want to the story in question, or go straight to writing if I really have a good idea for it and I really want to do it.

For endings though, I have no clue. Usually I have some general idea for how I might end it but really I don't conclusively have an ending in mind. Though with Orre: The Desert still so early in its run(due to me still working on Chaper 4 due to laziness school and other business taking up my time), I still have a ways to go for the story. Though 50 to 75 chapters or so is about my goal.

 

[Lord Kyuubi]

Well, this was a productive evening. Was just going through the files on my old travel laptop to see if I had anything interesting that I'd forgotten about, and stumbled across all of my old writings I thought I'd lost. Some of this is actually finished, that must be very old. Before I started fussing over every other word and making no progress, that's for certain. Sure, I'll probably never actually touch the majority of it again, especially the older stuff is truly awful, but it still makes me so happy knowing it's not just lost for good.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

The Staff Drive has been extended by a week (til June 3rd), for anyone who would otherwise miss that announcement!

 

[Nitro Indigo]

I stopped receiving notifications on this thread.

I usually plan out how my fanfics are going to end, then get stuck when I realise I don't know how to get there. Adventure stories were not my true calling, so none of the fanfic ideas I'm currently entertaining are adventures.

 

[Snuggle Tier List]

I just received some bad news about my income (or rather, lack thereof). I'm expecting myself to be in a bad mood for a few days, so I'm going to excuse myself from most discussions until it sinks in. I'll still be working on my fics, but I probably won't be reviewing/responding to reviews/participating in lively Written Word discussions until my head clears. I can't go into details because it's 1) personally identifying information and 2) better suited for Support and Advice, but I'm financially okay and just won't be as active as usual.

Speaking of money:

1. Plan the ending
2. Plan the beginning
3. Publish
3.5. hiatus
3.5B. realize you forgot to plan the middle
3.5Bii. panic
4. ???
5.Profit

Wait a minute. You plan to profit off fan fiction? ARREST THIS CRIMINAL!
/s

 

[Nitro Indigo]

There's a user on a fanfiction website who makes a living from patrons supporting their fanfiction.

 

[kintsugi]

I just received some bad news about my income (or rather, lack thereof). I'm expecting myself to be in a bad mood for a few days, so I'm going to excuse myself from most discussions until it sinks in. I'll still be working on my fics, but I probably won't be reviewing/responding to reviews/participating in lively Written Word discussions until my head clears. I can't go into details because it's 1) personally identifying information and 2) better suited for Support and Advice, but I'm financially okay and just won't be as active as usual.

Speaking of money:


Wait a minute. You plan to profit off fan fiction? ARREST THIS CRIMINAL!
/s

sorry to hear about that work shortages really suck; I hope it works out for you

 

[canisaries]

how to legally monetize pokemon fanfiction

1. write fanfiction
2. buy nintendo
3. its not fanfiction if you own the property
4. checkmate

 

[UselessBytes]

Easy, four step plan to make a living off of FF

1. write fanfiction
2. remove pokemon characters
3. remove pokemon
4. buy summer home with newfound wealth

 

[canisaries]

well you may lose some profits from including competitive dog fighting