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Writers' Workshop General Chat Thread

Depends how you define your terms. 'Dark magic' is a popular term for magic that is sinister in nature, or sometimes just magic that's forbidden, so if you're taking this definition, it will most likely be inherently evil to some extent. But you could equally interpret it as magic relating to literal darkness, in which case it has plenty of room for morally-neutral use, so long as you can think what powers specifically those would be. Off the top of my head, you could use darkness to hide someone or something, or create a nice, relaxing place for someone to sleep, but I'm sure there's plenty more you could do.

When light magic is good, usual I tend to see it depicted as such just for being an opposite to dark, rather than anything inherently good about light. If you think of it about literal light, it's not difficult to think of evil uses for it, such as blinding people and so on.
Well, in my story, there are no Dark-based spells. There are artifacts that give the power of darkness to the user (at the cost of corrupting them). I guess also it can have the power to corrupt non-dark artifacts, like in a game I am playing, the antagonist corrupts a magical artifact and turns it into an evil version of it, infused with the power of darkness.
 
If they are not set in stone, then how is it a problem?
It's not a problem. You can make whatever rules for magic you like in your fictional setting. There isn't an authority on magic in narrative that requires you to write about good light magic and evil dark magic. No one is going to tell you off if you write about evil light magic and good dark magic.
 
if someone does then congratulations youve found the most boring person on earth
 
Well, in my story, there are no Dark-based spells. There are artifacts that give the power of darkness to the user (at the cost of corrupting them). I guess also it can have the power to corrupt non-dark artifacts, like in a game I am playing, the antagonist corrupts a magical artifact and turns it into an evil version of it, infused with the power of darkness.

If it's bound to specific items and stuff, then I suppose whether dark is good or evil depends on who has that item and what they do with it. That being said, if these items naturally corrupt anyone who uses them, then you may have answered your own question. But I think the specific nature of this 'corruption' should be explored in more detail before we can say for sure. What exactly does it do to a person? Is it a physical corruption, like some sort of sickness? Or a mental one, such as amplifying a person's ambition so that they cast aside the wants and needs of others in search of their own goals? Or is it like some kind of magical parasite that controls their mind? It's difficult to help with the question of whether dark magic can be good without first understanding how it works in your setting.

The one idea that occurs to me, though this may not be valid depending on how this corruption works, is that a character could recognise they need one of these dark artefacts in order to save the day or defeat the Big Bad, or whatever, and take it for this purpose, knowing they themselves will fall victim to the corruption at some point. Kind of a 'heroic sacrifice'-type scenario. But again, obviously that would only work if the corruption doesn't exert any control over their mind or thoughts, or anything like that.
 
If it's bound to specific items and stuff, then I suppose whether dark is good or evil depends on who has that item and what they do with it. That being said, if these items naturally corrupt anyone who uses them, then you may have answered your own question. But I think the specific nature of this 'corruption' should be explored in more detail before we can say for sure. What exactly does it do to a person? Is it a physical corruption, like some sort of sickness? Or a mental one, such as amplifying a person's ambition so that they cast aside the wants and needs of others in search of their own goals? Or is it like some kind of magical parasite that controls their mind? It's difficult to help with the question of whether dark magic can be good without first understanding how it works in your setting.

The one idea that occurs to me, though this may not be valid depending on how this corruption works, is that a character could recognise they need one of these dark artefacts in order to save the day or defeat the Big Bad, or whatever, and take it for this purpose, knowing they themselves will fall victim to the corruption at some point. Kind of a 'heroic sacrifice'-type scenario. But again, obviously that would only work if the corruption doesn't exert any control over their mind or thoughts, or anything like that.
Well, I was thinking it corrupts the person's mind and slowly changes them physically and mentally. Kind of like the One Ring from Lord of the Rings, only it gives them powers of darkness.
 
Pleased with myself on two accounts right now. Firstly in that I've been making great progress with my mapmaking commissions; learning new techniques almost daily to the great delight of my clients. Secondly in that I managed to successfully shower my cat yesterday with flea shampoo. Must have killed near a hundred of the damn things, and earned a fair few scratches for it, but my boy was surprisingly well behaved, forgave me immediately, and is already visibly happier without the constant irritation he must have been putting up with. He's especially affectionate this morning~
 
God bless Dylan I can now write yugioh exactly how I want, and how I want is being obnoxiously detailed while also not completely destroy my reader's brains! So, on the off chance you don't want to read, say, the mile long effect text of Supreme King Z-ARC
Type/Card Type: DARK Dragon/Fusion/Pendulum/Effect Monster
A / D: 4000 / 4000
Scale: 1
Pendulum Effect : Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz Monsters your opponent controls cannot activate their effects. Once per turn, when your opponent adds a card(s) from their Deck to their hand (except during the Draw Phase or the Damage Step): You can destroy that card(s).
Monster Effect : 4 Dragon-Type monsters (1 Fusion, 1 Synchro, 1 Xyz, and 1 Pendulum)
Must be Fusion Summoned and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. If this card is Special Summoned: Destroy all cards your opponent controls. Cannot be destroyed by your opponent's card effects. Your opponent cannot target this card with card effects. When this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle: You can Special Summon 1 "Supreme King Dragon" monster from your Deck or Extra Deck. If this card in the Monster Zone is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can place this card in your Pendulum Zone.
, you can just not hover over it! Plus, this gives my protagonist no excuse for not checking card effects.

alternatively, Supreme King Z-ARC
126826
. Can be hard to read card text in an image, though.
 
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Hi everyone!

I just wanted to drop by and say hello to everyone and share some news and thank some people.

Many of you probably don't know me. I was a regular poster around here in the early 2010's and have lurked a bit since then but haven't been around much as my interests and life has evolved over the past decade.

I'm currently working on my second novel and have fulfilled my dream of writing for a living.

I wanted to just stop by and thank everyone involved with the Writer's Workshop over the many years it has been around. I had never written anything in a full-length capacity before I started posting my fanfic on this forum, and the encouragement, feedback, criticisms and suggestions I received from your reviews meant everything to my writing career. We all love Pokemon, but in truth, what helps us all is simply writing subject matter that we enjoy. When we fully enjoy what we write, we are motivated and stimulated enough to pull our greatest writing from within ourselves. We can apply this to all of our writing, no matter the story.

Those of you who are new to the community, just know that you are joining a unique and incredibly talented collection of writers that post regularly here. I was always in awe of how good the stories that grace this forum were and are. KEEP WRITING. Don't let anyone tell you your writing isn't good enough. Writing is art, and there's no right or wrong answers as long as there is reasoning behind it.

Those who have been around long enough to know who I am, thank you. Many of you whose names I recognize are in administrative roles around here, and I just want you to know that your work matters. However seemingly meaningless being a mod of a fanfiction section of a Pokemon-themed message board might seem to outsiders, just know that this place made everything possible for me. Continue to encourage and teach and help each other.

I love you all.

Legacy
 
So I got Spectrobes today, and it reminded me of something @Snuggle Tier List said he was going to mention in Battle With Me: battles being a necessary evil to stop the bad guys. In that game, you need to find Spectrobes because they're the only way to stop aliens from killing everyone. It's also a space opera lite, because why not.

It reminds me of Digimon games, specially Cyber Sleuth because that's the only one I've played. Every mon evolves, and when they evolve, they get reset to level one but still have better stats. There's a virtual pet system that lets you level up your mons, and it's an integral part of the game. Instead of capturing them, you find them.

Also, Spectrobes would be much better if it had a map.
 
Not enjoying Spectrobes so far. The gameplay consists of walking down empty corridors and there's only been two mandatory fights, and I have no idea what any of the evolution requirements are. I'm only playing it in hopes that it will get better... and because I want to see what all the Spectrobes look like.

Also, I was really enthusiastic about Pokémon World: New Order at first, but now I feel stuck. I wanted to put a lot of emphasis on adjusting to a transformation, but then I didn't, and there's only so many ways you can write "oh my gosh, I'm a Pokémon now!" I like to write fanfics where there's no clear endgoal at first, but I didn't do it right this time. It'll probably be something I occasionally dabble in. I have an impatience where I feel like I HAVE to finish fanfics within a few months, even though some of my favourites took longer than that, and I've got to stop thinking that. I keep getting distracted by other ideas, and I don't want to feel like I have too many things running at once that I feel obliged to finish. I used to be the same with let's playing until I realised it wasn't right for me. Unfortunately, there's not a good way for me to announce this on Archive of Our Own.
 
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Hello! I am currently in the process in the processes of writing a Dragon Quest story based on the first game of the dragon Quest franchise. Here is my question: What is the best way to use the 'Monster of the Week' trope without it becoming repetitive?
 
The problem there is that the "monster of the week" idea is repetitive by nature. The whole purpose of it is to spit out similar content to the previous outing because hey the kids liked the previous one so if this one is similar they'll like it too! The idea was designed to literally be repetitive, to keep the attention of a younger audience who wouldn't be as interested in a long running plot as they are in a new big bad getting its ass kicked every Saturday morning.

Not to say you couldn't avoid this, but at that point it's not really the same thing anymore. You'd have to find some way to make the cannon fodder relevant.
 
Yeah, having a different strategy to defeat each monster - which the protagonists don't necessarily know beforehand, and have to figure out in battle - would make things less repetitive.
 
Could you give an example of this?
At the risk of annoying everyone with my constant Yu-Gi-Oh! talk, the anime is a fairly decent example. While fodder duels are still often repetitive and rather boring, they usually consist of the protagonist of the given series using their cards/effects in a new way to create an interesting new combo. The key is, whatever they do is usually highly specific and would only be useful in that one specific instance. You can go watch just about any filler duel from 5Ds onwards, (and maybe the second half of GX), and you'll see this in action. Translating that to non card game media, having your characters come up with some wildly elaborate scheme to take down their current foe, preferably a scheme that would be completely implausible in any circumstance except exactly what is happening right then, can usually help to mitigate the repetitive, deja vu-esque feeling you're trying to escape. It'll end up a little wacky, so if you're writing a more serious piece it'd be better to ditch the trope, but if you're okay with your characters having silly "haha, all according to keikaku plan!" moments, it should work as fine
 
At the risk of annoying everyone with my constant Yu-Gi-Oh! talk, the anime is a fairly decent example. While fodder duels are still often repetitive and rather boring, they usually consist of the protagonist of the given series using their cards/effects in a new way to create an interesting new combo. The key is, whatever they do is usually highly specific and would only be useful in that one specific instance. You can go watch just about any filler duel from 5Ds onwards, (and maybe the second half of GX), and you'll see this in action. Translating that to non card game media, having your characters come up with some wildly elaborate scheme to take down their current foe, preferably a scheme that would be completely implausible in any circumstance except exactly what is happening right then, can usually help to mitigate the repetitive, deja vu-esque feeling you're trying to escape. It'll end up a little wacky, so if you're writing a more serious piece it'd be better to ditch the trope, but if you're okay with your characters having silly "haha, all according to keikaku plan!" moments, it should work as fine
Thanks for the advice! It was very helpful.
 
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