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Writers' Workshop General Chat Thread

So I've been brainstorming ideas for one of my fanfics, and I came up with an idea: disabled Pokémon. I don't know if I'll end up using her because I don't want too many characters, but I came up with a shiny Bayleef who had her neck-buds ripped off by poachers. As a result, she can't use moves such as Vine Whip and Sweet Scent, because they involve things coming out of the buds. If she were to evolve, she wouldn't have a flower. I've previously had an idea for a Pikachu who couldn't use electricity, but I never did anything with her.
That's a theme I'm touching on, too; my current story in the works has a few references to Pokémon whose powers haven't develop properly, a couple are recurring characters as well.
 
@Ryoma Maser I'd honestly hesitate to call autism a disability by default. Certainly some autistic folks are seriously impeded by it, but that's not true for all. I think whether or not it constitutes a disability is based on the degree to which it dis-ables you to participate in ordinary human activities, although I'm sure some folks would say it's always a disability. As always, the key is to research the heck out of it.
 
Do you focus on story or worldbuilding first? Because when I focus on worldbuilding, I have a hard time coming up with a story that fits into it. At the same time, I also have a problem with prioritising plot progression over character development, so I'm making an effort to avoid that.
 
Do you focus on story or worldbuilding first? Because when I focus on worldbuilding, I have a hard time coming up with a story that fits into it. At the same time, I also have a problem with prioritising plot progression over character development, so I'm making an effort to avoid that.
Interesting question!

In my case I always come up with a rough idea for a story first, then build the world based off what I need for that story to work. I start with the most basic details needed for the story, then fill in smaller bits that make the world feel more interesting and alive, which in turn leads to additional scenes and characters for the story.
 
Do you focus on story or worldbuilding first? Because when I focus on worldbuilding, I have a hard time coming up with a story that fits into it. At the same time, I also have a problem with prioritising plot progression over character development, so I'm making an effort to avoid that.
I try to focus on coming up with a plot beforehand, which usually just ends with me writing till something works. I have the same issue that if I spend too much time coming up with worldbuilding ideas I have a hard time pushing into the plot. But I have to say, just jumping in headfirst into writing a scene before having a real idea of what I want to do with it has really pushed me out of my comfort zone and has been helping me improve.
 
I find I need to have a strong idea of the gist of a chapter, otherwise I get lost in the weeds. But too much planning is inefficient and overly rigid. I think most people generally are probably somewhere between the planner/improv extremes.
 
I have a rough idea about how my story will end and what plot beats to hit, but I tend to come up with characters as I go along.

Years ago, I read a writing advice article which said you should develop the villain just like the hero. Can you name any villains who develop without redeeming themselves?
 
well there are plenty of examples where villains get progressively more desperate or unstable, and writing a smart villain entails that they learn from their mistakes, which i think counts as development. there's also the possibility of developing towards redemption but something stops that progress and they either get worse again or die
 
Sometimes, I spend too much time thinking too hard about fanfics that I imagine as official products because I want to see something done with characters I'm obsessed with, so I never get around to writing them. Recently, I've considered turning these into original fiction. Have you ever considered that?
 
The fanfiction I read and write is predicated on the premise of the Pokémon setting, and couldn't be adapted to original fiction without reinventing Pokémon. I have other ideas for my original fiction.
 
original universe ideas are very rare for me, still havent really gotten any that i could have written into an actual story, but some of my stories have started to wander away from pokemon enough for the premise to be converted original. i kind of want to for example, make a version of hunter haunted free of pokemon attachment, but the problem always ends up being something seemingly small in the worldbuilding that ends up being crucial to the plot.

in hh, this is the matter-of-fact existence of ghosts and exorcists being acknowledged enough as a real position to be able to assist the police in ghost related matters. and like, sure, i can have the story set in an original universe where that's a thing (and probably should since the legislation and culture of my kanto is a complete hodgepodge), but then that original universe would have to be established well enough within the story that someone with no prior information of it can jump into it and feel like it's a plausible setting with clear enough boundaries on what exists and what doesn't. i do know how i could establish that, but how to establish that while keeping the focus on the actual storyline that only deals with a fraction of the world is the challenge. with pokemon, though, everyone goes in already knowing and accepting that ghost pokemon exist so no time needs to be spent explaining that.
 
I do have plans to write stories set in an original fiction fantasy setting. It's pretty far on the backburner at the moment but I've already done a lot of planning on the first major story and the setting.
 
While I haven't done it recently, there have been a couple of instances in the past where I have developed OCs for fanfiction and later turned their stories into original works. These days when I write fanfiction I usually focus on the characters already in the series (unless it's a series that is built for fan characters), so I don't often find myself in a situation where I can do this.

Now that I think about it, the characters I have the most attachment to are my original story characters that once started as fanfiction OCs. Wow, I can't believe I've never realized this.

Well then, I think it's time to go on a fanfiction writing binge lol. (of course now that I've realized this I'll never get it to work again).
 
I've got an entire messy manuscript for a novel on the backburner. Plus a few short stories. I used to have a ton of original fic ideas, and may well have more yet, but I'm just not working on any right this second.
 
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