Writers' Workshop General Chat Thread

[Dorothy]

Does anyone else find themselves looking up stupid things like what different hair colors are called? Like the tiny specifics? Chestnut vs. mahogany? Neither of which are accurate to this character!?

try auburn

 

[Flaze]

My big multi quote post...ignored :c

 

[FullMoon]

On the topic of religion, I'm personally going with people not exactly worshipping Legendaries as all powerful gods, but still worshipping them to an extent.

What I mean is things like musicians and dancers praying for Meloetta for inspiration or as a good luck charm before doing a presentation, or farmers praying for Landorus for they land to stay fertile so they can produce more crops, or every night people in Sinnoh wishing for Cresselia to give them good dreams as they sleep, stuff like that. Most people would be aware that Legendary Pokémon are in essence just very powerful Pokémon and can't really provide them any divine assistance or any of that, but thanks to most people only hearing legends about them, I figure some of the legendaries have some presence in human culture as sort of small deities that the more religious and supersticious people worship with the interest of getting some good fortune.

Which legendaries are worshipped probably vary by region to region due to different cultures. Sinnoh people probably worship Cresselia, the Lake Trio, Arceus, Shaymin, etc, while in Unova the focus would be in legendaries like Zekrom, Reshiram, Victini, Meloetta and Landorus and so on.

It seems to be the best way to include religion in the Pokémon world in my eyes and I'm going to touch more into it once I get to a part in my story where it's actually relevant.

 

[Lord Kyuubi]

Well, the world in my story is ages and ages in the past, so religion's very much a (largely) unquestioned fact. Generally the only people who disbelieve the religious teachings are the really crazy and/or radical types, the actual legendary pokemon it's written about and my co-protagonist, for some reason. (There is a good reason really, but spoilers). Largely, though, everyone just accepts religion, seeing as the scientific challenges and alternatives and that just haven't been theorised yet. And in a lot of places, if you came up with something like that, you'd be a heretic.

Yes, the religion is based around legendary pokemon but what else, may I ask, would a pokemon worship? Praying to all of them is fortunately not a social requirement, as that would take up quite an amount of time. Temples and suchlike are typically placed in areas of relevance or importance to that particular deity, so you might have a shrine or altar to Giratina and/or Yveltal near a graveyard, for example. Arceus is generally the only god seen as universally important, though sometimes Mew is placed on a similar level. Rayquaza, Groudon and Kyogre are probably the next most important, as personifications of the air, earth and sea respectively. After that, a pokemon can more or less just pray to whoever takes their fancy, or whoever's relevant in a particular situation, similar to how Full Moon described, except that they do really believe in the legendaries and their supposed supernatural power.

On a trivial note, in terms of swearing, it's sometimes common to quote whichever legendary takes your fancy, though probably more common to just say 'oh gods', in the same way as most people would say 'oh God' in real life.

One thing I'm considering touching on at some point is the contrast between people's perceptions of the legendaries, and what they're actually like. This would require featuring an actual legendary in the flesh at some point. I did consider having Keldeo as a semi-major character, though I'm not sure whether to go through with this or not. But something that would be interesting to get across is how the religious message conveyed in society is very different to what any gods originally intended. Everything, or nearly everything was passed on by word of mouth (especially as even after the development of written language there remains the problem that most pokemon can't physically write), making it very unreliable and often a bit wrong. The gods aren't really nearly as different to the average pokemon as their religious teachings would have them think.

Another thing I touch on is the idea of a cult. There is a cult known as the Cult of Sunset, which makes an appearance (or at least more than a passing mention) dedicated to an original goddess, who I shall not say more about. Because spoilers. But I thought it could be an interesting idea.

The thing with me having all of these so-called 'interesting' ideas is that it is rather reliant on me managing to pull it off well. Hmm.

 

[Beth Pavell]

You know, I feel another Scribbledegook coming on in all this

 

[AceTrainer14]

The thing is, you're looking at that with a "Western" (Inverted commas there because the label of Western is generally a bit silly. Not least because you're a New Zealander) eye. We're used to the idea of religion having an omnipotent God at the top of it. Though Pokémon is designed more and more these days as an international franchise, you can see the more Eastern influences in the spiritual thinking there. In other words, the spiritual aspects of Pokémon are Shinto-inspired. You can see this in the way Lugia, Ho-Oh, Celebi, the Legendary Beasts, even the Creation Trio are dealt with. No-one really worships them, there are practically no rituals associated with them, and if it weren't for the odd shrine or holy place you'd be forgiven for forgetting that they're even there.

Point is, just being a Creator does not a God make. I'm not saying that it doesn't make sense to extrapolate pokémon out into more influential deities (Than pseudo-kami, anyway) or that it doesn't make sense for pokémon to be the focus of a religion. What I'm saying is that it makes just as much sense for them not to be.

It's the cliché I'm getting tired of, I suppose, perhaps because in fanfiction there's something terribly Legend of Zelda about it. Like Din, Nayru and Farore, the poké-deities are reduced to a bundle of supernatural powers, usually just to kick the "Ohhh Chosen Child!" quest off before being promptly forgotten about. You see people saying "Oh Arceus!" and going on quests for legendaries all the time, but when was the last time a shrine or church turned up in a story like that? Or a priest? I mean, if your protagonist genuinely believes that they're on a mission from God then it's entirely appropriate to have them visit places like that. Or pray

Wording it that way, I see your point. I think that basing a story around the religious aspects and not actually including any proper religious symbolism is a bit redundant. I think that if you are going to make them into big things that should be worshipped by some people, than it should be done properly. I maintain my view that including them as deities is not an inherently bad thing, but I do think that you have to do them right. I suppose since most characters/cultures in my stories have a fairly ambivalent towards religion that I have my views.

 

[Th!nkPi]

Oh, how I'd love to get philosophical in my works... Thanks for the idea!

Please do! Seeing that you're a poet, this appeals to me a lot haha. I've gotten pretty philosophical with many of my poems centered around the motif of regret. It's usually the poems rooted in pain that I reflect on my mistakes and the state of our world, and what I can do to navigate the craziness of it all. I'm not sure if I could call it philosophical in that sense...but I guess it's up to the reader to decide.

Also, hello everyone! I'm new here and joined the forums specifically for the writer's section. I'm more of a poet than a storywriter, so I tend to keep to myself in light of the scarcity of my poetic brethren. But I'm happy to be a part here and I'm hoping to meet more writers who like writing about Pokémon. Thanks for having me ^u^

 

[diamondpearl876]

@Th!nkPi; Welcome! I'm quite a fan of poetry so I suspect I'll be checking out your work sometime! I also wanted to say that your avatar is adorable and made my morning.

 

[Flaze]

I'm not much about poetry but I could go for a beer with that slowpoke.

 

[Th!nkPi]

@Th!nkPi; Welcome! I'm quite a fan of poetry so I suspect I'll be checking out your work sometime! I also wanted to say that your avatar is adorable and made my morning.

Thanks for the welcome! I made a thread for all my Pokemon-centric poetry already, but pfft...I have over a hundred other poems logged on my Google Drive now. I just felt it'd be obnoxious to share it all at once, and I prefer creating new material when I join a new home. I'd be beyond honored for you to read my poems and leave feedback. I may be a lazy reader, but I can leave you feedback on parts of your writing or perhaps a chapter of something if you'd like!

Also, I found the pseudo-Slow"bro" one night after getting drunk (college environment, college habits). If I remember correctly, I wrote a short parody to that song "CoCo" that's been popular around college campuses (yeah, THAT song..). So the avatar accompanied this piece of atrociousness I wrote that night. Been sporting it for a few months now when I go to forums:

Spoiler

I'M IN LOVE WITH THE SLOWBRO
I GOT IT FOR THE HO-OH
YOU GOT GARCHOMP, THAT'S A NO-NO
I GOT ICE BEAM, THAT'S AN OHKO
TAKING TOO LONG? I'M NOT TAKING TOO LONG!
TAKING TOO LONG? I'M NOT TAKING TOO LONG!
CHECKIN' DAMAGE CALC, NIGGA
WRECKIN' YER SHIT NOW, NIGGA

I'm not much about poetry but I could go for a beer with that slowpoke.

Poetry or not, anyone who has an avatar of Kuroko is amazing in my book! He's like the only male character I've seen in anime who makes me fanboy and swoon...I think it's the effeminate appeal mixed with his brilliant strategies. Oh lawd I need to stop myself before I go on a Kuroko rant (⊃‿⊂)

Edit: this is my current wallpaper @Flaze

 

[Flaze]

I don't blame you! Kuroko's the most badass basketball player there ever was after all xD

 

[Lord Kyuubi]

Hello and welcome to our newest recruit! If you so desire, I will indulge you in a guided tour of our pokemon gym, library, temple and torture chamber. Please enjoy your stay.

 

[Barfing Ogres]

So if anyone is wondering what it is like to get absolutely blindsided, look no further than my internet service provider. In their infinite wisdom, they decided that since they replaced 300 feet of malfunctioning cable, now was as good a time as any to replace 57 and a half miles of cable because reasons and without letting any of us 610 or so customers know in advance no less. At least college has good enough wifi for all my school work to get done. hew:

In any event, I would like to apologize to anybody that I screwed over for being unable to complete my obligation as a winter judge because of this. :banghead:

Ah well, playing through the Mass Effect Trilogy twice was fun.

 

[AetherX]

In any event, I would like to apologize to anybody that I screwed over for being unable to complete my obligation as a winter judge because of this. :banghead:

I feel your pain. My apartment's internet is so spotty I pretty much only use campus wifi, my phone, or my phone as a wifi hotspot anymore. And both my ISP and landlord refuse to do anything about it. So no hard feelings, it happens

 

[Misfit Angel]

I'm curious. I'm sure a lot of us listen to music while writing, but does anyone listen to active discussion, such as radio or podcasting while writing? If so, I'm curious how you do it, because I've fallen way too behind on my usual podcasts since I've been spending so much time writing/brainstorming recently. I can't focus on either when I try, so I'm wondering if anyone has some methods which might be useful, or if I should just not even try.

 

[AetherX]

I've tried. I can't do it. Too many words in and out.

 

[Beth Pavell]

I cannot believe that I almost slept through a total eclipse of the Sun, in Britain, while the skies are clear as a bell. The last time I saw one was in Cornwall 1999, on the beach. No viewing glasses this time, alas, but what the hell, I'll just steal glances

Well that was disappointing. Contrary to reports, here I saw a partial eclipse

 

[chaos_Leader]

I'm curious. I'm sure a lot of us listen to music while writing, but does anyone listen to active discussion, such as radio or podcasting while writing? If so, I'm curious how you do it, because I've fallen way too behind on my usual podcasts since I've been spending so much time writing/brainstorming recently. I can't focus on either when I try, so I'm wondering if anyone has some methods which might be useful, or if I should just not even try.

I've only done this with movies or video clips that I've seen before and know well. If it's something I haven't seen/heard before, I'll be too distracted to concentrate on writing. I typically do this if I want to draw style elements from a given source media, and have the video play in the background while I write. I also do this if I want to write a specific kind of dialect or affectation to dialog, at which point I'll have videos of native speakers of the dialect playing int the background while I write.

 

[Lord Kyuubi]

I cannot believe that I almost slept through a total eclipse of the Sun, in Britain, while the skies are clear as a bell. The last time I saw one was in Cornwall 1999, on the beach. No viewing glasses this time, alas, but what the hell, I'll just steal glances

Well that was disappointing. Contrary to reports, here I saw a partial eclipse

I think it was only a partial eclipse for all of Britain, and you'd need to be somewhere above the sea to actually get the total one. Unfortunately, I missed the best of it due to trying to make some sort of scope at the last minute, but what I saw was great. I have to make eclipse-watching a habit of mine now. Even using only a cardboard tube, some paper, some foil and something not dissimilar to tracing paper, I got such a nice view of it.

Sorry if I'm gushing a bit, but that was just so great. I feel really lucky to have seen that, though I'm still really envious of the people with proper glasses. But still, I saw it! I still can't believe it!

 

[Beth Pavell]

Oh well. I still remember the 1999 total. And Comet Hale-Bopp, so that's alright