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Battles in Fanfics

I

Ivysaur

SoFloFoSho
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So, I was kinda curious. I honestly find battles to be the one of the most boring and dull parts of fanfiction, unless they're written exceptionally well. I was wondering what you guys thought. Do you find them generally exciting to read, or do you tend to skim past them?
 
It depends on how they are written, but I personally don't like writing battles; I can never make it interesting.
 
I enjoyed writing battles; but then, I was one of those who write them exceptionally well :p
 
I have issues with making them too long (if you want to see what I mean, check out the prologue to the fic in my sig), but I like to think I write them well.

I do enjoy reading and writing battle scenes though.
 
Thanks for the answers guys. I like to write battles, but don't like to read them, strangely. :p
 
Pancake Mix said:
Thanks for the answers guys. I like to write battles, but don't like to read them, strangely. :p
Click to expand...

No offense, but... hypocrite! :p

You should consider reading battles, though. Some writers put great effort into them, and some can even slip important parts of the plot into them.
 
Yes, that is offensive, considering battling makes up a major part of my fanfics.
 
Gym Leader Calvin said:
Yes, that is offensive, considering battling makes up a major part of my fanfics.
Click to expand...

I never said I didn't read them. I just said I don't generally enjoy them.

No need to be offended. I never read your fanfic anyway. :)
 
Gym Leader Calvin said:
They're that bad, huh?
Click to expand...

You mean battles?

I don't find battles fun to read because they don't generally advance the plot until the end. Like Kayi said, a few battles do implement important parts of the plot into them, and they end to be some of the more fun ones to read. The most exciting battles to read are the ones which implement unique or interesting strategies into them, without being too long. 6-6 battles definitely tend to be a drag to read, since they go on for so long, which is also why I prefer 3-3 battles or double battles.
 
I never read one of your fics, so I wouldn't know. But that's not the topic.
 
I struggle to make my battles as interesting as I'd like them to be... but I do love reading them... IF they are interesting. If it's just people smacking each other around with no advance in the plot I get irritated and skim it or skip it all together--but, if it's seriously a war and people are dying and there's major plot going on I'll usually enjoy it.
 
Contrary you, Pancake Mix (Ivysaur?), I find battles decent to read (provided they are good, of course) but I find them quite dull to write. This was particularly problematic for me in Rival's Story where since it was a pretty standard journey fic there ended up being more battle chapters than regular chapters. Was a bit of a pain.

That's why my newer fics are less battle oriented. Of course, it wouldn't really be Pokemon without any battles...
 
My fanfic is episodic and I never even considered skipping battles ever. I make sure that they are well written, well choreographed and have at least some purpose to serve in the story.

It's Pokemon and battles are a big part of it.
 
I'm not too sure how I fair when it comes to writing battles. In the process of writing battles to incorporate into stories, I tend to think outside the box. Yeah, I had a fire Pokemon use ember. Then what? The other Pokemon gets burnt and carries on? How about the possibility of an untrained fire-type Pokemon setting ablaze to the woods to incinerate to nothing more than the ground it remains? A fire-type that just so happens to be a pyromaniac? Maybe a gluttonous Snorlax that mistook a Pokemon for food such as Ditto or an actual food-type Pokemon? I incorporate general life and likelihood of the aftermath in my battles versus the anime world. Screw their rules, it is much more interesting to see how difficult and complex it is to train Pokemon. Oh, then have the most useless Pokemon throughout the story turn out to be the one who saves everyone else in the end of the biggest conflict.

Reading anything in regards to battle, I do read through it. Battles can have character development or just be that part of a story you have to go through to get to the good stuff on the other side. Many battles can vary as well. The greatest battles that people may want are not usually until the end. At first, there should be more than anything else, battles that are extremely noobish. Ash for example had a whole flock of Sparrow fly after him. He was new to the whole training and battling, what did you expect? I do have to agree that battles do tend to die out on me. It all depends on how they are written and/or if it is how you enjoy the style. I for instance enjoyed the part of a battle in Rival's Story where Blue battled Red who used an Eevee that developed an attack by having his Eevee really hate him. Some people may be unmoved or just not care while people such as myself would enjoy it very much.

I do have to say that it is possible to write a Pokemon story without battling.
Not everyone in the Pokemon world is a trainer or coordinator.
Someone could write a simple daycare or breeder story.
Or smut. /shot
 
Well, I've been told that I write battles especially well and even more so Contest ones xD

IMO every battle should be detailed, based on the 'show don't tell rule' and that no two battles should follow the same script. In mine rarely there is just some move used head-on without much thought, unless it's the opening move or just meant to try out the enemy's defenses or something. And you've to remember that even dodging or blocking isn't limited to just typing those two words. How does it dodge? How the hell did it block that stream of fire?
 
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I never really thought about it. I usually just read for everything. But if I wanted to skip any part of a story, it'd be the part where they weren't battling. XD

That is... assuming all parts of the fic are of equal quality throughout...
 
Battles are a huge part of my fic, so I like to think I write them pretty well, but it mostly has to do with the way it's written. Don't get me wrong six on six battles are a drag to write especially since I normally have to split it into two chapters, which is why I also try to advance the plot while the battles are going like giving the battle a break to focus on other characters.
 
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