WORLDBUILDING: Fleshing out the canon settings

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

I mostly write about canon characters in the canon regions, but even then I find myself searching for what things would be like. For instance, what would the influences be? How much like the real locations they're based on would they be like?

For Obsession, Seafoam in the anime isn't really based on anything, so I had to make it up. I used the real world location of Seaside, Oregon because it's close by and it's similar to how Seafoam was shown on the show (also it has a huge outcropping that I needed). But then you run into issues such as the fact that Seaside is in a completely different country than Kanto is supposed to be. What would change? What would be the same?

Then I get into thinking about specifics. What's the weather like? For Viridian City, I have it that it rains frequently, because it's "eternally green" so it would have to. I'm not sure if the city it's based on has that much rain, but that city probably isn't described that way either.

But then I run into problems. For the purposes of roleplaying (I RP Cyrus), I have it part of my headcanon that Sunyshore was almost wiped out in a war a few generations ago, the same as Nemuro, the town it's based on. But is that too much to put into a Pokemon story, especially as backstory?

What are people in these settings likely to eat? Can I just look up what people eat in Hokkaido and be done with it? Or does Pokemon's more cosmopolitan influence give a more worldly diet?

What about casually mentioning places that your fic won't show? We know very little of the Pokemon world, when you get down to it. What's northern Italy called? What about southern Australia? Where do opals come from? Where do oranges come from? These are things I had to ask writing different things. You and I, we say things like "English muffins", but what would someone in the Pokemon world say? Would they still be English muffins, shipped from the region around Liverpool where the Elite Four is musically themed? And so on.

It's a difficult thing to do, even with writing canon places.

 

[Drakon]

I avoided the problem with out of place items by jamming the Pokémon Continent in the Pacific Ocean between Japan and the US and I set all the regions as "states" of that same continent.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

But then you get into word vs fanon.

But at the same time, they've introduced contradictions themselves, such as putting a city specifically stated to be Venice in a region specifically stated to be Japan.

 

[Giovanni Sakaki]

I generally tend to consider Seafoam in the anime as being a Hawaii-like place, with similar food, traditions, etc. Doesn't really make much geographical sense I must admit but.. erm.. continental drift? >_>

But is that too much to put into a Pokemon story, especially as backstory?

RP can sort of throw a spanner in the balance of people and places, but if the people you're RPing are fine with it I think go for it. I doubt there'd be much clash. I think that would work absolutely fine in a personal fanfic though, no problem whatsoever.

region around Liverpool where the Elite Four is musically themed

That sounds great!! So do you mean broadway musicals or general genres of music?

I'll start thinking about the Pokemon equivalents of England and New Zealand.

 

[De Witte]

I avoided the problem with out of place items by jamming the Pokémon Continent in the Pacific Ocean between Japan and the US and I set all the regions as "states" of that same continent.

That's the same method I use, except that I put some it (like Orre) in Central Asia instead.

 

[LightningTopaz]

Granted, the Pokworld my be BASED on Japan, but isn't it also based on cultures all around the world?

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

The influences are there, but geographically it's supposed to be Japan/the US depending on region. I think it's a far more international world.