DISCUSSION: Journey fics: How long is too long?

[InfiniteBakuphoon]

Pokémon journey fics are known for many things, and one of them is their typically long length. From my personal observations (which are admittedly equivalent to a rough estimate), the average word count for a journey fic through one region can range anywhere from 100,000 to 200,000 words, with some fics going slightly below or above that average. However, the longest journey fics can go well above that, reaching 500,000 words or even more!

There are several approaches to writing journey fics that can affect length. Two of the more popular concepts for journey fics are "novelizations" of one of the games or rewrites of one or more of the anime sagas. In many cases, authors choose to write these types of stories either location-by-location (with a game novelization) or episode-by-episode (with an anime rewrite). And in some cases, authors also make a decision to expand the scope of the story beyond canon, introducing new characters, scenarios, and locations into the mix. Depending on how they're implemented, all of the above decisions can place the length of a journey fic anywhere between that of a moderately long novel and that of an epic doorstopper rivaling some of the longest pieces of literature ever written.

Personally speaking, I can't say that I'm a fan of journey fics that feel longer than they arguably should be. I suspect that some of the longer journey fics out there (think 700,000+ words or more) may suffer from "narrative scope creep", which is to say that so much additional content is stuffed into the story that the main quest is either sidelined or slowed down significantly to accommodate said content. This can easily create a laborious reading experience for some people, especially if: 1) You don't particularly care for the additional content, or: 2) You don't particularly care to read 700,000+ words of fanfic in general.

Also, I tend to be somewhat turned off by journey fics that appear to basically be shot-for-shot remakes of what came before, but with a twist... especially in the cases of some anime rewrites where the chapter titles are exactly the same as their equivalent anime episode titles! Basically, my logic is that if you're going to ask me to read 100,000+ words of your fic, then I should be experiencing something that I can't get by simply playing the games or watching the anime... especially when I already have enough experience with both to see their typical tropes and clichés coming from a mile away. However, that's not to say that I'm against fics like that on principle... almost anything has the potential to be good, after all, and some stories' "twists" actually do sound quite intriguing on paper... intriguing enough for me to at least read the first chapter, even with the above turn-offs present.

But enough about what I think... what does everyone else here think? Is there a point beyond which journey fics become inherently too long, or is it perhaps simply individual stories — written in a certain way — that become too long? Discuss!

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

I feel like sheer length isn't necessarily a bad thing. Where length is concerned, some of the book series I'm fond of are many hundred-thousands of words long, and single fanfictions can be thought of as multiple books rendered into one text by virtue of the medium. As for waiting around for completion, I've been following a handful of webcomics for well over a decade, so I'd happily follow a good fanfic for years if necessary.

For me, however, the appeal of the stories you've brought up is negligible for other reasons, which you've begun to talk about yourself.

I don't care about any conversion of existing canon content into text. Anime rewrites, game novelisations, whatever. I'm not the least bit interested. If there was a sufficiently impressive spin, I might be tempted to read, but I'd still wonder why the original ideas aren't packaged in a more interesting way. I realise that these 'genres' are accessible by nature, but they're also dull.

I'm very much more interested in journeyfic with fresh characters and fresh settings, or at the very least a significantly altered premise. Obviously original fan-regions fit the bill (not that I've seen many fan-regions that I find both impressive and true to the franchise) but fresh takes on the journey format seem really rare from what I've seen over the years. Disclaimer: I've only been superficially active as a reader of fanfiction ever, and most of my fanfic consumption either was back in 2006 on FFN, or here and now.

Anyway, regarding fresh takes on existing content, I have some ideas just off the top of my head:

1. The childhood pokémon journey of an older character (Samuel Oak, perhaps), contending with low-tech resources and primitive capture devices and before the combat sport of pokémon battles is well-recognised or pokémon themselves are even moderately well understood. The same story we know, but reimagined, and with a greater sense of mystery and pressure to survive in difficult conditions. The stakes are at once both lesser and greater. A story set even further in the past, or set in the future, might also be interesting.

2. A journey with someone who isn't a kid trainer and their quest is unrelated to the league. Maybe they're a pokémon ranger whose inciting incident drags them halfway round the country, doing their best to do their job along the way. Maybe they're a talent scout like Scott of the Battle Frontier and their journey is to track down talented trainers. Maybe they're a pokémon hunter in search of legendary creatures. Or a researcher. Or an NGO vocational worker. Or whatever. The point is, it's an opportunity to show life alongside pokémon outside of badge acquisition.

3. A journey that opens well into the protagonist's league challenge, when they've already got a developed team, with a plot concerning something besides the league challenge itself. They're still a pokémon trainer trying to be the best, but they've actually got a story going on besides the same basic story we're all familiar with. Whether it's an evil team, crazed legendary pokémon, a missing person, personal revenge or anything else they're trying to handle, that's the thing that keeps my interest over badge acquisition. It's gotta be a story about something. Something new.

And further to that, I have a vague concept in my head for a story about the Sengoku Jidai that might qualify as a journey fic. We'll see if it ever happens.

 

[Ereshkigal]

I think it depends on how it's written as to whether or not it's a good long-form story. Some very long stories, like the Dresden Files, are written in a way that are very enjoyable reads. Others, like Lord of the Rings and Battlefield Earth (both had massive improvements when converted to movies), are significantly... not.

It comes down to if the reader enjoys it, which in turn is dependent upon writing style and the audience in question. You can get away with 900,000 words if the readers are still clamoring for more at 700,000. But if they hit fatigue at 20,000... it's probably better to keep it very short.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Lord of the Rings

Hot take: Lord of the Rings is overrated, and Tolkien was a better linguist than author.

 

[Beth Pavell]

If I'm to be contrary for a moment, you'll almost always find someone complaining about how Tolkien is overrated before someone say the opposite. That being said, with my mod hat on, let's avoid this becoming an argument discussion over The Lord of the Rings.

InfiniteBakuphoon is right in that the journeyfic genre is a very wide one. There is therefore no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Fanfiction in general tends to tolerate bigger word counts than published novel (series), I think by virtue of the fact that you usually read fanfiction episodically. In that sense fanfiction is more like a TV show, where taken as a whole there's more narrative fat in there when compared to a film.

Rewrites, either of the games or the anime, tend to fail because the author gets bored with them - especially when the rewrite is more about "fixing" problems with the canon. If the fix is something as banal as "I don't think this pokémon should have been released" or "I think this Gym Battle is bullshit", the author is likely to get bored before the audience does. Writing long stories takes dedication, and writing when you don't feel like it.

Perhaps this is why the original trainer fic - whether set in an original region or not - tend to last longer. There's more to keep the author interested, and dare I say it, the audience. It's no secret that I like the slice-of-life style of journeyfic, so in that sense I am somewhat biased

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

the author gets bored with them - especially when the rewrite is more about "fixing" problems with the canon.

This class of fic also requires that the readership are comfortable with the fixes being made in order to keep them invested. I might think that 'aim for the horn' was nonsense (although I'd hardly want an entire novelisation to exist for the sake of little fixes like that) but I would be deeply uncomfortable with fics that retconned the times Ash released his pokémon, since one of the few genuinely likeable traits the guy has is that he doesn't coerce his pokémon to pursue his dreams over their own.

There's also the issue of changing enough to keep it interesting while not giving oneself such a huge task that you'll never complete it. I believe that this is impossible, in practical terms. I doubt it will ever be done.

 

[Ereshkigal]

Doing an original journey fic also allows you to alter aspects of the world you don't like, or which won't fit the story, without having to provide as much justification; it happened before the characters ever got involved and they might honestly not know why or ever get an answer. Plus, you can pick new regions the games have not covered and enjoy a narrative freedom not otherwise present.

Ultimately, it comes down to how much effort you want to put into a setting. I'm willing to put a lot of effort into it, but that comes with some problems (people remind me I sometimes throw in too much description).

 

[InfiniteBakuphoon]

Fanfiction in general tends to tolerate bigger word counts than published novel (series), I think by virtue of the fact that you usually read fanfiction episodically. In that sense fanfiction is more like a TV show, where taken as a whole there's more narrative fat in there when compared to a film.

That actually reminds me of something that I completely forgot about when I writing my original post. Most of my experiences with fanfiction actually don't come from reading stories episodically, but rather from finding fics that have already been running for a while — sometimes for a really long while, in fact — and jumping into whatever the most convenient reading point is. I'd imagine that my perspective on fanfic length might be a little bit skewed compared to a lot of other people's because of that... and especially given that my experiences tend to be less like: "Oh, you're starting this interesting-looking story now? Let me follow this!" and more like: "OK, this looks pretty interesting... but darn it, it's already over 100,000 words long!" Or to put in another way: if episodic fanfic reading really is like watching serially-released episodes of a TV show every week, then my typical type of fanfic reading is more like binging several episodes of said TV show at a time on Netflix or Blu-ray, with the potential to go through an entire series in only a few days (if you really wanted to do that, of course).

Now, there are of course pros and cons to both approaches as far as enjoying a really long fic goes. There's less potential for burnout with the episodic method, but then you're also at the mercy of the updating schedule, which — unlike TV — can be extremely variable and unpredictable for reasons that I'm sure we're all well aware of here. Meanwhile, the "binging" method provides more immediate gratification for a fic that's actually worth going through 100,000+ words for, but because that word mountain will almost inevitably be there in that case, it becomes a dilemma to decide whether or not you actually can realistically read all 100,000+ words. That said, I did also mention "convenient reading points"... and with Pokémon journey fics in particular being known for often treading familiar story beats, one could argue that there's sometimes room to "cheat" in the name of practicality and sanity... and by that I mean skipping the boring chapters for the more unique and exciting ones.

 

[KrspaceT]

Personally I feel length factors depend on the pace you move and what you do in it. Don't take 40 chapters to get to Pewter, but if you can somehow manage to write 20 interesting chapters that are or feel important before Ash v Brock...go at it.