Pre-Fanfic thoughts and struggles..

[Saelyra]

Please let me know if I'm posting this in the wrong place, this is my first 'real post'. I couldn't find anything in the stickies indicating you couldn't do fanfic discussions in this forum, but feel free to prove me wrong!

Anyways! I've had a fanfic brewing in my mind for a while now... and lately, I've been wanting to get back on it. However, I haven't read anyone else's fanfic since I was about... well, 13, maybe? Whew. So around 5 years! So I'm uncoordinated as to what the 'mainstream' is these days; what people like to see, and what they frown upon.

I have several ideas floating around for the fanfic right now; sketches, too. (I just realized that all my concept sketches are in a sketchbook I don't have scanned yet... I'll do that after I finish writing this up and either edit them in or post in a reply) I know most of the details of the main characters (All originals) their team for a while out yet, etc.. It'll be a little darker than any of the offical pokemon storylines. But it seems that 'trainerfics' are frowned upon...? I don't plan for this to be a gym to gym story. (Heck, I'm not even sure they'll manage to get through all the gyms with all the diversions and such I have planned... region-jumping included.) What's the scoop on that?

Also. My main struggle at the moment... is deciding on the beginning region. One of the main characters has a backstory in Johto that she and her family have fled from; so, despite it probably being most appropriate for the mood of the story, I don't think I can go there for a while. I don't want to put it in Kanto, so that leaves Hoenn as my starting region. But each region has a different mood and feel; and from what I get from it, Hoenn seems to be the most.. bright, so to speak. Would I give off the wrong image from the start by beginning in that region, when it is going to be a rather dark story for a while after I get into the thick of it?

Anyways, that's more than enough rambling for now ^^;; I hadn't realized I'd gotten off track. Let me know what you think! If people show interest I'll be happy to explain more. I just hope I haven't put this in the wrong place....

 

[Minty Electronica]

In response to your concerns about the region, if you chose Hoenn, not only would it be deliciously ironic, which may or may not kill the mood of the storyline, depending on how you did it. It shouldn't be too hard to pull off, though; you don't necessarily have to be a stellar writer to do it. All you need to do is remember that the storyline is dark and try to create a similar feel in Hoenn. Remember that even Hoenn isn't completely sunshine, and you should be fine.

Analogy: Even murder stories can take place in tropical paradises. Why? Because we're the writers, and we can. ^_-

As for your concerns about trainer fics, yes, they're generally frowned upon for the simple reason that most routes more uncreative writers take have been done to the point of cliche. The solution to that is to give the reader something different to look at, and they'll be interested. If you need a guide to what is cliche, Farla's done an entire parody of some of the deadlier ones.

Otherwise, write by instinct. Writing fanfiction is one part awareness that you're being watched and one part boldness in telling a story. If you've got an idea, you really can't tell if an audience will like it (unless you go to FFNet, where some of the reviewers will like dog feces in a bag if you gave it to them... though some of us, myself included, still write for them because we're that desperate for attention), so you mainly just have to take a chance and write what you think.

Good luck on your story.

 

[Saelyra]

(Gah! Accidental back button -_- Here we go again...)
Thanks for the reply! I'll check out those parodies. I do have some abnormalities planned; not to mention some modifications to the pokemon world in general. I'll go ahead and make a more detailed post; prepare for a long one. I tend to get into rambling once I'm interested in something >_> SO here we go..
---
Two main changes; the pokemon world being seperate from our own, and... educational system(or lack thereof). Firstly, the references (and even visits) to areas in our own world really break the immersion for me. (ie, Ash & Co visiting Hollywood, something about Donphan ivory in China...) so I prefer for it to be a world of it's own, and so I'll be writing it as such.
Also, I've always been a little confused by the lack of any sort of education past (or even before) the age of ten. I plan to have it so that, while trainer lisences can still be legally obtained at the age of ten, you're still required to attend school to a certain age.
The only other change I can think of at the moment is some more in depth explanations for the technologies; pokeballs and pokedex, mainly.
That's that for modifications to the world.

All my characters will be original, with the exception of necesities such as gym leaders and of course the pokemon themselves.
I have two lead characters in mind, a male and a female. There will eventually be romance, but it'll take a while to develop and be interrupted at some point. Also, a secondary female character and friend of the other female lead.
The guy (name in progress... I don't like using 'standard' names, probably due to my fantasy roots >.>) has a relatively dark family history and is trying to ignore that, and move on from it. Eventually it does draw him back in for a while, and his escaping that is both a physical and emotional struggle. He tends to keep to himself, and prefers the company of his pokemon as opposed to that of his pupils or other people in general, but does open up a bit as the story progresses.
The female lead (once again name in progress... although I think I might have it written down somewhere) is fairly confident and sure of herself, but not certain where she wants to go with her life. Part of her being a trainer and going on this journey is her attempt to figure this out. She was originally from Johto, but her hometown (where I *think* her father had some role.. I'm fuzzy on the details because I haven't worked on this for a while*) was partially destroyed, someone dangerous had a grudge against her father, and so they moved to Hoenn.

Hmm... that's plenty of info for now. I'll try and get those concept sketches scanned soonish. I'll reveal more if anyone is still interested ^^

(Also, are shinies cliche? I was thinking of giving one of the female leads a shiny that I had discovered in my own game, but I'll withhold if it's overdone (which I can imagine it would be..))

 

[Jukain]

Shiny pokemon, as I have seen it, are very rare in fanfics. Even I have only had one trainer have a shiny, and it was a fairly minor character at that. For a main character, a shiny becomes more of an issue, mostly having to do with shinies having qualities that make them superior to normal pokemon. I guess as long as it is treated similarly as a regular pokemon would be.

As for having the main male and female get together is also a dangerous thing to do. Don't worry, I've done it, too, but for me it was unintentional. I guess if there is enough reason for it, then it's ok. A romance in a dark fic seems to be a contradiction to me, unless there is something here that I'm not considering.

I like your ideas for education and stuff, though. I also believe the Pokemon world to be separate from our own, but so does everyone else I know to have made a fanfic. Only the game seems to be insistant on putting real world references to pokemon. I would like some explanation of the technology, too. I once tried to come up with an idea of what the pokemon world was like some generations ago, before the advent of plastic pokeballs, computers, the pokedex, etc. The rest sounds a lot like what I did: a trainer fic at the core, but everything else is original. I don't like dark fics, though, but that's just me. It could be very good if done correctly.

 

[Saelyra]

Good points..! Yeah, I'm trying to avoid the charactesr having signifigant attachments to one pokemon over another, though some will obviously have different sentimental values. If I do use the shiny, I somehow envision it being a little weak; The real drawback of shinies in the game is that you don't exactly get your pick of the crop. I caught about 17 electrikes before I decided on one to keep based on stats, but as I was walking to the next town I hit a shiny one with crappier stats... which I decided to use anyways XD

I'm not really *that* much of an angst enthusiast myself; sure, we all have our moments, but I'd rather not draw it out by spending time writing a story that's all gloom and doom. Again, this is still in the raw stage; I have the outline but the more minute details are yet lacking. That, and my style dosen't much lend towards being all pessimistic (Or perhaps it does? I haven't tried it much.)

I guess what I'm *really* interested in are the characters themselves, and making certain they've got their own histories. I think part of this story will be finding out what direction it's going in as I write it, which is a little apt since that's part of what the main characters are working on themselves.
At this point I'm kind of envisioning the female lead as being kind of the anchor for the other character; when he's falling into these troubles, she's the only thing he has left to turn to.

Pokemon training prior to modern technology is a good question..! And hard to explore, too >_> How did catching work? What about healing? etc etc.. Thankfully I don't think I'll be running into that anytime soon... ^^;;