Rivals

[Beth Pavell]

Well, I couldn't find a thread already floating about on this subject so here goes. I'm still planning my OC fanfic and ran into this question - how necessary are rivals in fanfic? Do you prefer not to see them? What, in short, does everybody think about them?

 

[Lugion]

Like anything else, really, it's one of those things that is 100% up to the author. No, they're not necessary, but they're definitely helpful in gauging characters' progress and introducing conflict to a story.

 

[kintsugi]

Personally, I can go both ways. On the one hand, they really do help measure how strong your character is, give your character some sort of goal to work towards, and instigate the plot or something.

On the other hand, most of the rivals in fanfiction that I've read fall into, like, two categories: there's the kind, older, super-skillzored guy that takes your protagonist under his wing and teaches him how to do things before eventually being vanquished by his pupil, and then there's the arrogant asshat who beats his pokemon and only exists to remind us that your protagonist is the most special person ever. I can't stand either of these types any more; the former sound really forced, and the latter are just retextured Gary/Paul/Silvers.

(again, emphasis on what I've read. I don't mind being wrong)

 

[TheBlackDuelist]

Like my above poster said, it all depends on the way you make them. If you make them the kind of character that nutures and trains the main character, then it won't be TOTALLY ruined, but it'll make the reader go "Ugh". If you make them a copycat of Paul, then I'll just abuse the back button and never come back. Why does the rival always have to be hostile? Why can't they be friendly? You can have a friendly rivarly between two characters, and I'd much rather see this than watch A copy of Ash take on a copy of Paul.