What have you seen too many others do?

[Zekurom]

Basically, this thread is meant to discuss the clichés of the Pokémon fan-fic-dom, or things that are not so much clichés so much as they are extremely widely used to the point of being a standard (They could be tropes, for all it matters).

An example of what would go on in this thread is that people would post examples of things that they find quite a lot in fics, including examples of particularly repetitive and unoriginal examples if necessary. Later on, people could also post examples of fics that subvert these things.

An example of these things for trainer fics (yeah, I know, I use way too many examples for those) would be:

• The trainer wakes up late on the first day of his journey, and ends up not getting the Pokémon of his choice.
• The trainer chooses from Professor Oak, a Charmander, a Squirtle or a Bulbasaur.

The purpose of this thread is to discuss the common pitfalls of the average Pokémon fanfic that send it into the cliché category, and help authors who are trying to be more original in their writing to show some things that they might consider avoiding.

(This thread should also be moved into the new discussion subforum when it's created. If it's still inappropriate, just tell me and I'll see what I can do about it.)

 

[Gama]

Re: [discussion] What have you seen too many others do?

One thing I've noticed is very, very common is the regional professor importing a starter pokemon which is from another region for one reason or another.

 

[Aladar]

Re: [discussion] What have you seen too many others do?

Remember one thing: Tropes Are Not Bad. And I'm too lazy to give you alink to said trope, sorry.

There are a ton of fics about a new trainer getting his ordinary starter from the regional Prof, mine included, but it all depends on how it is handled. Remember, in the Pokemon world, the Prof handing out starters is one of the norms, it's nothing unusual. And if by cliché you mean repetitive and not unusual, then heck, going to school is cliché as well.

Pikachus, Eevees, female coordinators, jerkass rivals and pseudo-legendaries and legendaries are common as hell. Heck, my fic has many of them, too. But modesty aside, I don't think my fic or any other well-done fic can be compared to some of the monstrous fics about Mary Sues that haunt the Net.

tl;dr It's not cliché as long as it's used well and you've justified it.

 

[Zekurom]

Re: [discussion] What have you seen too many others do?

There are a ton of fics about a new trainer getting his ordinary starter from the regional Prof, mine included, but it all depends on how it is handled. Remember, in the Pokemon world, the Prof handing out starters is one of the norms, it's nothing unusual. And if by cliché you mean repetitive and not unusual, then heck, going to school is cliché as well.

tl;dr: It's not cliché as long as it's used well and you've justified it.

I agree with this statement. The purpose of this thread is not to be an authority on what should absolutely not be appearing in any fic with a hint of originality, but to give those authors who might not be able to handle writing these tropes in their own way some sense as to what's been used a lot.

That's why, for some of the clichés, I recommend that people post examples of the trope well used, and ones where the tropes are not used especially well.

Hell, I even use Professor Oak as Ken's starting professor, but the way in which he chooses his Pokemon is far from overused.

 

[Marcat]

Re: [discussion] What have you seen too many others do?

One thing I notice and hate is the rush. Many, quickly catch the pokemon the like then evolve them. After that they make them unstoppable powerhouses that could level a small city.
Try and be realistic (or as realistic as Pokemon can be!) and take it easy focus on the experiance and the journey rather than the mad rush to catch a pokemon and battle.
Imagine that the character is you.

 

[LightningTopaz]

Re: [discussion] What have you seen too many others do?

There are a ton of fics about a new trainer getting his ordinary starter from the regional Prof, mine included, but it all depends on how it is handled. Remember, in the Pokemon world, the Prof handing out starters is one of the norms, it's nothing unusual. And if by cliché you mean repetitive and not unusual, then heck, going to school is cliché as well.

Hear hear!

On the other side of the coin, if you take something cliche and put a new spin on it, it is by definition no longer cliche

 

[Captain GIROG]

People who use only Japanese-sounding names while writing. On that note, also people who only use the Japanese names of Pokémon.

 

[Zekurom]

People who use only Japanese-sounding names while writing. On that note, also people who only use the Japanese names of Pokémon.

Surprisingly, that's rare on FF.net, at least in the OT stories that I read. It might be more common in ship fics.

I do have somebody name their Mudkip "Mizugorou" for the fun of making it a pun (in Japanese, it would be "Maddokippu the Mizugorou" [マッドキップのミズゴロウ]).

 

[Der_Neuevenmenschen]

Re: [discussion] What have you seen too many others do?

One thing I notice and hate is the rush. Many, quickly catch the pokemon the like then evolve them. After that they make them unstoppable powerhouses that could level a small city.
Try and be realistic (or as realistic as Pokemon can be!) and take it easy focus on the experiance and the journey rather than the mad rush to catch a pokemon and battle.
Imagine that the character is you.

In my fic, 'Tarnished Gold' I had Cynthia's starter go from start to finish within six weeks, but made him lazy and sluggish. Also, her team would be instantly destroyed by a good ice-type, a challenge I will present later in the story. So, even if you do have that problem, all you have to do is give it a big weakness, and have your character's enemies know and act upon it.

 

[revolvingscott]

One thing I've noticed and particularly come to dislike is that a lot of fanfic writers (not naming names) do their battles as 'Pokémon A uses Attack I' Pokémon B uses Attack II' 'Pokémon A fainted! D:' 'Trainer A is sad'. There's never any excitement or, dare I say it, description when it comes to the actual attacks.
That being said, I have also seen a lot of writers not doing this and that's always fantastic.

 

[some colour no doubt]

One thing I've noticed and particularly come to dislike is that a lot of fanfic writers (not naming names) do their battles as 'Pokémon A uses Attack I' Pokémon B uses Attack II' 'Pokémon A fainted! D:' 'Trainer A is sad'. There's never any excitement or, dare I say it, description when it comes to the actual attacks.
That being said, I have also seen a lot of writers not doing this and that's always fantastic.

Thats one of the main things i try to avoid in my fic. If anything, writers should take less battle tips from teh game and more from the anime, and come up of more exciting ways for a pokemon to win its battle, rather than a one hit critical KO that happens in the games most often

 

[LightningTopaz]

One thing I've noticed and particularly come to dislike is that a lot of fanfic writers (not naming names) do their battles as 'Pokémon A uses Attack I' Pokémon B uses Attack II' 'Pokémon A fainted! D:' 'Trainer A is sad'. There's never any excitement or, dare I say it, description when it comes to the actual attacks.
That being said, I have also seen a lot of writers not doing this and that's always fantastic.

What I like to do is this:

"Pokemon A, use Attack A!" Character A called. Pokemon A used the attack, but Pokemon B quickly ran out of the way before Attack A hit.

 

[Zekurom]

Re: [discussion] What have you seen too many others do?

Remember one thing: Tropes Are Not Bad. And I'm too lazy to give you alink to said trope, sorry.

Excuse the necro-quote, but here's the link: Tropes Are Tools

From now on, if anybody references a TVTropes page without linking to it, I'll butt in and insert the link.

 

[Roulette]

While some of my FF is a little cliche, such as the player simply starting in a small town and going around the region collecting badges, but other aspects are pretty original. My regional professor barely lived long enough to hand out pokemon, the starters aren't typical, and the rival started as the best friend, driven "crazy" by jealousy. So I think I'm doing alright trying to avoid cliches.I don't even have an annoying girl character like the anime


I see a lot of "Protagonist woke up to here {pokemon} outside, he was getting his pokemon today!" or something else along those lines. Why can't it start in the middle of the day? Or at night? It's always f****** morning...Anyway, of course I always see the general cliches, they'll always be here to stay.

 

[Zekurom]

I see a lot of "Protagonist woke up to here {pokemon} outside, he was getting his pokemon today!" or something else along those lines. Why can't it start in the middle of the day? Or at night? It's always fucking morning... Anyway, of course I always see the general cliches, they'll always be here to stay.

It's more tradition than a cliche. Morning is generally the time at which things start, so it's kind of a symbolism thing.

It's like getting your second choice out of three for the starter Pokemon. It's just not aesthetically satisfying.

Also, try not to bleep out your posts. If you don't want to use a swear word, don't use it.

My regional professor barely lived long enough to hand out pokemon, the starters aren't typical, and the rival started as the best friend, driven "crazy" by jealousy. So I think I'm doing alright trying to avoid cliches.

Avoiding cliches for the purpose of avoiding cliches never works out. Just write the story the way it would naturally come out. If that means making the regional professor an old, experienced man, so be it. I mean, that one isn't even original either, considering Professor Elm.

 

[Roulette]

True, also I've noticed people following the general game formula, making the rival always beatable, yet somehow always one pokemon and one gym ahead of the protagonist. If you can beat him/her, why aren't you as far along in your journey?

NOTE: Yes, my rival is like that right now, but it's resolved eventually.

 

[Zekurom]

True, also I've noticed people following the general game formula, making the rival always beatable, yet somehow always one pokemon and one gym ahead of the protagonist. If you can beat him/her, why aren't you as far along in your journey?

Now that could be a problem.

But I don't even have a rival in my OT story, so it doesn't matter to me at all :-D

 

[Roulette]

Now that could be a problem.

But I don't even have a rival in my OT story, so it doesn't matter to me at all :-D

LOL to me it doesn't seem like a pokemon story without a rival. I guess it doesn't matter as long as it works well.

 

[Zekurom]

LOL to me it doesn't seem like a pokemon story without a rival. I guess it doesn't matter as long as it works well.

Well, you could say that the two "rivals" (Rachel and Ken; Gasp, the female is actually an important character!) are actually travelling partners.

 

[Roulette]

Yeah, I have a character like that in my story. I guess I'll spoiler this for readers of my FF.

Spoiler

The character meets a kid that starts traveling with him and becomes a sort of friendly rival. They aren't really competing with each other, they actually help each other with gym challenges and stuff, but still have friendly battles every now and then.