Advice for Aspiring Authors

[FlamingRuby]

Okay...some two cents on possibly my fav. thing to include in fanfic...music!

Granted, music is a good thing when it is used to set the mood...just be careful not to have your characters sing every other line unless you intend it for comic purposes.

But how do we notate singing in a story? While most people tend to do this as "'tra-la-la' sang Character A" I've seen some people, myself included, make up a whole key for writing lyrics. For example, my system of writing lyrics looks like this:
Speaking during a song is notated like this
Singing is notated in italics, like this
(backup singers, song parts and directions look like this)
[instrumental solos and dance breaks look like this]

Also, if you have enough music to do so, don't be afraid to build a soundtrack to your story

[Obsidian Blade]

You have to be careful with music though, sometimes people just use songs to take up page space and make their chatpers look long. ¬.¬ You need a proper plot to the chapter as well as the song or else it gets kinda boring.

[Ash_Junior]

I agree with some of you when you say that Legendaries can ruin an excellent fic. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't use them. You just have to be careful. VERY VERY careful.

I'm currently writing a trilogy, and the third book is where a kid (probably around 16, 17) has to gather together a group of Pokemon of a particular type. This type is known as the Titans. VERY powerful, a little more so than the Legendaries. Why am I doing this, you ask? he's doing it to defeat an enemy so powerful, that all sixteen (or was it seventeen?) of them together might not be able to defeat him. I'm talking near ULTIMATE power, here. Yes, I realize that I must be VERY careful, and I'm planning on being careful.

anyway, now that I've done that, here's my take on making stuff up:

*rummages around*

hold on....

I know it's around here somewhere....

GOT IT!!!!!

okay, here we go.


I make up countries all the time, but you also needs blocks and balances. For example, Tintia, my pride and joy, is very powerful. It also is at least fifty years ahead of Kanto/Johto, and the rest of the world in terms of technology.

pros: very powerful, high level of technology

cons: very powerful enemy, xenophobic, has a bad reputation, is raided every few months or so by aforementioned very powerful enemy

this is a good idea to do whenever you make a country.

I pride myself on making unique countries, such as this one:


Engara: big, bad guys. They've been at war with Tintia for hundreds of years. Why did they first start fighting? Because Tintians killed Stephen the Pillar, and they want revenge, and also their religion demanded it. (I'd elaborate on this, but it would spoil Operation: Celebi) Later, as things got going, they wanted revenge for other things, such as their men being killed, cities destroyed, and things of that nature. It basically snow-balled and now it's practically unstoppable.

Pros: They are very devout in their religion, and have a highly advanced military structure.

Cons: Their religion demands that they do evil things, and because of this, they need to take over specific countries, and in their aims, they are absolutely ruthless.

Notice that even though they're the main antagonists, they have a reason for doing what it is they do, and they don't do it "just because they're evil."


Effeular: a country that is torn in a civil war that has existed for hundreds of years. It is a war between Pokemon and humans.

Pros: beautiful landscape (Pokemon half of country), wonderful architecture (human half of country)

Cons: Civil War, trainers are hated (because humans and Pokemon work together), extremely xenophobic


This is, quite literally, a very unique country. I don't think there's another country out there that has a civil war between humans and Pokemon. think about it. Humans, with their technology, against Pokemon, with their powers. Is there anything else out there that can come close to it? and there are no trainers in this country, because both sides think that they've taken the other's side. For example, Pokemon don't like trainers because of the okeballs, and the humans don't like them because they use Pokemon. I'd say this place is pretty unique.


then there is Nuschantz. This is a winter wonderland, a paradise for skiiers, and anyone who loves the outdoors. It is way up high in the mountains, and is covered in snow all year round.

Pros: beautiful, a tourist country

cons: small, harsh weather (blizzards, avalanches, etc.), against the law to capture wild Pokemon, very poor country, No towns (Only Ski Resorts)


Ah....Nuschantz. My favorite. The home of Auroura, and his parents, Austrealis and Borealis. Three of my unique Legendary Pokemon. I have about 30-40-maybe even 50 created Pokemon. Don't start calling them fake Pokemon, because they're real to me. Anyway, this place is basically one big tourist trap. There's no gyms here, no league. This is just a place to get away from it all, and relax. When was the last time you saw something like that in a fic?



here's my advice for making up a new country for a fic. Have something about the country that makes it distinct, like Nuschantz and its snow; Effeular and its civil war; and Tintia and its xenophobic tendencies, despite having its high technological level.

However, always, ALWAYS have cons. have a minimum of three. always have pros, or people won't want to visit. Also, always have the cons out-number the pros. and don't have the cons be stupid things like: The country has no sense of fashion what-so-ever, they like vegetables, or they don't have TV, radio, or internet access anywhere in the country unless its purely for humorous purposes. those are stupid cons, in my opinion. they could be good, if they are tacked on after a few good cons, like the ones that my countries have up above. True, Engara has few pros, but that's because only the people that live there get in and out, unless they're operatives of one of the many gangs (teams) that they have scattered around the globe.


History:


you should always have some sort of history planned out. Something that makes this nation unique. For example, Tintia is unique because it was the first to rebel against Stephen the Pillar (also known as Stephen the Butcher. He waged war against Pokemon according to his religion, which Engara later adopted, and slaughtered billions of them). Effeular's history is nothing special, considering that they are still fighting the war that Stephen the Pillar/Butcher started. History has pretty much ignored Nuschantz, but it has three, count 'em, THREE legendaries. this may not seem like much, bot how often do you have Ice/Solar, Ice/Lunar, and Ice/Lunar-Solar types (yes, that's right, Auroura has THREE types. It would take too long to explain right now, especially considering this is about making countries, but they're all in a family) in one country? Austrealis, Borealis, and Auroura are the guardians of Nuschantz, and help protect anyone who visits there. Engara, for another example, is the originator of Team Rocket, Team Magma, and Team Aqua. Engara pulls the strings of all three teams because they provide most of the funding for all three teams. In addition to those three teams, there is Team Blizzard (Engaran Special Forces--cold Weather division) of Nuschantz, Team Vengeance (Engaran Special Operations--infiltration Division), and many, many others all over the globe.


Society:

What are they like to visitors? Are they friendly to strangers? are they hostile? How are Pokemon viewed? Are they shunned? Welcomed? Treated as equals (like in Tintia)? There's so much I could put here, but I'll just leave it at that.

Geography: okay, you might want to make a map. Just draw it out quickly. Make a quick sketch. Just so you know where everything is. True, I've only drawn maps of Tintia and Alto, but I know where everyone is in relation to Tintia.

For example:

Tintia is north of Johto and Kanto, and East of Janera (Obby's country that is north of Johto, and that I believe Raven takes place in). Alto is due north of Tintia, Engara due east, Neragosh is north-east of Tintia.

I haven't decided where Nuschantz and Effeular are yet, but they're far away from Kanto and Johto.

Also, make their geography unique (I know this should be up there, but bear with me just a little longer). For example, Tintia is part of a continent, Alto and Neragosh are island countries, and Engara is an island chain.

Make sure you factor in politics, too. For another example, Neragosh and Engara are allies, as are Tintia and Alto. Also, Tintia and Alto are enemies of Neragosh and Engara.


Confusing? Not to me. I was the one who worked all this out.


meh, I'll post about how to make Pokemon later. I don't really want to right now.

[Digital Espeon]

I need help on my story, if you're discribing the following pokemon to a person who never ever saw it before and you want to paint a clear picture in their head, how would you do it?

[Iveechan]

Directed to Digital Espeon;

Just look at the Pokemon and describe them, but don't go overboard. I can't come up with a good example of going overboard, but part of it would be describing every last inch of a Pokemon, like how many toes it has. For Espeon, just say that it is a purple cat with big ears, large almond-shaped dark eyes, and thin, long, flowy hairs on either side of its head. A red orb rested in the middle of its forhead and the long tail seemed to split into two down the middle of it. Whatever distinguishing feature a Pokemon has, mention it.

[SilverStarboy]

i just thought of another tip.




Dont be afraid to make a depressing ending:while happy endings are good they can be ovedone. like maybe instead of always having your character defeat the elite four, maybe he could be at the fourth member and each character wih one pokemon left and maybe the hero could lose.

just a thought

[Dilasc]

A tip for grammar I have may sound wierd, but it works. What I use when it comes to grammatics is simple, 'If it sounds good when spoken, itll sound good when written.' It works even if it isnt dialog.

It may sound wierd talking to yourself, but I do it all the time. Its my secret to my style.

[Ryano Ra]

Alrighty. First off, if anyone needs help, you can PM me or post it here because I'm available for helping. But, my question is this:

In Fan-Fictions, most people put good and bad forces in them, (Ex: Trainer Heroes against Team Aqua/Rocket/Magna themed). Now, my friend, Obsidian Blade, said that it's not good to have these because its only black and white when there should be gray. My question is this: for having a character being both good and bad, would it be a good thing if they acted as though they were with the good forces, then opposed the good guys in surprise? I was just wondering this...because in one of my previous fics, I had a character do a few bad things, then at the end, oppose his best friend in a sheer kill battle. I can take suggestions and replies, thanks!

[Yamato-san]

the hero vs. villian routine is fine, however, it really helps if you give an in-depth purpose behind why the villians do what they do. If you have people be evil just for the heck of it, not even having something as simple as money or revenge involved, then you've got an extremely 2D villian. Although, I guess backgrounds and purposes might count towards the "shade of gray", because that demonstrates that everyone has good and evil inside of them, it just takes certain circumstances in life to have one override the other.

[DarkScyther]

Yamato-San said it right. 2D villains is usually the cause of a boring black vs white. I think though to further answer your question Aleyquala the shade of grey has to be more in-depth then just a sudden change of heart at the end. You have to really get inside the grey character to give the reader the feeling of unpredictableness. Usually the character 'in grey' will only look after his or her own interests whether or not it involves 'breaking the law' or not.

Take for example Catwoman from the Batman mythos. She's trademarked as a villain but she has never done anything extra-ordinarily wrong to Gotham City. Batman and herself have had a few scrapes and a few love ties themselves, so it is up to the reader to interperate how they see the character. Will they think she is a villain or a protagonist.

That's really the goal that you strive for when creating a 'grey character'. I hope I helped.

[Melko]

Since this is the "Advice for Authors" thread, I'd like to give some links to places on About.com concerning writing tips. They have some very interesting and useful tips and articles.

For Character Creation and Development:

http://teenwriting.about.com/cs/char...t/CharLife.htm

http://teenwriting.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/BuildChar.htm

http://teenwriting.about.com/od/char...rQuestions.htm


For Setting Creation and Development:

http://teenwriting.about.com/library.../aa102102a.htm

http://teenwriting.about.com/library.../aa111102c.htm


For Plot Creation and Development:

http://teenwriting.about.com/cs/plot...BetterPlot.htm

http://teenwriting.about.com/cs/plot...t/PlotWork.htm

http://teenwriting.about.com/library.../aa111102b.htm


Please tell me if you would like me to find/post more. Hopefully these should help, and if they're breaking some kind of rule that I'm completely unaware of, please remove this.

[Willow's Tara]

I have some advice that might help alot.
Enter the story, Enter the world you created, be there, feel every emotion, feel everything, The tears, The anger, be the characters, Take yourself away from the com and your surroudings. That what i do and it somehow helps, because you are they, you are them, and you can feel everything, Enter the world you created and write it down into a story, feel the wind blowing in your hair, or feel the pain that hits you, or feel the love, Feel everything and be everything, Enter the world, The reaility and take it away from here.

Note; I had such a better advice then that, but when i pressed Post Quick Reply it seems like went to a Page not found and never got posted!

[wobbanut]

Thanks, Dragonfree, I'll do my best.

I looked through all 12 pages of this topic and I didn't see anything on show-based fanfic (Ash and company/Team Rocket, not original trainers). Since I've written a ton of show-based fanfic for other shows, and read a lot of other peoples', I thought I'd put in my two cents.

1. Don't write out-of-character. Make the character act as close as you can to how they appear on-screen. Obvious differences in character can be jarring.
2. Unless it's an alternate universe fanfic, please be aware of continuity when you're setting a story in the present day or in the past. I've still seen some newer fanfics set in the near future where Jessie and James have Arbok and Weezing, and they've been gone for a year.
3. Don't make numerous changes to a show to fit your story. Luckily, most fanfics I've seen warn readers if they've made particular changes to a show to suit the purposes of a story. Multiple changes, however, make me feel that the writer just wants to change everything they don't like about the show (whether it's true or not), and then I'm less willing to read the fanfic. For instance, if someone decides to make it so Misty never left the show and kept Togetic, and May and Max never joined, I'll probably read it. But, if someone also adds Ash still has Charizard and all his pokemon from before, Gary/Tracey/Team Rocket have all been killed off, Brock decided to stay at the gym, Ash never went to Hoenn, etc., I'll avoid the story.

[Clare]

1. Don't write out-of-character. Make the character act as close as you can to how they appear on-screen. Obvious differences in character can be jarring.

On the other hand, if there's a good reason for the character to do something out of character, there's no harm in having them do it. For example, your fic might involve something happening to make James (who, let's face it, is something of a coward in canon) become a fearless fighter. Kind of like the way his confidence was boosted when he thought his Pokemon personality type was the Moltres . . .

And do remember that people's personalities are not 100% consistent. Imagine, for example, that a normally optimistic character is put into a situation where everything seems to be nothing but doom and gloom. He or she MIGHT manage to maintain hope, but, on the other hand, he or she could just as easily be going through the same emotional turmoil as anyone else in that situation. Consider the following extract from one of my non-Pokemon fics:

The escaped prisoners were back on the slave-chain, all seven of them in varying states of dejection following the ill-fated attempt to rescue Leoric and his party. Even the normally irrepressible Arzon sat staring rigidly ahead, preoccupied by his thoughts. He was beginning to wonder if Bogarvis might have planned this all along, if capturing himself and the others who had been taken from New Valarac was part of a clever scheme to lure Leoric into danger.

"Arzon?" Pallenne's voice cut through the young knight's sombre reverie. "Do you think it's true - what Bogarvis said?"

Arzon sighed heavily. "I don't know, Pallenne," he told her, wishing he knew for definite that his fellow Spectral Knights were alive. But, for the life of him, he couldn't see how they could have escaped from the cave, in which case . . . "If it is, it means we're on our own."

Before anyone asks, the story is based on an eighties cartoon called "Visionaries". Arzon is normally the sort who doesn't let anything get him down, but, in this extract, he's a prisoner and it appears that his friends have been killed. Kind of hard for anyone to keep a positive frame of mind under those circumstances . . .

But don't have someone act out of character for no reason.

[Tezza]

Two Magic Words

Yep, you read correctly, there are only two words you need to know to write the most amazing story ever conceived. They’re no secret really. Tolkein’s knew them, I think Stephan King lives by them and once I stop my riddling babble, you will to. In fact, if you’ve already started a fiction, you alredy know them

So, what two words am I building up to?

WHAT IF!

Geeze! I bet your thinking. Stupid kid wasting my time! But I’m sure of it, that is all you need to know, but now they are out in the open, what are their hidden meanings? What is their magical power? With just to words you can elaborate and turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Right now I’m sitting beneath my favourite tree jotting down words in a notebook. I look around and I see and insect. I stare at it, wonder at it. Then suddenly with a puff of glittery smoke I muse….

WHAT IF!

That sugarbum ant could talk?….. No, wait, that’s already been done. Let’s see. I peer around again and see the jutting wedge of the escarpment hiding half of Kyneema from view, with its rocky crevices and scaled pieces crumbling under the drenching rains we’ve just had. My travels down the ridge and I see a bump, only it doesn’t look like a bump. It looks like a nose. GASP! POOF! SPARKLE! What if that was a nose really was a nose! What if the Kyneema Mountain was really a sleeping titan. What if, because of Kyneema’s drought status it was in hibernation and the flood rains woke it up! What if it went on a rampage! What if, because of my interest in Greek mythology only I knew how to put it back to sleep! What if…….

Baddabing baddaboom! See how quickly that took off. I know some of you read that and snorted ‘Pfft! Sure, its easy doing it like that, plucking something out of the air, but writing a Pokemon story is different!’

How?

Because I’m doing an OT fanfic, and it needs at least some logic to it.

Fine Smartarse, we’ll do it your way!

Let’s look at my second attempt at writing, eh? *cringes* Okay, that’s more than enough to last a lifetime. Its alright isn’t it? My friend Adam was probably sitting down, watching the TV or playing the game, or more than likely see me write my first attempt, and said well,

WHAT IF!

I was a trainer!

Yeah, sure but that’s where the similarities end!

*Looking unimpressed* Is that so? Let’s follow this certain thread.



What if I was a trainer? Let’s say my name is, Hmmmm Mary-Sue.

Well, I’d need to get a starting Pokemon first so lets go to Professor Tree, eh? I’m late! I rush past my underdeveloped character of a parents as well as my hometown. On my way I bump into that mean old rival, who must have terrets syndrome because all he can do is abuse and laugh at me.

We exchange threats and go inside. Professor Tree is there waiting smiling stupidly. I figure he’s gotta be a robot of some kind with a tape recorder in his back because all he does is spout of useless catchphrases. Eventually I get past his babble and he offers a Pokemon!

Mean Old Rival shoves passed and chooses the one I just happen to be reaching for. He nicks off on his way. My turn and I choose Flamie, the fire type, who is actually very intelligent, more so than myself most of the readers think, and he’s very strong, but who cares. I catch up to Mean Old Rival and I’m on my way. We battle, I win, he skulks off. I go on my happy way. I walk around, for about ten minutes, catch five Pokemon, reach the PokeCenter in Bobble Town, beat the gymleader in half a breath, despite the fact he used his most powerful Pokemon, and has been training it for five years. Who cares! I got to sleep for the night, then continue on my way to Bipple City.

I catch three more Pokemon, one happens to be a very rare Mewgol, the evolved form of Mew that only goes to people pure of heart and needs me to save the world or something.

I don’t particularly care because I hear so screaming in the bushes! Oh no, its Team Shuttle, Sharon and Maurice! They’re attacking a trainer of the opposite sex. I send in my Pokemon, I just received the previous day, and shoot them into the sky. Trainer of the Opposite Gender introduces themself as Bobby. They blush and smile and ask if they can follow me. I shrug, completely oblivious because I’ve suffered momentary blindness, or perhaps senility is setting in but it doesn’t matter, I’ve been pre-programmed to reach Bipple Town by night fall.

I turn around and….! What the crap, that city appeared from nowhere!

Who cares! I follow these magical path downwards when oh no! Its some Beedrill! Must be PMS because they’re attacking for no reason at all, or maybe they’re just jealous of my incredible good looks. Who cares! I send out Flamie and he fights and he fights, despite the fact that he can’t be more than level 12 he happens to know the ultimate powerful fire attack, Um… Fire Attack!

Fire Attack wipes out every single Beedrill but Flamie is absolutely exhausted, in fact, he’s dying! I have to rush him to hospital. I’m suffering a mind numbing case of De-ja-vu but…… WHO CARES!!!!!



We’ll leave it there, huh? I bet there are two reactions. One Plagiarist!!!! You read mine and now you’re making fun of me! Or for the more experienced are laughing at it.

I’m hoping you are of the later because this is a typical beginner fiction, only a bit better written because its not in script forms.

If your fiction is in anyway reminiscent of the anime’s first episode, you really aught to take a look at the drawing board again.

But how do we fix this. We’ll go through the start of your typical journey.



I’ll give you tips on devising a character later, but right now we’re going to meet Mary-Sue a little more slowly. Here it took her less than three whole seconds to get out of the house. No *slaps with rolled up newspaper* Bad! We’re going to sit down and take our time.

Where will we meet her? That will depend on her personality. My Mary-Sue’s name will be Ceres, because I’m a fan of mythology. Ceres is the Roman Goddess of nature and crops, so she’s going to be an earthy person, humble, but takes this be a lesson to write about what you know!

So we have a girl who likes plants, where else to find her but in a garden! What if it was the Goldenrod National Park, eyeing their new Scent-sational! Exhibit?



I bent down slowly, lifting a bright golden Chinese lantern to my nose, breathing in its strong, musky scent as I cupped its belled petals in my hand. Now this was relaxing! And to think my rowdy big brother would rather spend his day battling it that stupid old bug contest! Although insects were useful for pollination, I really didn’t have any grand desire to get to know one better. Not Bryce though! Nuh-huh, the booger insisted on bringing home ever injured paras and wurmple he could find. Luckily mum was strict about keeping Pokemon as pets, once they were healed, back to the Viridian forest they went!

And what would he complain? ‘How come Ceres gets to use your Belsprout’s for school then?’

I let the plant escape gently from my fingers as the stiff stem tugged it back amongst its deep, moss green leaves. I peered around me as I tucked one of my loose red curls behind my ears looking for my mother cheerily darting from stall to stall like a Butterfree, nipping at what each had to offer. She was currently being informed that just one single Bellossom had the enchanted properties of a miracle growth simply by singing and dancing on the soil.

I laughed inwardly knowing that right now she had ordered my father to look after her own stall with her firm blue eyes locking his and not letting go until he promised to stay put. He would grumble with his arms crossed sulkily across his chest but he wouldn’t dare disobey mum, which was like asking for a death wish. My mother was very stubborn and I’m glad I never inherited that trait.

My mother was a talented botanist, quite famous in her own circle of expertise but nowhere else. She waited for the Scent-sational! Garden Exhibit all year round, showing off her petunia’s and kangaroo paw plants that always flourished under her nurturing hand. This year it was held in the Southern Corner of Johto’s largest national park, just North of Goldenrod City. Our family followed it where was every year without fail and made a holiday of it.

I suddenly realised how thirsty I was as I licked my lips, standing out in hot summer sun of Johto, feeling dizzy and a little nauseous. Better find a shady tree. But, that was hard to find in flower show so I did my best, weaving in and out of prettily arranged tables until I spied one just beyond, a huge, weeping willow, its limp spaghetti branches were the perfect thing to keep out the heat.



Voila! See, that’s quite a way to start off, I touched on her parents; I gave a bit about her personality and subtly hinted at her appearance, curly red hair. I also gave a good description of where she was, different from the usual waking up late now where do we go from there? Easily, receiving a Pokemon. Firstly we would continue with banter, maybe her meeting a Pokemon trainer that could have strayed from the Bug contest, talk to him or just resting beneath the tree and her telling a bit more about herself, her holiday and how they were going home tomorrow from the airport at New Bark Town.

How will she receive her first Pokemon?

1. Maybe she is resting beneath a tree when the branches sweep aside and a gawky middle-aged man with glasses comes in. She startles him by saying hello as he opens. They chat about how hot it is, and wilted the plants look. She’s a trusting person and so she tells him about her dream to be an even greater botanist than her mother that she’s looking into the techniques of using Leafstone’s to enhance growth as her science project over the Summer holidays but she hasn’t found one yet. He asks her has she ever thought about a Pokemon’s properties of growth. She says yes, she’s thought about it but she doesn’t have the licences to train them. ‘Oh, that’s too bad’ he says,’ I think you would make quite a trainer.’ ‘ Yeah, I’m going home to Viridian tomorrow.’ He smiles secretively and tells her he had best get back to his stall. That afternoon they pack up her mothers stall and take the bus to New Bark the next morning, arriving about 10 o’clock. To her surprise there is the man from the day before and he approaches her parents. “Good Morning, my name is Professor Elm, I met your daughter yesterday.” He explains that he would like to help her daughter with her school project, that he has a friend in Cerulean city that is an expert on induced evolution, Professor Bill Emery and he would be happy to give her a Leaf Stone. Her parents decline, saying that a trip over Mt Moon is too expensive and they’ve already spent their holiday fund. He tells them that is not a problem, have they ever considered letting their daughter Journey? No, she hasn’t a Pokemon or a licence. Her brother chips in ‘she can’t have my scyther!’ he caught yesterday at the bug contest. He continues saying if they were willing to put of leaving till tomorrow, Ceres could take her Pokemon Licence exam in an hour or two and he would put them up for the night. She does so, passing reasonably well and he winks, giving her a green Pokeball engraved with a Leafstone. Inside is a wonderful Pokemon, but don’t open it till she gets home, so its just her and it. Inside can be any Pokemon you desires and can follow a journey from there.



2. This one is a bit more exciting. Okay, she wanders around looking for her brother to watch him at the Bug Contest. She gets bored, ambles around a bit more, maybe she’s thinking about things at school, or her home town, a bit of history. Finally she ends up at that willow tree and sits beneath it. Meanwhile the sun is setting and the people are closing down their stalls while she’s hidden behind the leaves. Suddenly there is a great blast of light that blinds her even behind the trees. She shrills, trying to stagger outside and see what is happening but that is drowned out by a sudden explosion she is thrown back against the trunk, stunning her. She hears the tables being thrown back and flapping tarps and screams of terror. Groping blindly, staggering and panting as her sight slowly melts back. Peering through the leaves she sees aggressive men in black demanding the Pokemon, there are a lot at the convention, they shove and threaten, and she sees her mother standing up and trying to lecture them, a moment of humour perhaps. She wants to help but she’s scared. Finally as she musters the courage and she’s about to step into clear sight when she hears through ringing ears the leaves on the other side of the tree being brushed aside and hushed whispers. One drags her back inside. Its two boys and a girl from the Bug Contest who have seen what happens. They’re about seventeen and they say, stay here while its safe kid. With roars they rush out into view with red blasts of Pokeballs and moderately strong Team’s begin to battle, but citizens are in the way and she sees her father sandwiched between and Ursaring and a Primeape. He’s batted aside by the ursaring crashing into an over turned table and is hurt. She screams and dashes out to help, ducking between Pokemon and getting hit once or twice. More and more trainers of the bug contest are turning up and turning the tide on the flood of Rockets, but they all have well trained Pokemon on their side. She gets to her fathers side and her mother is by her side, lecturing him on how he’s always getting into trouble, more humour. They shoulder him off to the sidelines but Ceres wants to help when she sees Rocket’s cornering a Vileplume with their Pokemon. She rushes in and starts beating on their back, thumping him in the kidney’s so that he misses an attack command and the Vileplume can get the better of him and turn him away. It thanks her in its own way and bumbles away helping the battling. The Rocket, furious, grabs her arm and lifts her into the air snarling at her. But one of the Bug contestants, rams him letting her go and she rolls under a table clothe. He gets up and a Pokeball comes loose, rolling under with her. She picks it up and etched into it is the name Max. Sirens whir in the distance and the Rocket’s give it up as botched, miscalculating the Bug Contest and they flee. She comes out when the cost is clear and sees officers sweeping up the mess, Pokemon are unaccounted for and Pokeballs are everywhere, along with soil and mangled plants. She meets her parents who are being questioned by a Jenny. She shows her the Pokeball to Jenny and she tells her to take it over to a man counting the Pokeballs and jotting notes down frantically. She comes over and he’s too flustered to listen and send her away. Her curiosity gets the better of her and she takes it over, back to her tree. Releasing the Pokemon, it’s a Breloom scarred and bruised and it shrinks away from her whimpering. She speaks softly and it opens its eyes and looks around and stares at her puzzled.



“Bree-bree?”

“Hello,” I said gently, reaching a hand out to pet it. It cringed, as if waiting for a blow to fall, but as I stroked its velvety mushroom head, it cooed with evident relief. “Hello there, is your name Max?”

It shook its head emphatically, and suddenly bounded up, jerking its small red paws above its head, miming a Pokeball being thrown. “Loom, breeloooooom!”

“Your trainer?” I laughed softly at his antics, it was like a bizarre game of charades. “That Rocket was your trainer?”

It shooks its head even more ferociously, looking at the mess around it with furious anger. “Oh my, you’re a stolen Pokemon? Max was your trainer before you were stolen!”

“Looom,” it moaned with heartbreaking misery, it dropped to the ground with its little legs splayed and its tail drooped and began to sob mournfully.


Her heart breaks as she watches, and tries to assure it that once the man over there is done taking notes, he’ll find Max and you can be together again. It cries out and grabs protectively at her ankles and shakes its head with tears glistening in its eyes. It’s too scared. She then without thinking promises she’ll help find its trainer. She goes back to her parents and Officer Jenny with Breloom dogging her heels as close as it could. She explains the situation that it doesn’t want to leave her. Jenny thinks its just a Rocket’s Pokemon by the scars and agrees to let her keep it. Her parents allow her to keep it and they go back to Viridian. Over the weeks it grows stronger and more trusting, giving him the nickname Boxer, not leaving Ceres except for school, and even then he doesn’t’ leave the doormat until she returns. But he always has the look of homesickness about him. Finally she tells her parents that she wants to look for Boxer’s trainer. She had to apply for a Trainer licence with Professor Oak in able to keep him so she’s can leave. Her parents have grown close to Boxer and they notice is depression and let her go. So in her room that night she spreads maps of various Regions in front of Breloom and asks how long ago he was stolen. He raps out five with his tail. Five months. Where was he travelling? He points to the map of Hoenn. She figures Max would still be travelling so after a weeks preparation she flies to Little Root Town and registers with the League, on a Mission to find Max. Apparently he’s quite famous so she chases him all over Hoenn, which is coincidently the regular track across the Region, always just one step behind him. She earns badges so she can control Brelooms growing power and catches her own, but at the same time that Rocket who she took him off is tracking her, trying to get Boxer back. There you go, quite a good journey



Both were come up just from the spot. You can see they’re jauntily written, just simple guide lines and I suggest you scrawl out a flowchart for each chapter so you can see where you want to go but its just that easy. Just go one sentence at a time always thinking, what if, what next, then what would happen? How can I put a problem in Ceres’s path, because that’s what people want to read about. They don’t want to see a trainer who’s path is laid out before them as smooth as sand. They want to see how they can overcome a problem. You can use either of those examples if you like, they’re pretty good and if I wanted to start again I would choose them.

It’s as easy as that, be wild and have fun. Something bizarre and always keep a look out around you as you decide ideas. I spent most of my bus trips to school thinking what would Topaz do next. In her future there is a Circus, a cross country race to Ecruteak on Chilun, trying to buck her off every step of the way, trading capers, mismatches on in the Whirl Islands, an emotional court case as her licence could be revoked and Pokemon suspended, and meeting the Wings of Council bit by bit just the least of it.



And that, my aspiring writers, is the power of What If.

[Tezza]

The Keys to Writing

Firstly I’d like to point out that this was first written as a review to help an up an coming writer I thought had a lot of potential and I thought it was so good I saved a copy, now I’m turning it into a Tutorial to help others on the way!

Well, you know two magic words to devising a plot to your fiction, but what about fleshing it out? There is nothing in the world I hate more than Scripting, unless it’s a humour fiction. Scripting is for those who can’t be bothered putting a ‘he said’ on the end and it really doesn’t give any idea to what is happening. The goal of the writer is to paint a picture of what they see with words. The better you can describe what you see, the more enjoyable it is to read. For example

Mary-Sue: Go Flamie
Gary-Stu: Go Bubblish
Mary-Sue: Flamie, use Firespin
Gary-Stu: You can’t beat me! Use Bubble, Bubblish! Knock its lights out!
The attacks hit each other and exploded.
Mary-Sue: Fine Tackle attack and then a tail whip
Gary-Stu: Dodge it

Oh for gawds sake! That was painful just writing it and so boring to read! That is the epitome of laziness!

But, I’m going to help you fix that problem. Firstly open your Word Document, I use Microsoft Word open in Web View, via View-> Web Layout. I write in size ten Tahoma because I know that if I can fill three lines I can at least have a decent picture of what’s happening.

Writing is divided into three keys: Description, Action and Emotion. If you know how to use these it can make the world so much easier.

Description: This is the most important! Describe everything, every little action, item, person! The idea of writing is to get people to see what you see, like a little movie in your head. The best way is to describe.

Don't say: “Well than, come inside” he said and held the door open for them.

Say, “Well then!” Professor Oak exclaimed brightly, opening the large wood panelled door wide open giving a clear view of his quaint living quarters. Leaning in eagerly they could see plush couches of red velvet and a Wurmple woven mats laid carefully on the smooth wood. But at the top of the stair’s they saw a door left curiously ajar, with the red carapace face of a Kingler bubbling at them.

See, that works heaps better! I managed to fill four lines, and I always make myself fill at least three per paragraph and one per line of dialogue. Use as many adjectives as possible and use the five senses to help. I mean, you don’t have to say the Kingler looked mighty tasty, or you could if you were feeling a little peckish, but you could it gurgled happily with the faint briny smell of the ocean seemed to float around it.

Wait we don’t even know what our characters look like. I could just go ahead and say Jace has brownish black hair in a ponytail and brown eyes or I could do it subtly.

The glare of the morning sun beat down on the small but busy town of Pallet. Already people were bustling about their daily chores but none more anxious than a very short 13 year old girl, shifting pacing anxiously outside an immense white wash building known throughout town simply as The Lab.

She paused her pacing in front of the door, roughly shoving back a strand of her long browny black hair that was always escaping her customary ponytail and into her muddy brown eyes. The sky would fall and Spoink would fly before her hair came out of that ponytail, she even slept with it in. She was the total tomboy her younger brother claimed her to be, dressed in her favourite, daggy blue shorts and Hawaiian shirt at least four sizes too big, so long it almost covered her scabby knees and elbows.

Whoa! See that! Out of about a dozen words I stretched it out to two paragraphs simply by making little comments that also gives a bit of a clue to her personality! You just have to see it clear enough to describe it!



Action: Keep in mind that no matter what's happening, something is always moving, your character, your scenery, even their eyes are skitting from person to person.

So when:

This is the moment I’ve been waiting for my whole life” Jace beamed and chose the last Pokeball.
“Wonderful” proclaimed Professor Oak “Go and enjoy your journey. Oh, I almost forgot take these five extra Pokeballs so you can start building your collection”
“Thankyou very much” Adam said.
“Yeah, thanks heaps” Jace added.
“Me too, see you soon” Ashlee told him.
“We’ll call you as soon as we get to Viridian city” said Adam and the three turned and started walking out.



Or it could be:

Jace stared with barely check anticipation at the last, polished Pokeball, gleaming almost enchanted on the sterilized silver table.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life,” she said breathlessly, picking it up in both hands and admired it as it sat with its button lenses winking at her sitting in her cupped fingers. “It’s perfect.”
“Wonderful!” exclaimed Professor Oak with obvious relief there hadn’t been any fights, which was happened so regularly he should have also taken up a sports refereeing course those many years ago at University. Still smiling warmly he fished three plastic packets from the deep white pockets of his lab coat already prepared. Inside each were five compressed Pokeballs for the trainers to be. “I almost forgot! Take these, they’ll come in handy on the road to Viridian.”
Three greedy hands snatched them away lickity split and he chuckled to himself.
“Thankyou very much!”
“Yeah, thanks heaps!”
“Me too!”
The voices chorused with foolish grins. This is what he loved most about his job, you couldn’t get such innocent appreciation anywhere else.


And once again I’ve managed make you see the picture much clearly in your head. Try to drag everything out as much as possible. I always keep my rule in mind, three lines per paragraph and one and a half lines per dialogue. It forces you to describe what you see in your head.

Emotion: This is the last one and basically encompasses all adverbs, as in 'said unhappily, thought slyly.' It gives an insight into the characters personality because it’s how they react to different things. So one character may 'shimmied enthusiastically through the branches, with his less cheerful companion lumbered half way up, folding his arms stubbornly refusing to go any further.'

You don't always have to say 'he thought' you can imply it through your writing. As in ' he rolled his eyes in exasperation.

So what it really comes down to is, something happens, and describing what your character thinks of it.

And voila, short and sweet, I hope it helps

[Dilasc]

Description, even in a great amount is never a bad thing. Its kind of like water, enough of it is good for you, but too much drowns the world. So, personally, I drown the world with description, but I do so while doing more than describing. Namely, I add the description as an aside that goes alongside of a more important aspect of the plot. It helps paint a vivid image, and back to the water, it makes it crystal clear.

Suffice to say, I tend moreso to carry myself overboard when it comes to human/pokemon emotion, which is anything but bad and very important to ensure that not one bloody Mary gets into my fic. Otherwise that character gets... bloody, mwahaha!

Anyway, the point is that description is a dangerous force of power, that should not be tampered with too deeply unless you know how to control and manipulate it.

[Ryano Ra]

Question #1: Well, about Legendaries, should characters make contact with legends, and if so, probably attempt to capture them? What if a legendary chooses to become a nobel trainer's Pokemon? If a trainer tries to capture a legendary, should the legendary be caught or evade?

[Tezza]

Considering human nature, would you describe anyone as noble? If they were, I wouldn't read them as a character, it sounds so perfect. I'd like it better if the legend stumbled on this hopeless trainer, and like a mother is always waiting in the shadows, following from behind to save him in some way... even so the writer would be treading lightly. And why do people always refer to them in the anime singuarly? It would be pretty useless just having one of something.

[Dilasc]

Noble is a vague word to use. Sure we have our rare ursurpurer against the norm of corruption and money, but its nearly impossible to be noble mainly because a such person could never manage in society if he has no money, and we all know that money is evil, or should now know that it is anyway.

Regardless, I'd not touch a legendary with a ten foot pole. I may stab it multiple times with a ten foot pike and THEN you can have any haphazard sleezeball trainer leash it up so long as you remember its got bloody craters in its body that will never heal and as such you've lost to a new born magikarp. Suffice to say, that's an extreme, but I ALWAYS take things to the extreme if they illustrate a point.

Now, lets reverse the situation, we turn the trainer into vegetable salad and we have Mewtwo in its 00berestness eva! Lol! Bleh! 1337speak is getting to my head... anyways. This situation is tough. There's a sentient and agile pokemon with the power to defeat the planet Jupiter in an arm wrestling contest and have enough time to get to get together with his buddies and bully Saturn because, well, its COOL to be a bully. However your trainer has no access to any of his 8 billion/trillion senses and is practically as efficient at making heat energy as a carrot eternally at absolute 0.

Things are similar, unless of course the legendary is the trainer, by which I mean he's your every day moron who cant realize his underwear is not a way to stop ozone depletion by flinging poptarts into the upper stratosphere (and such a waste of poptarts). However, it's Mar-Suemon and Mar-Suemon can do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. Why when Mar-Suemon burps, people instantly rip off their skin and use their last moments of life to work it into a fine pair of leather shoes, cozy and efficient. Mar-Suemon can get 9000 badges while exploring the never to be known universe in half an hour and not even need to cheat by using relativity factors that come into play when the speed of life is nearly attained and then passed. This of course is while saving world hunger, except that Mar-suemon burped and therefore got more leather to fashion. Then of course Mar-suemon pouted and the audience goes 'awww' which suddenly brings everyone back from an afterlife where football collides most stupendously with Jesus Christ, Buddah, Benjamin Franklin, Aristotle, Carmen Electra, Genghis Khan, Spiderman, and some alien-peoples from places who we could hardly give a dang about and with things we dont care about because we're human and only care about other humans (and pokemon because we're a shallow bunch). It means a wild party loaded with booze, because hey, I'm guessing we're wasted... our time reading that, that is to say! Of course, every good pokemon knows how to leash his trainer, the problem is they dont have the hand capacity or the lack of resistance to put the leash on. But Mar-Suemon could get the Hulk on a leash without even breaking a sweat.

The point? A legend is a legend is a legend... Im guessing its a legend! The point? Try to be realistic, and invite me to the next afterlife party so I can watch Honest Abe do his impersonation of the [current] president again while he's entoxicated and drinking Hercules and Ramses II under the table. So remember, regular pokemon may not be strong, but this is fanfiction, not nap time so stop putting me to sleep before I've conk myself out. Unless you could write the perfect story... which is bad because you'd have to be a living breathing Mary Sue, which means you're not worthy of life because perfect people are too boring to exist which is why nobody ever dared to birth a perfect person and pokemon in real life know it too, why do you think they know to only exist in the pokemon universe? They're too smart to ever get the chance to be real I tells ya!

Ahem. If anyone has a brain seizure after reading all of that, then just remember that legendaries in the ball in your hand is a bad thing, and the ball in your hand is amaingly densely packed with life and light energy! Now, please drool your brains out in the trash bin as it makes an awful mess on the floor beneath you to not do so.

[Yamato-san]

Dilasc, that post was friggin hilarious.

Anyway, if your characters aren't gonna be extremely 2D (and hopefully, they won't), then there might not really be such a thing as a good or evil. If you make your antagonist deep, not wanna rule the world or slaughter or whatever for the hell of it, or they're not simply insane, then from their perspective, their view of how they want things to be is right and would conflict with the protagonist's sense of right and wrong (think of Shishio from Rurouni Kenshin), so try not to think of it as 'good vs. evil fights', just conflicts of interest. Conflicts of interest not only cause protagonists and antagonists to fight eachother, but also makes protagonists or antagonists fight amongst themselves. Of course, when they fight amongst eachother, conflicts don't usually get as extreme and lethal as a protagonist vs. antagonist conflict, but they still exist. There're still neutral people of course, those who just don't want to get involved, but such people obviously wouldn't fight against eachother side, except possibly in a manner of self-defense.

[Dilasc]

Hate to sound like I'm making a pointless bump, but I thought I'd offer some advice.

I know it may be a bit unorthadox, but I dont care. Anyways, down to the point, can you, or your characters more exactly, 'Talk the Talk... grammatically correct!'

He said, she said = he dead, she dead. To the point, that means that you you should watch what you have your characters do. To say 'Never end a dialog with the dull simplistics of <name> said' may be asking too much if you're creativity is not like mine. Then again, that's why I'm helping out. So what the heck do you do? You plug in better words, duh! 'Bellowed at the top of his lungs', 'replied curtly with brevity', 'was all he said before storming out with legs stomping the ground'. Notice that last example had the word said in it? I'll be damned if that word was potato, because it looked like said (even if in some alien language, said means potato). Well, did you notice a whole lot of poetic words around the word said in that sentence? Im sure you did if you have anh IQ of at least 25 and I think only 1 thing in the universe has an IQ below that... sedimentary rocks, though Igneus rocks have an IQ of 27, and cabbage of 27.3, and clipped toenails have 32.5, and it may surprise you to know that argon gas has an IQ of 454 on average, which is nthing compared to the Venutian IQ of 3075 and my imaginary friend Pooky is at 4198 for his intellectual quotent. Still, if you arent a sedimentary rock, you know what I'm saying.

Now, those are only examples, and I dont expect them to be used, for that'd be copying me, and though imitation is the best form of flattery, a steamroller is the best form of flattening. Catch my drift? Of course, try to figure out what fits the situation reasonably. After all, dont have a 27 hour presidental campainathonapalooza and say that the 5 hour speech was brevity. If it was under an hour, then its a brief presidental speech, because we know how the 'most powerful men on earth' LOVE to hear themselves speak, even if they aint saying anything! Regardless, if a 5 hour speech is brief, then this dialog is brief, which means that the Sun WEARS briefs. Yet we all know damn well that the Sun wears boxers, and if that's the case, dont use the word breif if its not short. Likewise, dont say roaring in anger if its the happiest day in existance if such a thing exists when you consider how small and insignificant we all are. Aint I just the most exiting and optimistic person EVER to exist or have existed?

Now, we know whats going around the words, but can your characters talk right? Or are you just writing the scripts for my next episode of LEET TV (Channel 1337, in story Dust to Deceit, by moi). Here's a good idea. What you think you want to say, say it! Talk to yourself, even if you get funny looks and a free straight jacket for doing so, just do it. Even if a gun is to your head... well maybe not then. If it makes sense, type it up! Provided, you better know that ebonics 24/7 is a no-no.

Now, here's something you may or may not know. Time, the fourth dimension, is a relative. What's that mean? Well, it means really, just dont think about it or your extra shrunken, simple heads will explode! In fact, time is on your side! Thats right, the more time you take to think it over, the better off you'll be, as will your story if you actually put an effort into it.

Anyway, now that you're all either bored, gaping mouthed, laughing, wierded out, or even dancing to the funky chicken, you now know a little more from an expert willing to help all those beneath him.

[Jo-Jo]

Ah, do you mind if I dispute a couple of your points, Dilasc? I just had some disagreements, is all...

To say 'Never end a dialog with the dull simplistics of <name> said' may be asking too much if you're creativity is not like mine. Then again, that's why I'm helping out. So what the heck do you do? You plug in better words, duh!

...And here's number 1. ^^;;; In my experience, constantly ending dialogue with long reams of vocal descriptors tends to give readers a headache; plus, it slows the pacing right down and takes attention away from what's actually being said. The word 'said' is so useful precisely because it's invisible - you don't even notice it's there. That leaves you free to concentrate on the dialogue itself. Which is not to say that it should be used at the end of every single line, but you get my point.

'Bellowed at the top of his lungs', 'replied curtly with brevity', 'was all he said before storming out with legs stomping the ground'.

See, if I were beta-reading a fic which had those lines in it, I'd probably tell the author to chop them down a bit. 'Bellowed at the top of his lungs' is alright, but 'replied curtly with brevity' is awkward and clunky. 'Brevity' means the same thing as curtness, so the second half of that sentence is just repeating information we've already been given in the first half. 'Replied curtly' would suffice. Same goes for 'storming out with legs stomping the ground' - an amount of stomping is already implicit in the 'storming' (and I don't see what else the guy could possibly be stomping except the ground, so that's another superfluous word right there), so why not just cut it all down to 'was all he said before storming out'? It gets the point across just fine.

Now, those are only examples, and I dont expect them to be used, for that'd be copying me, and though imitation is the best form of flattery, a steamroller is the best form of flattening.

I think that attempting to copyright such common phrases might not get you very far. I'm positive that I've used 'bellowed at the top of his lungs' before (although I probably cut it down to just 'bellowed').

[Dragonfree]

I agree with Jo-Jo; while always using just said, said, said is horribly boring, it's just annoying if you always word things unnecessarily lengthily. If you can say the same thing in fewer words, by all means use the shorter one. Nobody wants to read a dialogue that's supposed to be heated but has abstractly enormous sentences (at least compared to how they could be) after each line.

[Magnus]

Use whatever pokemon you want. Who says that certain pokemon dont live where you want them to live. You are the author you can decide where they find the pokemon. Just because the game sets pokemon in certain regions doesnt mean you have to. The show breaks pretty much every rule of the game, so you can find tauros in hoenn and wild rhydon. Of course thats just what I think.