But...I liked it the way it was...;_;
Eh, now that I think about it, it wasn't great. I'm horrible at writing about big cities...closest Annapolis has to a 'city' is a (rather lovely) historical downtown district...I need to spend a day in DC or Baltimore...
While I'm sorry to hear about the deletion, I always think of this kinda thing as a good thing. It forces you to review what you're doing, and you can always write it better. As you've said, you weren't entirely satisfied, so... Good luck with the rewrite! *thumbs up*
No, seriously. This oughta be fun for you. Rewrites tend to be. =D
Fakemon in Fanfiction: Good or Bad?
Agreed with the others. If it's done correctly (described well -- because, as BnB has stated,
we don't know what your fan creation looks like) and if there's a good reason for it, by all means, go for it. And by "good reason," I mean "this Pokemon can't just be (insert other Pokemon here)" or "this Pokemon is some arbitrary preevolution or evolution of an already existing Pokemon." All too often, I've seen people use what are essentially canon Pokemon with different names or random evolutions that really have no significance whatsoever, other than the fact that the author felt like giving X Pokemon an evolution. For example, not naming names, but I once read a fic in which someone used a Fire-type horse that had essentially the same attacks as Ponyta... but it wasn't Ponyta. To this, I had to tilt my head and quirk an eyebrow because stuff like that just sort of makes no sense to me. Why go through the extra effort to create a brand-new Pokemon that's
obviously just another canon Pokemon if you
have that canon Pokemon available to you? We had a lovely argument about this. I'm sorry to anyone who's a fan of the Pokemon in question, but let's face it. The Pokemon world doesn't often double-up on Pokemon concepts to the point where even the appearances are the same. </old rant>
Alternatively, the random evolutions. Personally, I go with the Chekov's Gun train of thought when it comes to Fakemon. If you mention it in Act I, it had better be used by Act III. And in some cases I've read, it isn't. Like, "Here's a random preevolution of a Pokemon! This is probably the last you'll hear from it other than random trainers." *facepalm*
My other policy is just that when in doubt, just use a canon Pokemon. I don't really have much of a problem with fan-created Pokemon if they fulfill a purpose that no other Pokemon can fill. It's just that if you're going to give your character a Fakemon for the sake of giving them a Fakemon, it tends to stick out, in my opinion, unless you've got a completely new region that you're writing about. So, if you want a Fire-type starter, unless you're in a new region, you've got four to choose from at the very minimum (
if you don't want to choose a nontraditional starter). Why go with something else?
However, on a very disjointed note compared to the rest of this highly ranty post, the exception, as I've stated before, is a new region. If you're doing a new region, it's just sort of expected that you're going to have Fakemon up the wazoo. Then, the problem becomes whether or not you're coming up with creative ideas. We've seen so many other Kanto/Johto/Hoenn/Sinnoh region knock-offs already, so as the creator of a new region, you've got to take into consideration that you'll want to make this region something different, first off. For example, maybe a desert region that actually has fake Pokemon, unlike Orre. Or an Arctic region. In any case, that's your base, and from there, create new Pokemon to populate it. You can use canon Pokemon, yes, but if your region is completely in the mountains, it's fine if you want a bear. Just as long as it's not another Ursaring.
That's the thing about Pokemon, really. Yes, you can always reuse concepts (like the fact that there's been how many cat-like Pokemon?), but with Pokemon, you've got seventeen types, a plethora of moves, and the permission to make your designs as WTF-worthy as possible.
Create something new.
So, Fakemon aren't bad, I think, if they're new regions or otherwise justified. In fact, by all means, if you're creative enough to come up with something, go for it. It's just that so many people just rehash, go off canon ideas, or plop Fakemon in for no apparent reason (even if the story takes place in a canon region) that it's getting to be a little irritating. If you want a Fakemon, at least do your job and make it creative, interesting, not (insert canon Pokemon here), and actually an element that serves a purpose in your story, I think.
Sorry about the long and possibly heavily babbling rant.
