Fillers and characterisation

Hello! It's me again. I have one large question this time. I do believe the only thing coming after this thread will be the actual story!

While planning my story I realised that pokemon wouldn't trust you just because you caught them. In fact, every self aware living organism would behave in a like manner. So, to gain their trust you have to demonstrate you are trustworthy. In other words, you have to do something for them.

It would vary for all pokemon, like a bannette would want you to help find it's old master so it can kill him, or a yamask would want to kill the man who killed him originally, so you must go along and help find the man. Albeit, more focused on the individual, rather than the species.

The idea did sprout from Mass Effect 2, in which you have to do a loyalty mission for crewmates to gain their trust and ensure their survival of the suicide mission.

So here it is:

Should a chapter be set aside for each individual pokemon to have their share of character development, would this be a filler and is that a bad thing? Explain your thinking.

All ideas are welcome. If the idea is plain stupid say so, but you should give reasoning so I can reconsider with those points in mind. If you feel there is something else I should know go ahead and mention that too.

Oh, that's definitely not filler. You're having character development in each chapter, which helps the story and moves it along. Filler would just be chapters were nothing happens. As long as something happens, whether it helps move the plot along or adds development to the characters, then the chapter isn't filler.

At least, that's how I look at it.

So it would be good to give time to develop your characters.

I'm not going to say you should form new chapters centered around developing trust for every single Pokemon some trainer will have, because it'll get a bit too formulaic and predictable along with slightly boring. I don't advocate setting aside character-development chapters for that many Pokemon. It would be better to gain trust while going on their journey. Maybe trust can spark from a random event, but I still think it should gradually be built on. In my honest opinion, I find it far more entertaining to read stories that move the plot along while having characters develop in the process, because that's pretty much the point of the plot in character-driven story.

My point is that it's fine to have chapters specifically written for character development, but having like six chapters just for Pokemon to trust their trainer is a bit excessive. I'd tone it down, but the idea is fine.

Whether or not such a chapter would be filler depends in my opinion on how focused of a story you want to tell. If you want a very focused story, then just about every section should move along the main story that you're trying to tell. On the other hand, if you're designing your story to more broad in focus, with a number of threads that could be long or short, open or closed, by all means bring more elements into the mix. It's the difference between a mystery novel and Winnie the Pooh: in the former relevance to the mystery is of capital importance, and in the latter being strictly relevant would be missing the point.

I think most people aim for something of a middle ground, where side-plots involving a particular character pop up and get resolved here and there, but they have some implication for the main story. Perhaps some consequence of character X's side-plot will have an effect on the final outcome. Take for example the long explanation Gandalf gives near the beginning of The Lord of the Rings concerning Gollum's background. If Gollum never showed up later in the story, then the exposition would be closer to filler. But, because Gollum's story plays so heavily later in the novel, that whole backstory is essential.

psyanic said:

I'm not going to say you should form new chapters centered around developing trust for every single Pokemon some trainer will have, because it'll get a bit too formulaic and predictable along with slightly boring.

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Absolutely agree with this. If the approach for each Pokemon gets too similar, it's going to feel more like a video game transcription than an organic story. Mix things up! And don't forget, it makes sense if some Pokemon are naturally more trusting or impressionable than others.

tl;dr: All depends on how tight you want your focus to be. Also, avoid formula.

By the way, first time I've seen you here, so welcome to PCFF&W!

I see it more as a double edged sword.
If you were to do that, then you'd be able to put more detail into the characters easier.
On the other hand though, you wouldn't have much to develop in the actual story.
I'd advise that you weigh the pros and cons, and think about how well it would fit into your fic.
One of the most important things about writting is to keep a proper pace, if you're moving about sporadically with that then it won't feel like a whole complete unit. Regardless of the number of plotlines.

Please don't post in threads that have been dead for over a month. Thanks.

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