Fanfiction Lounge

Astinus · Mar 3, 2008

It's not that your idea is bad, Dunsparce. It's just that for the challenge, we're staying away from Pokemon-specific prompts. So there won't be any prompts for say "Articuno" because it would really limit the writers. They would have to involve an Articuno some way. The way it is now, though, the writers can just ease in "rain" somehow, and have free reign (pun not intended) over the rest of the fic, as long as it's Pokemon-related somehow.

So you can write your fic if you want. It just wouldn't be for the challenge.

Yamato-san · Mar 3, 2008

hey, I wrote up a little rant in the contest thread which nobody replied to.

Yamato-san said:
I agree, having the guideline be to simply include a certain Pokemon doesn't really do much. In the SPPF contest which I wrote for, the condition was to feature a battle with a Cacnea against a Sandshrew, as well as an evolution (which doesn't necessarily have to be either of the aforementioned battling Pokemon). Not only did I lose that, but I didn't even get in the top ****in' three!!! While I couldn't say the one-shot I wrote was perfect, especially that early draft (incidentally, this is the very same one-shot that eventually evolved into my hentai), I at least stuck close to the subject matter at hand.

My story was a romance taking place in a desert, with a Cacnea as the main character's Pokemon. Early on, he battles against a cheeky kid with a Sandshrew, and ends up losing when it evolves into a Sandslash mid-battle (and said battle was kind of important). You know what the first-place winner was? Some story about a Fakemon that escapes human captivity and evolves in the process (or something like that), and where was the battle between a Cacnea and a Sandshrew? Briefly mentioned to be occurring in the background, that's where. Seriously, how the bloody hell do I lose against a writer who just passes most of the given subject off into a side-note? [cough] But my personal venting aside, a writing contest should actually expect the writers to heavily involve a certain subject in there story, not just plop it into the background and be done with it. If writers can't really show how they can deal with certain restrictions, a particular element they're required to involve in their work, then what's the damn point? You may as well just have a typical "who can write the best one-shot?" and not even bother with specific themes.

Which I guess leads to my new question: Have you ever been sorely dissatisfied over the results of a contest, award nominations, etc.?

And I'd love to hear comments on my past situation if you've got any. ^^'

Scarlet Weather · Mar 3, 2008

Most objectionable thing I'm adding....

Spoiler:

Incidentally, I have a question for you all:

What is the favorite thing you've ever had one of your characters say?

Seriously, I like coming up with things for my characters to throw around, and Gale's cheeky personality is a perfect way for me to interject funky comments. My personal favorite quote so far is his little throwaway "I won't go so easy on ya next time!" It's not so much what's being said as the fact that it basically sums up Gale's overconfidence in a nutshell.

Dunsparce · Mar 3, 2008

Yamato-san said:
Have you ever been sorely dissatisfied over the results of a contest, award nominations, etc.?

Yes. I've my fic was never even mentioned on either SPPf, Pokecommunity, and this obscure(yet decently populated) Pokemon forum.

I've never been able to lure people in. >.<;

ACC-M said:
What is the favorite thing you've ever had one of your characters say?

Skarmory's line that describes his personality perfectly:

Coherence said:
"You can talk to me?" Lee said, surprised. How was this Skarmory able to communicate with him when it had taken him so very long to understand Ziggy?

"Yes, indeed I can. It's a side-effect of being so incredibly intelligent," Skarmory said airily. Ziggy scoffed quietly behind Lee.

Grovyle42(Griff8416) · Mar 3, 2008

What is the favorite thing you've ever had one of your characters say?

There were a few 'Corphishisms' that I'm proud of, but some others I look back on and think "What was I thinking?"

I also liked Treecko's reply to Jeff's "What kind of friend would I be if I let you move in this condition?" which was "A friend who knew who he was dealing with."

Astinus · Mar 3, 2008

Have you ever been sorely dissatisfied over the results of a contest, award nominations, etc.?
I haven't been dissatisfied with the results of a contest, but I was in the way that a contest was run. The person in charge randomly decided a week before the deadline to put a page limit on the entries after participants wrote stories that were longer than the cap.

But I do agree that the way that contest you entered, Yamato-san, wasn't fair in picking the winner. If the contest is supposed to be the main part of the story, than a fic where the battle is just a brief mention shouldn't have won.

What is the favorite thing you've ever had one of your characters say?
Ah, this came about from writing during class:

"Professor Elm said north of Kanto, I think. We're going to have to fly there, or take a plane."

x3 Aden, you're wonderful.

But as for something that will actually survive a round of proof-reading? Ah, nothing has struck me yet. Except for a grown man popping out of a row of potatoes in a garden and yelling "Peek-a-boo!"

JX Valentine · Mar 4, 2008

Thanks for the responses to my earlier post, guys. At least I know I'm not alone here. XD

Unfortunately, I still don't have any inspiration as to what to do yet. Maybe I should just take a break?

ACC-M said:
What is the favorite thing you've ever had one of your characters say?

Well, there was that one time when Viola thought this was a brilliant idea:

Midsummer Knights said:
"Well, ah..." Viola laughed nervously for a moment. "I-if you, um, if you put it that way, then..." Her eyes widened, and she pointed frantically to something over Orsino's shoulder. "Oh my God!"

Orsino, naturally, turned. His eyebrow quirked when he saw nothing but Viola's workshop behind him. With that, he turned back around to find the place where Viola stood just a moment ago completely devoid of a person. A sharp gasp and a grunt filtered into his ear from his side, and with that, he turned to see his nidoking holding Viola by the back of her coat collar so that her feet dangled several inches from the floor with the package just a few inches from her shadow.

Nothing like "Look! A distraction!" to provide comic relief.

Also on the list: Bill completely BSing a funeral (in the tone of Terry Pratchett).

Goldfish Funerals said:
"Dearly beloved," he said. "We have gathered here today to honor the life and death of, um…"

"Pudge," Rose said.

"Right." He nodded. "Pudge the magikarp. He was a good fish, very obedient, energetic, and kind." He paused for a dramatic emphasis. It seemed appropriate. "However, after a long and arduous battle with cancer, he now has gone to the Giant Fish Bowl In the Great Beyond."

And lastly, a recycled quote I keep wanting to use (but consistently ends up in crappy stories that don't make it to the public). It usually has to do with a reference to Gregor Samsa (in Kafka's The Metamorphosis), a comparison between him and Bill, and the comment that this in itself is incredibly bleak, to which Bill responds:

"Oh, no, it's okay. I've always wanted to be a fictional character."

Bay · Mar 4, 2008

What is the favorite thing you've ever had one of your characters say?

In "Nothing, Everything", there are a few quotes from the characters that I loved. Here's my favorite that I posted so far:

Originally Posted by Nothing, Everything, Chapter Six

Bunny nodded and then grinned while her hand flew up towards the ceiling.

"Of course! It was the war between Hoenn and Sinnoh! The two regions went against each other because of their different perspectives of history." Bunny's mind then got struck by those four words:

Different perspectives of history.

I just love the way I had portrayed Bunny in that scene. XD

There's one other quote I love, but that's not until in the fifteenth chapter which is not posted yet. :X

Phanima · Mar 4, 2008

Hanako Tabris said:
You can actually post it at any time. ^^; The deadline is just when all fics have to be in by. No later. Sooner? Oh yes.

So go ahead and post it now. I won't mind.

Ooooh, that's good to know.

Although, incidently, I've gone over it a few times and decided to extend it a bit more, since I came up with this new awesome idea that would undoubtedly make it 10x better. xP

*shot'd for lack of modesty

Anywho, I should be able to finish it by this weekend, but just to clarify (I've read the rules ><) when I'm done, I just make a new thread and add "FFC" to the title, yeah?

Oh and another thing, can One Shots have multiple chapters or just a simple story?

Minos Yewman · Mar 4, 2008

Is the current prompt 'rain'. Its just that's what everyone's saying and I want to know before I start writing.

P.S. When's the deadline?

Phanima · Mar 4, 2008

Hanako-chan made it into a thread, see?

But yes, the prompt is rain and it's due at the end of this month. C:

Long time amirite? ><

Percy Thrillington · Mar 4, 2008

I have mine finished too, Phanima. I'll just edit it repeatedly as I always do. How many people are taking part in this, does anyone know?

Dragonfree · Mar 4, 2008

Have you ever been sorely dissatisfied over the results of a contest, award nominations, etc.?
My ego has, plenty of times (most of all, I think, when The Fall of a Leader didn't win anything at the last TPM Silver Pencils after a bunch of nominations that got my hopes up too much). My more sensible mind, not particularly. Unless you count the time at the Serebii.net forums where my fic won about twenty awards it didn't deserve and everybody proceeded to ***** about how much they hate the popular authors who win everything, but I can't say it's really humanly possible to feel genuinely sore about that.

What is the favorite thing you've ever had one of your characters say?
Ooh. Lots of them. From The Quest for the Legends, it's probably this one:

"My father always used to say that there were two reasons you should make each and every one of your birthdays the best party you've ever had," he said gleefully while cutting a slice for Alan, May and finally himself. "One: It might always be your last birthday, and in fact that becomes likelier every year, so it's good always to assume it is. Two: It's well worth celebrating that you were wrong about it last year." [...] "So well, cheers to Mark for not having dropped dead yet!" he said, raising his glass of milk.

From chapter 32 of The Quest for the Legends, quoting Sparky. Or maybe this one:

"Oh f… crap," Chaletwo groaned.

From chapter 34. Or maybe this one:

Well, Mount Fever isn't that far away, is it? Mark argued. It would be easy to reach the roots of the mountain before that time. We deserve to take it easy for a little while, right?

"Well, sure, you do," Chaletwo replied coldly. "I was just thinking, you know, since some human idiot got the brilliant idea of building a town in the middle of the crater of a dormant volcano and Volcaryu's release would cause it to erupt…" Mark's stomach churned uncomfortably at this point. "Well, I figured that, you know, you wouldn't want all those people to get fried. Sorry I got that impression. I'll leave you to your happy fun battle now."

Chapter 36. A lot of readers like this one.

Of course, The Fall of a Leader has a lot more quotes I love, and some more serious ones:

Death was a fact of life. Death was an ultimate truth. Death was not to be feared, because you inflicted it on others. Because they feared it too. Because you, too, would one day die, just like the prey that struggled with shining, begging eyes against your deadly scythe.

This is probably my favorite paragraph I've ever written. So it's not actually a line of spoken dialogue, but it is from Shadowdart's POV and shows his thoughts.

From Morphic, it's this:

"Making sense?" the phone shouted at him. "She was making exactly no sense at all! You didn't even say half of the stuff we talked about! And for Christ's sake – well, not his, specifically, but you know what I mean – babbling on about how I have weird ideas when I'm drunk? What the ****?"

The speaker is Dave, one of my favorite characters I've written. And this here is one of my favorite scenes:

"I don't get it," she muttered.

"What?"

"Religion."

"That's because unlike those nutsos you've got some sense in your head."

"My parents believe in God too."

Dave pretended not to have heard her for a few seconds. She watched a fly sit down on the back of his neck. If she slashed at it she could accidentally cut his head off. Haha. Oops.

But she liked him, so she didn't actually do it. And even if she hadn't liked him, there would have been complications. Too obvious who did it. No good Pokémorph sympathizers left to defend her in court. Somebody would point out her mental age of sixteen and say she was responsible for her actions. Everybody else would agree because they wanted to get rid of her. 'That fly was getting on my nerves' had never worked well for her. Jail. Tiny cell with stale air. Nothing decent to eat. It just wouldn't pay.

Can't go wrong with Mia the sociopathic Scyther Pokémorph and Dave together in a car.

Unforgettable · Mar 4, 2008

Hokay, so time is drawing near!! Ok, so we still have a while... but you know XD And I totally am sad that the post got deleted. =[ Tis ok.
I am having such a hard time writing this one. I have my one I don't like as a back up, but I don't want to use it unless I have to, I'm just not too happy with it. =/

Hanabanako you changed your name!!! *gasp*

Incinermyn · Mar 14, 2008

Hmm... I'm stuck again...

I've had a bit of time on my hands lately and have been working on Feral Twilight a lot, and then I find myself going back to the prologue of my fic. The thing that bugs me about it is the little fact that I can't decide between two of them...

Prologue 1: I have a scene involving the anatgonists of my fic Cleopatra Drake and one of her minions Nathan Kyles. The scenario involves them meeting one winter's night on the balcony of Cleo's penthouse. In the fic, she's a really rich woman who will do anything to gain immortality as promised to her in a dream by a legendary wolf demon embodying fear that was sealed away centuries ago. In order to release the demon from his prison, she had Nathan go on an expedition into the depths of an abyss in the middle of my fake region of Ronac to retrieve an item known as The Nostalgia Coffer, in which is said to lie another world where dreams, fantasies, and memories are given life. The scene involves Nathan as he gives her the item. And that it...

Prologue 2: I have a scene involving a younger version of my region's leading Pokemon Professor, Dr. Felicia Barnes, as she and her mentor watch as a satanic beast is summoned to destroy the creature she created over the course of several years.

Both have a little bit to do with my fic's plot, but the second deals with some more immediate stuff.

bobandbill · Mar 15, 2008

Skunter said:
Hmm... I'm stuck again...

I've had a bit of time on my hands lately and have been working on Feral Twilight a lot, and then I find myself going back to the prologue of my fic. The thing that bugs me about it is the little fact that I can't decide between two of them...

Prologue 1: I have a scene involving the anatgonists of my fic Cleopatra Drake and one of her minions Nathan Kyles. The scenario involves them meeting one winter's night on the balcony of Cleo's penthouse. In the fic, she's a really rich woman who will do anything to gain immortality as promised to her in a dream by a legendary wolf demon embodying fear that was sealed away centuries ago. In order to release the demon from his prison, she had Nathan go on an expedition into the depths of an abyss in the middle of my fake region of Ronac to retrieve an item known as The Nostalgia Coffer, in which is said to lie another world where dreams, fantasies, and memories are given life. The scene involves Nathan as he gives her the item. And that it...

Prologue 2: I have a scene involving a younger version of my region's leading Pokemon Professor, Dr. Felicia Barnes, as she and her mentor watch as a satanic beast is summoned to destroy the creature she created over the course of several years.

Both have a little bit to do with my fic's plot, but the second deals with some more immediate stuff.

Hmm, any possibility of doing both? They sound like different scenes, so why not have the two in a long-er prologue?

If you have to choose... well, it depends - which is more important for the fic - the one that gives immediate stuff, or the longer term plot-developing? If the immediate stuff can be introduced in the first or second chapter and won't distrube the pace, go for the first one, otherwise, slowing introduce the ist prologue as the story goes on.

Also, which one happens first, if they don't ahppen at roughly the same time? If one is, say, a few years or months before, etc, have that as the beginning, as otherwise you'd have to introduce a past event later on, and that would be diffficult to do without distrubing the plot and pace...

Hope I helped...

Incinermyn · Mar 16, 2008

Kind of helped. Some minor parts of the first I could merge with the second and give it a little more depth and mystery. Thanks, bobandbill!

txteclipse · Mar 17, 2008

I have an interesting conundrum. A person who's fic I'm reading has just begun a shipping between the main human character and the main pokemon character. I can't say I'm surprised, as there have been elusions to this for a while now. However, it still kind of bothers me, as I don't really like the idea of a pokemon/human relationship. I know it's not my story and etc., but I have certain life experiences that would cause me to discourage such a plot element (how's that for not going into details?).

I guess what I'm asking is "what should I do?" Should I tell the writer that they should really think about it before they do this, tell them right out not to, or simply let them take their own course and stop reading if it becomes too much of a problem for me? It would be hard to do the last part, as I really like their fic otherwise and have been reading/critiquing it for a long time, as they have been doing with mine. As a result, it would be really awkward to simply drop off the face of the earth with regards to responding to their fic. Anyone have suggestions or knowledge with any of this type of thing?

JX Valentine · Mar 17, 2008

The best you can do when it comes to that sort of thing, txteclipse, is probably to just tell them that you don't feel comfortable with it or that it won't work for reasons X, Y, Z. Also, if you've been a regular reviewer up until then, tell them politely that it's not your cup of tea, that you're sorry, and that you can't read on. (It may make you seem like a bit of a jerk towards them at first, but if you do it by stating that it's based on personal preference, they might take it better than you simply disappearing on them.) Unfortunately, you can't outright tell a writer not to follow a certain plot -- just that it may not work (or that the writer will most likely have difficulties with it) for specific reasons -- because in some cases, the writer has already had the plot planned out for chapters in advance or had originally meant to go down a specific path (such as a cross-species ship) from the beginning (and the reviewer can't write a story for an author).

Sorry if that doesn't help much.

bobandbill · Mar 17, 2008

At least voice your dislike towards it, but don't make them change the story just for you. maybe take the discussion up in PM's if need be.
If it really is too much for you (ie you feel too uncomfortable reading it), then tell them that you are dropping out for reasons you expressed, so they understand why. Otherwise the author may feel discouraged about your disappearence and may abandon your fic. If you can stick it out however, there may be other parts that you can read and enjoy that don't include perhaps, but again it does depend on the story itself.

Did the author warn of it occuring later on at the beginning of the fic?

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