Heya, people. I've been feeling jealous lately for how little I post on here, and when I noticed yesterday that Astinus left a few days ago and I hadn't even realized I decided I might as well step in again and...say stuff no one probably even cares about. It makes me feel better about myself and not really
knowing anyone on either big forum I go to (here and Serebii) that well, though.
That and I have a constant fear of people thinking I've died due to how long it can be between chapters of my fics and all when I tend to disappear. It would just be easy if I could assure everyone that I do, in fact, not die even when I'm gone for months on end with no sign of life in between. It's called hibernation, not death.
Anyways, time to grab some choice topics and reply to them, no matter how old they may be.
Do you tend to write ideas and/or first drafts of your stories in notebooks or do you use Microsoft Word or a similar program all the time?
Nope, I never write on paper anymore. Everything I do is in Word (or Notepad if I'm just jotting down some thought I don't want to forget); it's simply more convenient in the end.
What is your favorite genre to write about? Read about? Why?
My favorite genres go hand in hand, sci-fi and fantasy. Pretty much anything I write has at least some elements of one or the other (The Flamestar Chronicles which I
swear I'll post here sometime has a major focus on fantasy with a dash of sci-fi, while TRINITY is straight up sci-fi). I don't read much fics to begin with, but when I do read one the genre isn't really a concern to me. I'd more readily read a good fantasy or sci-fi over a lackluster journeyfic, but if it's a great journeyfic and manages to catch my attention (somehow), then I'd even read that.
As for other genres that have been mentioned here: romance is okay with me so long as it's not over the top, and if handled in a tactful manner I can even enjoy reading about it. I simply don't write hard romance though, although I do tend to put a little romance in my fics (the big love triangle in TFC comes to mind...). I like comedy, love it even, but a fic written entirely for comedy just doesn't appeal to me. Like romance, I like it if it's used well in a fic, but not if the whole fic revolves around and depends solely on comedy.
Blue Angel said:
I know what you mean. My story isn't the typical journey fic either. The main character isn't aiming for the Elite 4 or to be a Pokemon Master(no offense to all who choose that path)
In my opinion, such a fic wouldn't even be a journeyfic. A while ago I wrote up a post over on Serebii about my thoughts on the whole OT and journeyfic thing which pretty much boils down to: if the fic contains an original trainer, it can be qualified as an OT fic; if the fic follows the standard 8 gym badges to Elite Four journey, it's a journeyfic. Otherwise, even if the gym journey is part of the fic but isn't a primary focus of the story, it's not a journeyfic in my eyes. I like to keep that separation there because the standard, generic old journeyfic doesn't appeal to me that much. I find them rather boring most of the time, and so I like to know when a fic is like that and when it isn't just from the genre.
Fakemon in Fanfiction: Good or Bad?
They're not my cup of tea, but I don't necessarily see it as a bad thing if they're in a fic. Just so long as there's enough description that I can visualize them in my head without a picture...
Oh, and
Jax Malcolm said:
What about...Saber-toothed tiger!
Do want! That would be so awesome; it'd remind me of Zoids! While they're at it, make a liger Pokémon. :D
Do you think that describing Pokemon in Fan Fiction is a necessity?
Okay, this one may turn a few people against me but I can't help it. Yes, it is very much necessary to me. I'm not saying like every single time they're mentioned, but the first time they're mentioned in the story they should indeed get some form of detailed description (not necessarily a static list or anything, describing them through their actions would be just as effective and better writing anyways). After that for every chapter they appear something simpler such as "the fire-red fox" would suffice.
As for an example of what I consider to be a good description for the first time appearance of a Pokémon, I'll again use Vulpix (I blame a friend of mine for getting me on a Vulpix obsession. They're
crunchy.)
...Please, don't think about that too much. You'd have to understand me well to understand it <_<
"The trainer grinned slyly before throwing the Pokéball into the air. Bursting open in a flash of red light, a small, fox-like Pokémon appeared on the arena's floor. It blinked its ruby eyes and glanced about, its well-groomed red fur reflecting the harsh overhead lights and giving the small Pokémon a fiery aura. Noticing the Pikachu across from it, it gave a small yelp of excitement and began wagging its multiple, curly tails, excitement for the battle ahead coursing through its fragile-looking body.
"Let's go, Vulpix!" The Vulpix's trainer yelled, catching the Pokéball as it flew back to him and pumping a fist into the air."
If you look at just the description there you'll see it's not really that much, just highlighting how small it is, its eye and fur color, and of course its multiple tails. If an outside reader were to read this they should be able to get a grasp of how a Vulpix looks, but to a reader who already knows the description it isn't like a brick in the face as with the list format descriptions. Description through action is always better, and yes, it can be done even better than I did it right there but that'd take too long for me to do. Before anyone says anything, I'm not claiming that's a perfect description; I understand that I'm still progressing as a writer and do tend to go overboard with description sometimes (a certain fiasco with my TRINITY fic where I spent about two long paragraphs describing a gun comes to mind.)
But anyways, to me, not describing Pokémon even if it's just a single passing reference is just lazy. Yes, you're writing these stories for a Pokémon forum. Yes, we all know what they look like. However, imagine if your story was actually published. Without the descriptions of the Pokémon, it would simply be considered bad, unprofessional writing by anyone who touched it. Becoming better at my writing and staying good at it is very important to me so if I were to begin skimping on stuff just because of my intended audience it would be a step back for me.
@Negrek: While I mostly agree with that long post (which I swear I've seen over on Serebii before... Eh, probably have), saying that you shouldn't describe in-depth because the character wouldn't be thinking that relies on your narration being strictly told from that character's POV. With a third person narrative where the narrator is simply some omnipresent being, how one character sees something shouldn't have an effect on the narration. Just a little flaw there I had the urge to point out...
Anyways, sorry to have dragged that back up again, I just felt obliged to respond to it. It's one of those things which I feel strongly about, probably because I did used to be a lazy, terrible writer who didn't describe anything and I feel as if my change to start describing stuff is when I really began getting better as an author *shrugs*
Basically, it comes down to this. Don't want to describe Pokémon? Go ahead. Your writing will look lazy unless you really make up for it in other areas, but you saved yourself the time it took to write at most a few more sentences. Bravo. If you do describe it's not like it'll add that much in length or time it takes to write, but it'll look a lot better and more professional. Also, it can help to build suspense when you don't want to reveal what the Pokémon is right away (such as in the most recent chapter for my TFC fic. Unfortunately in that case said Pokémon is unconscious so description through action isn't possible... Oh well, just need to make sure it doesn't seem too list-like, perhaps by spacing out the description.)
I guess that's...ooh! Ooh! I see one I like! One I
really like! :D
How often do you procrastinate when writing/reviewing a fic? And if so, how long does it take you to actually accomplish the task?
Months! ...No, really. I procrastinate for months on writing new chapters :D DAMN YOU LACK OF MOTIVATION!
I have plenty of desire and ideas for what to write, it's just the writing itself which gets to me... -_- If there was some way to just stream my thoughts into coherent and good writing I'd probably be bringing out chapters every other day.
There. That's it. Super-uber-mega-ultra long post go!
*Returns to procrastinating*
