Fanfiction Lounge

[Act]

Wow... missed a lot.

Anyway... character sheets. Ug. I agree with negrek in that I think you'd end up restricting the development of a character. Characterization is my favorite thing in fanfiction, even more than plot. If a character doesn't grow and change, it annoys me.

As far as 'evil' characters go, it's the same thing. People aren't born 'evil'. Maybe something traumatic happened. Maybe they are following an elder and aren't fully aware that what they're doing is wrong. Maybe they have mental issues. Point is, I'd like a valid reason for someone to be the antagonist. In most cases, people just happen to think what they are doing is right. To the Nazis, killing Jews would end Germany's suffereings. They saw it as salvation.

Bad character development and poor background =/= me being happy with a fic.

And I could go on for ages about romance in fics and how people just skip over character development there.

 

[SilverBlaze09]

What about FFotW? O.o; I don't get how is that related to me

*grins* Let's just say Niko didn't do a job... AND LET ME DO IT! XD

Just read some of it, especially about how soon he was gonna get the links up... No disrespect to him intended, he's gotta heckuva job. It's just that I doubt he'll be that ticked over a slow-in-coming guide. As long as he's not got that added to his innumerable duties*twitch*, I think he'll be happy that it's done.[/mad attempt to rationalise the psyche of a Mod]

Anyway... character sheets. Ug. I agree with negrek in that I think you'd end up restricting the development of a character. Characterization is my favorite thing in fanfiction, even more than plot. If a character doesn't grow and change, it annoys me.

Um, I don't think we're on the same page anymore.

I meant use them for a BASE, not the whole thing. I tried (and my brain literally had a lockdown) going with a solid, preconstructed character. Fortunately, that's one thing that never found its way out of my lair... XP XD

As far as 'evil' characters go, it's the same thing. People aren't born 'evil'.

*rubs forehead* No comment. [/comment]

Maybe something traumatic happened.

That's classified as 'vengeance', normally. *thinks of the movie 'Incredibles'*

Maybe they are following an elder and aren't fully aware that what they're doing is wrong.

'Naivete'(sp?). *thinks of the Jensaari from 'Star Wars: I, Jedi*

Maybe they have mental issues.

Deranged, psychopath. *thinks of Joker and character from Louis L'amour's novel, 'Dark Trail(I think)'*

To the Nazis, killing Jews would end Germany's suffereings. They saw it as salvation.

Did all the Nazis believe that? lol, sorry. I was in 'argument' mode. XD

In most cases, people just happen to think what they are doing is right.

You're not saying that we should forget the ones who enjoy doing wrong, correct?

'It's fun', 'Nobody's gonna catch us', 'Get all you can from life before Death gets you', the rationalisations are endless. The millions of people who say that everyday KNOW that what they do and did are wrong, yet they continue doing them. Whether from a need for attention, because their friends are doing it, I don't know. But those who believe that what they are doing is right, yet they are doing wrong, are normally the minority.

Bad character development and poor background =/= me being happy with a fic.

*twitch* Makes me happy to watch you. XD Of course, the probfic itself doesn't make me happy. My imagination is such that I can see the possible outcomes of all the bad fics, and that makes me want to help. But, *sighs**switches to voice-of-somebody-I-once-heard-say-this* not all share my vision. XD

And I could go on for ages about romance in fics and how people just skip over character development there.

*twitch* I agree 100% with you on that. I mean, the 'professionals' mess up enough without the n00bs trying their hands at it. XP XD Some of the 'romances' make for good 'humor', though. XDXDXDXD

Whee, I start forest fires nowadays. XD Let's try another one: what do you think about the storyline? Do you map it out beforehand, or just let it flow from and to wherever it wants?

?SilverBlaze09?

 

[Negrek]

Whee, I'm back home and my computer is working and I be happy. XD Of course, Microsoft Word is not working, so I do have something to gripe about. *gripes*

Meh, I think that good and evil are all based on perception. It's all moral codes, both internal and those of society, that determine what and who we see to be evil and who we see to be good. The people who win in the end are often the ones widely regarded to be good later on (history is written by the winners).

Whenever I watch a good movie or read a novel I often end up rooting for the good guys because they're so much more interesting than the heroes...

 

[Act]

You're not saying that we should forget the ones who enjoy doing wrong, correct?

'It's fun', 'Nobody's gonna catch us', 'Get all you can from life before Death gets you', the rationalisations are endless. The millions of people who say that everyday KNOW that what they do and did are wrong, yet they continue doing them. Whether from a need for attention, because their friends are doing it, I don't know. But those who believe that what they are doing is right, yet they are doing wrong, are normally the minority.

No, I wasn't dismissing that, I thought we were talking about alternatives to it xD

But yes, sometimes people are just... sick. But in all seriousness, no one is doing an evil laugh or the like. The keep low profiles and even sometimes are normal people. I was watching Unsolved Mysteries the other day about a young guy who was hacking government and telephone company computers simply because he could. However, he still managed to be a normal person in 'real life'. He wasn't OMGEVIL!!!1, you know?

Whee, I start forest fires nowadays. XD Let's try another one: what do you think about the storyline? Do you map it out beforehand, or just let it flow from and to wherever it wants?

Heh... me = no plot. Ever. My mind is very odd in that it tends to do things without my concious knowing. I'll be going on and on, and then find that something that happened can tie into something that is happening by some chance. It's odd. I suppose it's not really a good way to do things, but meh.

As for the fanfic battle... I've been trying to fix my computer. I truly have the intent of doing it.

Maybe we should start a new thread for it and get it stickied or something. It'd be fun to organize... we should also post in the first post who is vs. who, etc. :D If we do, can I start the thread xD?

 

[Frostweaver]

Go ask Oni or Lily about it if you want a new sticky. However, I'm personally against it being stickied though I support starting a new thread for it. We have PLENTY of sticky O.o;;; Sticky loses its point if half the page is sticky threads.

 

[Casual Billy]

I didn't want to be branded "Lazy Billy" [I'm just casual] by anyone, so I thought I'd stop by and just let y'all know why I haven't written my part of the fanfic battle dealie yet. I have been busy. I just finished Crime and Punishment but still have more to do. It may take me up to a week to complete these assignments, so don't hold your breath. Hopefully, this won't disqualify me from participation, but I'd rather be a slacker here than at school, ya know? Well, cya!

 

[Negrek]

Wow, I missed the storyline question. I just gave Act a whole monologue on how I do that. I think I'll leave out the vampiric poodle bansais in this one, though... that was just strange...

I don't plan out my plot beyond beginning and end. What happens in the middle I know roughly, and I nail it down as I go along. Since I think up ideas faster than I write them out, I end up working far ahead in the story in my mind. This allows room for growth and expansion, and by the time I reach a part it's usually undergone several revisions. Like with my characters, sitting down and charting the plot would only hinder its natural growth.

And speaking of being lazy, Billy, I'm almost done with your chapters. I'll drop them to you at Serebii in about an hour, kay?

 

[Casual Billy]

Thanks, Negrek. I'll definitely feel beta when you do. [/worst joke on the internet at this time]

 

[Yamato-san]

Question: Does anybody know the relation of Hoenn/Kanto/Johto/Orre/Orange and Sevii Islands in relation to each other?

As you know, Jouto seems to be southwest of Kantou. Oore is past a mountain range that I think is west of Jouto. Houen is located far southern to, and a bit to the west of, Jouto. I recall seeing an official map of the anime's world (which included movie areas). According to it, the Orange Islands appeared to be in the same area where the seven Fire/Leaf islands are (south of Kantou). Maybe those islands are between Orange Islands and Kantou, just slightly more north-bound than the Orange Islands. Or maybe they're along the northwestern tip of the Orange Islands (I think the Orange Islands were slightly southeast of Kantou on that map). I don't know for sure. But unless the characters visit one of those islands in a future anime episode, it shouldn't matter anyway, because canon-wise, Orange Islands and the game islands shouldn't exist in the same continuity.

what do you think about the storyline? Do you map it out beforehand, or just let it flow from and to wherever it wants?

I try hard to map it out before hand. Though, as I said, characterization seems to be one of my rough-points, and how they interact throughout the course of the storyline, especially the middle, doesn't exactly come to me until later. Ironically though, I thought up a couple of future storylines where I thought up characters first, and then tried to think of a good setting to put them in.

 

[Frostweaver]

The world of Pokemon is based on Japan's geography.

Just set the bay outside of Vermillion as Tokyo Bay as the starting point, and you can easily find out Johto, Kanto and Hoenn. (I don't know about Orre cause I never played Col.) Kanto is obviously the area surrounding Tokyo Bay on Honshu, with Mt. Moon being Mt. Fugi on a rough scale. Directly connected to the west is the Johto area, with Cianwood being part of Shikoku. Houen isn't directly connected, but it's also to the west of Johto, with a bit to the south as well. On the opposite end of Shikoku will be the place where the Elite 4 is for the RuSaEm games. This means that technically, it's on the same island as Cianwood in terms of RL geography. Using this as a guideline, tilt your head a bit and you can shape out Hoenn as Kyushu.

Official game guide shows that Sevii Islands are southeast (but mainly south) of Kanto mainland.

The problem with this estimate is that Dewford, Lilycove and Sootopolis is missing out from the entire picture. Otherwise, this will be your definite answer.

 

[SilverBlaze09]

Hmm, more replies to a single post then I usually have. XD I feel soooo special... XD

No, I wasn't dismissing that, I thought we were talking about alternatives to it xD

But yes, sometimes people are just... sick. But in all seriousness, no one is doing an evil laugh or the like. The keep low profiles and even sometimes are normal people. I was watching Unsolved Mysteries the other day about a young guy who was hacking government and telephone company computers simply because he could. However, he still managed to be a normal person in 'real life'. He wasn't OMGEVIL!!!1, you know?

*grins* I see what you mean.

And in real life, so few people are that way that it's laughable. 'I am pure evil, ph34r me!!11!' lol, they usually laugh about their incredible power... XD

Heh... me = no plot. Ever. My mind is very odd in that it tends to do things without my concious knowing. I'll be going on and on, and then find that something that happened can tie into something that is happening by some chance. It's odd. I suppose it's not really a good way to do things, but meh.

*twitch* If you could bottle that, you could sell that. XD

I usually keep a fun ending in mind(can you say 'odd winners'?), and then whatever stuff I think of in the middle. Keeps teh old gears turning. XD

As for the fanfic battle... I've been trying to fix my computer. I truly have the intent of doing it.

Maybe we should start a new thread for it and get it stickied or something. It'd be fun to organize... we should also post in the first post who is vs. who, etc. :D If we do, can I start the thread xD?

First part: I don't think we ever doubted it.

Second part: If you're gonna be on enough to keep it updated. lol, if we get enough people to update it anyway. XD

[begging=for a beating]

I should be the one to start it, mainly because my superior brain is far more advanced then yours and therefore capable of much more activity then anything your could crank out. [/begging for a beating] XD

Gotta get off, will try to get back on later and edit. XD

?SilverBlaze09?

 

[Act]

xD

At this point, I've given up on my computer. Yes, I'm now using Ol' Gramps and his Windows 98 goodness. He's older than my little brother, which scares me.

You can do it ^^; I don't mind either way.

I'm so aggrivated now... I have like three things to post here that are all on my computer... curses... ::tries to figure out how she is going to do this::

 

[pokejungle]

If you PM me the problems you're having, I might be able to cite some ideas on how to fix it o.o;

Anyways, I'm off to check out the battle-thread-thingy XD

 

[Yamato-san]

I realize these are based off of real Japanese places, but I wanted to make things simple by just going by the official maps used to represent the games and anime.

Actually, according to official artwork, Cianwood isn't an island, it's a penninsual blocked from the mainland by a bunch of mountains (and since it's a penninsula, the whirl islands are actually within one large bay). It would seem as though they broke a little rule if, going by actual geography, it should be an island.

Isn't there some desert region in the southwest section of Japan (I forget the name)? If so, I'm pretty sure Oore would be equivalent to it, especially since I recall hearing it's beyond mountains west of Jouto.

Just wondering, but if Kantou is, on a rough scale, equivalent to a section of Tokyo, then would Jouto be comparable to Kyoto? Considering how many historical sites and temples are in Kyoto, and how Jouto seems to be a very traditional region, not to mention both areas being in a southwestern sector, I always had that feeling.

 

[pokejungle]

So the pokemon world is based on Japan's geography? o.o;

 

[SilverBlaze09]

I was gonna edit, but you posted. XD

Anyways, it makes sense that they'd base the pok?world off Japan's geography. I mean, why not laud your home country as the main area in a world-spanning fad? XD

Does anyone have a whole map of the thing? If not, I forgive you. XD

Actually, according to official artwork, Cianwood isn't an island, it's a penninsual blocked from the mainland by a bunch of mountains (and since it's a penninsula, the whirl islands are actually within one large bay). It would seem as though they broke a little rule if, going by actual geography, it should be an island.

Hmm, maybe they changed some of the geography so that it wouldn't seem that they were unimaginative. I mean, I could make a fan region that's shaped like an exaggerated boot and call it 'Tilay', and I'd be called a n00b by those who instantly figured it out. Maybe I could even add a mountain range to the north and put it as the former center of an empire... XDXDXD a cookie to whoever figures out what country I b talking about. XD

So the pokemon world is based on Japan's geography? o.o;

That could be called SPAM if you're not careful. I will, however, take it at worth.

Yes, that seems to be the general consensus. XD Apparently, you can find these areas if you take a detailed map of Japan and look at it. XD

Question for the reviewers out there: when you find a lousy fic, and you concrit it and show how truly bad it is, and the author says he/she really wants to improve, what do you do?

I've had three to do that. One yelled at me later for 'gong beyond what he wanted, he just wanted a rate out of ten', another is really trying to improve over on Serebii(doing pretty good, too), and the I'm betaing for the third. XD

?SilverBlaze09?

 

[Dragonfree]

About the regions, my region was actually made up based on the Gyms. I was really strange when I was eleven so the first thing I did when I was about to start the story was to make a list of the Pok?mon the main characters would have, their movesets (I thought very game-like) and the Gym leaders and their Pok?mon. (I made some changes to that just so people wouldn't find it strange that no Gym leaders had ever had Hoenn Pok?mon; otherwise I stuck to the original plan of Pok?mon.) Then basically I made the characters travel between the towns that had those Gyms, quickly made a Gymless town when I needed one, and then later made that into a game-style map of the region.

Plots... well, I basically get a ton of small ideas for something to happen, and hope I get enough of them to get me to think of more ones. Then I piece that together somehow and try to make it make sense, and then I realize that something doesn't make sense and make up some confusing explanation. I usually insert that about twenty chapters after the thing that didn't make sense was.

 

[SilverBlaze09]

About the regions, my region was actually made up based on the Gyms. I was really strange when I was eleven so the first thing I did when I was about to start the story was to make a list of the Pok?mon the main characters would have, their movesets (I thought very game-like) and the Gym leaders and their Pok?mon. (I made some changes to that just so people wouldn't find it strange that no Gym leaders had ever had Hoenn Pok?mon; otherwise I stuck to the original plan of Pok?mon.) Then basically I made the characters travel between the towns that had those Gyms, quickly made a Gymless town when I needed one, and then later made that into a game-style map of the region.

*smirks* Heh, I should make a parody called 'we were eleven-year-olds'. It might win 'horror fic of the year' if I do it right. XD

Interesting. You sat down and wrote it out, then placed your stuff, then mapped it out and called it original.

Brilliant. XD No disrespect intended. You payed more attention to your stuff than many newbies do. XP

Plots... well, I basically get a ton of small ideas for something to happen, and hope I get enough of them to get me to think of more ones. Then I piece that together somehow and try to make it make sense, and then I realize that something doesn't make sense and make up some confusing explanation. I usually insert that about twenty chapters after the thing that didn't make sense was.

lolololololol XDXDXD

I like that part about confusing explanations. XD

Do you write them down, or do you keep them floating in your head?

?SilverBlaze09?

 

[pokejungle]

About the regions, my region was actually made up based on the Gyms. I was really strange when I was eleven so the first thing I did when I was about to start the story was to make a list of the Pok?mon the main characters would have, their movesets (I thought very game-like) and the Gym leaders and their Pok?mon. (I made some changes to that just so people wouldn't find it strange that no Gym leaders had ever had Hoenn Pok?mon; otherwise I stuck to the original plan of Pok?mon.) Then basically I made the characters travel between the towns that had those Gyms, quickly made a Gymless town when I needed one, and then later made that into a game-style map of the region.

Sounds...good. XD Not the way I'd ever come up with one~ I'd have to have everything planned out first =X [Not written down mind you SilverBlade ^_~]. But ya, it doesn't sound too bad.


Plots... well, I basically get a ton of small ideas for something to happen, and hope I get enough of them to get me to think of more ones. Then I piece that together somehow and try to make it make sense, and then I realize that something doesn't make sense and make up some confusing explanation. I usually insert that about twenty chapters after the thing that didn't make sense was.
Sounds confusing. o.o; I just plan everything out XD

I'M CHARACTER BYPASSING! w00t!

 

[Act]

My region... I drew a random outline and then put in cities where it made sense to have them. I don't even know what the gyms are going to be like yet.

Question for the reviewers out there: when you find a lousy fic, and you concrit it and show how truly bad it is, and the author says he/she really wants to improve, what do you do?

Same. I ended up betaing for one, getting flamed by the other, and getting a 'thanks but I can handle it' from someone esle. I always offer to beta if they really need it.