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Buoysel March 22nd, 2010 5:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by solovino (Post 5643862)
Ye
And there's a reason why I love this place! :D
The critter looks cute. The flamethrower only adds to it, somehow.

I'll work on it some more soon I hope >.>
Quote:

I'm still stuck however on how big a disaster has to be to be believable in a Pokémon world. Earthquake in anime battles seems to be not higher than a V Mercalli Scale, but we're talking about a place where your everyday Geodude can Earthquake eight to ten times in a row, it wouldn't be that strong. However I aim towards something that instantly rewrites the yearly schedule of significant part of the population of a region, so I am leaning towards a IX Mercalli Scale or higher. And to make it work I have to find a way to believably prevent eg.: Absol from giving (enough) warning. Disaster management has to be a completely different issue there than here, after all.
Being on an emergency response team (seriously I am), I can tell you that the best way to describe several hours after a disaster. Total and utter chaos.
Quote:


Bottom line: maybe I research too much and write too little. Anyone with a suggestion to help with that?
Oh god I hope someone has an answer to this.

Quote:

Caterpie evolves into Metapod!
Metapod uses Harden!
*is repeatedly shot with a .45*
My reaction at first.

0.0

Then.

XD


Only you Solovino, only you.....

Redstar March 22nd, 2010 7:23 PM

How much research do you put into your fiction?
Quite a bit. Most of my writing is inspired by other works I've read, so I like to be well-read enough to draw a fair amount of inspiration and experience from. I'm particularly fascinated by history, sociology, religion, mythology, and psychology. I own quite a few books on Egyptian mythology, as well as general mythology and religion. Some papers hardcopy and digital on sociology and psychology, and of course plenty of encyclopedias and dictionaries (as well as Latin-to-English/English-to-Latin dictionary and baby names books for root words and origins). I like to have a lot to draw from in creating realistic worlds and enjoyable characters. It's all just part of the process.

Misheard Whisper March 22nd, 2010 9:31 PM

How much research do you put into your fiction?
Lol, research. Not much at all, really. The most I really do is for Pokemon world geography, ie I go to Sunyshore (as in physically pick up my copy of Platinum and Fly there) and see what landmarks I can include, how the solar panel roads go, et cetera. Occasionally, I'll just go to Bulbapedia and flick up a Route or two to see what kinds of random encounters my characters might have, and so on and so forth. I rarely do much 'research', per se, to be honest. I like to wing it based on my years of watching the anime/reading the manga/playing the games/randomly surfing Bulbapedia for lack of a better thing to do of an afternoon.

So yeah.

Buoysel March 23rd, 2010 2:30 AM

How much research do you put into your fiction?

The reason I had to go buy, and play Soul Silver was to...uh... research about Johto. It has nothing to do with Lugia, Suicune, or Typhlosion. Sacrifices had to be made in the name of Fan Fiction.

King! March 23rd, 2010 2:52 AM

Well...oh wow. I feel bad because (almost) everyone here has massive posts and I just have one little question. Would a Pokemon fic where the main character is gay be allowed?

Buoysel March 23rd, 2010 4:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by King! (Post 5646044)
Well...oh wow. I feel bad because (almost) everyone here has massive posts and I just have one little question. Would a Pokemon fic where the main character is gay be allowed?


I don't see why not, then again it all depends on how you do the story. If your over the top annoying with the character then it might get old quick for some people and you will loose readers. If its just a quirk of there personality then thats fine I would think. (JUST not a fic where the main character is a Pokemon who is thinking about sex, those type of fics belong else where.)

I've been pondering about the height of Pokemon for a while. I know that the dex entries state how tall they are. And thats find and dandy for Pokemon who are solely bipedal (who are measured by how high their head is off the ground) or quadpedal (who I would guess are measured about like dogs are measured, at the shoulder), but what about Pokemon who switch out? Buizel for example walks on two legs, but runs on all four, the same goes for Pikachu. But then you have Pokemon like Quilava who walk and run on all four, but sometimes stand up, Are they 2'11" while on all four or while standing on hind legs? *headdesk*


Do you people see what happens when I do research?

On a side note, I got the day off and am going to attempt to catch up on fic house work.

Feign March 23rd, 2010 5:49 AM

Yeah, that would be excruciatingly bad if a gay character wasn't allowed... PC is very tolerant. In fact I could probably write a story about a murderer no problem... Even a love story is fine, as long as no explict content of sexual encounters were written out (which is the same for a hetreosexual relationship). No one wants to read about a story about sex on a pokemon forum.

How much research do you put into your fiction?

I had to get info on aura from mostly the movie and I had to look up stuff in terms of that video game (I think it was on gamecube), dealing with Dark Aura.

Elite Overlord LeSabre™ March 23rd, 2010 8:00 AM

How much research do you put into your fiction?
Quite a bit of research on hotel chains and cars they haven't built in 15 years or more went into my fic. Also, a lot of testing random, 14-digit numbers to determine if they were prime numbers or not XD

As well as the obligatory, "Can Pokemon X learn attack Y". Not so much the geography of Pokemon regions because mine takes place in a self-made region, as well as Anderson and Pickens counties in South Carolina.

Astinus March 23rd, 2010 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by King! (Post 5646044)
Well...oh wow. I feel bad because (almost) everyone here has massive posts and I just have one little question. Would a Pokemon fic where the main character is gay be allowed?

Yes.

And it's just like Buoysel and Feign said. So long as there's no sex involved, then there's no problem. If anyone does give you a problem, then let me know right away so I can take care of it.

@Bouysel: That's actually a really good question. I'd go with that's their height standing, especially when looking at Quilava, since it has legs on the short side. That's how I work things out in my fics.

Feign March 23rd, 2010 12:56 PM

I think in making an IP, finding inconsistencies is common... Which is fun and interesting too actually, but sometimes frustrating for us writers.

Stargate has that problem with the whole dialing address thingy.

Giratina ♀ March 23rd, 2010 1:26 PM

http://www.marriland.com/oekakidoodle/pictures/MO_D_95434.png

Wild SENTRET appeared!
SENTRET is holding TM35!

As for the height question, I would just use their artwork as a reference. If there's official art or sprites of it, I'd use the most recent generation's art as a guide.

Buoysel March 23rd, 2010 2:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giratina ♀ (Post 5647140)
http://www.marriland.com/oekakidoodle/pictures/MO_D_95434.png

Wild SENTRET appeared!
SENTRET is holding TM35!

As for the height question, I would just use their artwork as a reference. If there's official art or sprites of it, I'd use the most recent generation's art as a guide.

OMG that image is not only funny, but cute.

Perri Lightfoot March 24th, 2010 1:09 AM

Flamethrower Sentret is adorable! I'd love to see the fic that comes out of that XD

As for Pokemon heights; for quadrupeds I always took it to be how tall they are either on their haunches or in a seated position. For instance - the baseline size for the average pikachu in my fic, when it is sitting upright upon its haunches, is 1'4" from the bottom of its hind paws to the tips of its ears. Many individuals will be taller or shorter than this depending on their age, their environment (lots of food means the population, on average, will be taller and more robust than a similar population living in a less hospitable area), and simple genetics and quirks of circumstance (such as being the runt of the litter); but on average, the canon heights seem to be a good baseline for me. I imagine bipeds, including birds, would be measured in a very similar way to how we measure ourselves (from the soles of the feet to the highest point of the head; such as Lucario's ears or Machoke's...ridge things XD ); but Pokemon who don't fit the criteria for either a quadruped or biped could be tricky. I imagine fish would be measured the same way fisherman measure their catch - the length from nose to tail - and serpentine Pokemon could be measured in the same manner (which would technically not make it height admittedly, but it seems realistic :) ). I don't even know how heights for some ghost pokemon were obtained XD

Canon weights, on the other hand....sometimes they seem realistic and believable, while other times they seem so far off base that my anal-ness about verisimilitude just can't accept them as being accurate (apparently, my suspension of disbelief works just fine for animals with superpowers; but not for anorexic whales! ^^' ). Wailord clock in at under 1,000 pounds? Seriously? And tauros are supposed to weigh under 200 pounds? I think it's just easier to gauge pokémon weights by looking at comparable real animals of similar type and size (in cases where comparisons exist, at least - in terms of wispy ghosts, living bombs, and floating bags of poison and the like; the Pokedex is pretty much my only baseline XD ) - but others might see that as cheating, and instead try to work out what the heck Wailord's biology must be like if the average representative of the species is almost 42 feet long, but weights only about 880 pounds. Either way, it's interesting however you look at it! :)

Elite Overlord LeSabre's mention of the research on hotels and cars done for their fic is a perfect lead-in for a discussion topic near and dear to my own heart: Do you think 'real world' products, events and people/animals have a place in Pokemon fanfiction? Do you include them in your own fics? (Warning: there be massive tl;dr ahead!) Real world geography and locations are pretty well accepted within canon (all four generations bear witness to such evidence); but real world products, events and people/animals exist in a more nebulous area. All have been featured in one canon or another - Pokemon Pocket Monsters is filled with an infinite variety of examples; but as that is a gag manga, and also pretty much ignores the whole "region" thing and is flat-out set in Japan, I don't think it counts for our purposes, and thus I will not discuss it here :)

For products, we have the infamous Marlboro billboard in Poké-Wake; the 7-11 and McDonald's logos that can be briefly spotted in Dengeki Pikachu; and in the games, we have blatant references to the movies Stand by Me, The Wizard of Oz and Big, not to mention all the Nintendo product placement XD The sole unambiguous example supporting the existence of real world events outside of PPM that I know of can be found in the games; where July 20th, 1969 is defined as the time of the first moon landing. Some, including myself, have interpreted Lt. Surge's talk about "the war" to refer to the Gulf War of the early 90's, but there is no solid proof of it one way or another XD Other than throwaway gags, mainly during Team Rocket motto sequences in the anime, there are few, if any, examples of references to real people (again, outside of PPM). And finally, early anime episodes and the first gen games are replete with references to real species of animals, and Poké-Wake has a cat; but in later generations these seem to have been pretty thoroughly reconnected, as they never appeared again (the sole exception I know of is a brief reference to "goat's-milk cheese" in Pokémon Ranger).

Why is it important for me to bother to mention all this? Because, outside of real animals (and I'll get to that briefly), I incorporate all of the above factors in my own work; and have had to defend the practice more than once by mentioning the few canon examples I know of to demonstrate it's not completely out of left field. I seriously think these sorts of references have a place; not just because canon itself has done it, but also because it's important to me in how I imagine PokéEarth to be - an alternate version of our own Earth, with all its joys and vices, and much of its history. I've long been a fan of alternate history and alternative time-lines; stories that try to imagine what would change if something had turned out differently - like if the South had won the Civil War - or if something new were introduced - like if dragons were real and had been used during the settlement of the American colonies. I enjoy doing the same with Pokémon; though in a fic like Paws for Alarm, the references tend to be to small, little world-building changes, rather than to drastic events such as wars and colonialism as tend to be popular in the bulk of alternative history fiction. The above-mentioned fic, in fact, opens with a quote from notes to a fictional speech presented to Charles Darwin's Plinian Society; since the concept of evolutionary theory and biological study in a world filled with such creatures as pokémon was a concept I found deeply fascinating; especially since this is a world in which such godly beings as Arceus and the whole of the Sinnoh pantheon exist. The mating of science and magical events, Darwin and God, modernism and ancient superstitions is just infinitely appealing - even the very name of the mysterious Evolution Stones in the fic, Transmutation Stones, is a reference back to these duel factors, as "transmutation" was the original name Darwin gave "evolution." By incorporating factors and settings we recognize from our own world and using it to explore Pokémon more fully, I feel like maybe - just maybe - we're learning more about the boundless possibilities of both.

That, and I just liked writing a burly, anime-obsessed nerd of a Firebreather serenading a very grumpy Ash with the opening lines of Oliver's "Good Morning Starshine." XD

Now, unto the issue of "real animals." These are the one factor of our own world I avoid like they give me hives when writing my fanfics; other than obvious exceptions like single celled organisms, simple animals like sponges or hydras or parasitic worms, certain insects, and human beings. Ironically, they are also the factor with the most evidence behind them; having been mentioned or shown many more times than we've ever seen cigarette ads or moon landings. I avoid mentioning real animals so stridently that even descriptive passages - never mind dialogue! - contain no direct references to known species. In Paws for Alarm; pikachu and pichu are referred to as simply "rodents;" a furret is called a "mustelid," a murkrow is either a "bird" or "avian" but never a "crow." Why am I so allergic to this, when I so freely embrace 19th century scientists and 60's psychedelic pop? I think it's a case of both verisimilitude rearing its ugly head once again, and also my personal feelings as a great lover of animals. Animals, when they're mentioned in pokémon fiction at all, seem to exist only to avoid thorny issues. They're kept hidden from the society, seemingly locked behind closed doors; rendered some sort of quasi-mythical beings that are mentioned only as comparison to a pokemon species (lie, describing marill as "mouse-like") as the contents of a character's dinner (ie, a human munching "chicken" or a pokémon gnawing on fresh-caught "sparrow"), or as something that was turned into clothes (ie, a coat with "fox-fur trim"). Imagining Poké-Earth as some horrible place where every creature that's not a human or pokémon seems to live only to be killed - never loved, never petted, seen as inferior in every way to the "cute and intelligent" pokémon - would, admittedly, be a GREAT premise for a fic if I could ever find a way to pull it off; but it's also rather depressing to an animal-lover. Thus, I ignore it altogether and let pokémon fill in the role - as friends, as partners, as beloved creatures - but also as food and future clothing.

Also, from a survival of the fittest perspective, pokémon would be able to out-compete their real-animal counterparts in virtually every way. Humanity was blessed with a big brain and thus survived; but in the battle of cat vs. meowth? It's no contest, really. The meowth is going to win, paws down.

If you actually read all of that, you get a gold star. ^__^

King! March 24th, 2010 2:28 AM

Okay, thanks you guys. So basically, I can do whatever I want (well, like, not WHATEVER but...) besides sex? Cool. ^_^
EEP! A gold star! <3 As for the topic, I've never actually written a Pokemon story before, except for once a year ago and it got through one chapter. And sucked. I have RP'ed, and actually my first RP was about discovering land and ships and pirates and stuff. But other than that, There hasn't been many references. However, my fic I am working on, the one I mentioned with the question earlier, is basically set in our world right now, instead of the Pokemon world. The fic is more about the Pokemon franchise. So yes, it will have animals and references and the like, as well as (maybe...but maybe not) real places.

Perri Lightfoot March 24th, 2010 5:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by King! (Post 5648839)
However, my fic I am working on, the one I mentioned with the question earlier, is basically set in our world right now, instead of the Pokemon world. The fic is more about the Pokemon franchise. So yes, it will have animals and references and the like, as well as (maybe...but maybe not) real places.

That sounds...really interesting :) Fics that deal with Pokémon as a fandom, rather than the Pokémon world, can be either make or break, I think. Sometimes, they're little more than generic realistic fiction, such as a story that simply describes some kids playing the TCG - a fic like that doesn't do anything new or daring; and I could read similar stuff by picking up a published novel. But sometimes, the concept of Pokémon-as-fandom can be used in a story to make a point about what we traditionally consider fanfic; and could even allow us to see and experience our own love of Pokémon in a whole new light.

I recall two fics from many years ago that worked along these lines. The first was a fic about a Trainer who behaved in ways that we would traditionally find distasteful or abhorrent - yelled at his pokémon, battled in a way that could easily be called "cold" (forcing injured pokémon back unto the battlefield to essentially be used as a punching bag as he healed up "better" members of his team, etc) - and yet won the battle against his softer, gentler opponent whose battling style showed care and concern for his partners. We then pull back to see that what we had just been reading was the summary of a GameBoy Link Battle held by two kids in a playground. It was really fascinating to look at Pokémon from this perspective; and seeing just how our expectations get completely flipped around XD

The other fic I remember, which I just spent an hour trying to find again (but alas, it seems the sands of time have swallowed it up :( ), was called 2050. It was about some kids who go to visit their grandparent's house. They go up to the attic, and once there they find all these old Pokémon toys that they start playing fantastic games with, not knowing anything about them. They made up their own name for Pikachu and argued over whether it was a mouse or a rabbit, I recall XD And it was just one of the coolest, most fascinating fics I'd ever read...and I remember that at the end, the grandfather goes up to the attic with the kids and digs out an old GameBoy and some dusty VHS tapes, and basically "bequeaths" his love for and memories of Pokémon unto this new generation. I'm so upset I can't find it again :(

What sort of ideas do you have for your fic? I'd be really interested in seeing the potential, if you're willing to share :)

Buoysel March 24th, 2010 6:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Astinus (Post 5647003)
@Bouysel: That's actually a really good question. I'd go with that's their height standing, especially when looking at Quilava, since it has legs on the short side. That's how I work things out in my fics.

Just when I though this topic was solved: *headdesk*

For some reason or another I looked up the height of Furret, and it is 5'11". and I thought to my self, wow that is a tall Pokemon, wait.... WUT?

In the episode "A Claim to Flame," a Furret is seen standing next to ash and its trainer, the Pokemon's head comes up about mid chest level. Which it theory servis right makes Ash an eight foot tall ten year old (err NOT). Hoping my Pokedex would solve this issue I flip out my DS and scroll to Furret and lick on Size.

Long behold, 5'11", BUT it still only comes up to mid chest level of the player who is 4'11". That being said, I am to guess that Furret stands ~3'8" tall on their hind legs and their overall body length is 6'. (I guess?)

Astinus March 24th, 2010 7:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buoysel (Post 5650526)
scroll to Furret and lick on Size.

lick on Size

lick on

lick


Ohho! I'm tired. And I'm only joking with you, Buoysel.

Furret does have a long tail, so maybe that's included in the recorded height records.

Also, don't go with the anime for height reference. Charizard's supposedly really kind of on the short side (I'm taller than it), but it was drawn to be some sort of giant thing, when it's supposedly only seven inches taller than Ash. Though maybe Ash's Charizard is on the larger side because it's older/more experienced, as PPG said in her post. I remember that Puka, the surfing Pikachu, was bigger than Ash's Pikachu, and Puka is an older Pikachu.

Ha. "recorded height records".

Misheard Whisper March 24th, 2010 10:14 PM

Buoysel, height . . . I was gonna suggest that the height given is the height when they're in the position indicated by the silhouette in the 'dex, but your Furret thing kinda puts paid to that, so meh.

Um, speaking of . . . I just saw a Sentret ingame for the first time EVER. I was so happeh, and it is now sitting comfortably in my shiny new PokeWalker. (HGSS came out here today XP)

Methinks one otaku in this house will be getting very little sleep tonight . . .

And whoooooa, we have another Shrike on the loose. *goes back to earn his gold star*

Ninja Caterpie March 24th, 2010 10:15 PM

Look at Furret's sprite and all is solved.

It's on its tail.

Jumping.

That 5'11'' probably includes its tail and the extra bit above the ground it is when jumping.

I want a Sentret, but my friend's having a competition with me and we aren't allowed to share Pokemon. =(

King! March 25th, 2010 2:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pink Parka Girl (Post 5650440)
That sounds...really interesting :) Fics that deal with Pokémon as a fandom, rather than the Pokémon world, can be either make or break, I think. Sometimes, they're little more than generic realistic fiction, such as a story that simply describes some kids playing the TCG - a fic like that doesn't do anything new or daring; and I could read similar stuff by picking up a published novel. But sometimes, the concept of Pokémon-as-fandom can be used in a story to make a point about what we traditionally consider fanfic; and could even allow us to see and experience our own love of Pokémon in a whole new light.

I recall two fics from many years ago that worked along these lines. The first was a fic about a Trainer who behaved in ways that we would traditionally find distasteful or abhorrent - yelled at his pokémon, battled in a way that could easily be called "cold" (forcing injured pokémon back unto the battlefield to essentially be used as a punching bag as he healed up "better" members of his team, etc) - and yet won the battle against his softer, gentler opponent whose battling style showed care and concern for his partners. We then pull back to see that what we had just been reading was the summary of a GameBoy Link Battle held by two kids in a playground. It was really fascinating to look at Pokémon from this perspective; and seeing just how our expectations get completely flipped around XD

The other fic I remember, which I just spent an hour trying to find again (but alas, it seems the sands of time have swallowed it up :( ), was called 2050. It was about some kids who go to visit their grandparent's house. They go up to the attic, and once there they find all these old Pokémon toys that they start playing fantastic games with, not knowing anything about them. They made up their own name for Pikachu and argued over whether it was a mouse or a rabbit, I recall XD And it was just one of the coolest, most fascinating fics I'd ever read...and I remember that at the end, the grandfather goes up to the attic with the kids and digs out an old GameBoy and some dusty VHS tapes, and basically "bequeaths" his love for and memories of Pokémon unto this new generation. I'm so upset I can't find it again :(

What sort of ideas do you have for your fic? I'd be really interested in seeing the potential, if you're willing to share :)

Wow, those two seem really cool. :3
I'm still working on the plot, since I got a lot of the dieas/inspiration from real-life experiences, but it takes place in a world like ours, except that the Pokemon franchise is the biggest, coolest thing that everybody loves. There's tons of games, movies, television series, and the like. The main character, a gay boy...I'm not sure how old yet, doesn't really like the whole Pokemon thing though, except for his Pokewalker, which he loves. The character doesn't have any friends at school, and doesn't know what he wants to do when he...um...gets older (xD). So the fic is about him and the Pokewalker, and how he develops...I guess. >.< I'm pretty terrible at explaining my ideas.

Buoysel March 25th, 2010 8:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Astinus (Post 5650769)
lick on Size

lick on

lick


Ohho! I'm tired. And I'm only joking with you, Buoysel.

>.> needles to say I hate being with out internet service to home. And typing on touchscreen phone is fail.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Misheard Whisper

And whoooooa, we have another Shrike on the loose. *goes back to earn his gold star*

@ PPG: Shrike is a guy who only shows up once in a while and types really long posts, I for one like having something to read.

Shrike Flamestar March 25th, 2010 10:24 AM

Hey, I can write short posts too. Like this one. Yeah.

*Goes back to playing SS.*

Miz en Scène March 25th, 2010 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giratina ♀ (Post 5647140)
http://www.marriland.com/oekakidoodle/pictures/MO_D_95434.png

Wild SENTRET appeared!
SENTRET is holding TM35!

Methinks a plot bunny has just been sighted...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Misheard Whisper (Post 5651020)
I just saw a Sentret ingame for the first time EVER. I was so happeh, and it is now sitting comfortably in my shiny new PokeWalker. (HGSS came out here today XP)

I die a bit on the inside everytime someone mentions HGSS around me... D:
Quote:

Originally Posted by Astinus
lick on Size

lick on

lick

Lmfao

When was the last time we had any real insanity in the lounge. XD

Will be back later to answer any bold topics he may have started... Currently pre-occupied with some work and a paper to write...again.

Giratina ♀ March 25th, 2010 12:42 PM

Yeah, well we all know you for writing long, interesting posts. Which is more than I can say. /contributor of random three-line slop at the most

Miz en Scène March 25th, 2010 2:30 PM

Need to answer this.

How much research do you put into your fiction?
I put an astounding amount of research into my fiction. Mostly, I research physics for my current fic NG-137 so I can make sense of it all and now it features quarks and gravitons for some reason. XD

Also, I included a tiny Easter egg in there somewhere... :P


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