Does everyone hate OT fics?

Started by Matt11 June 21st, 2008 12:45 PM
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Gummy

by fire be P U R G E D

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It's not the OT fic that people dread, it's the immense amount of cliches that come with it. Check out Thesis' thread on cliches (which is in this section), and pretty much all of those appear in OTs written by beginners.


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Erm...yeah, like Gummy said it's not the genre that's in disfavor; just the countless poorly written and equally poorly planned, cookie-cutter fics that clutter it. A well-written OT will be accepted just as happily as a well-written fic of any other genre, and I for one actually have a fondness for OTs, so no; not everyone hates OT fics at all. xD
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Well, I tend to look at the words on that pop-up window which appear when you hover your mouse over the thread. That, and the title.

If the title says "(Character's name here)'s Pokemon/Region Adventure", then that line puts me off. It reeks of, well, not very good OT fics.

If the first sentences of the fic are "(Character's name here) opened his/her eyes to a bright, beautiful morning/(CNH) woke up, looked at the clock and yelled 'I'm LATE!'" Or one of those old, overused beginnings... I just stay away from the story like a plague.



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Damn...is THAT why everyone stays away from my FC?
I've only gotten 4 people to reply on my thread. One's a friend, the other I PMed...
Seriously, just because people's minds are too small to think of a better name doesn't mean their fic sux... X_X
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OT fics I don't mind at all. I fact, I enjoy reading them.

Poorly written OT fics, however, are a whole other matter. And sadly, the latter is more prevalent:/

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It's just that for those who have been in the fandom for far too long to keep a hold of their sanity (that would be me), the fics that are titled "CNH's Adventure/Journey/Quest/Mystic Adventure to find all the Clow Cards Pokémon" tend to not be well-done. There are some instances where this isn't true, but the majority tends to write the stereotype more than the minority break the mold. (I need sleep.)

(Of course, dark lakitu, I had no idea you had a fic. x.x I'm so behind on reviewing.)

OT fics are genuinely what starting Pokémon fanfic writers go for. It's the same in a lot of other fandoms that I can name off the top of my head: LOTR, Digimon, OSC (;_____; Why must there be fanbrats there?), Kingdom Hearts, DragonLance, and so on. The young fans of the series want to do nothing more but be a part of the actual canon, so they create a version of themselves to insert into the world. (Usually to fall in love with a character, which gets creepy when the canon character is six, and that story made me want to die, and... *hugs the boy*) And the fanauthor really doesn't care about the mechanics of the fic, and they title it the first thing that comes to mind, and they post it. And their little friends run by and write "zomg! u rite gud! moar pease!"

But it's just that OT fics are a dime-a-dozen, or at least about as common as Rattata. You can't wade through a fanfiction section on a Pokemon board without running into at least five on the first page alone. It's just that it takes a little scrounging to find a good OT fic, like finding a good IV-carrying Rattata. They're out there. It just takes a little work to find one.

Unless you have someone to rec you some.

As for myself, I don't mind OT fics. I'm writing one myself. (I like to selfishly think that it's good.) I just want to read fics that are actually readable. And that aren't just fics where the person was writing down what was happening in the game as they were playing, with less description and more grammar errors.

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So what is there besides OT?
Anything, really. Action, adventure, drama etc. Any Genre you can think of can be translated into a (good) fan fic. Like I just started writing about a secret agent in the Pokemon world. I find it interesting to write (and think) about, plus it gives me a whole bunch of fresh ideas. I don't have to stick with "Gym... Gym... Trainer... Gym...".

So, basically you can write about anything! (... And, some people really do write about... anything...)
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To add to BREAKINGBEN...

So what is there besides OT?
Well, Pokemon does have a massive cast of canon characters that are never or almost never written about. You can always create a story about one of them. There's Grace, the girl with the Medicham who competed against May and who currently engages in contests, if you want someone like a trainer but still fairly different. (Because, hey, OT stories don't involve the backstage drama of a beauty pageant.) There's Domino and every other Rocket agent, who all for some reason aren't taken advantage of, even though you've got a ton of potential there with stories about thief-heroes. Heck, there's even my favorite, Bill, who's a Pokemon researcher and therefore is begging for tons of nutty sci-fi adventures. (I mean, come on. Pokemon meets Jurassic Park? Pokemon meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers? Pokemon meets The Blob? Why have these never actually come to being?)

So, really, you don't even have to create an original character if you don't want to. Pokemon's one of those odd fandoms where people tend to be shy around using the huge cast of characters canon already gives you, unlike in every other fandom where most people cling like none other to the canon cast and maybe insert one or two original characters (who are often Mary Sues anyway). Pokemon canon doesn't even bother trying to give a number of the characters it creates solid characterizations, so you actually have plenty of freedom of choice and creativity -- more so than a lot of other fandoms out there. It's just that a lot of people don't even consider that there are untold stories in the Pokemon fandom and attempt to create a new puppet for a new OT story.

Otherwise, as BREAKINGBEN said, there's a lot of other genres that the Pokemon fandom can cover. Your original character might not even need to be a new trainer. Like characters, Pokemon canon offers a lot of flexibility with occupations as well. Not only are there coordinators, thieves, and researchers, but there's also breeders, watchers, gym leaders, collectors, hunters/poachers, nurses, and even occupations that don't actually work with Pokemon directly but instead maybe on the side, like construction workers directing a bunch of Fighting-type Pokemon. And even then, there's also the possibility of working with older trainers -- people who are already established as trainers and are simply going on an adventure other than your standard journey. At the risk of ego tripping, all of the characters in my pet fanfiction (in my sig) are original trainers, but they're all also established. Thus, the fic isn't about a journey where someone starts off from a town with a new Pokemon by their side. It's about how they use Pokemon to accomplish what it is they set out to do. So, yes, it's perfectly possible to write original characters in the Pokemon universe, but you just have to stretch your imagination with it and will yourself to find something else for a trainer to do besides start a journey with their starters by their sides.

Likewise, varied occupations come varied genres. A scientist, as I've said before, might open up a world of science fiction for you. Romance may come from coordinators (and often does, actually), breeders, what have you. Mystery for police officers like Officer Jenny.

Really, the world of Pokemon fanfiction is vast and full of variety. All you need to do is think outside the box by looking at just the basics that you have to work with. For a Pokemon fanfiction, you only need one thing after all: Pokemon. Figure out where to go from there by looking at what you can do with Pokemon. You can get some hints by looking at canon -- specifically, the people Ash or so-and-so meets along the way.
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Dr. Mack Foxx

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Hmmm... I'm not familiar with the fan-fic community jargon. May someone please enlighten me as to what exactly an "OT Fic" is? Original Trainer?
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Hmmm... I'm not familiar with the fan-fic community jargon. May someone please enlighten me as to what exactly an "OT Fic" is? Original Trainer?
To be specific, yes, it's short for "original trainer," but it often refers to not only original trainers but also new trainers and the genre that surrounds them -- as in, fics about trainers who start off on their journeys through X region, following a gym circuit and raising a team -- as well as sequels to new trainer fics. In other words, the genre usually refers to journey fics, not just any fic with an original character who happens to be a trainer.
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oh, i thought it was any story that had a made up trainer in it...
Technically, you could call any story with a fan-created trainer an OT story. However, most people really just stop at journey fics because almost all (or at least a large number of) writers who write OTs put their OTs in those kinds of fics, whereas the people who write original trainers that aren't just going on the badge collection tour or the save-the-world tour or the mystic quest tour or whatever else that a journey fic entails generally don't label their fics as OTs to avoid being lumped with the majority of journey fics.
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Dr. Mack Foxx

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To be specific, yes, it's short for "original trainer," but it often refers to not only original trainers but also new trainers and the genre that surrounds them -- as in, fics about trainers who start off on their journeys through X region, following a gym circuit and raising a team -- as well as sequels to new trainer fics. In other words, the genre usually refers to journey fics, not just any fic with an original character who happens to be a trainer.
Ah, ha! I see. Thank you very much for the explanation.
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>Main Trilogy<
<Part #1- The Village Guardian> <Part #2- Project Omega> <Part #3- The Final Strike>

>The Village Guardians<
<Chapter #1- Glacier's Glory> <Chapter #2- Joy and Shadows> <Chapter #3- The Lost Love [Will Not Be Posted here. Please visit http://drmackfoxx.deviantart.com instead.]>
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He doesn't have to. :|

To add on to Jax's and Ben's answers, you don't even have to write about humans in the Pokemon world. People have taken the plot of Mystery Dungeon R/B/T/D and used that to write fics about. No humans there. Also, there are fics out there that just take Pokemon and have them live their lives or try to get away from humans.

Really, the Pokemon canon is a vast canon with a lot unexplored yet. There's a lot to write about other than a new trainer challenging the gyms.

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Dr. Mack Foxx

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Aren't you going to answer the original question?
I shall. To be honest, I rarely ever read fan-fictions. I stick primarily to writing as my huge stories tend to take a lot of time to complete. There have only been a handful of fics that I've read through over the years. However, the OT genre does seem plagued with a lot of bad stories and the whole OT concept seems to be overused. Still, it's always worth it to find the gems in the junk.

Really, the Pokemon canon is a vast canon with a lot unexplored yet. There's a lot to write about other than a new trainer challenging the gyms.
Indeed, indeed.
Fans of Gardevoir, Kirlia and Ralts might like my Pokémon fan-fiction series.
>Main Trilogy<
<Part #1- The Village Guardian> <Part #2- Project Omega> <Part #3- The Final Strike>

>The Village Guardians<
<Chapter #1- Glacier's Glory> <Chapter #2- Joy and Shadows> <Chapter #3- The Lost Love [Will Not Be Posted here. Please visit http://drmackfoxx.deviantart.com instead.]>
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I really think it's just that at this point, people know what to expect from OT fics. Probably around 90% of all of them seem to follow this basic storyline:
  • Trainer gets starter Pokemon from Professor X.
  • Trainer leaves hometown and heads off on a journey.
  • Trainer catches new Pokemon occasionally.
  • Trainer battles gym leaders and perhaps meets another trainer to travel with.

And there, I kind of have to stop, because quite honestly, I'm pretty sure I've only read one OT fic that didn't end abruptly once either constructive critisism came in or it began to seem more and more cliche'd. (That one exceptional fic I read was Dragonfree's The Quest for the Legends, by the way, which was less centered around the topic of a trainer's quest to be a master and more aimed toward a much more thought-out and detailed plot) I even admit to ending my own OT fic, despite all the ideas I had for it, simply because it became boring to write.

But the main point of my answer is that with every new OT fic (and there are ALWAYS new OT fics being made), the genre becomes more and more predicable. On occasion you will come across one that is more unique or has plot twists to separate it from this "stereotype", but as I said before, there's like 90% or more of them that follow the above plotline. There's nothing wrong with OT fics. It's just that after so many, and with them all looking vaguely identical, more experienced authors/reviwers tend to grow bored with them, and easily are led to expect most OT fics to be the same as the previous ones they read.
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the only thing i hate about OT fics is the appearance of legendaries. -kills all the legendaries-
we see them enough in the games, manga, movies and even the tv show on some rare occasions, but i definately don't want to read about them as well.



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Gummy

by fire be P U R G E D

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the only thing i hate about OT fics is the appearance of legendaries. -kills all the legendaries-
we see them enough in the games, manga, movies and even the tv show on some rare occasions, but i definately don't want to read about them as well.
I think you're talking about "Chosen One" fics. OTs usually just deals with a group of trainers (or a single trainer) traveling around a region, collecting badges, beating the bad team, and winning the Pokemon League. Legendaries come up a few times in the story but usually aren't the bulk of it, like in "Chosen One" fics, whereas the main character is pretty much surrounded by legendary Pokemon.


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BakingBluePotatoe

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Posted February 12th, 2016
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15.8 Years
i love OT fics!

I just hate it when things are either:

Short
Stupid
Clich'd
Horribly-Written


which is several fics...

although, several fics are acctually a pretty good read.

DarkPersian479's "Lurking in the Shadows" for instance: While I don't usually like the Spoiled Rich Girl characters, Lisa makes for a pretty interesting Heroine. And the fact the Meowth is the starter and not something like Charmander, Squirtle, or Treeko... makes for some WONDERFUL origionality. And it's VERY descriptive, and keeps me reading!


And BREAKINGBEN's stories often have several twists and turns, making his stories quite an interesting read. His chapters may not be quite is long as DP's (Though, the heavy description in DP's writing could be the cause of this), but they're just as eye-catching!



~~~~~

My story as well will have several different Twists and turns along the way (though, I won't tell you any :p)

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Potato Buddy

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I personally think that a big part of what makes an OT fic good is the writer's ability to find a niche where they can stand out, whether the plot is predictable or not. I have a couple examples here of some of my favorite stories.

Lurking in the Shadows: Lisa's Ultimate Challenge
by DarkPersian479: It has a kinda cliche plot, with the evil team and all, but the unique characters really sets it apart from other fics. The main character, the friends she meets, and even her enemies(or maybe it's especially her enemies) tend to have distinct, almost off-the-wall personalities, which also results in fairly unique situations and conversations.

Never in the Wrong Time or Wrong Place
by Griff: This fic deviates from the standard path of journey fics several times, and the journey itself tends to take a backseat to the relationships and character development of the main character and his Pokemon.

Burning Spirit by Banov: This one would be awesome just for the sheer simplicity of it, but the unexpected situations and well-executed character development helps it even more. One man set on defeating a particular tough Gym Leader for the sake of impressing a lovely lady friend, that's it.


As for my own story, I'm told that my description and fighting scenes are particularly good, which will hopefully show more as I continue posting it here. I'm also fairly proud of the character development, particularly that given to the main character's Pokemon.