In Development: Untitled Pokemon Fanfic

Started by Maxite April 16th, 2010 6:40 AM
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Male
United States
Seen August 25th, 2014
Posted October 8th, 2010
50 posts
14.4 Years
I'm working on a fanfic that focuses on exploring a new region with new Pokemon. In simpler terms, I'm writing the storyline for a new "generation" of Pokemon. I have a region map drawn out, along with a basic map for the first town. I also have various characters named and planned out (Gym Leaders, Elite Four, Champion), as well as some of the new Pokemon that'd be in the region (some have names, others are just concepts).

Here's the map of the region, named Shiman. Like the real Pokemon games, it is based upon a region of Japan (in this case it's the region directly west of Johto and northeast of Hoenn). It also has some elements of other islands in the region as well, to help increase landmass.

Towns are numbered in order of how you'd go about exploring them. Cities with Gyms (or the Elite Four) are colored red. Routes are also vaguely numbered. Right now, not many towns are named.

The basic storyline is a player character (currently named Jack) has been looking after a family farm ever since his older sister left town. His older sister, a former gym leader in the town, decided to head off to the Pokemon League and challenge it, but hasn't returned since then. Now that the player is old enough to go out and explore, he has his eyes set on becoming a Pokemon master like his sister is/was, as well as tracking her down.

The region also introduces a new Pokemon type (Elastic).

Furthermore, the idea here is to explore potential other "game mechanics." An alternative method for making money is there in the form of the possibility to do agriculture (the hometown is a farming village, and the player lives on a farm with lots of loamy soil), so there will be more plants that can be grown and which can produce a good amount of income. Next is the possibility of courting select "NPCs", by raising something equivalent to Happiness levels for them. Third, and finally, the story will explore the potential of the player taking on a League Certification test to become a Gym Leader (to replace his sister who abandoned the local town gym).

The story will be written out in a couple of ways -- In many areas, it'll follow a game-type script. However, for things like massive exploring, capturing of POkemon, and battles, it'll go into a more narrative-type of story telling.

I guess what I'm seeking in making this thread is validation that this is a sane idea. Also, any suggestions/help on character/place names would be helpful.

And for some information on characters and place names that I have done so far:

TOWNS
Wheaton Ville (the character's hometown, designated by town 1 on the map)

CHARACTERS
Professor Maple: Studies Pokemon typing
Ground Gym Leader Dirk
Poison Gym Leader Galen
Bug Gym Leader Roche
Dark Gym Leader Jetta
Fighting Gym Leader Marshall
Steel Gym Leader Minerva
Dragon Gym Leader Lisa
Elastic Gym Leader Alexa
Water Elite Four Brooke
Rock Elite Four Thurston
Fire Elite Four Brandon
Grass Elite Four Lily
Champion Saki
Favoring progress over power.

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Female
Harassing Bill
Seen August 19th, 2020
Posted December 8th, 2012
3,276 posts
19 Years
On a positive note, it's definitely a sane idea (although you really shouldn't mix script and narrative format and just go with one or the other because this is a crapload of a lot neater), but it's pretty generic. Lots of people have done fics set in fan-created regions, and some of these have explored fan-created types. (For example, Ultimatum by Gemma Bright. Google it if you'd like.) As in, yeah, you could definitely do it because people have done this kind of thing in the past, but you have to be wary because they've done it a lot.

So, you'll probably have to actually build on top of this idea and offer a lot more than the basic concept you've got now. (Yes, people have done farm kids and kids who are related to gym leaders -- the latter especially thanks to the concepts from Gen III.) As in, you're going to have to pull out something related to the plot as opposed to the setting to make things fresh and new. Don't rely on just the setting and the smaller elements of your fanfiction in order to make it well-liked. When readers come into a fanfic thread, they're looking to read it for the story, not how closely you stick to game-style mechanics.

Long story short, it's perfectly okay to do a fan-created region, and it's equally okay to write a plot that draws heavily from the way the games are set up. You just have to work particularly hard on moving beyond that because, otherwise, people might see you as just another OT story. Some people lap that up, but harsher critics will probably overlook it in favor of something that brings completely new concepts to the table.

Hope that helps somehow. Unfortunately, I can't help you come up with a fresh plot by offering suggestions because that's really something you'll need to meditate on by yourself, especially since you know your setting the best. Good luck.
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Seen July 23rd, 2013
Posted July 22nd, 2013
1,439 posts
15.1 Years
Yeah, I have to agree with Val on the plot-or-setting thing. Are you trying to make a fanfic or a fangame? Setting up a nice setting and whatnot is perfectly okay in a Trainer fic (and, if done well, shows a lot of incentive on the part of the writer) but if you don't have much more than that, you may as well be writing another generic runthrough of Kanto. There should be some sort of original plotline past "Badge collection derp!" so that your readers will be interested in what's happening and not peg the whole thing as a generic story. As Val pointed out, Pokémon Ultimatum is a highly enjoyable example of this, another one being Dragonfree's hefty The Quest for the Legends. And... well, I'm trying to make Delta Species fall under that category too, so... yeah.

You also must understand that you don't necessarily need to heavily include every single new concept you come up with - for example, the MC can explore farming, but you're not actually required to take every revolutionary new idea and cram it into Jack's agenda. Maybe have a recurring character for that or something.

In other words, your Region is perfectly fine, but you need more than a perfectly fine Region to build a trainerfic.