diamondpearl876
you can breathe now. x
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- Seen Jan 25, 2022
Trainer fics. We've all heard of them; they are stereotyped as "bad fics", mainly because it is rare to see a trainer fic that is not cliché while still following the plot of collecting all eight badges of a certain region and then competing in the league.
Right now, at 12:40 a.m. CST, I am bored out of my mind so I am writing some things that bother me in trainer fics. -_- I'm not going to go into much detail with all of them, since I'll probably go into a nonsensical rant due to tiredness. Also, you guys can add anything if you want to.
1) Not every trainer you see on your journey has to battle you.
This is a common one. The main character sees another trainer, and automatically is asked/asks for a battle. This doesn't have to happen constantly . . . Just make the trainer not appear at all, or have him/her do something else pertaining to your plot.
2) Money still exists in the Pokemon world.
All of your characters should be washing millions of dishes for all the times they went to a restaurant in the Kanto/Johto/Hoenn/Whatever region and pulled out money to pay with . . . They buy food, but with what? They buy supplies such as potions, but with what? Money that probably never existed before that day. Money still exists, whether or not you refer to it as PokeDollars, yen, and all those other things you can call it. Have your character save up money over the years, and keep a note of how much they have. Perhaps running out of money could cause a huge problem that your character has to overcome.
3) Your backpack is too small to fit all your stuff in it.
Alright. Yeah, unless your character is super strong and is use to carrying heavy things, I don't know why I never see characters complaining over the heaviness of them. With all your food, beverages, potions, clothes, and everything else, there is no way that thing can weigh less than five pounds or so. I saw the suggestion of everything just being minimized when inside the backpack or something, which could work, I guess.
4) Your Pokemon and readers don't enjoy stupid nicknames.
I never want to see a Pikachu nicknamed "Zap" or "Sparky" again, even though I'm kind of guilty of it. XD Due to unoriginality, it may cause readers to think of other author's Pokemon with the same thing. An example of finding a somewhat unique name would be finding out the words "leaf" or "plant" in Japanese/French/Greek/German/Whatever for Bellsprout, and then combining them together, or combining them with it's Japanese/English name.
5) Your story can still be complete without a real starter Pokemon.
By real starter pokemon, I mean a Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, and the like. Be original! Why can't a Pidgey, Caterpie, Taillow, or anything else simple be a starter, too? A starter is basically just a trainer's first pokemon; I don't see any sign that says, "YOUR TRAINER MUST HAVE A BULBASAUR, CHARMANDER, OR SQUIRTLE TO BEGIN THEIR JOURNEY." Just recently, I even saw an author on PE2K give their trainer a Voltorb, and that story is going great.
6) Your Pokemon are not robots.
. . . Pokemon are no different than humans and regular animals; they have personalities, you know. A perfect example of what -not- to do is following the anime's pokemon "personalities", simply because they all act the same. They're all nice, and friendly, and want to help everybody. It gets boring. A perfect example of great Pokemon personalities is in Griff's story, "Never In The Wrong Time Or Wrong Place".
7) Not every city has to be exactly like the one in the games.
If you look at Oldale Town on a walkthrough guide, all you see is roughly five houses and a sign smack dab in the middle. How freakin' interesting. You are allowed to twist things around. If you want to add a daycare center in Azalea Town and have the one in Goldenrod removed, go right ahead. Just make sure it makes sense; a casino wouldn't go very well in such a calm and collected place like Canalave City, would it?
8) Your trainer shouldn't win every battle/gym battle.
Ugh. If your trainer is going to win everything, I could skip over the entire battle and still know the outcome of it straight away. Losing is an important part of pokemon training. Make it happen.
9) Your Pokedex does NOT need to tell readers information about pokemon.
I'm so sick of seeing Pokedex entries in the middle of chapters. They're boring, useless, and annoying. If the excuse of "Well, I just want to know more about the pokemon" is used, I'll laugh at you. Trainers can find more about their pokemon by spending time with them, and observing their actions/words (if able to understand their language.). I also believe that pokedex entries stir away from the actual personality of a pokemon. Example: pokedex entry for Granbull claims that it is timid. -_- A trainer's Granbull does not necessarily HAVE to be timid.
10) Not all pokemon have to be caught in the wild.
. . . This gets boring as well: Trainer travels into forest, sees a pokemon, and catches it with a standard one on one battle and ends it with the throwing of a red and white sphere. Pokemon can also be won in contests, or the trainer can receive an egg, or something else.
11) Trades exist.
It is rare to see a pokemon get traded in a story, but still, the option is there. The option of trading it to a friend for a day of training, or for a break from the pokemon they see every single day is there. Trades were not meant for you to find a person and trade just to fill your pokedex.
12.) Holidays and birthdays should exist.
Another rare thing to see is holidays or birthdays being celebrated in a story, unless the time of year comes around in real life. X_x Does nothing exciting like that happen in the pokemon world? In fact, I think this goes for seasons, too; how often does it snow unless in a place like Snowpoint City?
13.) Make your evolutions reasonable.
An easy example of this would be a Pidgey and its evolutions. It evolves into Pidgeotto at level 18, right? Well, it wouldn't make sense to evolve it two days after having it, and, believe it or not, I HAVE seen it happen. It would be even worse if it evolved into a Pidgeot even a week or two after. Training and leveling should take a lot longer than it does in the games; you do NOT battle fifteen trainers or more every time you travel to each city or stumble upon some Team Rocket base, so you don't get massive amounts of experience. Plan the timing of your evolutions carefully.
14.) Your character's parents and family do not disappear while they're on their journey.
This is pretty self-explanatory. What child would not want to boast to their parents about their accomplishments, unless they were evil and beat them all the time or something? It doesn't make sense. A phone call home once in a while would be nice, and visiting family when in the correct city could be nice as well, and could go along with your plot.
15.) Critical conditions still exist.
I don't see why I never see them in fics. Critical conditions include freezing, burning, poisoning, paralyzing, and so on. Perhaps they aren't used because authors consider them as "omg, my pokemon is paralyzed, now they can't fight anymore instantly!". They could add so much more suspense to your battle, especially in double battles.
Right now, at 12:40 a.m. CST, I am bored out of my mind so I am writing some things that bother me in trainer fics. -_- I'm not going to go into much detail with all of them, since I'll probably go into a nonsensical rant due to tiredness. Also, you guys can add anything if you want to.
1) Not every trainer you see on your journey has to battle you.
This is a common one. The main character sees another trainer, and automatically is asked/asks for a battle. This doesn't have to happen constantly . . . Just make the trainer not appear at all, or have him/her do something else pertaining to your plot.
2) Money still exists in the Pokemon world.
All of your characters should be washing millions of dishes for all the times they went to a restaurant in the Kanto/Johto/Hoenn/Whatever region and pulled out money to pay with . . . They buy food, but with what? They buy supplies such as potions, but with what? Money that probably never existed before that day. Money still exists, whether or not you refer to it as PokeDollars, yen, and all those other things you can call it. Have your character save up money over the years, and keep a note of how much they have. Perhaps running out of money could cause a huge problem that your character has to overcome.
3) Your backpack is too small to fit all your stuff in it.
Alright. Yeah, unless your character is super strong and is use to carrying heavy things, I don't know why I never see characters complaining over the heaviness of them. With all your food, beverages, potions, clothes, and everything else, there is no way that thing can weigh less than five pounds or so. I saw the suggestion of everything just being minimized when inside the backpack or something, which could work, I guess.
4) Your Pokemon and readers don't enjoy stupid nicknames.
I never want to see a Pikachu nicknamed "Zap" or "Sparky" again, even though I'm kind of guilty of it. XD Due to unoriginality, it may cause readers to think of other author's Pokemon with the same thing. An example of finding a somewhat unique name would be finding out the words "leaf" or "plant" in Japanese/French/Greek/German/Whatever for Bellsprout, and then combining them together, or combining them with it's Japanese/English name.
5) Your story can still be complete without a real starter Pokemon.
By real starter pokemon, I mean a Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, and the like. Be original! Why can't a Pidgey, Caterpie, Taillow, or anything else simple be a starter, too? A starter is basically just a trainer's first pokemon; I don't see any sign that says, "YOUR TRAINER MUST HAVE A BULBASAUR, CHARMANDER, OR SQUIRTLE TO BEGIN THEIR JOURNEY." Just recently, I even saw an author on PE2K give their trainer a Voltorb, and that story is going great.
6) Your Pokemon are not robots.
. . . Pokemon are no different than humans and regular animals; they have personalities, you know. A perfect example of what -not- to do is following the anime's pokemon "personalities", simply because they all act the same. They're all nice, and friendly, and want to help everybody. It gets boring. A perfect example of great Pokemon personalities is in Griff's story, "Never In The Wrong Time Or Wrong Place".
7) Not every city has to be exactly like the one in the games.
If you look at Oldale Town on a walkthrough guide, all you see is roughly five houses and a sign smack dab in the middle. How freakin' interesting. You are allowed to twist things around. If you want to add a daycare center in Azalea Town and have the one in Goldenrod removed, go right ahead. Just make sure it makes sense; a casino wouldn't go very well in such a calm and collected place like Canalave City, would it?
8) Your trainer shouldn't win every battle/gym battle.
Ugh. If your trainer is going to win everything, I could skip over the entire battle and still know the outcome of it straight away. Losing is an important part of pokemon training. Make it happen.
9) Your Pokedex does NOT need to tell readers information about pokemon.
I'm so sick of seeing Pokedex entries in the middle of chapters. They're boring, useless, and annoying. If the excuse of "Well, I just want to know more about the pokemon" is used, I'll laugh at you. Trainers can find more about their pokemon by spending time with them, and observing their actions/words (if able to understand their language.). I also believe that pokedex entries stir away from the actual personality of a pokemon. Example: pokedex entry for Granbull claims that it is timid. -_- A trainer's Granbull does not necessarily HAVE to be timid.
10) Not all pokemon have to be caught in the wild.
. . . This gets boring as well: Trainer travels into forest, sees a pokemon, and catches it with a standard one on one battle and ends it with the throwing of a red and white sphere. Pokemon can also be won in contests, or the trainer can receive an egg, or something else.
11) Trades exist.
It is rare to see a pokemon get traded in a story, but still, the option is there. The option of trading it to a friend for a day of training, or for a break from the pokemon they see every single day is there. Trades were not meant for you to find a person and trade just to fill your pokedex.
12.) Holidays and birthdays should exist.
Another rare thing to see is holidays or birthdays being celebrated in a story, unless the time of year comes around in real life. X_x Does nothing exciting like that happen in the pokemon world? In fact, I think this goes for seasons, too; how often does it snow unless in a place like Snowpoint City?
13.) Make your evolutions reasonable.
An easy example of this would be a Pidgey and its evolutions. It evolves into Pidgeotto at level 18, right? Well, it wouldn't make sense to evolve it two days after having it, and, believe it or not, I HAVE seen it happen. It would be even worse if it evolved into a Pidgeot even a week or two after. Training and leveling should take a lot longer than it does in the games; you do NOT battle fifteen trainers or more every time you travel to each city or stumble upon some Team Rocket base, so you don't get massive amounts of experience. Plan the timing of your evolutions carefully.
14.) Your character's parents and family do not disappear while they're on their journey.
This is pretty self-explanatory. What child would not want to boast to their parents about their accomplishments, unless they were evil and beat them all the time or something? It doesn't make sense. A phone call home once in a while would be nice, and visiting family when in the correct city could be nice as well, and could go along with your plot.
15.) Critical conditions still exist.
I don't see why I never see them in fics. Critical conditions include freezing, burning, poisoning, paralyzing, and so on. Perhaps they aren't used because authors consider them as "omg, my pokemon is paralyzed, now they can't fight anymore instantly!". They could add so much more suspense to your battle, especially in double battles.
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