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~~MANIFESTO FOR ORIGINALFLAVOR POKEMON FANFICTION~~
- Thread starter Eloi
- Start date
Music Dragon
Doosic Maggon
- Pronoun
- she
Stop acting like originalflavour fanfiction's target audience!
Risingbadge
Funk to the top.
I'm sorry, but this really irks me... It's "tenet," not "tenant." Unless you mean to imply that all of the guidelines are living together in an apartment.
Can't argue with that. I think there's merit in stories that focus on the trainers, but that would always feature the context of the Pokémon they train; even their own thoughts are framed by their universe in which Pokémon exist. Otherwise, you may as well write for a different universe.
I think that's a bit too restricting. Attempting to force relationships between established characters with little rhyme or reason is poor writing on principle; there need be no franchise-specific guideline in place to discourage that. A burgeoning writer learns such things naturally.
On the other hand, stories involving original characters in the Pokémon universe have much potential for meaningful relationships which strengthen the story. Pokémon themselves are a powerful and unorthodox tool of expression in a variety of styles, romance included. Imagine a trainer enlisting the aid of his Pokémon to send cute gestures of affection to a high school lover. Maybe he/she could have a Pidgey deliver an anonymous love letter, or have Dragonair entwine the two sweethearts as they consummate their love with a kiss.
These are only the most direct examples; beyond that, Pokémon and romance have as much potential for co-existence as anything else in writing.
No one wants to read about a perfect world. Even "trouble in paradise" stories stand on there being an equal measure of "trouble" and "paradise." Pokémon is not a perfect world, nor is it comforting and inviting to everyone; it shouldn't be escapism, which should be discouraged to begin with. Pokémon is just another frame of mind. There can be strife and corruption, and evils from many sources, not just a select few. I'll grant that certain conflicts do not mesh well with the Pokémon framework, but abolishing all but a few of them leaves us with scarcely any templates from which to build. Writers will not stand for such restrictions.
In the same vein, not every protagonist is perfect. The roles of the Pokémon protagonists are inflated beyond plausibility because the intent is to make the player feel powerful; the player has no connection to the trainer when you give him his own personality, motivations, goals, and team. The aim at that point is to connect the protagonist to the reader by some means, and the reader (assuming he/she is human) probably isn't perfect. There's no reason a story can't follow the life of someone as extraordinary as Red, but it's a difficult angle to sell. Where's the conflict? If you write Red like you play him, he becomes a train barreling through walls of paper. It doesn't work.
Not true. Lt. Surge is referred to as the Lightning American. There are also several references to war from the same source. That implies that Pokémon has an America and wars. I'll gladly rescind this point if such references are not present in the original versions, as I'll admit I've no research in that area to back me up.
Regardless, this brings me back to a point I've been dancing around for a while: Pokémon does not concern itself with these things because Pokémon does not concern itself with story. The characters behind the plot are not as important as the framework of the plot, and even less so the universe in which this plot exists. Everything is geared towards making the player feel powerful, at the expense of anything that does not serve that goal.
But this is the exclusive privilege of video games, and even then it's a matter of preference. In writing, the narrative cannot serve any such purpose. One must remember that the transition from the original game to fan fiction is not only a transition of authors, but a transition of mediums; rules change, and structures must be altered as a result. The ideal Pokémon narrative captures the childlike wonderment which draws us to Pokémon without sacrificing the degree of realism necessary to make us believe what we're reading could happen. Because no matter how outrageous the circumstance, a writer should always be able to make it real. Not just realistic; real. And a real world is a fleshed-out world, one with names and people and conflicts.
Even the games themselves disagree with you on this. Allow me to relate a few Pokédex entries:
"They say that during past strife, GYARADOS would appear and leave blazing ruins in its wake."
"[Salamence is] uncontrollable if enraged. It flies around spouting flames and scorching fields and mountains."
"Lurking in the shadowy corners of rooms, [Gengar] awaits chances to steal its prey's life force. "
As an extension of their diversity and the many sources which inspired them, Pokémon follow as many behavioral patterns as animals of our universe, perhaps more. Some Pokémon behave like baser animals, concerned only with defending their territory and resources. Others appear to have limited human emotions, such as sadism. Many Pokémon kill in self defense; others appear to kill intentionally. Regardless, Pokémon kill. This cannot be denied.
Neither the world or the story should serve the other. In a good story, the world comes into conflict with the characters in some ways and benefits them in others. An ideal world is one in which many stories can be told, for our world is diverse, and any world in which we attempt to work should have that same depth for its stories to be meaningful. Art imitates life, after all.
Too simple. People have been telling stories for too long for one written in this day and age to be so simple. There are measures of good and evil in every person; what's more, there is danger in nearly every venture, and there is explicit danger in handling Pokémon. The games are contradictory about this, but I think most people can infer that a gigantic fanged serpent is pretty dangerous to handle. Writing a story which ignores these considerations is writing a stunted and unnatural story. Again, it's a different medium which requires different considerations.
...This, uh... seems a bit superfluous. Sort of like the shipping guideline. There are people who can successfully deny friendship and live alone, but they are few, and friendship is a power that can't be denied. People are affected, even if they do not accept it. Note the case of Silver/Kamon, who treats his Pokémon harshly and makes no friends. We can assume he was raised on this cruelty by Giovanni, at least until Silver struck out on his own. Even so, he does not necessarily abandon his coldness or his detachment from others; he just learns to treat his Pokémon better. He is affected by friendship, but only so friendly still. Other characters can be even more opposed to the idea. Regardless, it should be obvious that a story revolving around having so many natural, constant allies should have a strong focus on friendship.
If I could refer you to the Pokédex entries above...
It is very possible for Pokémon to kill humans. In fact, according to the entries, it happens often, or at least it did. The utopia presented in-game is actually rather contradictory, even using canon sources. Many extended universe series toy with this as well, such as the various manga adaptations.
Can't argue with that. I think there's merit in stories that focus on the trainers, but that would always feature the context of the Pokémon they train; even their own thoughts are framed by their universe in which Pokémon exist. Otherwise, you may as well write for a different universe.
I think that's a bit too restricting. Attempting to force relationships between established characters with little rhyme or reason is poor writing on principle; there need be no franchise-specific guideline in place to discourage that. A burgeoning writer learns such things naturally.
On the other hand, stories involving original characters in the Pokémon universe have much potential for meaningful relationships which strengthen the story. Pokémon themselves are a powerful and unorthodox tool of expression in a variety of styles, romance included. Imagine a trainer enlisting the aid of his Pokémon to send cute gestures of affection to a high school lover. Maybe he/she could have a Pidgey deliver an anonymous love letter, or have Dragonair entwine the two sweethearts as they consummate their love with a kiss.
These are only the most direct examples; beyond that, Pokémon and romance have as much potential for co-existence as anything else in writing.
No one wants to read about a perfect world. Even "trouble in paradise" stories stand on there being an equal measure of "trouble" and "paradise." Pokémon is not a perfect world, nor is it comforting and inviting to everyone; it shouldn't be escapism, which should be discouraged to begin with. Pokémon is just another frame of mind. There can be strife and corruption, and evils from many sources, not just a select few. I'll grant that certain conflicts do not mesh well with the Pokémon framework, but abolishing all but a few of them leaves us with scarcely any templates from which to build. Writers will not stand for such restrictions.
In the same vein, not every protagonist is perfect. The roles of the Pokémon protagonists are inflated beyond plausibility because the intent is to make the player feel powerful; the player has no connection to the trainer when you give him his own personality, motivations, goals, and team. The aim at that point is to connect the protagonist to the reader by some means, and the reader (assuming he/she is human) probably isn't perfect. There's no reason a story can't follow the life of someone as extraordinary as Red, but it's a difficult angle to sell. Where's the conflict? If you write Red like you play him, he becomes a train barreling through walls of paper. It doesn't work.
Not true. Lt. Surge is referred to as the Lightning American. There are also several references to war from the same source. That implies that Pokémon has an America and wars. I'll gladly rescind this point if such references are not present in the original versions, as I'll admit I've no research in that area to back me up.
Regardless, this brings me back to a point I've been dancing around for a while: Pokémon does not concern itself with these things because Pokémon does not concern itself with story. The characters behind the plot are not as important as the framework of the plot, and even less so the universe in which this plot exists. Everything is geared towards making the player feel powerful, at the expense of anything that does not serve that goal.
But this is the exclusive privilege of video games, and even then it's a matter of preference. In writing, the narrative cannot serve any such purpose. One must remember that the transition from the original game to fan fiction is not only a transition of authors, but a transition of mediums; rules change, and structures must be altered as a result. The ideal Pokémon narrative captures the childlike wonderment which draws us to Pokémon without sacrificing the degree of realism necessary to make us believe what we're reading could happen. Because no matter how outrageous the circumstance, a writer should always be able to make it real. Not just realistic; real. And a real world is a fleshed-out world, one with names and people and conflicts.
Even the games themselves disagree with you on this. Allow me to relate a few Pokédex entries:
"They say that during past strife, GYARADOS would appear and leave blazing ruins in its wake."
"[Salamence is] uncontrollable if enraged. It flies around spouting flames and scorching fields and mountains."
"Lurking in the shadowy corners of rooms, [Gengar] awaits chances to steal its prey's life force. "
As an extension of their diversity and the many sources which inspired them, Pokémon follow as many behavioral patterns as animals of our universe, perhaps more. Some Pokémon behave like baser animals, concerned only with defending their territory and resources. Others appear to have limited human emotions, such as sadism. Many Pokémon kill in self defense; others appear to kill intentionally. Regardless, Pokémon kill. This cannot be denied.
Neither the world or the story should serve the other. In a good story, the world comes into conflict with the characters in some ways and benefits them in others. An ideal world is one in which many stories can be told, for our world is diverse, and any world in which we attempt to work should have that same depth for its stories to be meaningful. Art imitates life, after all.
Too simple. People have been telling stories for too long for one written in this day and age to be so simple. There are measures of good and evil in every person; what's more, there is danger in nearly every venture, and there is explicit danger in handling Pokémon. The games are contradictory about this, but I think most people can infer that a gigantic fanged serpent is pretty dangerous to handle. Writing a story which ignores these considerations is writing a stunted and unnatural story. Again, it's a different medium which requires different considerations.
...This, uh... seems a bit superfluous. Sort of like the shipping guideline. There are people who can successfully deny friendship and live alone, but they are few, and friendship is a power that can't be denied. People are affected, even if they do not accept it. Note the case of Silver/Kamon, who treats his Pokémon harshly and makes no friends. We can assume he was raised on this cruelty by Giovanni, at least until Silver struck out on his own. Even so, he does not necessarily abandon his coldness or his detachment from others; he just learns to treat his Pokémon better. He is affected by friendship, but only so friendly still. Other characters can be even more opposed to the idea. Regardless, it should be obvious that a story revolving around having so many natural, constant allies should have a strong focus on friendship.
If I could refer you to the Pokédex entries above...
It is very possible for Pokémon to kill humans. In fact, according to the entries, it happens often, or at least it did. The utopia presented in-game is actually rather contradictory, even using canon sources. Many extended universe series toy with this as well, such as the various manga adaptations.
- Pronoun
- she/her
Mmm, I don't really like the idea of having this as a "manifesto" that people "sign". For one thing, it implies that either you subscribe to this original flavor philosophy or you don't: you can't write both original flavor and other fics. As a writer who pretty much wholly reinterprets the world with every new fic I write, I find that way too restrictive on the freedom of individual authors. Secondly, it carries an elitist implication that original flavor fics are superior to other fics and that committing oneself to writing them is some sort of a grand honor code, which just seems annoyingly antagonistic and unnecessary to me. The fact one of the headings is "THE DECLARATIONS FOR A BETTER POKEMON" doesn't help.
Otherwise I don't disagree with setting up some list of basic principles of original flavor fiction, really. I don't agree with everything in how this list is put together, though.
"Romance should not be the main focus of the story" and "Friendships should be important to the characters" seem a little redundant, for instance. Why not combine them into something like, "Romance should take a backseat to friendships"? That seems to capture the original flavor better, at least to me.
I'm also not sure whether some of these are really that important to the original flavor as stated here, even if they apply in the world portrayed in canon. For example, I would say the world can be overall quite positive and optimistic, in the spirit of canon, without every problem being solved or helped by the protagonists. And is the nebulousness of the Pokémon world's connection to the real world in itself really something seriously important to the flavor of the canon? I also don't see how real-life trading vs. characters trading is really relevant to this point; have you actually seen fanfiction claiming that people in the Pokémon world trading Pokémon has something to do with the real world? o_O Same with whether Pokémon attacks on people exist; it seems a little extreme to insist that they cannot exist in the world at all ever, when what seems to be important to the original flavor to me is just that as a rule they don't and ten-year-olds are therefore reasonably safe going out on journeys (at least provided they have their own Pokémon).
I would also really add something about Pokémon training generally being a positive thing for all involved, i.e. that trained Pokémon are as a rule not enslaved, coerced, mind-controlled, tragically torn from their families never to see them again or otherwise anything other than genuinely cool with (or straight-out happy about) the idea of having a trainer. Maybe implicit in the "world is utopian" bit, but it's so common and clashes so utterly with the spirit of the franchise that I would say it warrants a special mention.
Otherwise I don't disagree with setting up some list of basic principles of original flavor fiction, really. I don't agree with everything in how this list is put together, though.
"Romance should not be the main focus of the story" and "Friendships should be important to the characters" seem a little redundant, for instance. Why not combine them into something like, "Romance should take a backseat to friendships"? That seems to capture the original flavor better, at least to me.
I'm also not sure whether some of these are really that important to the original flavor as stated here, even if they apply in the world portrayed in canon. For example, I would say the world can be overall quite positive and optimistic, in the spirit of canon, without every problem being solved or helped by the protagonists. And is the nebulousness of the Pokémon world's connection to the real world in itself really something seriously important to the flavor of the canon? I also don't see how real-life trading vs. characters trading is really relevant to this point; have you actually seen fanfiction claiming that people in the Pokémon world trading Pokémon has something to do with the real world? o_O Same with whether Pokémon attacks on people exist; it seems a little extreme to insist that they cannot exist in the world at all ever, when what seems to be important to the original flavor to me is just that as a rule they don't and ten-year-olds are therefore reasonably safe going out on journeys (at least provided they have their own Pokémon).
I would also really add something about Pokémon training generally being a positive thing for all involved, i.e. that trained Pokémon are as a rule not enslaved, coerced, mind-controlled, tragically torn from their families never to see them again or otherwise anything other than genuinely cool with (or straight-out happy about) the idea of having a trainer. Maybe implicit in the "world is utopian" bit, but it's so common and clashes so utterly with the spirit of the franchise that I would say it warrants a special mention.
Last edited:
Eloi
Member
As a fan of all your non-original flavor fiction, I can say that is not the case at all. I'm retitling everything due to the controversy, I just wasn't sure what was specifically wrong with it, thank you for pointing them out.
Than I shall revise. ^.^
Thats actually more of what I wanted to convey, thanks for the suggestion.
Revised a lot of that, thank you for the tips.
I combined and clarified that with another section, and thank you for the suggestion of it. I think I had it almost at the conclusion of the "Pokemon don't kill people" section, but now its a lot more clear.
Thanks for the help, I really needed it! ^.^
#1 bro
FEELING GREAT, FEELING GOOD, HOW ARE YOU?
Haha RIGHT NOW in my NaNoWriMo two boys are smoking weed in the closet of an elementary school classroom after a teacher locked them in there because she is under the mind control spell of another teacher who is an Illuminatus. One of the kids remembers hiding a little slip of paper in the closet when he was an elementary schooler that, when burned, will summon a pokemon that they can fight/capture. So now they are trying to find this slip of paper and burn it so that they can summon the pokemon and break their way out.
I, uh, don't think you would necessarily approve of it. :P
Anyway, it seems like your rules are more like "manifesto for creating idealistic pokemon fanfiction". Just because the show and games are created primarily for ten year olds, and therefore, happen to be very idealistic, doesn't mean that's the right or wrong way to go about exploring Satoshi Tajiri's universe. If collectible monsters appealed to an adult demographic, then we would probably see a pokemon anime with lots of romance/sex and pokemon killing pokemon. But they don't, so we tend to create it ourselves.
And honestly any pokemon fan fiction done in this idealistic style seems like it would be at least somewhat boring. I always felt like the point/fun of writing fan fiction about ridiculous cartoons like pokemon was to attempt to explore how they would play out in real life, or try to establish ground rules to govern the chaos inherent within. Thinking about things like "okay, in real life, trainers would be squashed by Wailords from time to time" is honestly ninety percent of the fun! But perhaps someone could make this type of fan fiction entertaining, nothing's impossible.
I, uh, don't think you would necessarily approve of it. :P
Anyway, it seems like your rules are more like "manifesto for creating idealistic pokemon fanfiction". Just because the show and games are created primarily for ten year olds, and therefore, happen to be very idealistic, doesn't mean that's the right or wrong way to go about exploring Satoshi Tajiri's universe. If collectible monsters appealed to an adult demographic, then we would probably see a pokemon anime with lots of romance/sex and pokemon killing pokemon. But they don't, so we tend to create it ourselves.
And honestly any pokemon fan fiction done in this idealistic style seems like it would be at least somewhat boring. I always felt like the point/fun of writing fan fiction about ridiculous cartoons like pokemon was to attempt to explore how they would play out in real life, or try to establish ground rules to govern the chaos inherent within. Thinking about things like "okay, in real life, trainers would be squashed by Wailords from time to time" is honestly ninety percent of the fun! But perhaps someone could make this type of fan fiction entertaining, nothing's impossible.
Eloi
Member
I don't know, if your writing style is good, I might. I don't dislike non-originalflavor Pokemon fanfics, in fact, my favorite Pokemon fanfics are not originalflavor. But I am interested to see what a try at the style would be like.
Guidelines, not rules.
Well, thats awesome, only I titled this "Guidelines for OriginalFlavor Pokemon Fanfics", as in, they are like the shows and games in style.
There is almost no one doing this type of fan fiction, and I thought maybe because its they don't know how, thus the guidelines. As well, its different. A lot of people are trying to find ways to be original. Being originalflavor is very original, instead of what would happen in the "real life".
surskitty
「にがいのは いやだ」って…
- Pronoun
- they
How is exploring a world very similar to the games or anime (not particularly PokéSpe and I don't know the other manga very well but this doesn't seem to fit MPJ, at least) being original? If I wanted to see something where it's all black and white, I would watch the show more. ... Or write from pre-game N's point of view. The games often have mostly black and white morality, but there's some grey in there and in BW it's mostly grey. There's still a strong emphasis on the power of friendship and nakama and so on and so forth, but it's not all of it.
I dislike reading fic where everything is grimdark all the time because one of the underlying themes is that if we all work together, it'll work out. But I don't think a liberal application of logic and faekscience and yeah, greyish protagonists and antagonists (particularly antagonists; while you can't say much in Giovanni's favour and there is absolutely nothing you can say to redeem Geechisu in my eyes, Archie and Maxie sort of want to make things better for certain pokémon even if they're complete dumbasses, and Cyrus and N are assholes because people were assholes to them: there's hints of child abuse towards Cyrus if you squint and it's pretty fucking obvious for N) makes it boring.
The main problem is that it's fairly rare for things to be dark but still have that focus on friendship and trying to make the world a better place.
I dislike reading fic where everything is grimdark all the time because one of the underlying themes is that if we all work together, it'll work out. But I don't think a liberal application of logic and faekscience and yeah, greyish protagonists and antagonists (particularly antagonists; while you can't say much in Giovanni's favour and there is absolutely nothing you can say to redeem Geechisu in my eyes, Archie and Maxie sort of want to make things better for certain pokémon even if they're complete dumbasses, and Cyrus and N are assholes because people were assholes to them: there's hints of child abuse towards Cyrus if you squint and it's pretty fucking obvious for N) makes it boring.
The main problem is that it's fairly rare for things to be dark but still have that focus on friendship and trying to make the world a better place.
Eloi
Member
Well, in the context of the Pokemon fan fiction community, a non-romantic non-grimdark story is pretty original.
How did you pull any of this "black and white morality" from my guidelines? Are we reading the same thing? And I know that its not all of it, I'm just saying "Friendship > Romance" in terms of importance
And who is N?
What are you talking about?
And I have no idea who Geechisu is.
I am so confused what you are trying to say, can you quote things from the guidelines so I can understand what your point is or what you are commenting on? I'm sorry for being slow on the uptake, but whew I'm confused. @_@
surskitty
「にがいのは いやだ」って…
- Pronoun
- they
Sorry, I hadn't reread it in a few days and was going off what I remembered of your post. I definitely recall there having been something about villains being jerks and heroes not but -- yeah huge post editing that I totally didn't notice sometime between whenever I read the first post and now. :( My post is mostly a rant that is at this point off in space somewhere. It's definitely a rant, though.
Geechisu is one of the villains in BW. He's an asshole.
Geechisu is one of the villains in BW. He's an asshole.
Eloi
Member
I don't believe there was a stipulation like that. There was a whole "antagonists are evil, setting and Pokemon usually aren't" I don't think I mentioned protagonists.
I edited the post due to Butterfree's awesome constructive criticism. Shes like a goddess at that or something. Anywho, I would be more than happy to address your current criticism. ^_^
Ah, okay. I have been avoiding BW information like the plague so I won't be spoiled. I thought it was some obscure character in Pokemon Get da ze! or something.