Describing Pokemon

[MentheLapin]

Is it worth it? Is it assumed that the reader knows what the Pokemon are, in the same way that you wouldn't describe a dog as being a "furry brown four-legged creature with a wagging tail" but rather a "brown dog"?

 

[Tailsy]

You could certainly assume that the reader knows what the Pokemon looks like. Or you could not use irrelevant descriptions at all and solve the problem almost entirely.

 

[surskitty]

If you are thinking 'hm, I should put some description here', it is usually a bad idea. Use pokémon names when they sound right. Describe them when they sound right. Don't worry about what you should be doing.

 

[Chief Zackrai]

Sometimes I find it is useful, if you are describing a move, or something like that. Let's say you are describing an Electivire using Thunderbolt. this is how I would do it. (or just about)

Electivire raised it's two slick wire like tails to the sky, and placed it's black fists next to its face, only to double over, as if in pain. Twin bolts of lightning shot from the tips of its tails, striking down Electivire's airborne enemy with ease.

So you see, sometimes it can be useful. However, if you're just going to introduce a pokemon, it's pretty much irrelevant.

 

[Zero Moment]

It is definitely useful when you are describing Fakemon, but otherwise there isn't many places where it would be neccesary.

 

[Phoenixsong]

With what enekoiru said as a caveat (does it feel right in that particular instance, etc.), consider your audience and your story's narrator/POV characters. If you are using pokémon you think your audience may be unfamiliar with (not just fakemon, but say, a new generation or whatever) then a little description wouldn't hurt; keep in mind that it's not hard for people to look up mienfoo or golett or whatever if they're unfamiliar with them, and if you're writing pokémon fic for pokémon fans then such cases will be rare, but it's also nice to include some quick description anyway just so they get a sense of it without needing to stop mid-read and run to Bulbapedia. If you are writing about pikachu, everyone already knows what that looks like and the description is just adding fluff/mildly patronizing to everyone who already knows what it looks like. Which is everyone.

Similarly, if your narrator or POV character is familiar with a pokémon, they're probably not going to waste their thoughts/speech on what could easily be articulated as "pikachu", as with your brown dog example. If, on the other hand, my first-person-narrator Bob is from Sinnoh, moves to Unova and encounters a pokémon he has never seen before in his life, it makes very little sense for him to say

"As I was walking past the Icirrus Gym, a mienfoo jumped out at me..."

because that's not something Bob should have any real knowledge of (unless you'd made it clear that he'd looked that stuff up beforehand, and even then it would probably still strike him as remarkable/new enough to examine in some detail). If you didn't know what a dog was and you saw one for the first time, you'd notice its fine details and refer to it by its description until you gained that knowledge, too; readers know this and will be okay with you describing something they already recognize in such a situation. With third-person narrators who are not inside any characters' heads, well, at that point just consider your readers or make a judgment call on what seems like the right thing to do.

 

[Teh Ebil Snorlax]

Describing Pokémon is all good but don't describe them by comparing them to real-life animals.

 

[Phoenixsong]

Describing Pokémon is all good but don't describe them by comparing them to real-life animals.

Why not? Their pokédex entries (or at least species names) often do, and plenty of people have pokémon and animals coexisting to some extent in their fics/headcanons. That seems more like something else to be situationally careful about than to just not do outright.