Edit -- last updated Oct 2017.
I kinda sorta should have done this loooooong ago, but since I am lazy I'm doing this tomorrow.
(Nah, I'm kidding.)
Name:
Here I go by
solovino Venia Silente, the penname I've picked and established across sites in the Pokémon fandom. Those used to the old name can still call me solovino.
Age (Optional):
Somewhere between 9 and 99. Closer to 29, or maybe 39.
Fandoms:
Among others: Pokémon (but of course!), Final Fantasy, Metroid and others far less known.
Writing History:
I started writing looooong ago, maybe 2005-ish. Back then I wasn't any good, but I improved after taking a good break.
Nowadays I write and work mostly in the Pokémon fandom. Am a member of the unfortunately mostly inactive
Pokédex Extended Fanon Edition, for which I have written a couple of xenoscientific articles. As for creative writing, most of my time is spent as an RPer but also I write my own stories, have done so for a good while. Most of my stories take place in
"the Suocéverse", my own interpretation of the Pokémon multiverse, a headverse that has been cooking since about when HG/SS were released. I hope to eventually write the one piece that will tie all of those other works together.
Types of Writing (Optional):
Hmmm.... probably hard to define. Character growth? When I write, characters change. It's one of the most noticeable things that happens. Settings and world in their daily functioning?
When it comes to the Pokémon fandom, interaction between the wild and urbanized cultures from the perspective of an obviously non-human Pokémon.
Strengths:
My characters are well developed and can evolve on their own, discarding traits or developing new ones without losing their perceived identity for the most part. I also can develop or assist in the development of settings with visible facets such as geopolitics, physiology, myth and social mobility once I can get past the "critical mass" of documentation required to create them.
Weakness:
Tenses, man, how do I shot them? Also being verbose and having a tendency to be notoriously roundabout to get the point of a description across.
Tools of Writing:
A word processor of course. In my case, LibreOffice, sometimes coupled with Writer's Cafe's plotting and planning tools.
A wiki and a small database as well, built on top of Dokuwiki and SQLite, because when your headverse grows large you have to keep track of things such as lore, eye colors or even voice tones and architectural styles. Needless to say, it's kept in sync with the above.
People of Writing:
Most of my recent experience writing has been built and shared by contributing with people such as Spiteful Murkrow, for whom I am a betareader and worldbuilding "consultant", and fellow writers such as InsaneTyranitar who are part of the same RPing force I am in. I also had a small similar experience in the Spanish community back when the times Pokéteca (Bulbapedia's spanish-labguage sibling) and its forum community were alive.
Types of Characters: What are your favorite character types to write about?
* Characters whose interaction with others is defined largely by a singular, great regret they have about their lives.
* Characters who are almost the masters of their craft but not quite there yet.
Completed Stories:
To my own misfortune I am not the kind of person to complete stories (all together now: lazy!) - still, there are quite some stories of success here.
*
[thread=419186]Playfield[/thread] - One day, two Pokémon run. Why do they run, where do they come from and where do they go? What they consider a contest, a debt or a game, can be reduced to a simple word: time. Originally posted as part of a prompt contest in Pokécommunity.
*
[thread=630989]Built for Risk[/thread] - How do edifications like the Battle Towers work in the Pokémon universe? Here I attempt to provide an insight and interpretation of what the canon won't. Part of the Serebii 2013 "Interpretations" writing contest.
*
[thread=647801]Overlord[/thread] - Some musings from the lord and master of Team Rocket, as he has to go through daily stuff like science and business meetings. Part of the Serebii 2015 "Criminal Intent" writing contest.
*
[thread=659869]Simpler than Magic[/thread] - An interview with Ho-Oh and some musings about what magic is or is not, according to how do we perceive or not perceive the world around us.
*
Pseudo-Legendary - When the princess is kidnapped and the knight is dispatched with some warriors to fetch her back from the witch, the dragon and the beast, things are sometimes truly not what they seem. Available from my catalog, see signature.
*
Unfit - A Mienfoo in the wild can only learn so much before his attempts for survival point him to an expanding world. If he is unfit to face the challenges that appear everywhere, where can he turn to? Available from my catalog, see signature.
Current Stories: Do you have any stories you are in the progress of writing?
I am at the moment (but lazily!) working on a small number of stories. Most of them are Pokémon ones, being the fandom I am at the moment most involved with.
*
Counterparts in Crime - a character-centric piece dealing with the lives of Archie and Maxie and how they evolved from being simply classmates to near-messianic figures to the unwilling orchestrators of what could have been one of the largest catastrophes in the Pokémon world. At the moment being developed and refined from an initial release as a prompt contest piece.
*
Interim - Sometimes to score what could be the greatest achievements of your life, it all depends not on your skill or on your effort, but on other people's capacity for making you wait. The story of two characters being weighted on the balance for one of them to become the new Champion.
Future Stories: Do you have any stories planned for the future?
There are two big stories planned for sometime in the future, intended to be the tying pieces of my headverse. "
Stars of Suocé" (tentative name) will follow three Trainers who find themselves at the crossroads as they become skilled trainers enough to probably dedicate to the sport, but still not enough to avoid being returned to the schooling and education system. "
The Guild of Rienna" (definitive name) will follow a copycat cult of Trainers who under the guise of protecting a natural sanctuary pursue the closed case murder of the family of one of their own - all while their Pokémon work behind the scenes burying their own secrets. Initial projections are about 40 chapter each, so... yeah, that's a lot of work that my heavy revisionism has kept me from getting out of the way the way I would like to.
In the meantime though there are three special stories in the plans for the shorter term thanks, for the most part, to them being based off on material I had already written and published:
*
Built for Risk - the complete release of what was once my 2013 Interpretations Contest entry. The story of a Battle Tower building, a living effigy to the art and science of Pokémon battles, told from the perspective of the crew of humans and Pokémon in charge of building, managing and maintaining it.
*
Codename: Cardinal - rather than a story, a report on the activities of some figures in the Pokémon World considered the most dangerous for their destabilizing of the relationships between humans and Pokémon. My first attempt (I think) at writing a piece of hyperfiction and also the introduction piece to the unified headverse mentioned above.
*
Suocéverse: Legends - tentative title. An anthology of small stories telling the live of the various Legendary Pokemon in the Suoceverse. Will go all the way from slicey-of-lifey to world-defining situations, including some "canon" / game-script events.
Writing Tips: Can you offer any tips to other authors?
It goes mentioned a lot in writing guides, but yeah: get to know your characters
a lot. Most of the time when you don't know how to move a story forwards is because you didn't know the characters responsible for exercising agency on the plot as well as you thought you did, and as a result you are stifled out of them not "acting natural".
Also, when developing a setting: always tie things in strings of three or more. A new fighting style, emerged during an event, responsible for an art style. A law, prompted by a villain's action, results in background characters having to find new jobs. Stringing elements of your setting not only allows for it to become and feel more alive, but also provides you with hooks from where to grab and pull the plot when you need to make sure it keeps moving or when you need to expose or develop a new idea, threat or background.