The Fan Fiction Club

[The Doctor]

Now to answer my own topic.

How do you plan out your fics/fic ideas?

It just...happens. Ideas come from literally any sort of medium, but in my mind they look different. The ones that look promising are bigger and brighter, the ones that look less interesting are darker and smaller by comparison. I plan roughly the beginning and the end, and the characters blossom into view. I also do Wikia-based articles. This way, I've got a summary of both plot and character, and any references to pop culture are listed as well; I may come up with something brilliant only to forget it the next day, so I get any ideas I have down onto paper sharpish. Once I've got enough ideas down, I start to write. I'm trying to get into a habit where I wait until I get a few chapters down before posting the first. It will be interesting to see if I actually keep this up.

 

[HommeDor]

hey may i please join this club? i love writing and reading fanfics!

 

[Arcanine Royale]

Anyways, to introduce, I joined the previous version.

I've been writing fan fiction for two-three years, starting in middle school, and am entering high school this year. I've really not done much, mostly because I'm getting stuck on one story, which I WILL get done (eventually). But it's Genesis, you've probably heard of it once at least, and I'm trying it again (again), for the final time. (Of course that's what I said last time.) It will actually end up a bit dark, because someone gets pregnant, someone else does too, and someone(s) get shot. It will be a trilogy, I think, though I might just leave it at a single volume with the dark ending... I don't really know.

So no link for that, but I've written a couple of one-shots (Ash's Tears, Jump being the most popular and well-written), which surprisingly are rather angst-ridden. Anyways, the links are in my sig...

I've got a brilliant idea for a fic that hasn't been done before: Goodbye, Mr Olympia! (Yes, the exclamation mark is part of the title). It's set in the '30's and Kanto and Johto are recently linked by the newly-built Entei Express, the world's fastest steam train. All nations (Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Orre) are interlinked in some way by ferry and the Indigo League Tournament is now called the Pokemon League Olympiad, the Champion earning the title "Mr Olympia". Shortly after its opening however, a group of mercenaries called The Auteurs kidnap the architect and board the Entei Express, each with their own motivation for bumping off the current Mr Olympia.

I've been watching Metropoils (the anime version) and Blade Runner recently so it's going to be a steampunk world with jazz music on every corner, old-time newspapers and as you guessed, eccentric contraptions and a lot of steam. Also, it has a Grovyle named Shakespeare. This is a fic I'm feeling pretty confident about but schoolwork is pretty heavy so it might be a while before Goodbye, Mr Olympia! is actually posted.

Hm... sounds interesting, The Doctor. If it's as well-written as your previous attempts, I know it'll be worth a read.

How do you plan out your fics/fic ideas?

Usually by writing a draft (and usually posting it, which is a mistake) that doesn't amount to anything. However, more recently I've been outlining, though the outline is usually short term with a few lines of text about the ending... I don't really know if they ever amount to anything, as I never succeeded completely. A thing I struggle at, though, is characterization, so I also plot how the characters will be at certain points (like after every badge if its a standard 8-badger), or something.

It's been a couple of days... so... A new question.

What is your favorite genre of pokémon fan fiction and why?

Personally, I would have to say that my favorite genre is the journey fic, because there are endless possibilities. Also, while the idea of getting eight badges is prominent, as is winning the league, there are also a lot of sub plots / side plots possible (including the 'fight the evil team', which can be pulled off well, if you consider that to counterbalance a team like Rocket, you would have to have a whole organization, possibly under E4 management / advisement, to make sure they don't take over, and a journeyman/woman would likely have a small part to play. I think Dark Persian does a good example of this, in that her character isn't the only person who takes down the evil organization.) Characterization is my favorite thing in the journeyfic, as there are clear points on the journey where the character must change.

I also like that the range of skill levels required is endless. The most experienced author can ace a journey fic and get one of the best of fics out there, while a newbie author with no/little experience can also pull off a good work. (Of course, they are still often massacred by good and bad alike.)

 

[katiekitten]

What is your favorite genre of pokémon fan fiction and why?

Nice topic, by the way.

Hm... I'm not as much of a fan of journey fics, (haven't actually read one yet, so I'm more than a little biased. xD) but I'm sure they're fun. I'll have to try one some time. I don't actually know what I like to read at the moment, 'cause for one, I've been gone for a while and haven't read many, and two... My views on stories have drastically changed recently, and I haven't read enough pokemon fanfiction since then to get a general preference. On stories I liked before then... It was the darker fanfics that always stuck in my mind, and the ones that I followed for a while. I avoided the shipping section like the plague, (although I kinda regret that now - Romance isn't half as bad as I thought it would be, absolutely enthralling, to tell the truth. :3) and like I said, I never tried reading a journey fic - none really caught my eye. (Tried Saber's fic, couldn't get into it, really.) I've always liked fics from a Pokemon's point of view - One of the first fics I came across here was one of Zerodius's about a plusle (was that it? It's been a while) who couldn't die. (Was never actually alive in the first place, no heartbeat, was as cold as ice) It was incredibly interesting and I remember it quite well - It was cancelled, unfortunately a little while later but still - the first chapters were wonderful. I loved how the pokemon were portrayed, they had their own communities, customs, but they didn't live in houses. (That's one of my only problems with Pokemon Dungeon - I don't like the thought of them being miniature humans. Intelligent as them, yes. Able to read and pick up human utensils and the like, use machinery... Not so much. Just a personal preference, although I would be a hypocrite if I condemned them - I've read AND written them before, after all, and quite enjoyed doing so. I just prefer it the other way.)

So yeah. In summary, I like fics from a Pokemon's point of view that focuses on their culture and customs in their natural habitats. Very nice. :3

 

[~RaikouRider243~]

I'm rejoining.

My current, and only, work is an adventure/fantasy/suspense fic series called Pokémon Origins, which in retrospect, is a terrible title. The basic premise of the fic is that each of sixteen legendary Pokémon has a human guardian called a Chosen, appointed by Arceus to keep hunters of legendary Pokémon in check. Back when the fighting capabilities of Pokémon were first discovered, two military factions almost wiped out civilization. They would have succeeded in that had not the Beast Riders intervened. The series follows mostly Josh, Ace, and Aravan, three college students whose lives changed forever when they became Chosen by the legendary Beasts: Raikou, Entei, and Suicune. Being Chosen does not mean you're effectively a trainer of the legendary Pokémon; you often fight alongside the legend. For instance, Josh wields an electrical sword. This trilogy is long but full of scary cliffhangers; it takes a little bit to get into it, but once you're to about chapter 4, you won't be able to put it down.

A while ago, MysticFlames and I collabbed for some art. This was what we got:

Aravan, Ace, and Josh...my three main characters.

Pokémon Origins
Volume I: The Johto Saga
Volume II: Return of the Beasts
[URL="http://www.serebiiforums.com/showthread.php?t=234175"http://www.serebiiforums.com/showthread.php?t=234175]Volume III: THE WAR OF ARMAGEDDON[/URL]

I'll answer the topics later...no more time now!

 

[FlamingRuby]

My favorite genres:

Adventure--I love a good quest
Comedy--I love to make people laugh
Fantasy--I'm fascinated by magic and magical powers

 

[Pkmn Breeder Jack]

I'd like to join. You may have seen me before in the fanfiction forum. My fic(link in sig) is five chapters long so far, with fifteen more to come.

As for the topic question, I like

Fantasy--this is my all time favorite genre, just because it's about stuff that can't happen but you wish could. Like cool powers and stuff.

Comedy--I love it when characters make jokes to lighten up a situation, especially if the situation is gloomy. Some stories seem so sad and gloomy you can't read them cause it just makes you depressed.

Romance--I like it if a love story is a side plot to a main story. I don't like pure shipping stuff where everything is about mushy lovey dovey stuff, but struggling relationships are nice to read about amidst great struggles.

Epics--I absolutely love huge plots that have great effects on the world. Life changing events are cool to read and write about.


Jack ;466;

 

[Sike Saner]

How do you plan out your fics/fic ideas?

Ah, time for my silly old calendar analogy again... XP

What I'll usually do is start planning it out first on a large scale, and then plotting out the more increasingly minute aspects of the story as the thing progresses. I kind of liken it to a calendar. The first step is basically just determining what the story is about and what the point of the plot is; sort of representing the full body of the "calendar". Then I'll usually plot out all the main arcs in the story (you could think of these as the "seasons", although that doesn't predispose them to number exactly four, of course), and after that I work up a brief summary of each chapter ("months") within each arc. As I get around to writing each chapter in sequence, I will start by making a more detailed summary of all the events that take place in that chapter ("weeks"), and then I'll actually write the body of the chapter itself, with all the details in place ("days").

Considering how many times I've gone back to the drawing board with my current chapter-in-progress, it feels like I've been repeating the same month several times in succession. It's been February for quite a while now. XD;

What is your favorite genre of pokémon fan fiction and why?

First and foremost with regards to Pokémon fiction, I prefer Pokécentric/Pokémon POV fiction (Pokémon fics that focus on Pokémon themselves more than or rather than humans), with no preferences with regards to how "humanized" the Pokémon are portrayed as being. I've just always preferred stories featuring non-human characters (and that goes for all stories, not just Pokémon); I don't think there really is a "why" in my case beyond that. Same goes for my favorite genre in general, for any type of fiction: tragedy. Tragedies are simply the sort of stories that I find most engaging. I also really enjoy drama, angst, horror, suspense, sci-fi, fantasy, and comedy.

Please note that I do also like Pokémon fiction starring humans and do not consider Pokécentric fics superior to them, nor do I consider any type of story to be superior to any other. ^^; I am merely citing personal preferences; I recognize that my opinion does not equal universal fact or truth.

 

[MondoTR]

I don't really have a favorite Pokemon genre. I read whatever catches my attention. Not a genre but I suppose my favorite would be any with anime characters that are almost never in fics. In other words, most minor characters. Hence why I did a Mikey fic.

Though I do tend to read a lot of shippy, trainer, and comedy (particularly parody) fics. Ironically, two of my faves from ff.net don't fit any of those (one is a Poke/Digi xover, the other is suspense). Both however do fit under the 'many minor characters' category.

My least favorite has to be any I like that I read all the way through only to realize it isn't finished and the last update is old enough to almost always confirm it's been abandoned. ;-;

 

[purple_drake]

(including the 'fight the evil team', which can be pulled off well, if you consider that to counterbalance a team like Rocket, you would have to have a whole organization, possibly under E4 management / advisement, and a journeyman/woman would likely have a small part to play

That sounds familiar my fic has nothing to do with badges or winning the League, but the main character tends to get herself mixed up in stuff that's none of her business... like making a nuisance of herself while all those poor Elites are trying to take care of things

What is your favorite genre of pokémon fan fiction and why?

Random question: are we talking about our favourite genre to read or to write?

Well, for the reading part, I haven't really read that much pokemon fanfiction, but I can say with certainty that my favs are ones with the canon charries in them--the minor canon charries. Especially gym leaders and Elites. I've always had a habit of writing stories about minor characters, no matter what the fandom, but in pokemon it pains me to see how bashed the canon characters are.

The problem with that is that most of the stories about Elites are usually shipping *pouts* and I'm not a fan of romance.

As for favourite genres to write, I'm definitely an action/adventure writer, and my fic ideas usually turn out to be epic (the Choiceverse begins with a one-shot to set the scene, followed by two chaptered fics and probably an AU snapshot-type fic, plus I'm planning a Lance-centric epic following the same pattern, PLUS two stand-alone epics). That said, I also seem to have a habit of writing angsty one-shots--they appear during my chapter-fic dry spells, when I need to get my creative juices going.

 

[Praxiteles]

What is your favorite genre of pokémon fan fiction and why?

I suppose I'll give two different answers for reading and writing, why not? The two aren't very different, but anyway...

I usually wite any genre of fiction that strikes my fancy; there are very few types that I shun or prefer. I do, however, have some favourite themes for my works. One is transcendence, most often in one-shots; Artemis, Surrender and Benevolence, my chief examples of that sort of fiction, are based around that theme alone. I also gravitate towards the darker side of the soul, for some reason. Corruption and the loss of innocence are preferred topics of mine. I add lot of action to my fanfics, Rediscovery being the chief example, and often depict the intersection between mortals and immortals. If you can see any relation between these above genres, your shrewdness is godly.

I like reading any given fiction you could find in the forums, not a hint of preference there. I do, however, gravitate veeery sightly towards those lighter genres which I rarely write myself. Very slightly, that is.

 

[DieChavsDie]

Hi, Can I join?

I dont write Fan-Fiction, but I am writing a 3 Part Regular Fiction Series.

My fav fanfic is Hoenn's Legacy, which im really worried might die, so if ~VT~ reads this, please update. Its really good.

Anyways, my fav genre in general fiction is Fantasy. Im a Fantasy Fanatic. Harry Potter, Spiderwick Chronicles, Artemis Fowl. All that sorta stuff.

 

[DarkLegend]

Can I join?

I have two fanfic's here. One you will find in my sig and the other is quite new (just a prologue) which is basically a re-write of the Dragonball Z storyline done by me. It's called DBZ: Reloaded. Also, it is an individual story and won't be related in anyway to the original Dragonball or GT. However, a few surprize charecters do appear. Best part is that those people who have never even heard of DBZ will be able to enjoy it....

LINK: http://www.serebiiforums.com/showthread.php?t=277004

What is your favorite genre of pokémon fan fiction and why?

I would say romance and adventure. I used to write a lot of amateurish romance fics and the final result of all that practice can be found in my sig. For Adventure, I am working on something called "Virus" inspired by a series of fanart in which Deoxsys arrives on earth and begins to 'infect' all pokemon....

 

[Bay]

What is your favorite genre of pokémon fan fiction and why?

Well, my absoulte favorites are the ones that are "parable/fables" like because I am a fan of stories that have characters learned their lessons. Hence, why I did "Heart of the Sea" and "Dusty Wings". Too bad there are so little of them. ;_;

I am also into drama and suspense, hence why I am doing "Nothing, Everything" (even though there is one huge parable like theme in there, lol ). Comedy is a plus also, since I love to laugh. (Yay for living longer! XD )

I enjoy Pokemon journeyfics, though I never tried one before. I might do one, however. XD

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

I updated Obsession. I see the rules say that I can't link it, but it's in my sig and talked about on the first page.

 

[MondoTR]

I updated Obsession.

Haha, we updated our fics at almost the same time. I just updated mine a few minutes ago. XD

As for the topic, I didn't think about writing faves. I'd have to go with the 'genre' I chose for reading as well. In other words, Minor character fics.

I wrote about Mikey but the story has many rarely (if at all) seen in fics anime characters. Such as Samurai. Who I'm surprised I've never seen in a fic despite reading quite a few trainer fics.

I might write a Mondo fic if I can think of an idea. He does appear in fics a few times but it's almost always as a background character in a Team Rocket centered fic. Actually, of the few Mondo fics I've read, Blackjack wrote most, LOL.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Mondo's in my fic Take, which is also linked on the first page. It's really dark, though. But he comes out a hero.

 

[MondoTR]

Mondo's in my fic Take, which is also linked on the first page. It's really dark, though. But he comes out a hero.

Is that the one-shot where the Jennys invade the headquarters and Mondo kills the second one? I read that over at BMGf. I thought I reviewed but maybe it didn't go through. ^_^;

Anyone can make topics (as long as the previous one has had time to be answered by at least the majority of the members), right? If so I've got one. Not the most interesting but a good one for a fic club:

What's your length of fics/chapters? A word page amount and/or word count both work. This is both for average length when writing and preferred length in reading as those can vary.

For writing mine are pretty short. Out of both fics I've written five chapters with an average of two/three pages in Word. My recent update is my longest so far at five pages. I try to make them longer since that seems to be a common preference of readers. However, I usually achieve what I intended with the chapter and any additions would just be filler.

As for reading, chapters of any length are fine with me as long as they're not too long. Long being twenty or thirty Word pages or something; I hate stopping midchapter when I don't have time to finish. I prefer anything between three to ten Word pages, give or take a few. One page one-shots are also nice as long as they're well written. I also prefer to start reading fics as they're starting out; I don't have to catch up with the author or the other readers and I can watch the story progress. There are some exceptions where the chapters are long and the fic'll be five or more chapters in but I'll read it anyways though that doesn't happen too often.

 

[Sike Saner]

In terms of my favorite genres to write, they're the same ones I most like to read, by which I mean Pokécentric stories falling under one or more of the following categories: tragedy, drama, angst, horror, suspense, fantasy, comedy, and sci-fi.


What's your length of fics/chapters? For The Origin of Storms, the chapters are around the neighborhood of ten pages (sometimes less, sometimes more) and the whole story has seventeen chapters.

For Communication, the chapters range from around fifteen pages to around thirty. So far, it has a prologue and fourteen chapters; the projected length of the story once it's completed is around twenty-three - twenty-five chapters, plus the prologue.

As far as the length I prefer for chapters and stories, I am particularly fond of long chapters (twenty pages or more), but I'm fine with pretty much any length for chapters. I also have no preference with regards to length of whole stories; I like both one-shots and chaptered stories, and I'm fine with any number of chapters for a story.

 

[bobandbill]

Yar, I'd like to join.

I have written (well, writing - I've barely started) one fanfic so far- 'The Retelling of Pokemon Colosseum'

It's mostly based on the game Pokemon Colosseum, only with differences. Main one is that the 'unexplained' events in the game are 'explained'. For instance, the main character, Wes, in the game blows up an evil criminal gang's base. Only you never find out WHY he does that - only that he used to work for them. Other unexplained stuff will/have included explantions on important characters themselves, how Shadow Pokemon BECOME Shadow Pokemon, etc, so forth.
Guess it's better to be read by those who played the game, though it can still be enjoyed - mostly because another major difference in my fic compared to the game is that my fic is also a comedy - more a comedy than anything else really Beware of random jokes involving pastries, shadow Pokemon, crazed retro disco dude with a giant afro (aka Miror B), and more!

...Ahem. Anyways, answering the discussion questions:

How do you plan out your fics/fic ideas?

Well, as my fic is based on a game, firstly I play the game Well, my sister does - I watch and give her advice if she needs it, as well as to note what is said/what happens and all, so I can incorparate it into my fic, and if possible, turn it into a joke.
I type up my notes on the computer, and leave it for a while. I then during any spare time I have (e.g. on the bus) think how I want my chapter plot to go roughly. I also think up the comedy aspects of it.
I then slowly type it up, making things up as I go - many of my ideas have come about during the actual typing process.
I guess my fic is rather causual and slow, due to my current commitments to school, karate, life in general, etc, though I do try to make it as good (and funny) as possible.

What is your favorite genre of pokémon fan fiction and why?

I'd say comedy, as I love a laugh. I also like fantasy, parodies, OT's (if they are good and different to the sub-par OT fics one reads...). Oh, and also suspense, drama, adventure.

In terms of writing a fic - parodies/comedies . Several years ago, (before I took up my fic a few months ago) I was writing a few comedy scripts, mostly involving two IQ-lacking men called Bob and Bill (hence my user name). Another script was based on a novice detective named Lenny Shanks... both scripts were based on the 'real word'.

What's your length of fics/chapters?

For me, it's on average (including prologue) around 7-8 pages each chapter/prologue. Only on chapter 5 though... the chapters also have spacing between each paragraph as well. Last chapter was 10 pages. The whole thing will end up rather long - I actually aim to finish it all... eventually