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What attracted you to your preferred writing genres/formats?

Firaga Metagross

Auferstanden Aus Ruinen
I was wondering what drew everyone to different genres of Pokemon fanfic writing since most of them tend to fall into a few categories (i.e. trainer fic, PMD, Pokemorphs, etc) and genres (fantasy, adventure, drama, etc.) Everyone seems to have one niche that they like so it'd be cool to see if there's a consensus on what makes each category so appealing.

Personally, I like human centric fics because human society is already something I'm really interested in and I like how Pokemon as a medium is basically just a bunch of vaguely developed building blocks to work with. The human-Pokemon interactions are an interesting tool with which to analyze our own societies and relations with animals and each other.

So, what about y'all?
 

Negrek

Lost but Seeking
Interesting topic! For me my pokémon genre interests are fairy similar to my non-pokémon genre interests, so they more or less make sense to me. I enjoy action/adventure stories, for example, so I've always been drawn to trainerfic since the good stuff, at least, has plenty of action-packed battles, travels to all kinds of different locales, and usually some kind of high-octane shenanigans going on besides the badge journey itself. I also enjoy stories about shapeshifters or even focusing just on animals and their societies, so I also like all kinds of more pokémon-oriented stories, including stories where people turn into pokémon, human-pokémon hybrids, and straight up "wild pokémon being wild" stories. I read widely in the fandom and enjoy a ton of different fics, but those genres are the ones that I'm most drawn to and probably hold the majority of my favorites.

It's also sort of a function of what was popular at the time that I started writing fanfic! Back in the day trainer stories were pretty much king of the hill, popularity-wise, and it seemed like everyone was writing them. So that's what I read and that's what I was inspired to write, and that's kind of what's synonymous with "pokémon fanfic" to me.
 

Kutie Pie

"It is my destiny."
I'm into the romance stories the most because I'm a hopeless romantic and I'm slice-of-life trash. 8X

I find it more interesting, perhaps even challenging to write about Pokémon than the human characters themselves, honestly, but it also does depend on whatever idea runs through my head. Then there's that sub-genre of Pokémon-centric fics that revolve around the legendary and mythical Pokémon because the mystery surrounding such Pokémon attracts a lot of "what if" scenarios and such. You just want to see how far you can go to make these powerful Pokémon stand out from the other common species, what makes them tick. (Being Pokémon-centric is probably the biggest reason PMD is as popular as it is on top of being a great dungeon crawler, but there's, I feel, different "rules" that has allowed PMD to branch off from the Pokémon-centric side.)

'Course, then everyone has their own favorite Pokémon they like to gravitate to. Mine is, of course, Mewtwo, but that's because Mewtwo's one of the most interesting, three-dimensional characters in all of Pokémon--and kinda flexible, too, in how he's portrayed in what universe. Mewtwo's also unique in that the character appears to be stuck between the two worlds, and so it's really easy to put Mewtwo into any environment you want and you can just have fun with it because it's like writing a human character, but at the same time, it's not.

Therefore, combining romance/slice-of-life with Mewtwo makes for an interesting character study that can (and does) go horribly wrong (sometimes hilariously), but it's a lot of fun in experimenting what works and what doesn't.
 

canisaries

sometimes i get a deadache, yeah
My first multiparter Pokéfic was actually a comedy, a sort of parody of slash fics while lowkey being one itself. With Agapé (the previous version of Seiren), I had a more dramatic story, as I kind of wanted to try out a "serious" fic, even if the synopsis was crazy and there was still humor involved, but darker. With drama, I could get more invested in the events and characters and express my own feelings through the prose without feeling the need to be ecksdee funny the whole time. Even if the story was kinda crap in the end, I'd grown to really like writing the main character, Red, and continued to do so with a few heavier and grimmer oneshots.

As the character is who he is, that being a cultist, horror was sort of inherently involved since day one, but then with those oneshots I got actually interested in the genre and what it was like. I'd never actually watched horror movies as no one in my family did and I was kind of a scaredy cat, but then with my own whole crash into the world of mental health via a depression diagnosis, I became curious about how fear and the human mind in general worked. I'd already been interested in gore, body horror and surreal imagery before, so I did have a good link into horror I could build upon. With Hunter, Haunted, I finally started to call what I wrote horror and really played up the fear. However, HH is still definitely a drama and a character study - fear is just a really good way to push a character to their breaking points. I wouldn't dream of entirely draining a story of comedy, either, so there are definitely some darkly humorous tones involved.

On a whole other note, I have Pletora's Story and a longfic I'm planning in the same world. I read a bunch of PMD fiction and because I'm a furry I like worlds with a wide array of characters and settings and actually having an audience, I wanted to have something like that, too. I wanted to write something outside TPP, something that wasn't as restrictive with a barely-functioning world. I'm definitely a fan of the PMD games themselves, so I'm glad there's a fic community for that and one that still has so much variety.

Pletora's Story is kind of comfy but still dramatic, especially towards the end. I've had a great time writing it since I get to have multiple characters interacting with each other instead of just one guy moping about himself the whole time. Having an entire world you can do anything with is great for creativity - you can basically do anything, dip into any genres and try out all sorts of stuff. It's really rewarding.
 

Zhydra

Master of Chaos!
I done a few genre's in my series. Most are trainer interactions and the various pokemon they meet and capture. (And started by continuing where S/M and the Orre games left off.)

I like giving a constant theme through out a fanfic and depending on the situation, it can very from heartwarming, dangerous, drama, depressing and in regards to what I did to Elio. (S/M's P.C) In addition to giving him an actual character... I have him and the rest of the cast developed over the course of the series. (Our hero got PTSD after an encounter with XD-002... Shadow Mew.)

I like making scenes stick out in terms of trippy, out of there scenarios. (Thank you Hoopa for existing.) Realistic as possible in character building and what will happen as well as twisting retellings to flow with what ever I was making. (When I give you the image of Lillie having a Hydreigon and making it the complete opposite of a horrifying scenario.)

My latest one... I gave enough of a reason to continue from S/M's story while still having Necrozma BE a main villain in the fanfic called forming stars. I made Lillie into a bad ass and the entire point of that fanfic is that she and Elio are at the age of 21... they are married and she end up pregnant with twins. Guess who ends up taking down Ultra Necrozma, Ghetsis and Giovanni! (If you say Elio, that is incorrect.)
 

NebulaDreams

A Dense Irritating Miniature Beast of Burden
Since I'm working with a universe of fics with many different types of stories and genre changes in the pipeline, they tend to be all over the map, but they all take place in the regular Pokemon world with a focus on Pokemon protagonists and how the try to fit into a world meant for humans. They all contribute to add to the world I'm building around my own fics, which takes influence from a lot of fantasy stories as well as how I'd envision my ideal Pokemon world to be.

One common thread is that there tends to be a slice of life element in all these fics with a focus on character interaction and introspection. There are battles and plenty of worldly intrigue, but even without that, I love the idea of seeing my characters interact in their natural environment and get into parts of their daily routine that add to their personality, plus I like the chill atmosphere that brings as well. As such, there tends to be a lot of dialogue, which I consider my strength as people love a lot of the side characters that come up in my fics.

Speaking of introspection, my characters tend to reflect on what defines themselves as Pokemon and what place they have in the world, which can either add to the worldbuilding or create drama for the character. For The Curious and the Shiny in particular, the first person POV of Curio's story allows me to delve deep into the psychology of that Lucario character, integrating her brash and hyperactive personality into the prose and using that to add to the world as well as make the slower paced scenes more interesting with her commentary.

There is an underlying fridge horror element to those fics as well, as different types of Pokemon are used as meat, even though the story acknowledges their intelligence is close to par, if not, equal to humans. The Pokemon characters are fully aware of the duality of this nature and are freaked out by it, but nonetheless accept it as a part of their world. The status of Pokemon in that world is also ripe for fridge horror, as Pokemon are very close, and yet so far to being considered equal to humans in societal status, and it provides a lot of conflict for those Pokemon characters as well. All of those things stick out as more interesting to me than the average trainer fic would provide.

These fics also play with the meta of the series in some way. Deli's Delivery Service references the handheld games in universe. Black Paint references Detective Pikachu as a Conan-type show. The Curious and the Shiny references all of the above, especially the show, and is a plot point as well as it helps the young Pokemon characters involved in the GeL project learn to understand human speech over time.
 
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DeliriousAbsol

Call me Del
I think my bias towards writing and reading PMD style 'fics spans back to my love of animal stories as a kid. Even now I still prefer to read books such as Redwall over most human-centric stories, but they're few and far between these days. I love how there's so much creativity in the Pokemon franchise to allow for a huge range of stories that can appeal to various audiences. Seeing how various pokemon types and species can coexist in a huge, complex society is a lot of fun to work with, too.
 

HelenLondon

New Member
I love to read detective stories and just stories. I myself practice writing different stories. It is very interesting) Before writing story, I think through not only the plot, but all the small details: the main idea, the structure of the work, etc. By the way, I write down my works in a notebook. My friends do not understand how it can be convenient) But everything is simple: I found a special notebook on the Internet https://onplanners.com/notebooks/best-pocket-notebooks. It is very convenient to register all the details in it, since it was originally designed for planning different situations. Therefore, I am directing in it all the details of my future creation. I advise you to do so, it helps a lot!)
 

FlamingRuby

The magic of Pokemon
I love me an epic quest in a world filled with magic, cool creatures, and tons of lore. Someone else said it best--there's so much creativity in the Pokemon franchise, so it can be easily adapted into any genre you want.
 

The Teller

King of Half-Truths
Uh...*looks at all the stuff I've posted on this site alone*...do I even have a preferred writing genre? I tend to write all over the place. Well, let's dissect a few of those, shall we? I like reading funny stuff, and what I consider "funny" has changed over the years, so naturally I think I would make a great comedian. This leads to stuff like "The Disingenuous Magearna" and "The Convenient Discovery of a Lifetime!," along with the Courage the Cowardly Dog crossfics. Results are iffy. Diagnosis: better irl than on the web. As for the massive anthology series I've birthed, I remember just wanting to tackle the 2nd person POV, just to see if I could do it. I didn't draw from any great 2nd person literary works when doing those. As for the subject matter, I think I had gleaned from the Pokemon online community plenty over the years, the memes and jokes that go with joining "cult water!" or "cult space!" I just expanded on those while simultaneously grounding them. In a few of them, Pokemon barely have any presence in there whatsoever. I've always liked talking about the humans more than the Pokemon since the show sorta shows that Pokemon are replaceable (one Metapod isn't going to get confused for another Metapod), but human are irreplaceable (if Ash's mom went missing, people would notice, even though there are other human moms out there). I like when the franchise reminds us that these are supposed to be monsters we're catching, with a dog's intelligence at best unless it's psychic.

Delibird's Tales was my chance to revisit an ancient concept I haven't retried since I started writing stories: fairy tales. Using that singsong narrator voice to tell a story really seemed to hit home with a few people. My aim to show that I had gotten better at writing in this style was proven. Tale's Comics Presents was me trying to imitate Firebrand (and got their complete approval!), and I would love to continue working on that in the future. I think we've all thought "I could be a comic book writer someday!" before. Happenings Before Goals would've been your standard trainerfic, but with my own twists. With this, I took some inspiration from webartists who do their own Nuzlockes. It appeared that I posted it RIGHT as trainerfics were suddenly no longer popular or wanted, so that got killed prematurely.

And that's just the stories I've written on HERE!
 

typecalendar

New Member
Analyze the rhetorical situation.

Define your topic, state your purpose, and analyze your readers and the contexts in which your text will be read or used.

Invent your ideas.

Use inquiry and research to generate your own ideas and discover what others already know about your topic.

Organize and draft your paper.

Arrange and compose your ideas into familiar patterns that your readers will recognize and find useful.

Choose an appropriate style.

Use techniques of plain and persuasive style to clarify your writing and make it more compelling

Design your document.

Develop an appropriate page layout and use visual or audio features to make your ideas more accessible and attractive to readers.

Revise and edit your work.

Improve your writing by rewriting, reorganizing, editing, and proofreading your work. :)
 
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