gorgonfish
ribbit-ribbit
I've been doing a bit of world-building for a fic recently and it set me thinking about topics that could change the path of the story. Most of these were trying to decide where on the spectrum of realism vs canon (with headcanon somewhere between the two) that I wanted to land. Things like the age people began training Pokemon, how Pokemon communicate between themselves and humans, and how Pokemon Centers can stay open if you never have to pay for the healthcare or computer usage.
Anyways, I figured it would interesting to see what other people like to see in the stories they read/write:
1. Where is the ideal point between taking on the Pokemon world in a more realistic way and being a stickler for the canon for you personally?
2. What are some areas of the Pokemon universe that you like to explore and what areas do you wish more people would include in their own work?
3. When does world-building and working out your story's rules become convoluted and too hard for others to follow or care about?
***
1. Where is the ideal point between taking on the Pokemon world in a more realistic way and being a stickler for the canon for you personally?
I land somewhere in the middle, probably. Bits of canon like Drifloon, Shedinja, and Banette Pokedex entries are just too weird not to use, but other things feel too odd for me to write properly. I haven't been a ten year old for a very long time and I doubt I could ever even come close to writing a semi-decent ten year old kid. So going the route of a prepubescent trainer traveling the world on their own isn't something I'm interested in writing (I do enjoy reading OT fics usually despite this as the characters mostly act and speak older than ten, don't know if that's what the author was going for or not. xD). Then there's the fact that the Pokemon world has the technology to transform living creatures into photons, data, or whatever the red light from pokeballs happens to be, and either the government or whoever has the resources to know when you catch more than six pokemon so they can transfer them to a computer. Then headcanon comes into play. Maybe the limit of six active Pokemon is because someone went into a forest, caught dozens of the local bug population, evolved them rather quickly, and tried to overthrow the nearest city with sleep powder and stun spore. I can understand the people who love canon and follow it by heart, but there's so much fun to be had playing with this stuff.
2. What are some areas of the Pokemon universe that you like to explore and what areas do you wish more people would include in their own work?
Kind of an obvious answer, but it's all about the Pokemon for me. Just thinking through how a society would develop around hundreds of creatures that can manipulate the elements is guaranteed to drive you crazy. Did Pokemon like Voltorb and Rotom come as a result of electrical technology or where they the catalyst for it? Could Ditto be programmed with false memories and used as spies or sleeper agents? How is it possible for two Pokemon of different species to breed and have a fertile offspring that's always the same species as the mother (or Ditto, that just exponentially complicates things)? I also like seeing how intelligent Pokemon are in a given story. Are they pretty much the correlations of real life animals with the exceptions being psychic types and legendaries? The most interesting part, though, is how the Pokemon communicate between themselves and their human trainers. Having the trainer understand the Pokemon makes things easy, but using things like body language to let the reader guess what the Pokemon wants to say is something I really wish happened more.
3. When does world-building and working out your story's rules become convoluted and too hard for others to follow or care about?
I think a story becomes hard to follow or care about when information you use to color your world seeps through the background into the story itself. If you follow the leveling system from the games for example, it's possible to keep track of what moves a Pokemon knows and how close they are to evolving without turning the fic into a rehash of the games to the point readers can almost hear the experience points meter after every battle. Supplemental material like maps, graphics displaying a trainer's team, or even character blogs can add extra depth to a story, but the moment those become required in order to enjoy a fic a line has been crossed.
Anyways, I figured it would interesting to see what other people like to see in the stories they read/write:
1. Where is the ideal point between taking on the Pokemon world in a more realistic way and being a stickler for the canon for you personally?
2. What are some areas of the Pokemon universe that you like to explore and what areas do you wish more people would include in their own work?
3. When does world-building and working out your story's rules become convoluted and too hard for others to follow or care about?
***
1. Where is the ideal point between taking on the Pokemon world in a more realistic way and being a stickler for the canon for you personally?
I land somewhere in the middle, probably. Bits of canon like Drifloon, Shedinja, and Banette Pokedex entries are just too weird not to use, but other things feel too odd for me to write properly. I haven't been a ten year old for a very long time and I doubt I could ever even come close to writing a semi-decent ten year old kid. So going the route of a prepubescent trainer traveling the world on their own isn't something I'm interested in writing (I do enjoy reading OT fics usually despite this as the characters mostly act and speak older than ten, don't know if that's what the author was going for or not. xD). Then there's the fact that the Pokemon world has the technology to transform living creatures into photons, data, or whatever the red light from pokeballs happens to be, and either the government or whoever has the resources to know when you catch more than six pokemon so they can transfer them to a computer. Then headcanon comes into play. Maybe the limit of six active Pokemon is because someone went into a forest, caught dozens of the local bug population, evolved them rather quickly, and tried to overthrow the nearest city with sleep powder and stun spore. I can understand the people who love canon and follow it by heart, but there's so much fun to be had playing with this stuff.
2. What are some areas of the Pokemon universe that you like to explore and what areas do you wish more people would include in their own work?
Kind of an obvious answer, but it's all about the Pokemon for me. Just thinking through how a society would develop around hundreds of creatures that can manipulate the elements is guaranteed to drive you crazy. Did Pokemon like Voltorb and Rotom come as a result of electrical technology or where they the catalyst for it? Could Ditto be programmed with false memories and used as spies or sleeper agents? How is it possible for two Pokemon of different species to breed and have a fertile offspring that's always the same species as the mother (or Ditto, that just exponentially complicates things)? I also like seeing how intelligent Pokemon are in a given story. Are they pretty much the correlations of real life animals with the exceptions being psychic types and legendaries? The most interesting part, though, is how the Pokemon communicate between themselves and their human trainers. Having the trainer understand the Pokemon makes things easy, but using things like body language to let the reader guess what the Pokemon wants to say is something I really wish happened more.
3. When does world-building and working out your story's rules become convoluted and too hard for others to follow or care about?
I think a story becomes hard to follow or care about when information you use to color your world seeps through the background into the story itself. If you follow the leveling system from the games for example, it's possible to keep track of what moves a Pokemon knows and how close they are to evolving without turning the fic into a rehash of the games to the point readers can almost hear the experience points meter after every battle. Supplemental material like maps, graphics displaying a trainer's team, or even character blogs can add extra depth to a story, but the moment those become required in order to enjoy a fic a line has been crossed.
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