1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.
  2. Welcome to Lake Valor!
    Catch, train, and evolve Pokémon while you explore our community. Make friends, and grow your collection.

    Login or Sign Up

JourneyFics

Discussion in 'Creative Zone' started by Skittle, Feb 6, 2017.

  1. Skittle

    Skittle daijoubu

    Swablu
    (Swablu)
    Level 24
    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2017
    Posts:
    1,153
    PokéPoints:
    ₽3,602.3
    Comet Shard ★★★★Dawn Stone ★★★★Love Ball ★★★★★Galladite ★★★★Whipped Dream ★★★★
    The Pokémon Journey Fanfiction, shortened to JourneyFic. A tale of a Pokémon Trainer and friends walking around, battling and collecting Gym Badges or Ribbons in the rare case of a Pokémon Coordinator. If you look on fanfiction.net, you'll see them everywhere. But with all the JourneyFics out there and with some that clearly stand out from the rest, here's the question:

    What makes a fanfiction about travelling good? How do you distinguish the 'meh' from the 'whoa this is awesome'? Are there certain aspects you look for in your perfect JourneyFic?

    Discuss below! Not only will you help others find the perfect JourneyFic to write, but maybe you'll help a JourneyFic writer out so they can make their work even better!
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  2. WavePearl

    WavePearl Believer in Possibilities

    Cuidachta
    (Corvisquire)
    Level 38
    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2012
    Posts:
    17,495
    PokéPoints:
    ₽37,633.7
    Don't be afraid to subvert, invert, avert, and completely change around the cliches.

    To use my remix of the GSC arc of the anime (which is itself part of a larger project of mine to completely remix the anime as if it were set in my version of the Pokémon world) as an example:

    --Today's mechanics are put back into earlier arcs (Mega Evolution has a small role in the plot, and I had Brock use a Z-move during what would be your first encounter with Kamon in the game.

    --Misty and Brock now have their own goals and things to achieve.

    --Team Rocket's appearances are dramatically reduced (and in later arcs, they are completely gone)

    --The gang has talents and abilities they don't have in the real show

    --Some Pokémon from later generations make blink and you miss them appearances

    --the group's teams are different--Ash's new team mirrors what my own SS team looked like. While he keeps Cyndaquil (he named her Cyndy), Totodile went to Ethan (who named him Dundee) and Chikorita went to Lyra (who named her Hana)
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  3. SyWry

    Legendary Egg
    (Rayquaza Egg)
    Level 1
    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2017
    Posts:
    964
    PokéPoints:
    ₽1,606.1
    To me, there's no such thing as a perfect Journey story. To me it is all about how well written the story is. A well written story is generally one that doesn't follow a formula or is written so well, you don't fell like it's a formula but you can't rely on this. The idea of perfect is subjective to each viewer. Write the way you want the story to go. If people don't like it then there's nothing you can do about it but try again. Not to mention that it isn't fun to write for others desires. Fan fiction is all about writing what you think should happen and if you don't write your way, then it isn't fun (at least for me). Just write the way you want to write because that's your perfect story.

    ...oh and prof your work. ALWAYS PROF YOUR WORK!
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  4. Owly

    Owly Friend of the Eco, Foe of the System

    Torako
    (Eevee (J))
    Level 9
    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2017
    Posts:
    1,220
    PokéPoints:
    ₽2,981.7
    Well, I read an amazing journey fic recently called Pedestal which I became completely obsessed with. I suppose what really caught my interest was how . . . different it was. Actually, it began pretty cliche-- a cocky, arrogant narrator fixated on perfection-- but it got different pretty quickly. I haven't read many journey fics, but I enjoyed the dark aspect to this one (lot of murder and death, love it) and the surprising ones. The happily ever after didn't feel like one.
    So I suppose what I look for in a journey fic is unpredictability. I really don't mind cliches all that much if they're minor, and they're pretty much impossible to avoid at this point, but I'd thrown in surprises now and then. In Pedestal, the character's starter is a Numel, which isn't really in the norm. He starts when he's eleven, not ten, because of how long he took choosing a starter. Toss a few spices into the mix, that's what I'd like. Make your journey fic pop.
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  5. Mandriel

    Mandriel Valor Knight

    Agravaine
    (Giratina Egg)
    Level 15
    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2017
    Posts:
    2,537
    PokéPoints:
    ₽34.9
    Red Orb ★★★★★Tapunium Z ★★★★★Love Ball ★★★★★GS Ball ★★★★★Galladite ★★★★
    I'd first say good writing. That's the biggest thing that keeps me reading. It doesn't matter how great a plot might be, if it's poorly presented, chances are I won't get very far.

    But another thing that turns me away is a journey fic that starts with the protagonist waking up to go get a Pokémon from the professor. I know it sounds ridiculous for me to be bothered by it. And the thing is, I wouldn't be bothered so much if that wasn't the way that SO MANY of these fics start. But I suppose I wouldn't mind even this plot device if it was presented in a fresh way...

    I guess what I'm saying is originality goes a really long way in these fics. So many of them are similar, readers want to find one that's unique.
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  6. Writer4fun

    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2017
    Posts:
    69
    PokéPoints:
    ₽62.4
    I have a 63+ chapter journeyfic in progress and let me share what I did to get me noticed:

    -The title & summary: give the readers a reason to click on your story but try not to mislead. I read a story where Ninetales was listed as a main character, but it was a very minor character and had less influence on the plot than I thought.

    -Little canon influence. The only canon characters I have are the gym leaders, Nurse Joy, Mr. Goodshow, and the Elite 4. No mention of Ash & crew at all. Yes, that was a big risk I took, but I wanted a challenge to make all the important characters from scratch. Not saying Ash is bad, but I wanted no part of him in my story.

    -Non-traditional starter if done right; keep it a somewhat common Pokémon for the region. I had the family pet (Growlithe) become my character's starter in Johto outside Violet City. Not saying getting a Pokémon from a professor is bad, but I like it when authors have different yet reasonable starters.

    -My story is T rated aka more violent/brutal than what the anime portrays and "how Pokémon should be" according to a reviewer.

    -My character is older. I made the minimum age 16 instead of 10 and my character is 21.

    -The team is what you would see in G/S/C: Gyarados, Ampharos, Furret, Umbreon, Espeon, Growlithe. No shinies, no legendaries, just a normal team at 1st glance ;)

    -Legitimate romance of humans and Pokémon no matter how big or small it is (human has a girlfriend, Umbreon & Espeon will have an egg).

    -The Pokémon League challenge then the thought of facing the Elite Four. In the anime, they glossed over the E4 so much until XY that it annoyed me. I expanded on Lance's "G-Man" aspect from the anime too.

    -A good support group. The main character can travel alone, but can get help from friends that they meet later on or do the traveling companion. A "lone wolf" isn't bad either.

    -Realism. Consequences for actions, my character and Pokémon getting hypothermia in Pryce's gym, if someone tried to threaten my character then he'd punch them back, struggling in battles against tough opponents, you name it, I did it.

    -Be aware of what you're writing & know your weak points as best you can before posting. If your character has 6 shiny Pokémon, expect some trolls to come out regardless of how great the story may be. If a character ends up being like Tobias or just steamrolls everyone, expect some flak. If you portray a gym in great detail or crack a joke about it by breaking the 4th wall, maybe someone will notice and they'll tell you that they liked it.

    -Lastly: write your story. Ask for help, look around, but you're the one that has the final say.

    Note that this is what got me to this point in time and some of these are probably not ideal if you're out for pure, high numbers of favorites and/or reviews on AO3 or FFnet. I just got lucky that a lot of people liked it, let alone found it. I personally think that my story is successful all things considered, but I know there are much better ones out there. I probably have more, but that's all I have for now.
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  7. JadeFox

    JadeFox Valor Veteran

    Manchot
    (Piplup)
    Level 1
    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2017
    Posts:
    1,800
    PokéPoints:
    ₽91.6
    Premier Ball ★Beast Ball ★★★★Park Ball ★★★Mewnium Z  ★★★★★GS Ball ★★★★★
    Yes. All of this. This is definitely something you should consider. Don't do cliches, because that way your characters are more original, and be desceiptive with journeyfics. If you're on a journey, then surely you'd want to describe the scene, wouldn't you?
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  8. Writer4fun

    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2017
    Posts:
    69
    PokéPoints:
    ₽62.4
    To be fair, it's really hard to avoid every cliche out there so your character will be placed into some type of group/category regardless of what you do. Not all cliches are bad and the best part is that you can add your own twist to it or flat out deconstruct a cliche/trope.

    My character is a cliche "loyal and loving" person to his Pokémon. He'll listen to them and stand up for them when people insult them (like Ash or basically any normal trainer would). However, the moment someone touches their Poké Ball or attempts to hurt them beyond a normal battle, my character will either assault (punch) the person responsible or order his Pokémon to hit harder in battle/show no mercy even though they'll feel uncomfortable. Physical violence in the anime & games was basically countered with "you need to calm down" and the character going "yeah... you're right. Let's go." Forget that; my character's not going to take any of that sitting down.

    Realism is a powerful tool that can make cliches "less cliche" because the anime & games didn't due human emotions much justice when it came to anger or stress. They sort of mocked those two to be honest.

    It's important to note that I'm not saying cliche characters are bad in general. I'm a massive sucker for hurt/comfort fics and there aren't a lot of ways around the cliches that come with a h/c story. I may argue that for every one you try to avoid, the rest of them will be amplified or you'll end up doing more total cliches.



    Bingo! Have some fun with it! I made the Indigo Plateau have a 5 star hotel minutes away from the stadium and went into detail about it. Describing the layout of it made me feel like I was an architect or interior designer; it was very fun to write. What trainer wouldn't want access to a hot tub 24/7? Or discounted room service with a huge menu?
     
  9. JadeFox

    JadeFox Valor Veteran

    Manchot
    (Piplup)
    Level 1
    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2017
    Posts:
    1,800
    PokéPoints:
    ₽91.6
    Premier Ball ★Beast Ball ★★★★Park Ball ★★★Mewnium Z  ★★★★★GS Ball ★★★★★
    Yeah, you have a good point. I just try not to do them too much, but I didn't mean that they were bad (I need to do better about syntax...) But twisting it sounds like it would work better :)
     

Share This Page