The title is as basic as it gets, folks. xD But anyways, this is Ramon Talks...Or I Talks. You get the point. It's basically just me chatting about things. Rather it be something that's happen to me, random topics, etc. Just know that in general, this is where all the randomness will be at. In today's Ramon Talks though, I will be chatting about my fanfic. More so the history of it and how it has come so far since then. So find something comfortable to sit on and watch me...or read me(???) converse about this fanfiction of mine I adore so much: Spoiler It all started off as an idea of mine when I was 12. The idea being a Pokémon being able to combine two moves into one. Back then, I didn't know how to implement that idea since I'm not much of an great artist (And still remain sucking at drawing, lol). So I resulted to writing a fanfiction involving that idea because my fanfic history went sooooooooooooooooooooooo well with two of my previously forever deleted fanfics I created on .net, lol. So jumping a few years later, Mixturing Moves was born. I think around maybe 2013 or 14 the first version of it was out on .net or something. I'm not exactly sure since it has been awhile but it's around one of those years, for sure. Anyway, the first time I wrote MM, it was...terrible. The direction felt rushed, the intro didn't explain much about the story, everything happen because it can, and the fanfic itself was written like a script. No joke...I even have some of its chapter saved onto Google Docs, if you guys want to see it. Let me know in the thread. After receiving some criticism from a couple of friends of mine on PS, Pokémon Showdown, I'd redo the fanfic again for the second time and got bored of it halfway in chapter 4. So I deleted the story and let it become nothingness for awhile...until I'd reach my freshman year, where the idea refused to be erase from my memories. Like I was convinced that I could do so many unique things with that idea. So I revived the fanfic for the third time and had some friends help me out with it. After uploading it on Wattpad, the results went well for it: The characters were well developed, the direction didn't feel rushed, the story took its time to explain things properly, and the idea was better executed. In fact, MM was originally going to be an PMD fanfic until I decided to let it be its own thing. Mainly due to the tone of it and the world structure I wanted to expand with. Sure there are some dark PMD fanfics out there, including the cringy/bad ones. But I felt that MM can create its own uniqueness with the expanded world structure I had in mind for the main character to explore in. MM and PMD may shared the 'Pokémon minus human world' setting but they're quite different from each other. Despite MM gaining some decent amount of views and appreciations, it didn't become as well known as my past self hoped for it to be. Less recognition used to bother me back then but now I don't care since it is a fanfic after all. Most people see fanfics as garbage nowadays, which is sad but true due to the amount of...'Why?' fanfics exist more than the good ones. But that's a different topic I won't go into all that much. As time pass by, I'd upload chapter 10 in October 10, 2016 and I started to become...very lazy with the uploading schedule. And it became apparent with chapter 11, which came out in January 1, 2017. The chapter itself wasn't that great to me either due to not being as good as the previous chapters before it. Then things tend to go downhill for me: Me waiting for my laptop to get fixed for three months (I'm pretty sure that one of you remember mentioning that during the time), personal conflict happening in my life, and one of my helpers, DropTheBased, wasn't involved as much on the fanfic as she used to (In fact, she departure from helping me work on MM later on, which is understandable since she's currently focusing on other things going on in her life). So I was left with one helper, DiancieIsBae, aiding me on the fanfic and we had to retweak the whole thing because...despite the fanfic doing well, it was filled with errors all over the place. Errors that wasn't suppose to be there in the first place such as the mixture of past and present tense being throughout the story. So after uploading chapter 12 in June 17, 2017 (Or June 21, 2017 for you guys), I noticed that not many people saw the chapter during its release on Wattpad. Heck, not even from my followers. This is all because of my lack of uploading new chapters consistently. I guessed that I can sorta understood it because life exists, har har. Thus, this led me to upload new chapters monthly on any Fridays or Saturdays, meaning when next month arrives, either one of those Fridays or Saturdays will have a new chapter being uploaded there. That way, the story wouldn't feel like it's lacking the upload schedule as it used to before. If that makes sense. After all of that, there lie chapter 13 in July 1, 2017, where MM's first arc began. And the arc came to its end at chapter 20 in February 10, 2018. Honestly, the arc became the renaissance of the fanfic for me. Because that's where I was experimenting with everything very well and found a way on how to properly develop villains (at least, knowing the basic of such anyways). Me and my friend had an wonderful time working on this arc and enjoyed the suggestions we made for the arc, even though I could had been a bit prideful about some of the suggestions. It was also tough and tricky to do, seeing how there's a bunch of decisions that could've easily make the arc become terrible or the fanfic itself, even. But I managed to pull through it and am happy with the results. Not sure if some of my followers on the fanfic had read it already but hopefully they get the time to, since I am taking a break from it till August hits. Just to summarize everything: I've come a long way with this fanfic. Sure, it's still not as recognizable as my past self hope for it to be but I don't care because that's the reality for fanfics. They rarely become well known unless they're so bad that it receives recognition for its awfulness. Sure there is a chance that an actual good fanfic will become well known but that's like trying to find a rare Pokémon with like a 5% encounter rate or something. It's unlikely that'll ever happen but who knows, really? All I know is that I'm making this fanfic to show my love and passion towards Pokémon. Also, doing it for fun, not for fame. That is legitimately the most important thing to keep in mind whenever you're trying to do something that'll potentially make you famous. In other words, I enjoyed every bits of this fanfic and can't wait to return back to writing it in August. n_n Had to put the history chat thing in a spoiler tag due to me chatting a lot about that topic. If there's an Ramon Talk that doesn't contain me chatting much about the topic, then I won't include the topic. Also, gonna give @DiancieIsBae a shoutout because he is the reason why this fanfic is continuing and growing strong. c: And to those who are new and is thinking about reading the fanfic after reading this thread, you may if you want to.
I think you only truly realise how good a fanfic is after it's completed instead of contemplating about it every time a new chapter is written.
That is true. Though I never intend on contemplating it whenever I release a new chapter. More so I like to admire its growth as I continue writing it. And besides, I'm just telling everyone its history and how much I've grown from it since its creation.
That's an interesting history for sure. I'll be honest that while writing a good fanfic is a fun venture, it's also very taxing. For me; I can get a chapter of 10k words out every two weeks and I've got maybe about two or three days in that timespan to get it done. It also heavily depends on if I know what I'm doing XD If I don't have a faint of a clue, then it's going to inevitably take longer. You seem to have the right amount dialed in. A chapter's long enough to be engaging but short enough not to bore a reader. I still see a few errors or spots for improvement, but you've made it quite a pleasure to read and parts in the way you write dialogue makes me wish I did some things. I write for my own enjoyment and the entertainment of others. And it's paying off. My current project has gotten more than 200 total subscribers on FFN. I wish the review count was higher, but I keep reminding myself to continue on regardless of how much attention I'm receiving. I'm a review whore...what do you expect? XD Good talk Ramon. Can't wait to see what else is on your mind.
Haha. I'm sorta one of them, too. Just wished that more folks would respond to my fanfic as well but eh, I'm getting used to the harsh reality of fanfics. lol Also, I have something else on my mind relating to the fanfic but it's something silly. I'll start creating the talk whenever I get the chance to, probably this week. c: