Thread: Advice for Aspiring Authors - An Old Rant Revived

Originally posted by Mew2Too
Now that I've started reading again, I think it's gotten better. Blackjack Gabbiani might be able to atest to that. She's already read the new first chapter of JTC.

I still think you need to work on toning down the main character. Mary Sues get a bad rep because of the tendency for them to be mega-powerful...

But again, not all Mary Sues are bad! Satoshi Tajiri admits that Ash is supposed to be himself at 10, for instance.

Just watch yourself.

Originally posted by Blackjack Gabbiani
I still think you need to work on toning down the main character. Mary Sues get a bad rep because of the tendency for them to be mega-powerful...

But again, not all Mary Sues are bad! Satoshi Tajiri admits that Ash is supposed to be himself at 10, for instance.

Just watch yourself.

Which main character is that? As I remember, the only character in the first chapter that I sent you was Geralden. Well, and Mew of course. As to the rest, that's in rewrite.

Do you really think Chris Brockner is mega-powerful? Mmh, dunno. Even in the original draft of the first story, he was getting the crap beat out of him by Malevolent. I'm talkin' about the really old stuff. The stuff I wrote back in 2001.

Also, Malevolent, will be more explained away in the revamped version. As not that quacking maniac I was going for before. That was pretty dumb. And, all that stupid omnitemporal BS is outta there. Everything takes place on one temporal plane pretty much.

Yeah, Chris...

I really didn't like Chris, and I'm not sure why. I think it's because everything happened to him just out of serendipity, and that's far too easy...

Originally posted by Blackjack Gabbiani
Yeah, Chris...

I really didn't like Chris, and I'm not sure why. I think it's because everything happened to him just out of serendipity, and that's far too easy...

Which is the difference between you and I - I know exactly where Chris Brockner's life is going. I know where his destiny is going, and I think that's something that has to be set outright from the story instead of waiting. After all, I think it was too confusing when I was trying to keep Kado's identity a secret...

I think that's hint enough of where Chris Brockner's destiny lies. He'll find out in the first episode this time.

Instead of Hiakiu having a future version of himself... Well, it will be mentioed he had a visitation by a future version of himself. There will be no more than that. Instead, I have a new character named Lafong. He has a story, but I won't spoil it.

I move that we make this a sticky. Otherwise it will be lost in the flood of stories on this forum. Damian? Could you do that? (Obviously, I cannot.)

I'll merge it with the other, already sticky topic by Kurai. Otherwise that would start making for a bit too many stickies.

Making repeated mechanical stick stick stick stick motion, Kurai mumbles, "Stick stick stick stick..." in time to her movement.

Takeru says, "Er, naze da you...?" and pokes her gently.

Kurai mumbles, "Stick stick stick stick...." She points at the sticky topic, then resumes her previous obsessive-compulsive actions, again withdrawing herself from the scene.

Takeru utters with quaivering finger of cognition, "Sticky topic. Ah." oO;

Kit interjects, "I think she's stuck on talking to herself—something else that can be an adding or subtracting factour in a fic!" ;;

Irate, Takeru rambles, "I'm rather certain that authors are aware that talking to your characters (or having characters talking to themselves) can add to the mood and tone of a scene, and to the feel and personality of a character. Whether or not the character would normally do so can clue in as to how freaked out or cracked they really are." >X$~

Kit knocks the rabid out of him, then comments, "I'm 'rather certain' that *you* are well aware of THAT literary device."

Takeru: ".... Are you mocking my love for Keiji?" ;-;

Again Kurai mumbles, this time louder than before, "Stick stick stick stick..." then mumbles... /\/3\/4r/\/\0r3.

Blackjack wonders if this is the same Takeru from Digimon.

She sits back in her chair, thinking of TK (second season, of course) making eyes at Kenji. She shudders.

Takeru believes that his character concept was derived from lil' T.K. (from books I & II of RoseIII Season 0I and from books III, IV, & V of RoseIII Season 0II and the epilogue).... But evenmoreso than the first generation of insanity, his progeny, Yamato and Takeru, are fashioned after the kawaii siblings of Digimon. Yet he doesn't anticipate the arrival of these two for some bizarre reason....

Takeru thinks on it a bit too much and shudders as Blackjack did before him.

Oh, and *gack*. XP I just now realised why you shuddered.... Tracey Sketchit and Takeru Takaishi.... X_x;;;

Blackjack thinks you guys need mental help

Jirarudan thinks Blackjack needs mental help.

Yukio...needs mental help. And a friend other than a rather large unripe tomato.

Blackjack has issues with her soulbonds.

Originally posted by Blackjack Gabbiani


But again, not all Mary Sues are bad! . . .

Just watch yourself.

I quite agree. A Mary Sue (or Gary Stu for the males) can work in a story if he or she is written in such a way as to avoid appearing too good to be true. Also, suddenly giving a character magical powers for no apparent reason is probably not a good idea either. If you MUST give a character powers of any sort, try to come up with a explanation for why they should have them. In my fic "The Chimera Children", for example, I've theorised that a human/Pokemon hybrid should have the potential to use the Attacks of whatever Pokemon their DNA was spliced with. Bjorn and Ursula are part Ursaring, so they can use Ursaring Attacks, but I had to bear (no pun intended) in mind that they are anatomically human; therefore I avoided giving them Attacks that would require sharp claws such as Cut or Slash since human fingernails are not much good in this respect.

As for GameBoy classifications for characters, the way I see it these amount to little more than stereotypes focussing on one aspect of the character and ignore the fact that he or she is a unique human being. For example, it would be perfectly acceptable to have a trainer named Jason who trains Bug Types and whose team comprises Scyther, Yanma, Beedrill, Heracross, Venomoth and Ariados



but there's no need to keep advertising the fact by calling him Bug Catcher Jason. Just state that his name is Jason and he trains Bug Types

Togepreety asked me to put my advices here... Oh well...
The thread was closed anyway O.o

~~~
Teachings from a Literature Student

Okay. Basically a fanfiction is a form of literature where as Fan(s) of a certain form of entertainment, write their opinionated minds in forms of a story.

That's the basics.

A fanfiction requires these few things:
Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action and Resolution
Remember that a fanfic is never a fanfic without these!

Chpater 1 Lesson 1:
Exposition
The exposistion is the introduction of the story. What an exposistion needs is: Conflict, Characters and Settings

Conflict: This is the protagonist(hero)'s goal in the story. There is no such thing as a story without a conflict.

Example of Conflict: Ash wants to be a pokemon master.

~Protagonist: The hero of the story can be any form of character.
~Antagonist: The villain of the story. Can be either be nature, man or an effect in the protagonist.

Example: Jim wants to win the race but can't because he broke his leg.

Now that example contains the Protagonist, Antagonist and Conflict!

Protagonist: Jim
Antagonist: Broken Leg
Conflict: Jim wants to win the race

*The protagonist can be anybody or anything as long as it blocks the protagonist from reaching its goal.

Chapter 1 Lesson 2
Character

The character basically tells us what/how the Protagonist/Antagonists looks like or act. It tells us more about the characters. This is your chance to evaluate how your character looks like or how it acts. The more you use character, the more it goes well.

Example: Jim is tall and competes in sports alot. He is good at almost any sport. He is very reckless and is proud of anything he does stupid and arrogant.

At that moment, we now know how Jim broke his leg. How? Because he's reckless! Its just right in front of you!

*Sometimes, if the antagonist is human, it is good to show character to him/her only if he/she appears at the start of the story!

Chapter 1 Lesson 3
Setting

Setting tells us even more about the conflict. It is basically the place where the story takes place. There can be mutiple settings where the Protagonist or the Antagonist can take advatage of.

Example: Jim lived near the rocky montains and loved to hike almost everyday.

Anything learned from there? This setting just told us right smack in the middle of our faces on how Jim got his brocken leg. How? He must be hiking then he slipped and broke his leg. Exactly! That how we know about the character, settings and conflict at the same time.

These three things are there to learn more about the plot. The more clearer the plot is, the better the fanfiction.
~~~
Now you may have think we're finished we just started. So tune in for more lessons.

~ONI!~ ^_~;;

NOTE: I originally posted this as part of the generalised version of Advice For Aspiring Authors over on Pojo's board, but I think it bears repeating here.

Try to have at least a provisional title in mind - you can always change it later if it no longer seems to fit the story, but let your readers know if you do - as there are few things more annoying than seeing topic after topic called "Untitled Fic" or something in that vein. Titles are EXTREMELY important tools for distinguishing one story from another, which is why it's often not a good idea to have titles that are too similar to those already in use. Two particularly common examples of this are Pokemon fics with titles like "Timmy's Pokemon Journey" and Harry Potter stories where the title starts with the words "Harry Potter And The . . ."

Whatever you decide to call your fic it needs to have some relevence to the storyline, be it the name of a major character or event, a quote (an example is the novel "To Kill A Mockingbird" where the title is a metaphor for attacking the innocent) or just an appropriate word or phrase. In short, a title needs to give the reader an idea what to expect from the fic, but it should do this without giving too much information away. And do remember that there is a limit to how long topic headings can be on this board - a title like "How Lapras Trainer Josephine Court Wowed Everyone At The Pokemon League And Came Into Contact With Her Future Husband While She Was There" is going to get chopped off at the end. And it's also a little mind-boggling; as a rule, titles shouldn't contain more ideas than is absolutely necessary to convey the essence of the story's main theme. If we take an original story of mine called "The Sect Of Xanadu Peak" as an example, the title tells us that this Sect is likely to play a major role in the story. Who the Sect are, what they believe and where Xanadu Peak is located is revealed in the story itself.

And remember that the title of your fic is the first thing people are going to see. You need to grab their attention, encourage them to click on the link to your story - and the best way to do this is with a good title. That's why you need to give your fic a title, if not as soon as you start writing it, by the time the story gets under way. A lot of you probably don't remember this, but, back when Pojo's board was a UBB, there was a story in the Pokemon Fanfic section about a Ponyta who couldn't use Fire Attacks. It was untitled for the first seven or eight chapters before the author called it "The Ponyta Story" in one post and the name stuck. If you want to read it, it's on fanfiction.net . . .

Is Spike still around, Clare? I haven't seen him since TKF died. o_o