Some Help Needed...

[ozhater1]

Okay, first off I seriously am clueless, I have read the fanfic rules but I am still not sure if this topic should be in this section or not.

Anyway; last night I decided that in light of me becoming a fan of Pokemon again, that I should use my 'writing skills' to write a fanfic about how I'd like my life to be if I were in the Pokemon world.

I have a basis so far, with 1 main character (myself; Corey), and three sub-main-characters/tag-alongs (Michael, Tyler & Kyle). I also have an antagonist (Damien). The things I need are names for towns (excluding the starting town; I have a name for that), gym leaders, and the elite four; and possibly some of the leaders'/elite's pokemon line-ups.

So basically I'm looking for a bit of charity work (of sorts), in the form of somebody coming up with a few names and some pokemon teams. I don't think it's a whole lot to ask; but I may be wrong.

As I said, I have no clue if this goes here or not; so if somebody could point out whther it does or not that would be greatly appreciated...

[Gavin Luper]

G'day and welcome to fanfic ozhater1 ... and may I say, that would seem a very insightful screen name.

You are correct in posting here: technically, The Writer's Lounge is where any non-story thread would belong. In other words, unless you are posting a story - fanfic or otherwise - you should post in this subforum.

Now, it's good to hear that you are interested in writing a fanfic. We always welcome new fics and new writers - variety is what keeps the forum alive. From a moderator's point of view, there is no problem with you asking for other people to think of ideas; as a writer, though, I have to say that it seems awfully unimaginitive. If you are really interested in writing your own story, surely you would fully invest your own imagination in it? Thinking up names, characters and line-ups is a very enjoyable aspect of writing a fanfiction; to pass that on to other people who are not writers of your fic seems at best indifferent, and at worst, a disservice to your fic.

That is all I will say on the matter, as you are, of course, well within your rights to ask for help from other fanfic members; and I am sure there are many who would be willing to help - there is nothing wrong with that. But as a fellow writer I really would implore you to take some initiative and try to dream up the setting and character details yourself.

In any case, I do hope you post the story here soon. If you have any further questions on this matter, or about fanfic in general, please don't hesitate to PM me or one of the other mods.

Cheers!

- Gavin.

[Blademaster]

Hey, ozhater1. Howzit goin'?

The name's Blade, resident smart@$$ and good Samurai-tan... Um, whatever the word is... :redface:

Anyway, I think I may have a suggestion that could help: Why not start writing your story, and then ask for help as you go? It seems like you have the basics of your story down, so why not start it, and as you get more chapters down and more readers reading, you can ask for help in the form of contests and/or user characters - I'm sure you'd get some assistance that way. Lots of writers here do it, but only sparingly. Still, that doesn't mean you can't have UC's make return appearances or just use a lot of the ones submitted to you. That's what I'm doing with my story, Yu-Gi-Oh! 3.0 (Read it, lol.). After the first few chapters, ask if anyone would like to contribute any user characters, or post some sort of quiz or contest or something, and people will give you feedback.

However, I'd advise that BIG parts of the story, like the Elite 4, you should try your own ideas - take risks, you know? I'm sure by the time you get to that point in your story, your readers will like you and it enough to support your ideas and offer suggestions on how to make some of the worse ones better.

That's my two cents, anyway - keep the change. :wink:

And once you get the story started, I'll check it out; I'm sure Gavin will, too. He's a Poke-fic veteran; he'll help you out.

(gives Gavin 'the eye')

Isn't that right, Gavin? :rolleyes:

-Blade

[ozhater1]

Thanks very much for the input.

So far I've written a little bit of the story (1 MS-Word page of background info, and 1 MS-Word page of the story itself), I'm hoping to have all of the starter pokemon given out by tonight; which will give me a second page.

As for my own ideas in the elite 4, that is probably the best idea. I've already decided what the final outcome in that area will be, and who will face the champion (and who the champion is for that matter).