Pokémon Fan Fiction

Writing Pokémon Fan Fiction

The final thing to understand is how to write Pokémon fan fiction. You can't ignore the work that's gone before you and the lessons we've learned if you want to come up with something your readers will like.

The Pokémon World

Understand the Pokémon world. You can't write about your trainer going to Serulean Town and getting an Earth badge by defeating Surge's Charizord with your Bulbasaur. Naturally, AU stories are within your artistic licence, but you need to know the rules before you choose to break them.

Genres

Understand the genres. Along with the traditional genres (adventure, romance, crime, etc.), Pokémon fan fiction has its own more specific themes, for example, new trainer stories, specific romances (Ash+Misty, May+Drew, etc.), and Team Rocket stories. You can write whatever you like, but if you choose to use the specific categories, you need to be aware of certain things.

The specific themes have been done to death. How many ways are there for Ash and Misty to fall in love? (I'm even responsible for some of them myself.) The key to writing in these themes these days is to be original. New trainer stories have to be realistic—you don't get Mew or Lugia as a starter or defeat gym leaders without loads of experience.

Many early fanfics were written as if they were anime: characters "sweat-dropped", Misty produced a mallet, etc. A lot of stories were written in script format. Eventually, more serious works ensued in traditional prose, in which Pokémon were treated realistically: a thunderbolt can electrocute, a carelessly thrown ember can start a bushfire. The earlier styles are frowned upon, so if you want to use them, be very good and very confident before you try.

Pokémon Battles

Pokémon battles are an intrinsic part of the Pokémon world. You don't have to emphasize them in your stories, but if you do feature them, write them like a real fights, not as a transcript of something that came out of a Game Boy. Imagine yourself in the place of each of the combatants and their trainers and visualize how they would perceive what's going on. You see an attack coming, you try and dodge if you're in a position to do so, or you launch a defensive attack. Your characters get tired, sore and perhaps injured. See how the animation has brought the Game Boy creatures to life and made them real, and learn from it.

Characters

Go for original characters with real aspirations, motivation and struggles and make your stories interesting. Why did your character become a trainer? What is it about May that Drew likes or dislikes? Are you disappointed you didn't catch that Poliwhirl? (I hope your trainers don't land everything they throw a ball at with the minimum of fuss!)

Final Word

My final point is to ask you to try and give your reader some insights into both the fictional world of Pokémon, and into the mundane world of real life. As to the former, explore the implications of what it means, for example, to be a Pokémon trainer, or to be a particular Pokémon! As to the latter, share what you've learned about life through your characters and the lessons they learn in their adventures.

For example, Morbane explores Vaporeon's ability to melt into water in her wonderful short story, Melting, giving us some thought on how that particular ability might work:

...He trained another Vaporeon, who showed me how to melt into water, which became my favourite activity. There is a trick to it. You must remain conscious of every part of you, crest, web, flippers, eyes... First you learn to hold that awareness together and then it becomes your background thought as you seek into the water. The water currents become your foremost thought. Slowly you are drifting [...] You become part of the water, but you are still yourself.

Cyberwraith9's $42.50 uses the setting of the Pokémon world to explore the very human issues of dealing with failure and finding the inspiration to change your outlook. Most of it is a dialogue between Harry, a cab driver, and a mysterious youth. Here's a considerably abridged extract:

"[...] I lost a...a really good friend...not too long ago."

"[...] I'm sorry to hear that, Kid."

"Yeah, well..." he sniffed [...] "It was my fault." [...]

"Sounds like you and he were close." [...]

"Yeah," he grinned, "He was the big brother I never had [...]"

Harry would have said something, but, like all good cabbies, he had gotten to their destination quickly and efficiently. "Well, here we are. So wha'cha gonna do?"

The boy sighed, wiping his eyes and gathering up his suitcase. "I'm gonna leave [...] and never look back."

Harry nodded. "[...] Look, I may not have known this guy [...] but...if I were your friend, I wouldn't want you to give up."

The boy looked at him, scowling through the darkness. "It can't be that easy."

"It never is."

Wordlessly, the boy slammed the door shut. Harry shrugged [...] then turned his attention back to the road. [...] he made it exactly three feet before a loud pounding on the roof of the cab made him stop. [...] the boy climbed back into the cab [...]

"Damn you, Harry." he swore, throwing his luggage against the opposite door.

"Just doin' my job, Kid [...]"

I've removed all references to Pokémon to show that the story is about humanity at its heart. While the Pokémon world may have provided the original inspiration, the story deals with real life issues.