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[Discussion/Questions] A few random thoughts


BlastHedgehog

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For a while now I've had some ideas for YGO fanfiction, and I finally decided to put some work into it, especially after seeing here. However, I do have some questions about this section and YGO/fanfiction in general, that perhaps either others may have had or will at least spark discussion.

 

Not to start it off on such a note, but the first question is, err, where else is there to post these? Not to be rude, but the section does seem quite... barren. The first thought would be fanfiction.net, however the sections there are split between each anime series and mine is an unrelated, original work. And while I don't want to be picky, I would like the chance for more than a few dozen people to see it (sorrysorrysorry). Can you post here and elsewhere?

 

On a sort of related note, for here. Does a story need to be posted in the forum itself, or would a link to, say, a Google Doc be alright? Merely curious, since uploading a word doc there seems much more convenient than re-formatting it for bbcode.

 

Onto a more direct topic, to maybe discuss; what do you think is a good method of writing duels? Obviously they're not exactly intended for a written format. Me personally, I'll be basing them off of a self-created replay in YGOPro, to maximise legitimacy (and also provide the interesting option of downloading the yrp file to watch the duel).

 

Lastly, do you have any random tips or tricks you add to or do when writing? Not necissarikg writing tips - listening to music perhaps? Though I am actually curious if anyone has any tips for maintaining consistent characterisation in dialogue and action and such, to stop characters having informed-only personalities.

 

Sorry if this isn't meant to go here, I'm just assuming it should since [Discussion] is a tag and I'm not sure where else it'd go.

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Does a story need to be posted in the forum itself, or would a link to, say, a Google Doc be alright? Merely curious, since uploading a word doc there seems much more convenient than re-formatting it for bbcode.

 

 

This is a good question, and not something I've considered.  I'll ping our residential mod and see what he has to say.  

 

 

Lastly, do you have any random tips or tricks you add to or do when writing? Not necissarikg writing tips - listening to music perhaps? Though I am actually curious if anyone has any tips for maintaining consistent characterisation in dialogue and action and such, to stop characters having informed-only personalities.

 

Be patient with yourself.

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Howdy. I'm not the CW mod, but unless Zai is in addition to RP, I... don't think we actually have a CW mod. So I'll just have to do, though keep in mind if Zai says something that goes against something I say here, he's most likely got final say round here :)

 

Not to start it off on such a note, but the first question is, err, where else is there to post these? Not to be rude, but the section does seem quite... barren. The first thought would be fanfiction.net, however the sections there are split between each anime series and mine is an unrelated, original work. And while I don't want to be picky, I would like the chance for more than a few dozen people to see it (sorrysorrysorry). Can you post here and elsewhere?

The Creative Writing section can use all the activity it can get, so you shouldn't be afraid to post here just because there aren't many people doing the same. If anything, I'd consider that an encouragement to do so, since it's a lot harder to lose your thread. Unfortunately, there isn't really any other section fit for fanfiction unless you turn this into an RP, but we already have our fair share of Yu-Gi-Oh RPs so you may wanna hold on that. Posting it here and somewhere else should be fine, since it's still your work; the only real problem is plagiarizing somebody else's work, which you aren't doing. Besides, what you do off-site isn't really our business.

 

On a sort of related note, for here. Does a story need to be posted in the forum itself, or would a link to, say, a Google Doc be alright? Merely curious, since uploading a word doc there seems much more convenient than re-formatting it for bbcode.

I don't think posting a link to a Google Doc would fly. Those can take a bit to load, for one, and it forces mobile users to go off-site to read it, just to have to come back to like your post and/or comment on the story. I can help you with the bbcode formatting if it's a concern of yours :)

 

Onto a more direct topic, to maybe discuss; what do you think is a good method of writing duels? Obviously they're not exactly intended for a written format. Me personally, I'll be basing them off of a self-created replay in YGOPro, to maximise legitimacy (and also provide the interesting option of downloading the yrp file to watch the duel).

So first off, that .yrp idea is really cool... so long as it's optional. Sadly, there isn't really a good way to write duels (that I know of). Try looking around in the RP section is the best I can say.

 

Lastly, do you have any random tips or tricks you add to or do when writing? Not necissarikg writing tips - listening to music perhaps? Though I am actually curious if anyone has any tips for maintaining consistent characterisation in dialogue and action and such, to stop characters having informed-only personalities.

If you don't think you should do something in your story, odds are you shouldn't do it. On the flipside, if you are worried about what people might think of something that happens in your story... don't be worried about it. As long as it doesn't break the site rules, do what you want with your story. Writing is supposed to be fun.

 

Sorry if this isn't meant to go here, I'm just assuming it should since [Discussion] is a tag and I'm not sure where else it'd go.

This is the right section :)

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Hey. Thanks for the answers - I do have a couple more questions though.

 

Sort of a mix of the first two questions, what if you were to post the story here, in the forums, but also provide links to other locations? Essentially, have it as an option, but just that - optional. Consequentially, if it were posted elsewhere it would have links or references to here. But, like I said, the story itself would also be here. Erm, not to appear to be pushing the idea, I'm only thinking of giving the reader options, but I don't want to rub anyone the wrong way. ...wait, that's just one question.

 

Regardless, I'm definitely going to end up writing something - I've already started. Don't worry about the BBCode, I can do it, I just thought it might be inconvenient. I did just notice the "Paste From Word" button though, wonder what that does. Just need to practice planning, as opposed to writing by the seat of my pants...

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Not a mod, take this all with a grain of salt and get final confirmation:

1) Where to post?

... Honestly, if you don't wanna post it here I don't really know what to tell you. I'm not offended or anything by it, but it's kinda like if you were at a party and went like: "I know a great joke! Do you know anyone who'd like to hear it?" Like... dude what the funk?

But I assume there's nothing stopping you from posting wherever you want. Why would there be? We don't own your story.

2) Posted in Forum?

I'd prefer it. I think linking to another forum or a Google Doc or ff.net would be kinda... tacky or something? IDK

3) Writing Duels?

Don't do it ;D

I hate duels in fanfics. I just don't find them interesting. They're a pain in the ass to read and a pain in the ass to write.

Actual Advice: If you do need a duel, think about all the possible consequences to winning and losing, and don't be afraid of your character losing a duel. Does your protagonist REALLY have to win and Jaden Yuki it up?

Like, remember in GX when Cyrus was caught in the Obelisk Girls Dorm and Jaden had to win a duel for his freedom? Like... imagine if he lost. Why couldn't the girls just say: "You may have lost, but no one who duels as great as you could be a gross pervert! You're free to go!" It would show the girls in a better light for being able to let something go after someone wronged them. It would show Jaden as more than a boring invincible hero.

Or maybe they try to get him expelled and Crowler's totally for it, but Chancellor Shepperd suddenly steps in and probably has him duel for it.

Just... for every duel they have, think about the consequences of winning or losing and then go with the one that makes for the best story. Your main dude doesn't have to always win, especially if it's an incosequential duel, and ESPECIALLY if losing makes for a more interesting story or gets him into worse trouble for him to crawl his way back from.

4) Random Tips or Tricks:

- Re-read your work. Constantly. If it's cringy and gross and awkward for you, imagine what it's like for someone else reading it? If you, the person who knows the most about your world is finding it a chore to slog through, how will the reader enjoy it?

- Plan ahead. For long running stories, I think readers like to sort of feel like they're rewarded for reading. "Hmm, that sounds like a clue!" and then you have a callback to it.

- Be consistent. If you say something is absolutely positively true, you better either keep it true the whole way through or have a damn good reason for breaking it (alternatively, with planning ahead you can plant seeds of doubt here or there if you do plan on breaking it)

- Just funking write something. As a recent example for myself, I had a funny idea where a character is naked (and drunk) and another character is all like "What the hell?" The drunk character sloshes a bit before loudly declaring themselves to be wearing the finest clothes that only those with the purest of hearts can see. Then they laugh a bit before dropping the facade and declaring that, yes they are indeed naked.

I wrote that scene kinda with nothing really in mind to build up to it. Just a dumb little excercise in "how would this character act as a drunk" and "how would this character react to seeing that?" I wrote more over time and realized I could use the scene, with a few edits, into another chapter I was writing.

Don't get into the habit of "Write Chapter 1. Writer Chapter 2. Write Chapter 3." Skip around and write something exciting. Get a fun or wacky premise in mind. Then build your chapter around it, or lead a chapter into that scene. And don't forget to read and re-read it.

5) Consistent characterization in dialogue and action:

Consistency Tip #1: Nobody is just born the way they are. What caused them to be that way? FOR EXAMPLE, if you had a kinda dumb happy go lucky girl as a character, why is she like that? Maybe she was a sad orphan and her only outlet for happy stuff was children's books about princesses and unicorns and rainbows so that's what she latched onto? Once you have that, you can further build on stuff. She had a sad childhood and no parents, so she's probably clingy to people she likes. She's simple minded, but that's only because she was sorta robbed of her childhood so she wants to extend the childhood she never had. She never had toys growing up, so she surrounds her house with a million and one dolls and cries when they break.

Instead of focusing on "she's [happy/sad/flirty/whatever]" try to focus on WHY she is those things. Once you can do that, it's easier to maintain consistency

Consistency Tip #2: Imagine your characters in a difficult situation, and imagine how they would react. Using the above happy go lucky girl, how would she then react if FOR EXAMPLE, she saw a dead body? Would she cry and run away? Would she be like "they're going to their forever sleep now!" and still be cheerful? Would she understand what death is?

Genearl but slightly related tip: SHOW DON'T TELL. Have this big dumb tragic backstory for Miss Happy Go Lucky... and never delve too deeply into it. Show hints to it here or there. She doesn't have baby pictures in her house. She lives alone. She never mentions her parents even when everyone else is talking about their family. She never talks about her past. She doesn't seem to know how to do basic common things kids do like riding a bike or swimming. She gets really defensive towards children when she sees them sad or upset or being picked on. If anyone asks her, she'll give a quick sentence and moves on.


Most importantly though, don't get married to your original ideas. As you grow and write more you'll have to make adjustments and fixes to your story. Maybe a better idea comes along. This is natural. Don't make your characters too rigid, because everyone likes a character who can grow and evolve and change over time.

In my opinion

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1/2. Sorry. It wasn't meant to be a case of "don't post it here". Rather, it was meant to be a case of "post it everywhere". It was just an idea to potentially make things more convenient for a reader, but if it can be seen like that it's probably for the best to just ignore it. Updating multiple places would probably be inconvenient anyway.
 
3. Unfortunately, dueling is pretty important to the premise and world of the idea I had. It would be hard, if not outright impossible, to follow through with it without writing out duels.
I already planned for there to be losses though - major ones, in fact. Like you said, losing is interesting, and losing an important duel even more so. The trick is balancing losses with victories, so they don't start coming across as incompetent or lucky, right? Ironic, since my favorite series was 5DS, and Yusei is... yeah.
 
4. Planning ahead is weird for me. The ideas I get for "what could happen" they, like, usually come in the form of potential scenes? And then I sort of plan around "what could lead to that". Whatever I think of probably won't turn out the same, but it provides the structure like regular planning would, I think. The only issue is I'm really terrible at writing down the ideas, mainly because I suffer really badly from blank page syndrome, even for something like that. Even outside of writing, I get it. Very, very frustrating.
So, you mean have an idea for the middle, and then write the before and after around that? That's... basically how I have the ideas. Huh. I'll try that, maybe it'll go well with that.
 
5. As much as I understand "they'll act like this because of this backstory thing", I never thought of "they'll react like this becuase of this backstory thing". Rather than "becuase of this backstory, their personality is this", it's "because of their backstory, they'll react to this like this". I never thought of it like that, but it makes sense.
 
Thank you a bunch for taking the time to give all this advice.

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