Dear RomUlation, So many people, host "game projects", but maybe it's time for something a little bit different. I am in the process of writing a novel based in the Pokemon universe. I'd like to give major props to Raysie as his Pokemon RocketRed demo gave me great inspiration for writing a story from the antagonist's point-of-view, but is it really an antagonist? Here's the description: The novel/story is titled "Pokemon: Rocket Force", and is based over 10 years after the events of the "Pokemon Diamond & Pearl" series. Ash Ketchum is now 25 years old, and remains (so far) inactive. Misty and Brock have returned as the Gym Leaders of Cerulean City and Pewter City, respectively. With these three taken out of the equation, who is the main protagonist? Dawn? May? Max? Gary Oak? The answer is, none of the above. The centre character and narrator is Mark Strang, a 16 year old high school drop-out who along with one of his friends, Scott McCoy, join the illustrious criminal syndicate that is "Team Rocket". Good? Evil? What exactly are these two new Team Rocket recruits agendas? All will be revealed through the use of flashbacks throughout the first-person narrated story. I don't know how long the story is going to last, but in order to make the story fulfilling, I'm going to add a little interactivity, where you, the readers, can post here things that you would like to be covered about Team Rocket from the inside, or make suggestions about the kind of antics you would like to see the syndicate get involved with. The section for my novel could come in handy for feedback and suggestions, as well as the place to host Chapters as they get posted. I hope people like my idea. (and dont try to steal it). Regards, RyuBakura
It sounds interesting at least. Do you have anything written so far? Any previous works? From your introduction to the story it sounds like you're possibly going with the cliché of self-insertion where you write the main character as yourself. Doing this means one is prone to making the main character without flaws or generally unrealistic. Also, the use of flashbacks is hardly ever good, if you look at most published literature you will find very few containing flashbacks as they are very hard to do right and often disrupt the flow of a story without adding much to it.
A Pokemon novel... well, I like the sound of that! I rarely read, but this is something I think I'd be into!
another piece of advice, don't switch the narrative between characters, I once read a book that did that (don't recall the title now) and it was increadibly hard to follow, it was almost 5 parallel stories in one book and kept switching between them.
Yeah, I have Chapter 1 written, and am currently writing Chapter 2 at time of post. The chapters are shorter than your general novel but seeing as its an internet hosted novel, I don't think anyone will mind, and the story is pretty tight. My name is not Mark or Scott, so nah, I'm not in this novel. The only common characteristics between the main character and myself is our fear of heights and bad decision making. I'm hoping I can get a separate section as it would give me somewhere that I can be dedicated to posting each chapter as well as getting a feedback thread, a suggestions thread etc, and just generally throw in some behind the scenes gossip and FAQs exclusive to Romulation. As far as the longevity of the novel? I'm aiming for 12 chapters to get me started. @Seph: You might not like my use of flashback chapters but they will give you a greater insight into the mindset of the main character. @Loonylion: Sorry to disappoint but my story will have two different characters point-of-view, but the majority of the story will follow the main character and his bestfriend's adventures for Team Rocket. @NC200X: The chapters won't be long enough to bore you, seeing as you rarely read, but they will also not be too short that you'll become frustrated at the lack of information.
Here's chapter one to prove that I deserve a spot as a hosted project, and proof and inspiration that other people in the forums, that aren't good at hacking games, can create stories using their own imagination of what a game would be like if they could code their own game. I hope that you will give me the opportunity to host this here, as I will find it useful for building a fanbase. Could also give the board more activity? Chapter 1 Lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, I could remember it like it was yesterday. The day I got selected to join the most powerful crime syndicate in the universe, Team Rocket. The training was rigorous when they were selecting us. We’d be awoken at sunrise, the crack of dawn, each and every day for six months. The day would start out with breakfast, and then we’d hit the obstacle courses. “An aware mind is a Rocket mind,†they used to always say, and we’d always have to be on our toes, because not only was our obstacle course just like every other, with the tyre hops, climbing frames, frame of barbed wire to be crawled under, the whole sha-bang, we had different additional obstacles thrown at us each day, and they weren’t getting any easier. I remember the first day out, shortly after the tyre jump, two punch bags were being swung from side to side, and I had to slide down to get underneath them and pass them. I was unable to slow down because of the speed I was running to the next obstacle, and after that day, I was unable to sit down for a whole week because of the friction burn. That wasn’t the hardest it got, about four weeks in, they said we’d be doing the same obstacles that we did the very first day, but they replaced the punching bags with blades, the type of which, you would most commonly find in a haunted mansion of sorts. That was the day Old Harry lost his ear. The training wasn’t all bad, the afternoons saw us battling Pokemon, with the weakest trainer of these “elites†being dropped from the 300 number until there was only 100 left who would join Team Rocket. In the evenings we’d be made to do “fundamental†tasks, it started with shining our boots, but changed into things such as pottery and sewing. “Well, that seems a little out-of-character,†I said, when asked with the task of using a sewing machine to make 30 Team Rocket standard uniforms, being handed an example. “You ignorant fool, you have no right to say what is out-of-character, to be part of our team, you must be mentally stimulated to all possibilities of challenges that get thrown in your path, and you will also need the audacity to make up your own uniforms to stay incognito when in the general public, we cannot have a repeat of what happened with those infamous fools from ten years ago,†replied General Schwartz. General Schwartz was referring to ten years ago when two Team Rocket members and their talking Meowth had almost cost the entire organisation to go out of business. Not only had they owed a large enough loan to make Bill Gates middle-class, but they had also been responsible for many of the failures in Team Rocket’s plans. However, there had been change in the air for the last six months, Team Rocket have managed to rise back up to power in the last two years, and are close to reforming the super elite that had been left behind them almost ten years ago, and the problems of the past were gone, no more Jessie, no more James, no more Meowth, no more Ash Ketchum and his Pikachu. It was finally bliss here for a Team Rocket member, and tomorrow would be my graduation, my ultimate day, the day when I became a full-time member of Team Rocket. Zzzz. Drifting off to sleep, I was rudely awakened, by a clutter at my window, I looked at the clock wearily to realise it was 2am, we got a longer lie in on the day of the graduation, we had to be at the mess hall for 9am, as opposed to the regular 7am, but I was unable to get to sleep despite being ordered to bed by the General at 9pm. “Psssttt… you awake?†I heard a faint voice from outside, so I sat up in the bed that I had grown accustomed to over the six months slowly, and waited until I heard the voice again. “Mark, you there?â€. I rose slowly and walked over to the window and opened it up to reveal my best friend from training, Scott to be below. “Hey buddy, you excited?†he waved up to me while whispering enthusiastically. The scene kind of reminded me like something from Romeo and Juliet, except from Scott was an absolute jackass, and whether or not he was gay, I’d definitely never be his maiden, there was a girl back home that I’d left behind when I joined Team Rocket, she was really upset but I really had no choice, I was picked for the job by Giovanni’s recruiters. “Dude, you’re dazing into space, you alright?†Just then, I snapped back into reality, “Yeah man, I’m cool, coming up for a chat where you won’t get shot down by the Grunts?†I asked. He smiled menacingly back at me, “Damn right.†Back upstairs, we sat down in the small room that had not much more than a fold-out bed, a wardrobe and a chest of drawers. “Well mate, tomorrow is the biggest day of our careers,†Scott laughed as he sighed, I chuckled a little, “I’m not sure about that one, Scott, it is just the beginning of our careers,â€. “Think about the opportunities, Mark, we’ll have power and control, strong Pokemon, we’ll be able to walk into any shop and take whatever we want, and it won’t cost us anything.†The moment he said that, it made me think of how hard the past really was for us, before we started this journey to Team Rocket.
