URPG Stories Chat and Feedback

Hello everyone!

I'm looking for someone, possibly a Grader to discuss some plotlines with. I'm not exactly new to roleplaying, but having come down with writer's block a few months ago it all costs an amount of effort to get started that I'm unable to muster.

Would there be anyone out there who could help me get on the right track, possibly help me gain some momentum? Feel free to let me know, and my thanks in advance for responding!

 

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

So sorry for replying so late! It's been a bit of a hectic few days. I got your PM but also wanted to reply to you here so that anyone else can see it if they have the same question. You're perfectly welcome to post any questions you have about writing in this particular thread. If you feel comfortable sharing your almost-finished plotlines here (no worries: we're super not-okay with plagiarism here and no one from URPG will try to steal your ideas), or if you need help trying to flesh that vague idea into a polished epic, or you honestly have no idea what you want to write about -- these are all fair game for this thread or the Discord chats. We'd absolutely love to hear your ideas, and I know that talking things through with people definitely helps with the deadly writer's block, haha.

That being said, if you're uncomfortable posting your ideas in somewhere so public/open, I'm definitely up to be a sounding board! hmu any time/send your ideas through on that PM. I'd love to help -- from what I heard in the chats, you've got quite an endeavor planned and we're all eager to see it unfold.

 

I'm working on my second story (Scraggy), but I'd like some feedback on my introduction:

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"I believe the best ice cream sandwich to have been made by..." I heard the judge, an Alazakam by the name of <Name 1>, one of the best chefs in the world, start to announce. Though, he quickly stopped as he rubbed his chin before eating another bite of my dish. In a meticulous way, he started to bob and sway his head all the while switching which cheek had food. Feeling sick to my stomach, I looked over at the last of the 3 other competitors I had to deal with. She was Chef <Name 2>, a Mr. Mime that had endured challenges after challenges in all three rounds. The knot in my stomach just kept growing as I looked at <Name 2> while <Name 1> took a bite from her dish, she looking worried as well.

"Come on, come on!" I screamed in my head, "Pick somebody! Anybody, just pick!" I just wish that I could tell the Judge what it took this far, and I don't mean as part of this contest: I mean in this point in my life...

 

Heya there! ^^ happy to hear you're working on a new story!

Overall, this is an exciting glimpse into the story! cooking stories are quite unusual and we as readers feel the tension already in that first paragraph! The real hook, for me, comes when we get to that last sentence: what does this moment mean for the narrator? What will he or she discover through the results of this cooking competition? Why does it matter? That's a promising question with many intriguing answers ahead!

grammatically, I would suggest:

- removing the "though" in the second sentence because though suggests a contradiction that's not necessarily happening in the action of the judge stopping his words
- spelling out 3 - any words under 100 should be spelled out (took me a while to learn this one!)

Can't wait to see the rest!

 

Is there any rule regarding posting new Stories before old ones are graded? I.e., do I have to wait for staff input before I roll out new posts, or can I keep writing without earlier feedback? Couldn't find anything regarding this in the Info Hub.
Cheers!

 

We have a discord. You're invited to join. Pm me and I'll send you the link.

 

Thanks man, I know you do, but I'm not overly fond of online chats in general and would prefer to stick to the forum. Unless it's against the rules to ask here.

 

Hi!

There is no rule against writing stories without input from a grader. While you'd likely miss out on valuable advice from posting a new story without waiting for the first to be graded, advice that you could possibly use to improve your new story, you can still have multiple stories posted at once and pending grades. Bear in mind, however, that it is strongly recommended to not post a whole bunch of stories at once for graders to review. Not only does it create a backlog for graders, but like I said earlier, you'll be missing out on a lot of advice that you could use to improve your stories. Having a few stories pending grades is fine though!! If you want to go ahead and write a second story and post it, that should be a-okay!

That said, if it has been a week since your story was posted and no grader has claimed it, you're welcome to post it in this thread to bring attention to it so a grader can nab it! Alternatively, if your story has been claimed and it's been a week with no grade, you could contact your grader to see what's up just to make sure they haven't forgotten about you!

You're welcome to ask any further questions you may have about the stories section here if you'd like!

 

Thanks! I didn't know it about that week wait period. In that case, this one was posted 2 weeks ago.
Cheers, thanks for the help

 

Are there any story comps planned for gen vii?

 

it's coming

 

how 2 rit gud?

 

Go Tell It on the Mountain!

(Monthly Story Discussion – July 2017) ​

Hi everyone! I’d like to take some time this month to talk to all of you about the ways in which you engage with other fan-fiction communities around the Internet. I think there are many opportunities out there for our players to become well-rounded writers by participating in other communities, and we can recruit new members by using our stories to evangelize!


As far as artistic communities go, I’m only familiar with DeviantArt, and that format has always seemed a little too fast-paced and visual for written works to attract attention. So, I’ve got a few questions I’d love you all to think about this month:

- What fan-fiction or other artistic sites do you visit, either to read or contribute?
- How has that site contributed to your development as a writer?
- What kind of posting format does the site use? What’s the best way to attract attention to your stories?
- How can we cross-post URPG stories to invite other users of that site to visit URPG? Would the site be open to that kind of recruitment?


As an example, whenever I post a story or piece of artwork on DeviantArt, I usually add this in the description:

Any thoughts on a sort of “standard” description we could all use for URPG stories posted across the ‘net?


I look forward to hearing your ideas!

 

Yaaaaas fam!

I crosspost in two places: fanfiction.net and the BMG Writer's Workshop. They're hugely separate entities and I treat them very differently, so let's split them out a bit:

Getting noticed on fanfiction.net at some points feels like a coin flip. My older stuff gets a lot more response than my newer stuff, for some reason, even though I think my newer stuff is definitely more polished. Finding stories is a nightmare and their interface hasn't really changed since the early 2000's; there's one big page that updates with new chapters, and the Pokemon fanfic front page basically purges itself once every 12 hours. This in turn makes it really, really difficult for readers to find your story, and, somewhat tangentially related, the reviews that you get are usually rushed and impersonal (as a result? Maybe?). But also there were some really good reviews, the readerbase is pretty loyal (even if you let them down constantly by never posting), and it's a pretty standard place for most long-running chapterfics to go.

Plus I got my favorite review of all time:

it's so beautifully backhanded in so many ways I can't even

My crossposting method there is to be a complete dick and forget that I have an account for like half a year.

Their system for author's notes doesn't exist so I don't use them :')

---

Writer's Workshop is awesome and everyone should hang out it's a huge happy family and also we recruited like half of their cool people so we should check them out
@Flaze @diamondpearl876 @AceTrainer14 @Ghostsoul
@Arkadelphiak this cud be u tbh

---

Attracting attention on both of these sites is basically the same -- review other people's stuff. They tend to review back out of courtesy. If someone reads/reviews your stuff, you should probably do the same because that's what they expect. DUNNO WHAT ELSE TO SAY IT'S HONESTLY PRETTY CUTTHROAT ON THAT ONE.

 

So long as you post it here first. Remember! If you post on another site first, you can't get a grade/capture on URPG.

 

This has nothing to do about the monthly question, but I have a very specific question : when it comes to length, weight...etc. in stories, and especially in narration, there is absolutely no problem with using the metric system, is there ?

I ask because in my studies, translation includes conversion into the imperial system, since metric isn't used that much by english speakers.

 

You can write whatever way your heart desires. You can even write in French if you can find a grader of sufficient frenchiness!

 

I have a couple of questions about FF here. Will people look at you funny if your stories are:

1. Originally posted elsewhere (possibly long ago?)
2. One-offs instead of chapter-based
3. Mostly OCs instead of based on characters from the universe you're writing about?

Similar question here, how do they feel about stories that have been posted elsewhere, a significant amount of time in the past?

 

Hey, when aiming at a capture, especially a difficult one (Hard, Complex, Demanding), assuming the Minimum Character Requirement is met, hom much should the Pokémon appear ? I know there is no actual rule, but "beyond" which point would the Pokémon appearances be considered not enough ?

I don't know if I'm being clear...

 

Since there isn't a hard-and-fast rule, it's hard to answer this question. Really, you as the author will probably have a good idea of whether or not a Pokemon is present enough to be captured in your story. It should be at least somewhat important to the plot, and its importance should be proportional to its difficulty rank. If you want someone to look over a story and give you a quick evaluation, don't hesitate to reach out to me via PM.