Writers on Smogon

EV

Banned deucer.
Thank you for your extensive post, Kikuichimonji ! Like Walrein, I enjoyed the analogy.

Can you explain a little more about visual novels? I'm not familiar with that medium. I watched the trailer and I have a good idea of how they work, but I'd like to hear it from someone who writes them.
 
  • What do you like to write?: Choose Your Own Adventure story formats (Or Interactive Fiction)! I've played video games/storygames that allow the player to choose from a set of choices, then branch out the story in multiple paths, adding a unique sense of interaction from the reader. I want to provide this same feeling of amazement and replay-ability when I write my stories. Genres would be modern fiction and dark fantasy.

  • Are you working on a current project?: If by project you mean something of significant value that can be sold for real money, then no, writing is mainly a hobby for me. If you mean anything I'm currently working on, then yeah, I have a storygame in the works that will likely be in the 5,000 word range and another short story that will likely be in the 1,000 word range.

  • What got you interested in writing?: In school, I had to write stories for my English class, and I found it rather enjoyable. So I took as a hobby, simple as that. What got me into CYOAs were videogames that have a strong emphasis on player interaction and Interaction Fiction that I read/played before.

  • Are you branching out?: Not sure if I would consider this a residency, but it's definitely helped me refine my writing skill by virtue of it's contests, as well as being a great platform for creating and sharing CYOAs. The community is also wonderful as well, extremely helpful and tight-knit: http://chooseyourstory.com

  • Do you have a method?: Not really, what I get done literature-wise is usually done in random bursts of productivity, don't really have a structured way of writing.

  • Favorites: Deltora Quest and Blade would be my favorite series. Deltora Quest for it's overarching story-line, strong fantasy elements, characters, and great world building. Blade for it's descriptions, characters, and exciting and dynamic plot.

  • Misc: I am currently not reading anything, since I want to focus more on my writing. However, I am intending to finish the Blade series and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
 
Hi guys, I was reading some old (like 5+ years old) OU Warstories because I couldnt sleep, and I just wanted to ask why dont we do those anymore? Did they just fall out of fashion or what? Cause it seems like they would be really fun to read and write if we could get those started up again
 

Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
is a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
Seems relevant to post here.

I've written two articles for RODAN's blog, which as a really fun experience; the first one could probably be a fair amount better than it is, but I'm really happy with the way that the second one turned out, and it seems to have gone down well with the reddit crowd (it was first page on r/anime, which is just mind-blowing for me and is honestly insanely satisfying). That said, article output is kinda slow, so I'm sure RODAN would be happy to get more writers on-board. I guess this also acts as a bit of a plug for that hahaha
 
Can you explain a little more about visual novels? I'm not familiar with that medium. I watched the trailer and I have a good idea of how they work, but I'd like to hear it from someone who writes them.
I started writing a big-ol' reply to answer this question, but at a certain point I started adding pictures and going beyond the scope of the question you asked, so I decided to turn it into a blog post instead (here), since I've encountered similar questions on a number of occasions and I've been meaning to take the time to articulate a more detailed answer to them. Hopefully that post answers your question (and a few other questions you didn't ask).
 
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Ullar

card-carrying wife-guy
is a Smogon Discord Contributor
blows dust off of ancient thread

Hi, just wanted to revive this thread! I'm sure there are more than a few creative minds like me out there, and maybe even a few who get paid to do it (also like me)! I've certainly been busy as a freelancer in the Pathfinder third-party publisher industry, and wanted to share what I've done with y'all while I was banned from this place.

Pathways (#59, #61)

Pathways is a free ezine that has a bunch of cool material that is compatible with Pathfinder! I wrote an article on deep ones and deep one hybrids for 59, and a detail of some uncommon races' views on occult magic for 61. Overall, I've had a great time working with Rite, and owe them a lot for my current project (more on that at the end)!

Colossal Creatures Bestiary

This was a colossal (hah!) collaboration between myself and several other authors to produce the biggest book full of creatures of the game's biggest size that the field had seen. And boy, were there a lot! I threw two ginormous creatures in the pile, myself; the mindbending Braghummor and Hokkamus, Patriarch of Waterfowl.

Race Options: Gillmen

While this is the very first 3pp creation I've been paid to create, its publication has been delayed for some reason. At any rate, I hope it comes out soon; it contains several custom options for gillmen, the once-human then-slaves of the aboleth!

In the Company of Doppelgangers
[COVER IN DEVELOPMENT]
This is my current project, and I'm hyped as hell for it. The projected wordcount is 25,000 words! That, without a doubt, is my biggest work yet! I'm still developing it, and it's been soft slated for a June release. I'm still on a high that I have this assignment, to be honest!

Things are looking up for me, yes sir! I hope life's treated my fellow Smogonite writers well too!
 
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TMan87

We shall bow to neither master nor god
is a Site Content Manageris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributor
Ah, that was the thread I was looking for.
  • What do you like to write?: Usually fanfictions, and mostly Pokémon-related ones. I reecntly decided to change how I'd write since I've given up on all of the long stories I've tried to write. I'll mostly write short texts from now on, with focus on action/romance. Also poems.
  • Are you working on a current project?: Yup, having finished Undertale not too long ago, I challenged myself to write shorts expanding on the story, such as alternative battle dialogues and different timelines. It'll also include a crapton of crossovers with other works since crossovers are the best. And in English, no less.
  • What got you interested in writing?: I wanted to write Pokémon fanfics because... I read plenty of Pokémon fanfics. Some of them left such an impact on me that I still remember to this day. And so, I told myself "I'm pretty good with words, I could do that too!" and began writing.
  • Are you branching out?: Eh, I guess not.
  • Do you have a method?: Nah, I write whenever I feel like it and not playing Poké/other stuff/watching videos/reading/listening to music/chatting with friends/doing my job as the French Translations Co-Leader. Needless to say, I can be kept a long time away from my essays... I also can not touch a fic for one entire year, then be enlightened and write the entire chapter in a month.
  • Favorites: I like good stories that play with classical tropes as much as the next guy. I'm a sucker for love stories (most notably in Pokéfics), but good action is up my alley too. And finally, I really like it when works break the fourth wall, but it is sadly scarce in books.
 
Hey all. Last year I got back into reading more regularly and now I'm looking to get started with creative writing. I've been inspired recently by works like The World of Tiers series by Philip Jose Farmer and Roger Zelazny's Amber so I want to write sci fi on a grand scale.

I'm a mathematician by trade and the most I've ever done is try to think and speak critically about fiction, and a bunch of technical writing. So I'm starting by writing a fanfiction on one of my favorite shows of all time (Geneshaft), aiming for a conservative 20-30 page short story, and seeing if I can get a page done every night.

Probably the biggest obstacles I think I'm going to face (aside from general inexperience) are having confidence in my ideas and their execution and writing characters that people can relate to. I mostly want to build a world and force the question on interesting issues with the situations the characters are placed in, but that's kind of ambitious if I want to do it right so I'm going to take my time with it.

If anyone has anything to add I'm curious to hear it, but I mostly just popped in to share. Great to see all the cool stuff you guys are doing!
 
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  • What do you like to write?: I write short fics. As in, chapters are usually out of the question. Some of us call them one-shots. In order for me to write, I need to have the motivation to do it. The want to do it. Once I have that I will start typing, but if I get bored with it, I scrap it. Between that and other hobbies, I don't have much writing to show off. Sometimes I do fanfics, but I have to really like the characters and feel comfortable writing them.
  • You working on a current project?: Yes. OC backstories. But they're not fan characters, they're actual OCs. While writing I realize I don't really think too big and my work on telling over showing is improvable. Still, I like writing my simple stories.
  • What got you interested in writing?: There is a short answer to this question. Then there's the even shorter answer- I got interested by reading other people's stories and decided I'd try it out. I sucked at it initially and I still kinda suck at it but I have been told I'm not half bad.
  • Are you branching out?: Meh
  • Do you have a method?: The only method I have is trying to think up of a basic outline for the plot and keep it in mind as I go along. I just let it write itself. Sometimes I may change things up from the outline.
  • Favorites: Realistic fiction. I like writing it, and I like reading it. Otherwise, I'll take a gander at some fics featuring any favorite characters. I've read a few Pokemon fics, but not that many. A LOT are just of the anime but you can really get creative by basing them off the game. I've had an idea of the player building a house on Exeggutor Island and being visited by another trial-goer. Then they speak of some cool metaphoric wise stuff about the Exeggutor that live there which serve as guidance for said trial-goer. Maybe say, "The Exeggutor are tall, just like the Pokemon League, and even higher than that are where your hopes and dreams should be." Something silly like that. I scrapped it but at this point I'm getting aside myself as it is.
 

Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
is a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
My old one one of these is outdated, so I'm updating it

What do you like to write?: Articles and scripts; I've done a little for RODAN's blog (and by that I mean two articles of drastically different quality) and an article for TFP, but I've also scripted some YT vids for friends when they gave me the info they wanted to cover (I'm a proponent of the "planning with bullets" method 'cause it cuts down on fluff when you write to them). I also enjoy writing analyses, with me having around 9 completed since the start of gen 7 as well as 3 in the works atm. Off of Smogon I mostly just like writing about anime, with me mostly focusing on the deconstruction of imagery and direction choices in scenes, OPs, and EDs (kinda like Mother's Basement) as well as some of the ideas that shows like to put across (as I did in the second article I wrote for RODAN's blog (which you can read here #shamelessplug).

Are you working on a current project?: ATM, nothing. Time's kinda being eaten up by school 'cause I've got my A-level finals coming up, but after I finish I plan to set up a YT channel (for which I will need to write scripts and stuff) and to up my activity on ANN after having a very enjoyable discussion about Shinsekai Yori with Blazade and one of the site's mods the other day. I've also got a novel idea that I plan to write at some point, although whether I write it as a game book, a novel, a text adventure, or something else is still undecided. Also I plan to learn copyediting once my A-levels are over

What got you interested in writing?: Honestly, mostly Smogon. While in my previous one of these I said school had an impact on it, I think I definitely oversold the effect my teacher had on it. I started posting on Smogon, I started writing for Smogon, and I'm just starting to branch out more into the realms of talking about anime now, which I thoroughly enjoy.

Are you branching out?: Not really; most of my focus on writing is done just within my own time and without any particular motive, and it's a bit late for me to join any clubs at school (not that the ones there are good anyway lol), and the extent of my "published" writing (for lack of a better word) is mostly limited to Smogon and RODAN's blog, like I said before.

Do you have a method?: At this time, all my writing is done casually. I do it 'cause I enjoy it more than anything. I'll either plan the key points I want to mention in bullet points or just sit down and write everything that goes through my head before reading over and making adjustments to my work. My only motivation comes from wanting to write something that I'm proud of, and it's a pretty mixed bag in that respect.

Favorites: This is a hard thing to answer 'cause idk quite how to go about it; probably my favorite piece of written literature is either 'His Dark Materials' or 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time'. My favorite things which have aired on TV at some stage is torn between 'Shinsekai Yori' and 'No Offence' (a British cop show), and I intend to read the former's novel soon. With regards to movies, it goes to 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' without much contest. My favorite article is probably this one which Aladyyn linked in the pedophilia thread before it got purged, and two of my favorite YouTube videos which required scripting are this and this, although in the former one the narrator could've done with speaking a little slower than she did.

Misc: I live in London, England. IDK what else to put here, but I enjoy making gifs and wish people would PM me asking me to make a good looking one for them hahaha.
 
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  • What do you like to write?: i write 'semi-autobiographical' fiction occasionally, flash fiction, poems, stuff like that. journals sometimes. i've been thinking of branching out into criticism, but i'm not sure if i'm smart enough to do that lol.
  • Are you working on a current project?: i actually write very little and don't really have any finished work; i just like writing fragments of things, i can never really finish what i start. currently, i have no original prose pieces in the works. the only project that i'm currently working on is a full translation i'm working on of an as-of-now untranslated novel. it's in the preliminary stages (first 20~30 pages), and i'm doing a second rereading of the book now. assuming it will go substantially faster once i'm done with everything school-related. i'm also looking to write a research article on some paul valery poems sometime in the near future. people tell me i should write fiction sometime, but i don't have something that really interests me that doesn't make me come off as a narcissist
  • What got you interested in writing?: i guess above all i'm interested in telling stories. i like storytelling, i like beautiful words and phrases and i want to cultivate a style that sounds beautiful (i have not yet succeeded).
  • Are you branching out?: i'm a member of three or four writing clubs, i edit one of my university's journals and was a former reviewer for one of our philosophy magazines. i'm looking to find a way to workshop the translation i'm working on sometime in the future, but i don't know when i'll have the time to do that. i've been considering getting a degree in translation, but i don't know when or if that's going to happen. i want to go to poetry slams and comedy performances and literary conferences to get more ideas and get some stuff out there, but there's only so much time…
  • Do you have a method?: no daily quota, really. i just try to write whatever comes to me and edit whenever possible. one of the biggest issues i have as a writer is organization; it's very difficult for me to organize what i'm thinking in a palatable way. i think my writing style also leans heavily on redundancy, so i spend a lot of my time revising and streamlining my prose (im a little tipsy right now so this isn't the case for this post).
  • Favorites: this is hard. i like the stoics, i like shakespeare. my favorite authors are james baldwin, vladimir nabokov, franz kafka (his letters are so good), clarice lispector, simone weil, fyodor dostoevsky, sir thomas browne, anne carson, and haruki murakami. wild strawberries, 2001: a space odyssey, and jeanne dielman are my favorite movies. i like listening to 70s pop music, all kinds of jazz, a lot of rap, a lot of ambient music. i used to listen to a lot of punk and indie rock, but not so much now.
  • Misc: currently chicago-based, though i might be moving back to new york for the summer. no agent or anything, obviously, but i'm planning on getting more material out there later this year, so maybe something will happen there. i've also had a couple of small poems published in like campus magazines but i don't really think that counts for much. i speak three languages (english, french, and a little german). i'm getting back into pokemon again after about three years of not playing seriously and it's taking up all of the time i used to use writing hahaha
 
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What do you like to write?: I like to write poems and stories that I can never seem to to finish. In terms of PS I enjoy writing questions for Trivia and editing those. I've actually gotten better with grammar and sentence structure through working on revision of questions.

Are you working on a current project?: Not atm but my goal is to get something done in the next month or so. It's been a while since I last wrote a story or poem even and after reviewing some old work from years ago I definitely want to start writing again soon and see how much I've changed as a writer.

What got you interested in writing?: I started writing stories for after I had to write a script for a 6th grade assignment. I had a lot of fun working on it and then in middle school my English teacher would have us do these writing drills and journals daily. When I'd be bored in class I'd work on a story to look like I was working on whatever the class was working on and not get in trouble or draw attention to myself. It was a nice way to escape reality for a bit and get lost.

Are you branching out?: Not atm but I do plan to work on articles and journalism areas over the summer and continue once school is back in session.

Do you have a method?: Not really, I just write whenever I have inspiration/feel like doing so.

Favourites: I like all kinds of stories. Manga wise I like stuff like One Piece, ReLife, Aphorism, The Gamer, and so on.

Misc: While I'm not set on what exactly I'd like to do for a career I do like the idea of being a baseball journalist and covering the games. I love the Red Sox and to be able to write about them and get paid would be a decent job.
 

Ullar

card-carrying wife-guy
is a Smogon Discord Contributor
mandatory plug of latest work to which i contributed but kinda forgot about b/c longass development

Villain Codex IV: Monsters for Meddlesome Heroes


it was an open call to submit villains and they liked mine: a gourd-headed deranged plant dude named Kin of the Pumps

he's like a shitty ecoterrorist for low-level heroes to fight; i love the art they got for him
 
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Ullar

card-carrying wife-guy
is a Smogon Discord Contributor
holy heck nbd posted in this in so long

holy HECK the pics i posted are bigger on a comp than a phone, fixed that. anyway

Metafeats: Embracing the Fourth Wall


This has a book full of options the players take (not the characters!) to influence the ingame world based on real-life actions. For instance, if you bring food for everyone and you have the Feed the Beast metafeat, you can temporarily gain a vicious bite attack. It's pretty gnarly.

Upcoming Projects:
In the Company of Doppelgangers [Completed] (SLATED FOR OCT 3RD RELEASE)
The PC in the PC: AIs in Starfinder [In Development] (let you play as a computer program!)
Redshirts: The Killer Kindness [In Development] (you kill a bunch of teddy bear people. its rly fun)
 
  • What do you like to write?: Fanfics, mostly, but I run a Tumblr blog about the Trading Card Game for the Game Boy Color so that's the most technical writing I've been doing since I finished college. I also do drabbles from time to time, as well as assorted one-shots when I have both inspiration and motivation. I also enjoy role-plays/back-and-forth stories with my friends.

  • Are you working on a current project?: My current project involves my favorite Pokemon character heading to Orre. I've been working on it for a couple years now, but I have the general outline finished. I've been enjoying it (despite the rather low turnout it's been getting).

  • What got you interested in writing?: I'm not entirely sure. I was a pretty voracious reader as a student (a little less now, but whatever), so maybe writing came as an afterwards? I think on the whole it's the idea of taking an idea in your head and breathing life into it. Writing can feel like a puzzle for me, too, in the sense of how I can properly transcribe this idea in a way that sounds as awesome/dramatic/emotional/humorous as I think it should be.

  • Are you branching out?: Most of my friends are writers so we go through most of the same issues, though I don't really like discussing problems I run into because I always feel like I'm just whining. But I do appreciate critiques on my work, as rare as they may be... I don't like shoving my stuff into people's faces, partly because I feel like that will prevent people from discovering and enjoying my work based on its own merit (if any).

  • Do you have a method?: Lately I've been attempting to do at least a little bit every so often, so I at least feel like I've accomplished something. With my current project, I've averaged a chapter every few months, though due to real-life issues that kind of off the rails lately... but nowhere to go but back on the horse, I guess. (How's that for a mixture of metaphors?) Music helps a lot, too: it gets me amped up and helps keep my brain in motion.

  • Favorites: Speaking honestly a lot of my writing is influenced by shonen manga, particularly One Piece. The way Oda combines humor, action, and drama is practically, in my opinion, unparalleled, but I aspire to meld things together even half as well as he does. It's certainly a challenge to imagine scenes in your head as manga panels and then attempt to describe them in text, but the challenges are always part of the fun, right?

  • Misc: I have self-confidence issues so I zig-zag between thinking my work is either shit, average, or amazing. This doesn't really help with my motivation issues, but in the end writing is just plain fun for me (when I'm in a groove) and helps steer my mind in a more productive direction. As I've said before, I don't enjoy blatantly putting my work out there because I know that sort of thing can sour people's expectations and/or prevent them from reading it in the first place.
 

Ullar

card-carrying wife-guy
is a Smogon Discord Contributor
this seems like a good way to advertise my things; if it's inappropriate to brag display them here, please let me know!

In the Company of Doppelgangers

Who will you be next?
Come experience the wonder and mystique of the doppelganger, able to impersonate and emulate virtually any other character!

Create the doppelganger you want to play in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, growing in power until you can become the perfect double of your mark.

Written by Joshua Hennington Ullar, this supplement includes:

-The immicker race of shapeshifters
-Alternate racial traits and favored class options
-New class archetypes: the Mental Grifter(Psychic), Mophic Petitioner (Cleric), Versatile Armsmaster (Fighter), and Natural Mimic (Druid)
-Doppelganger racial paragon class 1st -20th level, plus a variant multiclass to combine the paragon with any other class
-Class and race specific feats to round out any doppelganger character

I'm insanely excited about this product, as it's my biggest project yet! I invested 15k words of my time into this, and I hope it sells well!
 

Ullar

card-carrying wife-guy
is a Smogon Discord Contributor
Doppelgangers got a 3.5 from the premier reviewer of 3rd Party Publisher Pathfinder content, Endzeitgeist!

"This whole section, including the way in which the infiltration of societies are covered, carry a surprisingly threatening undertone, as the narrator tries to justify the influence of immickers ... a thoroughly creepy concept as described here – the prose is impressive in how it makes a seemingly compelling, yet thoroughly disquieting case for the race."

"This [race] is a really smart set-up: It provides full shapechanging at level 1, while still retaining balancing limits. Very elegant solution here!"

"I sincerely hope to be able to read more of Joshua Hennington’s Ullar's writing ..."

It's nice to be given an above-average rating because the beginning was great, and the rest was okay. It should get an even higher rating after the revision!
 

Ullar

card-carrying wife-guy
is a Smogon Discord Contributor


I was a contributing writer to this project, and I'm really ecstatic about its results! The Kickstarter got funded within three hours, and it's only going up! The link to the project is here - I'd be thrilled if anyone contributed! For a preview, here's some of the art from the adventure I wrote:


Mayor Bimbleberry of Plushy Prime


Sadness Elemental


I'm excited to see the results, and I hope at least some of y'all join the journey with me!
 
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Tera Melos

Banned deucer.
  • What do you like to write?: Mostly long poems, short stories, a butt ton of song lyrics, D&D Campaigns.

  • Are you working on a current project?: Currently working on a second lyric book. When my band re-released our first Ep I wrote a pretty short Lyric book and shipped it out with Pre-Orders. I'm currently working on the same sort of project for our upcoming release. Also currently working on a D&D Homebrew with a sense of The Witcher mixed with a bit of Fable.

  • What got you interested in writing?: Honestly the same thing that got me into Animation, Music, and everything else. Video Games. When I was young I would always rewrite my favorite games after I finished them, either fixing things I didn't like or adding explanation. I've always had a sort of hypercritical thought process. I will nitpick something until it's perfect which led me to get more into writing my own versions of stories I enjoyed.

  • Are you branching out?: Somewhat, a lot of my writing went into producing music (lyrics). I've made some profit off music, but not much off writing. I eventually plan on writing / selling homebrew D&D Campaigns.

  • Do you have a method?: Nope, I take notes when I can and write when I can. I'm a busy person.

  • Favorites: I have an insane favorites list and they're my favorite for a reason. To me, Favorite doesn't equal Best. My Favorite movie is
    Digitmon: The Movie, my favorite book is IT, my favorite video game (all time) is Dragon's Dogma, my favorite CURRENT Video Game is Overwatch.

  • Misc: Currently living in Philadelphia. I manage myself, and as for selling works I make money off my lyrics. Fun Fact: There's someone out there who has Lyrics I wrote tattooed on their thigh. I think that's pretty cool.
 

tcr

sage of six tabs
is a Tutor Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
Hello, i figured i would share a piece i wrote for my literature class. the assignment was to offer a creative refreshing take on a piece that we had covered in our class, and i chose to write a short story from a different perspective based on the poem "the road not taken" by robert frost. let me know what you guys think! i mostly wrote this stream of consciousness style with slight editting here and there to refine it, and i am fairly proud with how it turned out. i mostly write poetry / songwriting and never really attempt longer material but this turned out so well i wanted to share it with you all. enjoy!

The Road with no Destination

It was a cold autumn day when the traveler arrived. Not the blistering cold, that strips you of your senses as the little ones seek shelter from the harsh wind, but the type of cold that made you strip down and feel the brace of the breeze against your arms. It was a type of cold that forewarned a coming calmness, where everything died for a moment only to be reborn in greater glory. All around me were the coverings of my friends and relatives, aged a deep yellow. Many were in the process of stripping down, a perennial ritual that all must grow through on their path through life. Oh what senseless beauty, to just be lost in the moment, the changing of the seasons. Soon I must part with my senses, only to be reborn a moment later. But that time had not yet come, and it was the calm beforehand that I found most pleasurable. There was just something immensely satisfying about this cycle of death and rebirth, so very natural.

I felt the ground shake, and my limbs break under the weight of a steel clad boot. I felt no pain, no of course not, I only felt the determination and wanton rush with which the step was placed. As if the owner had but one last step to take in life, and that was their final act of defiance. He stood in front of me, at least I think it was a he. Sometimes it is very difficult to tell you all apart. The traveler was diminutive compared to a being such as myself, akin to the puffed up blackbird that sang to me when the rain had just fallen and the clouds were happy with relief, swelling with self-importance. They had long black fur around what looked to be their neck, just flapping in the wind. Around their torso they carried some black body that was of striking contrast to the skin on their face, with odd little whosiwhatsits keeping it all together. I still cannot recall the names of their garments and odds and ends, despite meeting so many travelers throughout my life. Of course they had on boots, those I were familiar with. How could I not be, for they had been the reason for the brown streak, the absence of the grass to the right of myself, a little pathway of small destruction.

I dreaded these travelers. They brought naught but destruction in their wake, in their hurry to be. They were never content with their lot in life, always rushing to be something greater than the sum of themselves. The river never contemplated if it was too windy, or if the gurgling it produced was too loud. The swelled-chest blackbird never worried about singing out of tune. The little ones never worried about malfeasance towards their elders, and whether the tone of their chattering would offend one another. Why then, I wondered, these travelers were so intent on hurrying through life, worrying about this and that and worrying about finding a partner or worrying about having their partner. It was all nonsense to one such as myself, as to me it seemed like they were searching for answers to questions that did not exist. Their self-importance was their flaw; they could not see their part in the cycle of life thinking it beneath them. What a trivial and bemusing way to live one’s life.

The traveler grew nearer, and became still. I knew not what went on their tiny little mind, but I was sure it was of no importance. With a heavy sigh, I heard the traveler speak. I could not decipher their language, for language is of no importance to me, but I could grasp their intent through the dancing of their limbs, and the feverishness of their tone. They knew not the way around me! How astonishing. I am big yes, and very mighty, but the answer is simple. To the left or to the right, it makes no difference for a path is a path just as the sun is the sun. To attempt to choose between the two, as if one was the right answer was ludicrous. Finally, after a long deliberation, the traveler made their choice. With a few mumblings they set off to the left of me, to explore the colorful meadow and feel the sunshine on their cheek. What a nice choice, though I would have said the same thing had they gone the opposite. The traveler I felt I would never see again, but that is ok. I hope they are happy with their choice of no importance, lost in their senseless worries about the after now and the before now.

In their language, I learned, those creatures were called “humans.” I found that odd, as how can you sum up their entire existence with one word? It seemed befuddling to me, where my language was one of sensations and feelings rather than sounds and symbols. I learned this knowledge from a blackbird, a very tired blackbird who had flown from the south to explore the world. They in turn learned it from the river, ceaselessly churning, who had in turn learned it from the whistling of the wind, who traveled everywhere and was always present. It seems to me that those “humans” have it all wrong. They deliberate and fuss over this and that throughout their brief life, entirely intent on being correct and forever wondering and regretting their lot in life. From the chattering of the world around me (the creatures of this earth are terrible gossips) I have gathered that they meet in encampments of stone and fire, to discuss the natures and musings of life that the worldly creatures already know. Oh how I wish I could communicate with them with more than just my actions, for they are stupid and oblivious to their surroundings. I would tell that traveler thus to quell his worrying: the road does not matter so much as the journey. Of course, I am but a humble oak tree, and my experience has been a slow and arduous one. I have learned to let my leaves fall, to let pieces die and to embrace the ever flowing river of changes. I have learned that now is all there is and all there will be, and that one cannot rush into now the same as one cannot rush a blooming flower or the structure of a songbird’s melody. And to me, that has made all the difference.
 
What do you like to write?: Anything with “lore”. I also write for my school’s newspaper and have done some manga with weeb friends.
Are you working on a current project?: If so, what? What's your timeline/goal? Do you want to publish it?: I’m hyper private about my work, but I’m writing a fantasy novel that should be done in a month.
What got you interested in writing?: Nonfiction looks lit
Are you branching out?: No
Do you have a method?: Daily quota? I don’t draft, just jot down an idea occasionally, and do a lot of revision. I like to do about 10 pages per week plus scripts and articles.
 
Popping in for a bit of self-promotion for several projects I've been working on:

I recently started a web serial titled "Re:Dragonize," which is my own spin on the reincarnation isekai LitRPG concept; I'm currently publishing the story on Royal Road and Sufficient Velocity. The story is currently up to around 15,000 words and I've been having a lot of fun working on it. As you might guess from the title, it's about dragons.

Back in 2015, Winter Wolves hired me to write the script for a visual novel/RPG hybrid to serve as a prequel to Loren: The Amazon Princess. This year, that game is finally releasing as Tales of Aravorn: Cursed Lands; the Steam version is releasing later this month. This is the first gig I got as a fiction writer (all of my professional writing experience prior to this was journalistic in nature) and the script includes a lot of ideas that had been brewing in my head since I was a Tolkien-reading preteen, so it holds a special place in my heart.

I also wrote the script for Idol Manager, which is currently on Kickstarter. It's a business sim that grapples with some of the darker and more scandalous parts of the Japanese idol industry. I've always loved the concept of deconstruction (see for example this Pokemon deconstruction I posted here on Smogon some years back) and I've always felt there was a bit of dissonance between the cutesy idealized version of idol life that often gets portrayed in anime/video games and the real way the industry works , so I've really enjoyed getting to work on a project that highlights the less cheery parts of how the industry operates.
 
Hey there. I ran a pokemon roleplaying forum on proboards for about a year, and after that I branched off into other fandoms. I was actually hoping there might be a pokemon rp here, since competitrive battlers always make the best pokemon roleplayers because they can creatively make use of abilities and stats while playing their characters. It's also just nice to have a place like this feel like a community.
 

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Hey there. I ran a pokemon roleplaying forum on proboards for about a year, and after that I branched off into other fandoms. I was actually hoping there might be a pokemon rp here, since competitrive battlers always make the best pokemon roleplayers because they can creatively make use of abilities and stats while playing their characters. It's also just nice to have a place like this feel like a community.
There's a RP community over at Pokémon Showdown!, our official battle simulator with many different chats. Link here
 

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