General Fan Fiction Thread

[ekrolo2]

Ah, I see. Sounds interesting enough. Good luck with that!

Thanks but I'm not sure how good of a job I'm doing

In an attempt to give lots of characters something to do I feel like I'm kind of going nowhere with the main story fast.

[FoolsGil]

First off, thank you all for your replies; secondly, I would like to apologize because I should have been more clear.

My idea right know consists on having Goku not to turn into a good guy - in other words, he would be just "Kakarot" instead. I've alreary thought out possibilities to keep him around on Earth without inicially becoming the major threat. The question is then, would that be interesting or a bit corny? Especially since the repercussions in the later part of the story (corresponding to the "Z age") would be inevitable.

I like to think it would be interesting. The unknown is an asset. If you go a good portion of the story without Goku, readers are going to be wondering where he is Even if some realize that he's on Earth, some won't, and the reveal of Kakarot would astound them.

While there are limits to what I can do with them, I agree with that, I've considered ways to power them up and there's such an array of techniques used throughout the series (including movies, etc.) that may allow them to defeat the main villains - with a bit of a stretch occasionally. But possible, I think.

Well, maybe a stretch is necessary, maybe not. Magic and tech is both pretty underutilized in the series. I'm not saying that anyone should be outfitted to be an android, but humans taking advantage of Earthling's special abilities could equal the playing field.

[Anime Kitten]

[spoiler]I've been trying to write a sequel to the manga using the next generation as the main characters. Problem is that obviously Goku, Gohan and Vegeta are so ridiculously above everyone else that having them not fight any enemy would be stupid. So, I figured I had to get rid of them somehow.

I thought about a new enemy coming in and Goku doing something so reckless that Vegeta gets killed off permanently (as in, body and soul). Of course, he'd get closure before then. This would also let me explore more mature themes in the series without being unnecessarily edgy. Goku would blame himself for the situation and quit martial arts as a result (at least until a certain point in the story). Which only leaves Gohan. I figured I'd go the Super/GT route and just have him lose his power due to not training, but that'd piss a lot of people off, wouldn't it? [/spoiler]

Sorry this is late, but how does this sound?: At the start of the story, introduce a villain that just shows up (quite rudely) and kills Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, etc. leaving no choice for the next generation but to train as hard as possible in hopes of defeating said villain. Whether they succeed or not is up to you.

[Scarz]

Since this is thread for general fan fic questions too, I (sorta) got one. Recently I made a post on my blog about a fan manga idea a dropped a few years back.

Funny you should say that, quite a while ago (I think like three years ago) I started outlining a fan comic with a similar concept. Dragon Ball R: Rise of the Red Ribbon Army. I had a human character named Ms. Pepper who convinced the new (dog) king that saiyans and their half-breeds were dangerous. With his help, she secretly started building the new RR army. Using living experiments and advanced weapons.
She wanted to create Saiyan/Human hybrid of her own, but this time with advance DNA and complete control over her subjects. Unfortunately the clones died within less than a year. Except for one, a clone named Bell-48 who seemed to live pass the first year. But he was considered a failed experiment because his power couldn’t even come close to Goku’s or Vegeta’s. Bell was only kept around for further studies (and was basically the main character of the story).
Sounds all serious, right? Well, the story was only a tenth super serious and dark while the rest was pretty much slice of life about the happenings of the new RRA and their constant failure to destroy the Saiyans.
I dropped the project about a year or so back. Mostly because of BoG, and then Super. I just didn’t know how to fit the story into the timeline(s).
Oh and hey, look at that! I have OCs of my own. XD

After BoG was released, RoF and then Super, I didn't know where to place my story in the timeline. I got a few suggestions that it should an alternate timeline or the result of Demigra splintering the timeline. That second one is a little confusing because I never played Xenoverse.

I guess my question is, how or where do I place this story? If it's an AU what elements do I keep? Which ones do I ignore? If I ever decide to come back to this story it would be a fun short. (I didn't realize how much I actually wrote about the characters and the plot years ago. There's some fun ideas I would like to explore there.)

[Anime Kitten]

I guess my question is, how or where do I place this story?

If you could work in time travel to some kind of prologue, you could split the timeline there.

[FoolsGil]

After BoG was released, RoF and then Super, I didn't know where to place my story in the timeline. I got a few suggestions that it should an alternate timeline or the result of Demigra splintering the timeline. That second one is a little confusing because I never played Xenoverse.

I guess my question is, how or where do I place this story? If it's an AU what elements do I keep? Which ones do I ignore? If I ever decide to come back to this story it would be a fun short. (I didn't realize how much I actually wrote about the characters and the plot years ago. There's some fun ideas I would like to explore there.)

Well, if its a fun short series about the RR's bumblings, would it be necessary to have a timeline, or know what elements to keep or remove? Other than Goku destroying the Red Ribbon Army, and deciding if the series is Pre Androids, No Androids, or Post Androids, nothing else matters the pieces are set. Unless you decide the RR is going to eventually attack the team, or help if the Earth is attacked by somebody and the Z fighters are down for whatever reason.

[ekrolo2]

Since this is thread for general fan fic questions too, I (sorta) got one. Recently I made a post on my blog about a fan manga idea a dropped a few years back.

Funny you should say that, quite a while ago (I think like three years ago) I started outlining a fan comic with a similar concept. Dragon Ball R: Rise of the Red Ribbon Army. I had a human character named Ms. Pepper who convinced the new (dog) king that saiyans and their half-breeds were dangerous. With his help, she secretly started building the new RR army. Using living experiments and advanced weapons.
She wanted to create Saiyan/Human hybrid of her own, but this time with advance DNA and complete control over her subjects. Unfortunately the clones died within less than a year. Except for one, a clone named Bell-48 who seemed to live pass the first year. But he was considered a failed experiment because his power couldn’t even come close to Goku’s or Vegeta’s. Bell was only kept around for further studies (and was basically the main character of the story).
Sounds all serious, right? Well, the story was only a tenth super serious and dark while the rest was pretty much slice of life about the happenings of the new RRA and their constant failure to destroy the Saiyans.
I dropped the project about a year or so back. Mostly because of BoG, and then Super. I just didn’t know how to fit the story into the timeline(s).
Oh and hey, look at that! I have OCs of my own. XD

After BoG was released, RoF and then Super, I didn't know where to place my story in the timeline. I got a few suggestions that it should an alternate timeline or the result of Demigra splintering the timeline. That second one is a little confusing because I never played Xenoverse.

I guess my question is, how or where do I place this story? If it's an AU what elements do I keep? Which ones do I ignore? If I ever decide to come back to this story it would be a fun short. (I didn't realize how much I actually wrote about the characters and the plot years ago. There's some fun ideas I would like to explore there.)

I would set it during the seven-year gap after Cell's attack on the planet. That leaves enough of a window of opportunity for the Earth's people to experience a somewhat lengthy amount of time where a lot of them were being killed and not instantly resurrected so they couldn't exactly not care. I'd also make the king genre savy by having him let Satan flaunt around as the savior of the planet when the king knows its Goku and his guys who actually pulled off killing Cell.

[Scarz]

Well, if its a fun short series about the RR's bumblings, would it be necessary to have a timeline, or know what elements to keep or remove? Other than Goku destroying the Red Ribbon Army, and deciding if the series is Pre Androids, No Androids, or Post Androids, nothing else matters the pieces are set. Unless you decide the RR is going to eventually attack the team, or help if the Earth is attacked by somebody and the Z fighters are down for whatever reason.

Post Androids, definitely. In fact, I originally wrote the story to take place at the end of Z. The new army does attack, but eventually. So that makes me wonder if I should ignore Super (like SSJG stuff) or acknowledge it and play things by ear. The biggest problem with that is Super is still on-going show. It's always introducing new things to the universe and story. It'll probably have little effect on the story I have but it might bring up more contradictions than I'd like.

[spoiler]The aliens attacking earth thing is surprisingly accurate to what I've written a while back.[/spoiler]

I would set it during the seven-year gap after Cell's attack on the planet. That leaves enough of a window of opportunity for the Earth's people to experience a somewhat lengthy amount of time where a lot of them were being killed and not instantly resurrected so they couldn't exactly not care. I'd also make the king genre savy by having him let Satan flaunt around as the savior of the planet when the king knows its Goku and his guys who actually pulled off killing Cell.

That would work, but I would really like Goku to be around to face the new army. Since after Cell's attack, he was dead.

[ekrolo2]

That would work, but I would really like Goku to be around to face the new army. Since after Cell's attack, he was dead.

Post-Resurrection F is the best call then. Maybe even make it an alternate universe where Freeza's invasion was more devastating and wasn't so quickly fixed so we don't have a bunch of people who die then come back in a matter of an hour?

[FoolsGil]

Ignoring Super would be good idea, give the RR a fighting chance. Or in an alternate retelling of everything, Super Saiyan God is ritual only, there is no way to become Blue or become a God by training alone.

[Doctor.]

[spoiler]I've been trying to write a sequel to the manga using the next generation as the main characters. Problem is that obviously Goku, Gohan and Vegeta are so ridiculously above everyone else that having them not fight any enemy would be stupid. So, I figured I had to get rid of them somehow.

I thought about a new enemy coming in and Goku doing something so reckless that Vegeta gets killed off permanently (as in, body and soul). Of course, he'd get closure before then. This would also let me explore more mature themes in the series without being unnecessarily edgy. Goku would blame himself for the situation and quit martial arts as a result (at least until a certain point in the story). Which only leaves Gohan. I figured I'd go the Super/GT route and just have him lose his power due to not training, but that'd piss a lot of people off, wouldn't it? [/spoiler]

Sorry this is late, but how does this sound?: At the start of the story, introduce a villain that just shows up (quite rudely) and kills Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, etc. leaving no choice for the next generation but to train as hard as possible in hopes of defeating said villain. Whether they succeed or not is up to you.

Just killing off the previous characters seems a bit too easy.

[Rubens]

Goku turning out weaker due to his mindset would actually fit in really well within the established series. It's implied but never outright stated that the reason the Saiyan's never advanced anywhere close to the heights its few remaining survivors in U7 are is because they had no concept of self-improvement. All they did is just fight as much as they could and if their power grew from it, cool if not whatever.

Vegeta pretty much spent almost 30 years fighting and he reached the towering height of 18 000 when we first meet him. Within the next few years after some good hard training? He was in the hundreds of millions at the very least by age 35.

Precisely! Goku is pretty much the catalyst so without that element, Vegeta would certainly have a limited development.

My idea right know consists on having Goku not to turn into a good guy - in other words, he would be just "Kakarot" instead. I've already thought out possibilities to keep him around on Earth without inicially becoming the major threat. The question is then, would that be interesting or a bit corny? Especially since the repercussions in the later part of the story (corresponding to the "Z age") would be inevitable.

I like to think it would be interesting. The unknown is an asset. If you go a good portion of the story without Goku, readers are going to be wondering where he is Even if some realize that he's on Earth, some won't, and the reveal of Kakarot would astound them.

That's a good idea however, because Kakarot's purpose is to erradicate mankind, it will be very difficult to keep him a secret especially considering that if he is to grow into a major threat on his own eventually, his power then would have to be explained. At the moment, I'm considering to dedicate a small part of the story to his development, possibly his own quest as he grows up and ocasionally clash with the main story - these segments would possibly provide the reason for him to postpone his main goals.

While there are limits to what I can do with them, I agree with that, I've considered ways to power them up and there's such an array of techniques used throughout the series (including movies, etc.) that may allow them to defeat the main villains - with a bit of a stretch occasionally. But possible, I think.

Well, maybe a stretch is necessary, maybe not. Magic and tech is both pretty underutilized in the series. I'm not saying that anyone should be outfitted to be an android, but humans taking advantage of Earthling's special abilities could equal the playing field.

I see, thank you very much.

[Anime Kitten]

Just killing off the previous characters seems a bit too easy.

They could always be taken captive. As others said, Goku just giving up isn't something he would do, but if they got killed or captured (beyond rescue), it would certainly give some motivation to the next generation of heroes.

[Alruneia]

So... Do you guys write "linearly", or do you jump around a bit? What I mean is, do you start at the beginning, go word for word until the end, and then stop, or do you work more like doing a bit of Chapter 1, then a part in Chapter 4, then half of Chapter 2, then finishing Chapter 1, and so on?
Because I find myself jumping around a lot when I reach some less interesting parts of the story (such as long fights, which we've talked about before), instead working on other random parts of the story. Like, in my sig I say 42 out of 100 chapters are complete, but counting my "stray paragraphs", the number is actually around 46. I find it a pretty good way to chip away at a writer's block if there is one in the way.

[Kanassa]

So... Do you guys write "linearly", or do you jump around a bit? What I mean is, do you start at the beginning, go word for word until the end, and then stop, or do you work more like doing a bit of Chapter 1, then a part in Chapter 4, then half of Chapter 2, then finishing Chapter 1, and so on?
Because I find myself jumping around a lot when I reach some less interesting parts of the story (such as long fights, which we've talked about before), instead working on other random parts of the story. Like, in my sig I say 42 out of 100 chapters are complete, but counting my "stray paragraphs", the number is actually around 46. I find it a pretty good way to chip away at a writer's block if there is one in the way.

I usually have an outline of the general points I want to happen in each chapter, though I do end up writing some of my favoraite moments before actually starting th enext chapter

[ekrolo2]

So... Do you guys write "linearly", or do you jump around a bit? What I mean is, do you start at the beginning, go word for word until the end, and then stop, or do you work more like doing a bit of Chapter 1, then a part in Chapter 4, then half of Chapter 2, then finishing Chapter 1, and so on?
Because I find myself jumping around a lot when I reach some less interesting parts of the story (such as long fights, which we've talked about before), instead working on other random parts of the story. Like, in my sig I say 42 out of 100 chapters are complete, but counting my "stray paragraphs", the number is actually around 46. I find it a pretty good way to chip away at a writer's block if there is one in the way.

I don't make an in-depth plan of what every chapter is supposed to do, just a general idea of what I want to get done in it, how I execute it is mostly something I come up on the fly. I also just finish chapter per chapter, once I start I keep going until it's done then call it a day or few until the next one needs to get made.

I almost exclusively write in a linear fashion, I tend to have a lot of characters so adding in flashbacks or trying to be experimental with timeline stuff would probably just confuse things. Usually, when writing fights, for example, I'll start with one character then after an important moment transition to another. Which one I switch to depends on who's winning the fight.

For example, during the fight between Freeza, Goku and Vegeta in my Resurrection F remake, it starts from Freeza's POV with him excited at how easily he's kicking their asses. When they transform, I switch over to their perspective and this lets me get into their heads when they turn the tables on Freeza. It also let me show how terrified they were when Freeza's transformation started to break the whether around the fighting area and show you their fear which then seeps into the reader.

[Rubens]

[spoiler]I've been trying to write a sequel to the manga using the next generation as the main characters. Problem is that obviously Goku, Gohan and Vegeta are so ridiculously above everyone else that having them not fight any enemy would be stupid. So, I figured I had to get rid of them somehow.

I thought about a new enemy coming in and Goku doing something so reckless that Vegeta gets killed off permanently (as in, body and soul). Of course, he'd get closure before then. This would also let me explore more mature themes in the series without being unnecessarily edgy. Goku would blame himself for the situation and quit martial arts as a result (at least until a certain point in the story). Which only leaves Gohan. I figured I'd go the Super/GT route and just have him lose his power due to not training, but that'd piss a lot of people off, wouldn't it? [/spoiler]

Sorry this is late, but how does this sound?: At the start of the story, introduce a villain that just shows up (quite rudely) and kills Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, etc. leaving no choice for the next generation but to train as hard as possible in hopes of defeating said villain. Whether they succeed or not is up to you.

Just killing off the previous characters seems a bit too easy.

I have a suggestion if you're interested: you could rewrite the final battle against Boo (the little one) so that Goku and Vegeta would die anyway without the possibility of being revived again - then proceed to a time skip up to the point where you want your story to take place. Gohan can just get weak like he did in canon.

[Anime Kitten]

So... Do you guys write "linearly", or do you jump around a bit? What I mean is, do you start at the beginning, go word for word until the end, and then stop, or do you work more like doing a bit of Chapter 1, then a part in Chapter 4, then half of Chapter 2, then finishing Chapter 1, and so on?

I pull a Toriyama every so often, though my most typical pattern is use my outline, which I envision into separate episodes on its own, and make episodes using the outline. The outline is currently far ahead of the episodes, but far from completed. So, generally linearly.

How far ahead are you when you release each episode/chapter? I release mine weekly (Fridays), but I often run out of "back episodes," if you will. I currently have next week's episode in store and no others, for example.

[Alruneia]

How far ahead are you when you release each episode/chapter? I release mine weekly (Fridays), but I often run out of "back episodes," if you will. I currently have next week's episode in store and no others, for example.

Weeeell... I intend on writing all 100 chapters before I start posting, so that all I have left to do is check the chapters for mistakes and spelling. When I reach that point, I'll post daily (except for one-day breaks when an arc ends. I also have five side-stories that work like "movies" that'll also have one-day gaps around them) so that I don't have people waiting in suspense. Like, it's still four months of content if I post with the schedule I just explained. If I went weekly it'd be two years. Two years for a mere 300,000 words is a bit mean.
So, short answer: All the way.

[Anime Kitten]

I've been going since July, and I think weekly is a decent schedule for me. Not much suspense since I don't get any readers (or at the least, none who comment). The chapters don't have a set number of episodes in them, but my placeholder right now is 10 (in two weeks, we're entering the 3rd).

Where does most of your guys' inspiration come from? I get a lot by listening to Dragon Ball music, especially Sumitomo.