Chapter 1 – Introduction
Hello! This will be sort of a spin-off to my original series 'Minipa's Trope Discussions and how to not suck at writing!'
However, instead of regurgitating the entire thing and changing some of the specific tropes from Fairy Tail to Boku no Hero Academia (people actually do this for extra views), I will be making this particular piece dedicated to the Boku no Hero tropes and some of the observations I had with it's stories.
I will not be going in detail about things such as the Mary Sues or general OC traits - for those of you interested, please read the original.
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I have also created the forums 'Tropes Discussion and Bashing'! Join up and let's talk!
The link won't post completely so just add the following link to the default fanfiction website. myforums/Minipa/5465876/
Check out my Youtube video series for the Trope Discussions - my channel: Minipa! First part of many released!
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 - Introduction
Chapter 2 - Izuku Tropes Part I
Chapter 3 - Izuku Tropes Part II
Chapter 4 - Original Characters
Chapter 5 - World Building: The Tutorial
Chapter 6 - Story Building: The Tutorial
Chapter 7 - Story Building: Izuku has a Quirk part I
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MAKE SURE TO READ IN 1/2 PARAGRAPH SETTING FOR BEST SPACING!
Full link cannot be posted but add this to the default Fanfiction link: s/12714137/1/Minipa-s-Trope-Discussions-and-How-to-Not-Suck-Shit-at-Writing
Note 1: Due to not being satisfied with the quality, the Trope Discussions Video series will be remade!
It's been awhile since I binged Boku no Hero Academia; however, with the recent release of season 3, I decided to being a sub-series of the trope discussions focusing on the various works and tropes of this fandom specifically! What a wonderful adventure! Finding different treasures in the massive dumpster dive that is ! Get your hands dirty, cause we're going straight in!
For those of you coming from the original Trope Discussions, I reiterate, writing tropes aren't bad! They are simply common plot lines and tools for beginner writers. Now Mary Sues, THAT is bad. For that, we will talk more later.
While I expanded on the definition of fanfic fatalism in the original: Minipa's Trope Discussions and How to Not Suck Shit at Writing, I will give a lesson of the following two things: Fatalist Fics, and Dialogue-adders.
Fatalist Fics
For those of you that see the term 'fatalist' and don't understand what it means, I shall define it for you. Fatalism is basically the acceptance of all things as inevitable, or a complete submission to fate. A fatalist is someone who accepts and submits to fate.
Knowing that, we can now define fatalist fics or stories.
How many of you have read stories where there was a interesting prompt, or new exciting element added to the story? Specifically to Boku no Hero Academia, examples include: Izuku having a different quirk, some of the characters being genderbent (although these are pretty much ship-centric and often times don't bother with canon), or the best examples, OC stories.
Despite these new elements, the author follows the canon either precisely, or extremely closely, where they simply add in extra off-screen scenes. Often times, the author would say things such as: I want to keep canon as close as possible because I like it, or even the more narcissistic arrogant response: my story, don't like don't read. I'm sure you guys have read at least one story like that. Some of you even have it as one of your favourited stories! Of course, no need to fret, liking those stories is all part of the growing-up progress!
What people have to realize, is that when you add a new element to a story, it WILL make ripples. Writing any of the stories above as a fatalist fic, is like throwing a rock in a pond and it pass right through the water surface without any impact whatsoever. The rock won't explode like in Dragon Ball, but it won't just teleport through the water either. It is all about making credible and reasonable changes, some of them unforeseen - ESPECIALLY in SIOC stories. Seriously so many SIOC stories are just OC's from our world inserted, not actually the author itself. How can I tell? If you could get a harem in real life you wouldn't be writing fanfiction.
Viridescent by Darkfire1220
'As a child, Izuku decided it would be better if he were Quirkless than to have a power that scared everyone. Now a teenager and looking to enter U.A, he finds himself as the protege of All Might and a student of the best heroes in the nation- but there's no running from a part of you, and he's learning the hard way that you have to accept all of yourself to be a real hero.'
This is probably the most well-written story in terms of Izuku getting a quirk. There were stories written worse that I liked more, but let it be spoken that how much someone, me, or you like something, doesn't automatically give it objective value in terms of it's quality.
Anyways, the grammar is good, dialogue is good, and there were small, credible changes such as: Katsuki being nicer towards Izuku because he knew he had a quirk, Izuku's timid self was combined with the fear of his own quirk.
While some parts could be fatalist despite the extra element and world building; such as Izuku still losing to Shoto, All Might giving him One for All in very much the same way, it makes small changes to the dialogue and interactions, which sets it apart from the original. The biggest changes happened in the camp and raid arc, in which Izuku was kidnapped instead of Katsuki as his father is actually a genetically-enhanced super villain under All for One.
Of course, the story following the main plot points is fine, as changing them to something reasonable could actually be quite challenging. In many of the stories I have seen Izuku beat Shoto, they often made Izuku an over powered Mary Sue, in which the author went more for extreme and nonsensical dramatic sensationalism instead of story development. Don't be upset if you do this yourself - not to an extreme level though! Many manga and movies go for dramatic sensationalism instead of logic!
Ex. In Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - when the Riders of Rohan blew the horn and made a formation before charging, instead of charging from over the hill to get a even bigger element of surprise! Of course, if they did that, it wouldn't have been as epic of a scene. I will be honest with you, I would also like the scene A LOT less if they did the 'logical' thing.
Sometimes, you will have to sacrifice logic and consistency for dramatic sensationalism to enhance the immersiveness of your story! You have to find a balance though, otherwise people might just think 'The fuck, really? Right.'
Anyways, for those of you that want to change canon, make sure you consider all the facts, get a beta, and world build! Write out a plotline that is logical, then proceed to make changes that will add dramatic effects to enhance your story and make your readers think 'OH SHIT, IT'S GOING DOWN,' instead of 'Wow, saw that coming from the dinosaur age.'
Dialogue-Adder stories
Dialogue-adder stories are actually very closely related to Fatalist stories, the difference is that a DA story is more of a specialized category.
As its namesake suggest, a dialogue-adder story refers to OC stories, or an just any addition of a character (this could be crossovers as well.)
Dialogue-adder stories is just another level of shitty writing as almost 100% of all those that do this is because of inexperience and laziness. Instead of world building, or doing any sort of preparation in terms of writing, they simply just open up the manga, describe the events in detail, and even try to textualize anime. After they do this, they add in their character and add some dialogue on top of the canon dialogue, maybe getting a reply or two but sometimes not even. If you're going to spend a few hours writing out the chapters, why regurgitate canon? It's like those authors are studying for an exam or something for How-to-be-Shit-at-writing 101.
Often times, the author would add internal dialogue of let's say 'that Bakugo guy seems like an asshole, must be due to his insecurity (or some other bad joke).' Even MORE often, the dialogue they add is usually some edgy/snarky comeback that is apparently played off as a witty roast while it is no more than a 3rd grader saying 'your mom' in an argument.
Oh, and the 'BUY ME DINNER' teases of potential harem candidates, 'bite me' lines when doing questionable actions, and 'SUE ME' comments made by OC's and SIOC's. Seriously massive cringe. PLEASE don't do this, try something new for a change.
So why do this? Not only that, seeing that DA story writers point towards inexperience and laziness, the author would often spotlight-steal canon characters, or just copy them directly. You guys ever see an OC story where they destroy the zero-pointer to save some random girl *which later becomes the ship… time to jump into a radioactive toaster.
The next level of improvement of spotlight-stealing is the no-spotlight-at-all. Basically, an author that takes another character's accomplishment into their OC's, gets called the fuck out for it, then they make their next story feature a next-to-useless bastard that can't change anything. Basically a shit-fix for overpowering.
Then again, it's all a pendulum. You swing back and forth between Mary Sue and Victim Sue until you find a balance. You don't have to feel bad, I was that way myself as I rewrote one of my own stories three times before getting to a balance that I liked.
After saying all that, we now have to ask, are dialogue-adder stories bad? Unlike some fatalist stories, where authors could have legitimate reasons (such as not wanting to change important plot points such as Shoto winning), dialogue-adder stories are pure laziness and lack of imagination. Regurgitating canon and telling canon with their OC instead of telling their OC's story.
For those of you that do this without considering other's criticism and instead being a narcissistic tool unable to understand the concept of self-improvement, please read the original Minipa's Trope Discussions, and hopefully you will learn the different concepts of Mary Sues, how to identify them, and how to avoid them… or just leave a review saying how many different things I could be spending my time on, one of the other.
Everything is a learning experience, although true that there are people who constantly write bad grammar stories with Mary Sues, and somehow getting over a 1,000 reviews, don't pay attention to them. Writing those stories (like the generic but popular Naruto crossovers - OOC Naruto + harem + every Jutsu + master therapist + philosopher + trench-coat-wearing edgelord), is like making one of those Fortnite clickbait videos. Although I can probably understand how much of an ego trip that would be for first-time writers.
Conclusion: Despite me already writing a section of Fatalism in my original, I feel as if these two are the most important aspects of early-writing development that needs to be explored.
While some stories, aren't exactly fatalist in the long run, or even be in the dialogue-adding category, some stories are still victims of canon narration.
The Dragon Rider by DandyPony
'Tony's family was gone, he was stranded on a miserable rock laughingly called an island populated with Vikings, and he was pinned beneath the paw of one of the most dangerous creatures on the planet. HTTYD and Avengers fusion.'
In this story, Tony's ship capsizes and he is found by the Vikings of berk. The beginning had a pretty good plotline, in which Tony gets more and more familiar with the Viking traditions, and even have mentions between how the two worlds coexist with each other - dragons were a part of the modern history.
HOWEVER, the teenaged Vikings in HTTYD (Snotlout, Astrid, etc.) gives him the nickname 'Hiccup,' as in the runt of the litter. They call him that because the Vikings said he needed a 'Viking' name for the other villages to accept him; of course, this was a red flag in itself, but I kept reading. As soon as the timeline reached canon for HTTYD, there was practically zero difference between the story and the movie. I sometimes forget Hiccup was Tony Stark, and was only reminded of it because the internal monologue itself referred to Tony Stark.
Everything was exactly the same, from finding Toothless, naming him Toothless, all the way to fighting the Red Death. Keep in mind ALL of you, describing imagery, learning how to convey feelings, using perfect wording, and usage of internal monologue are simply tools of a writer. Basic skills that enhance every piece of writing. Saying that, canon narration is STILL canon narration. It doesn't matter how good you are at describing every bloody detail of abso-fucking-lutely everything like George R.R. Martin, if you simply rewrite canon events with no differentiation whatsoever, readers will skip that shit in a heartbeat.
The moment I reached the movie canon and saw nothing changed, I skipped 5-10 chapters straight to where it ended so I didn't have to watch the movie in textual format. If you are a writer that do this, you might be losing readers before the canon finished because they wouldn't bother coming back or reading chapter by chapter if it's something they already know.
Anyways…
The first step to improving is realizing it. I'm sure many of you will disagree, just as many of you will agree. Regardless of how, people who write these stories have to realize they are writing fatalist or dialogue-adder stories. I'm sure nobody wants to write a story other people consider bad right? We want to show off our idea to the world! Authors can be in denial all they want - as in, the people who only listen to good reviews and pay zero attention to the ones that aren't good, even if they are constructive.
There's no need to try to convince someone who refuse to listen. If you write fatalist or dialogue-adder stories because it's your first OC fic or whatever, then I have one thing to say to you! Up is the direction to go! Also, Betas are your friends! Think of plausible changes to canon, run them through your beta! I do this myself! When I think of an arc and possible changes, I send the draft to my beta and he will look for inconsistencies or places that don't make sense, then I address them and run it through him again!
REMEMBER! WORLD BUILD YOUR ASS OFF, USE A BETA, AND PROOFREAD ESPECIALLY IN CANON DIVERGENTS!
Also, on a unrelated note: if you use 'defiantly' instead of 'definitely,' make sure to wipe your mouth and go back to school because you obviously have yet to graduate 3rd grade.
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Chapter 1 completed! Next Chapter: Izuku Midoriya - Villain, Quirk, or Comic Book Hero?
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