@flyg0nAboutStoriesUpdatesCollectionsFirst things first! My main story right now is Pokemon Legendary Adventures. The amazing artist who did the cover art can be found at 'Hawkosa' on deviantart. His art is amazing, please check him out. You can also find the first piece of story art here! Please check it out, its really amazing!
https://www.deviantart.com/hawkosa/gallery
www.deviantart.com/hawkosa/art/An-Unplanned-Pokemon-844636027
So you can call me Nine, or Flygon. Those are like my internet nicknames I guess. My chief interest and passion is Pokemon (of course). My other favorite things are:
My Little pony
How to Train your Dragon
Warrior Cats
Sofia the First / Elena
There's more, but I don't feel like listing them all right now
You can also find me on the website Lake Valor, if you ever want to chat or discuss my stories
I am an aspiring fiction writer as well, and I love to use my fanfiction to practice. I'm open to help others or give constructive criticism (if you're prepared for it). And if you're ever frustrated because you put a lot of hard work into your fanfic and no one is reading it, shoot me a PM and I'll try to read and review. I know how hard the writers life can be after all! I think the most important thing for a writer to do is to love their story, and don't be afraid to put a little bit of yourself in every piece you write. That's the only way to make it unique. And don't get too caught up in writing advice. Try to do whatever serves your story first. Everything else comes second.
Now, on to other topics... "Why do you use the four move limit in your Pokemon stories?"
I get asked this question about my stories, and I figured I'd go ahead and post my entire argument here, for simplicity's sake.
This is mainly for the purpose of explaining why I believe its so important, but in the end, its about what works for your story. But I do believe you should consider the impact it could have on your story, if you're a writer.
So... here goes.
In Defense of the Four Move Limit
I want to begin with a disclaimer. This is not in any way a tirade or a jab at people who choose to ignore the four move limit in their stories. It's your story and I won't tell anyone what to do with it. If you like it, thats FINE. I dont have anything against you. The following is simply my opinion on the matter.
A popular area of contention in pokemon fiction is the four move limit. Some fanfics choose to ignore it, while others choose to obey it. After all, it has been present in almost every form of pokemon media. Manga, Games, and even the anime (especially later episodes) stick by the four move limit.
Many fanfics, however, choose to simply allow a pokemon to learn as many moves as they want. Why not, after all? A four move limit seems like a game mechanic that is unnecessary in fiction. By allowing a pokemon to learn as many moves as they want, you open the door to all kinds of combo attacks, counters, and training opportunities. On the surface, all of this seems like a great idea. But only on the surface.
Allow me to explain. With the four move rule in play in my story, I have a limit. This 'limit' forces me to strategize, to think of the most creative ways to utilize the four moves given to me. Otherwise, I could simply use the strongest move of every type at my disposal.
I could literally teach my Pikachu Quick Attack, Grass Knot, Play Rough, Discharge, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Iron Tail, Thunder, Brick Break, Dig, Light Screen, Reflect, Thunder Wave, Protect, Attract, Double Team. Now it can easily defeat almost every threat. Just block everything with light screen and reflect. Dodge with Double Team. Block with Protect. Rain Dance all the time and combo into Thunder. All the other moves for anything else.
For me, the four move limit creates narrative tension. In the above example, I can just use the most powerful/best move in any situation. Because I have an ideal move for any situation. But with only four moves, I am forced to be much more creative and strategic, instead of relying only on the 'ideal' move. I have to create strategies and clever new tactics. It allows me to make battles that go DEEPER, not just wider.
Without the limit, I have access to any move I need at any moment I need it. It's too easy. All my MC would have to do is call the easiest, most powerful move in any situation.
For example, imagine a game of chess. Normally, each piece is unique and you have to learn to utilize all of them properly to become great. Now imagine if you played chess but every piece was a Queen. Much less strategic and tactical, no? Less impressive, too.
The anime battles are so enjoyable for me to watch because the viewer wonders how the trainer will be able to win even if they lack an obvious advantage. There would be no need for a clever tactic like Hitmonchan using Brick Break on the ground to block if he just knew Protect, in addition to Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, and oh... Detect, Earthquake, Substitute, Endure, Rest, Sleep Talk, Snore, Counter, Agility... Fake Out... Hitmonchan has a long moveset so I won't finish but... The list goes on.
Or the times when Pikachu in the anime pulls off a crazy tactic like launching himself off his own Electroweb, or climbing up his own lightning to escape a Hurricane.
Battles no longer rely on tactics, but on blase justifications like 'Well learning new moves takes "time" ', in which case I could literally timeskip my Main Character into god status by just saying 'well he trained for two years and taught his pokemon every move in their move list.' Now he has the perfect move for any and every situation.
Plus, to me, it would bog down a story with training sequence after training sequences or just time skipping some new moves onto his pokemon. I prefer to write more character/plot-driven moments, supported by the occasional training sequence.
And while one could certainly say that the battles could still be interesting because the opponent also knows 30 moves for each of their pokemon, it still isn't interesting to me. Some moves will simply become useless, others overused, and once again, battles lack tension. It would ultimately become a slugfest of super moves until one pokemon collapses. I don't find this very impressive.
Superman fighting an enemy isn't very tense. Superman fighting an enemy who has Kryptonite though is much more tense.
Not to mention... the 4 move limit makes things way easier to keep track of lol.
And the end of the day, you would only need one or two pokemon on your team because they have 40 moves each that cover all the types. For me, observing the limit also makes my story unique. There are a great many wonderful stories that ignore the four move limit. But for me, I like to be accurate to the source material.
TL;DR The 4 move limit creates a sense of narrative tension because it forces the trainer to be clever with their tactics, as opposed to relying on a pool of 30 moves and simply picking the 'ideal' one. Trainers are forced to work harder for their wins. And I as a writer have to think harder. This is all, of course, just my opinion on the matter.
This same principle can also be seen if you read Brandon Sanderson's Three Laws of Magic, where he discusses how Limitations Power. It's a fascinating read. The condensed gist of his rules is to say a story is made more interesting when the character can't just solve everything in the snap of a finger with 'magic' because the magic is limitless.
End
Well, that concludes my thoughts on the matter :D